Tragedy seems like a way of life, its everywhere you look.  You sit down at night and turn on the news and typically the entire newscast is about tragedy that has struck someone's life.   The question is, how do we respond when tragedy happens in our life.  Of course, we are sad, hurt, or angry.  I know that we should look to God for comfort, but sometimes when we look to God it is for another reason.  We begin to ask, "Where where you?"  You could have have stopped this from happening, you could have healed them, you could have changed the outcome.  With the tragedy that occurred in Connecticut a couple of weeks ago, we have a lot of "why" questions.   With this still fresh on everyone's mind, I have decided that some of those questions need to be answered. 

Starting Sunday, January 6th, the Fusion students will be tackling some of the hard questions.  The series, "Where was God when....?"  Over the month of January, we will use our Sunday morning service and our Wednesday night small groups to dive into Scripture and find some answers.  Mike Calhoun and Ric Garland have a powerful teaching curriculum and there will be a video teaching to unpack the Word for us.  If you are a teenager, you need to invite your friends and make sure to be in attendance for each session.

Session 1(January 6th)   Omniscience
Session 2(January 9th)   Immutability
Session 3(January 13th) Faithfulness
Session 4(January 16th) Sovereignty
Session 5(January 20th) God's Love
Session 6(January 23rd) Wisdom
Session 7(January 27th) Omnipresence
Session 8(January 30th) Mercy & Justice

Finally, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Keep Christ First
Billy Edwards

Thankful

With Thanksgiving just a few days away and thoughts are on being thankful.  I wanted to share just what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my family.  My wife has been the backbone of our family and my number once encourager.  I have two of the greatest kids in the world.  The greatest thing on the earth is the support and love from family.

I am thankful for my church.  To come together with a group of believers each week and worship our Savior.  Thankful for the connection that I have with the members of our small group.  We are completely cut from the same mold and I love them.  I am thankful for the staff team here at Eastside.  They have a heart to see lives changed by God and to see disciples making other disciples.  

I am thankful for the student leadership team that I have the pleasure to serve with.  They have a heart to see students become "sold out" to Christ.  I couldn't ask for a better group of men and women to work with in student ministry.  I am thankful for the students at Eastside.  My prayer is that they will continue to let God direct them in their lives.

Finally,  I am thankful for JESUS.  He came to this earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died on a cross for me.  There was no special requirement that I had to meet, there was no special deals that had to be made.  All I had to do was surrender everything to Him.  

My prayer is that each one has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

In His Service,

Billy Edwards

Fusion Student Pastor

Fusion Student Ministries

It is amazing to see what is going on in the life of the student ministry of Eastside Community Church.  With everyone's hectic summer plans over, life has finally kinda got back to normal.  There are several things coming up in the month of September and I am pumped to see what God will do.  Here are some things to mark on your calendar:




1.  The new Fusion T-shirts are in and they look AWESOME!!!  If you ordered one, you can pick it up on Sunday morning.  Don't worry if you think, I missed out on the order," we have extra.

2.  On September 9th, Eastside will be going to two Sunday morning services, 9:30 and 11AM.  The 9:30AM service, will give the Fusion students options-service or worship.  The 11AM service, we will have our Fusion service in the Fusion room.  I encourage all students to come at 9:30AM and get involved in serving others at Eastside. 

3.  On Sunday, September 16th, we will begin the new church-wide campaign, Not a Fan.  We will be seeing what a true follower is God's Word and watch a video by Kyle Idleman each Sunday during Fusion Sunday mornings at 11AM.  Then on Wednesday night starting September 19th, we will come together for our weekly Fusion small groups and go through the study that lasts for six weeks.  You can pick up your free copy of not a fan: teen edition, the next time you are at Eastside.



 I just want to take a second and thank God for our Fusion leaders.  They have had to put up with me, they definitely have shown grace to me.  These leaders are awesome and I can say without a doubt, they love our students and want to see them become fully-devoted followers of God.  I am excited to welcome two new members of our leadership team, Amanda and Chris Meeks.  Amanda will be a leader for the middle school girls and Chris will be a leader for the middle school guys.  Help me to welcome them to our team.

Finally, this Sunday is Friend Day at Eastside Community Church.  We will be having lunch on the campus following the Sunday service.  I want to encourage you to invite, invite, invite!!!

Keep Christ First,
Billy Edwards
Student Pastor
Fusion Student Ministries
Eastside Community Church

Special Moments

Everyone can reflect on their life and list things, events, or activities, that they can remember almost every detail of.  A parent can reflect back to when they first held their newborn child or you could ask someone where they were and what they were doing on September 11th.  Our memories reflect on the good times and the bad.  Each of these moments are life changing in some form or fashion.  Well, I can say that this past weekend was one of those memorable moments of my life.  This past weekend was spent at Laurel Lake Baptist Camp at the Emmaus Walk #30.  I spent 72 hours experiencing a small taste of God's grace and love.  Heading home on Sunday night, I reflected on what had taken place and the friendships that had made.  Just thinking that on Thursday afternoon, when I arrived, I knew no one.  Then leaving and thinking how much I was going to truly miss those men that I can now call my friends.  I saw God at work in the lives of each one of them, including myself.  We experienced three men accept Christ and many others rededicate their lives to the Lord.  I was in the presence of the Lord having grown men in tears.  I was among them, crying like a baby most of the weekend.  I heard amazing testimonies from pastors that had rough beginnings in life and hear how God touched them and made them new in Christ.  If I had to list events or people in my life as some of the most memorable and what I am so thankful for, they would have to be as followed:
1.  God getting a hold of me about 5 years ago because I had turned my back on Him.
2.  My wife
3.  My children
4.  Family
5.  The Emmaus Walk
6.  Friends
7.  My ministry

I am blessed more than I deserve and am constantly thankful for God's love and grace.  Take a moment and reflect on the memories of your life and thank God for what He has done and pray for God to work through you in the days to come.

In His Service,
Billy Edwards
 

Everyone likes pancakes

On Saturday, April 14th, we are having a fundraiser for students that are going to camp this summer.  Eastside's Fusion students will be going to XFuge on Mission camp in North Carolina on June 21-25.  The fundraiser will help pay for the cost of each of the campers.  There will also be a silent auction of merchandise donated by area businesses.  The pancake fundraiser will be in the cafe at Eastside Community Church and it only costs $5 per person.  Please help students get to camp.

Keep Christ First

Easter Sunday

If you do not have a home church, I want to personally invite you to come and join us at Eastside Community Church this Sunday for our Easter services.  We are having two services-9AM and 10:50AM.