Tell us what you have learned on Acteens Activator’s Trip

by Alyssa Hargrove

2011-2012 Acteens State Panelists

Last summer I had the opportunity to go to Naples, Italy on a mission trip, along with 59 other people from Tennessee, to share the gospel to the people there. That mission trip really opened my eyes to many different things and changed my heart forever.

Naples is a very large and packed city with four million people in the city. Only a small percentage is Christians, while most people are Catholic. Most of the people are Catholic because of their ancestors, not necessarily because they want to be. It’s just as if that’s the common thing to be there. The families there are so close that when one becomes a Christian they almost get disowned from their families. Unlike us, where most people would be excited for us. This really opened my eyes because I’m very close to my family. I would be sad to think my own family would disown me for making the best decision of my life.

When in Italy my only fear was the language barrier. I knew very little Italian. I almost felt weak. How can God use me to witness to these people? God really did prove me wrong! Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we understood one another in some way! And even if we never understood each other, I know the Italians saw Jesus’ love through us.

I learned that God can use me! I just have to be willing to let Him use me.

Connection 2012

We are well on our way planning for Connection 2012!  I look forward to what God will do in each girls life that attends!  If you have never been before this is the year to start!  Leigh Gray will share with us from her heart during Bible Study and Cindy Johnson will lead us in song!  They are both fantastic women of God that will have tranformational things to say! 

Conferences this year are coming together and back by popular demand are leaders like Sarah Valley, who will be taking on a new role as a conference leader, and Jeff and Rachel Henry, and the fabulous Shingletons!  We are expecting great missionary speakers to share with us their experiences from around the world!

Again this year we have the great opportunity to be a part of offering at Connection for the TN WMU to build a missionary house.  Missionary houses are used by career missionaries that are state side in the US! 

Now that you are convinced you have to be there, here is a link to register!!  (or you can just read more information that will help convince you)

Connection Registration and Information

Pictures from last year:

What the TN WMU Acteens Scholarship 2011-2012 Recepient...

 ...has to say about how this scholarship impacted her new college career:

For every high school senior the main priority is figuring out where you want to go to college. Luckily for me, I had known that I wanted to go to Union University for years and I felt that was where Christ wanted me to go, as well! So, after I received my acceptance letter my main priority changed to figuring a way financially for me to attend Union. I am very fortunate enough to have parents that have always been there to support me and help me as much as they can. Yet, I didn’t want my family to have to pay for my entire college education. So in order for me to financially afford college I turned to scholarships! I filled out one scholarship after another and I prayed every night that those scholarships would be enough! Then a day or two after returning from Connection in Gatlinburg, I was starting to contemplate on whether I should find a cheaper college because I wasn’t sure if the scholarships I had received were going to be enough. But then I got a call from my Acteens leaders and she said, “Sara! You got the Acteens Scholarship!” “Thank you, God!” was all I could say after that phone call. Luckily, after I received the Acteens scholarship several more came filing in. God had answered my prayers; He just wanted me to be patient.

Once September rolled around, I was thankful to say that I was a freshman at Union University. Union is a fantastic college and I encourage people all the time to come here. Union has so many opportunities for college students and there are so many charming people. Two of which are my roommates, Rachel Hudspeth (who I met through being a panelist) and Paige Eubanks. These two young ladies are two of the nicest, funniest, polite, and Christ-like people I have ever had the chance to meet. They have truly helped make my first semester an awesome one.  I feel that God has a reason for me to attend Union, and that would be for me to gain a closer relationship with Him. Since I am a Biology (Pre-Med) major, I would love to one day go into medical missions and I feel that Union is a great place for me to learn how to do that. I am so thankfully that God allowed me to find a way to go to Union and hopefully He will find ways for many other high school students to attend, as well.

Sara Gatlin, 2011-2012 TN WMU Acteens Scholarship Recepient

Tell about a project your Acteens group has done and what impact it made on you and your community.

By Lydia Huggins
2011-2012 TN WMU State Acteens Panelist

A recent project my Acteens group did was to show our gratitude for veterans for Veteran’s Day. We made cupcakes and thank you cards for the veterans at the Veterans Administration hospital in our city. We wrote encouraging notes on the thank you cards and decorated them with ribbons and stickers. We made regular cupcakes and we also made sugar free cupcakes for the diabetics. After icing the cupcakes and decorating them with American flags, we prayed over the cupcakes and cards. It took a whole afternoon to bake seventy-two cupcakes and two hours to write and decorate seventy-two thank you cards for the veterans that were hospitalized during that time. We spent a few hours at the V.A. hospital visiting each of the veterans. The time and effort it took to bake, write, decorate, and deliver our small gifts to the veterans was worth it when I saw their happiness from our visit.

I enjoyed handing out the cards to the veterans and visiting with them. They greatly appreciated it. Their families and the hospital staff were also glad to see the veterans remembered for their service to our country. We visited with one of the men for a while. He had had many struggles in the past year. Even in the most difficult circumstances, where others would have been sad and depressed, he still praised God and felt blessed. He encouraged us to keep doing good things for people because you never know what God will do and what a difference you can make in someone’s life.

Tell about a project that your Acteens group has done and what impact it made on you and your community.

By Sabrina Thompson
2011-2012 Acteens State Panelist

One recent mission project that our Acteens group has done is Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, where groups or individuals can pack gift boxes to be sent to children all around the world at Christmas. At first we set our goal for 50 boxes. My Acteens group isn't that big so we thought that 50 was a reasonable and achievable number. We started promoting it around the church and asking for donations not only boxes but for the other things we needed. It was the start of football season and our choir director had the bright idea of calling local high schools and getting old boxes from the cleats. By the time our deadline came we had about 300 boxes. We were all really excited about having all these boxes but now we had to come up with the money to pack and ship them. During Sunday morning services we showed little clips about Operation Christmas Child and how these boxes brought so much joy to a child’s life. We eventually raised enough money to pack and ship all 300 boxes. One Saturday we all got together and had a shoebox packing party. We a good time and had amazing fellowship. It’s amazing what faith can do. It turned our little Acteens mission project into a church wide project and let a little church like Black Oak pack 300 shoeboxes. The small everyday things are easily taken for granted but doing things like this is what makes me realize how blessed I really am.

Mission Trip to Naples, Italy

Is your Acteens group interested in an international trip for 2012!

The TN Baptist Youth Trip to Naples, Italy (May 31-June 10, 2012) may be just for you.

The deadline to register and turn in your registration form, along with the required $100 deposit, is October 1, 2011.

The mission work of this trip will be highly related to relationships evangelism. Students will work in teams through out Naples, Italy meeting children, young people, and adults, building relationships with them and sharing their faith in Christ in a relevant and relational way!

For more information: http://www.tnbaptist.org/CalendarEvent.asp?eventid=2010&cat=youth&subcat=events09
or email cdyer@tnbaptist.org

Meet the Panelists

Welcome the 2011-2012 Tennessee Acteens Panelist, Miko Bloom, Brooke Cole, Alyssa Hargrove, Lydia Huggins, and Sabrina Thompson.




Miko is a senior from Estill Springs, TN where she is a member of First Baptist Church. Miko has been involved in Acteens for 2 years. In her free time she enjoys participating in pageants, tennis, fishing, and tutoring elementary kids. Acteens is important, not only because it focuses on international mission work, it also impacted my community.






Brooke is a senior from Dickson, TN where she is a member of Sylvia Baptist Church. Brooke has been involved in Acteens for 6 years and has served as a TN State Panelist. In her free time she enjoys drama team, reading, and mime ministry. Acteens is important to me because it gives girls the opportunity to learn and talk about missions and missionaries.






Alyssa is a senior from Culleoka, TN where she is a member of First Baptist Church Spring Hill. Alyssa has been in Acteens for 6 years and has served as a TN State Panelist. In her free time she enjoys interacting with others, working at W’s BBQ, and hanging out with children! Acteens is important to me because it allows me to bond with girls around my age, serve, and get involved mission wise in my community.





Lydia is a junior from Erwin, TN where she is a member of Southwestern Baptist Church. Lydia has been an Acteen for 4 years and has served as a TN State Panelist Alternate. In her free time she enjoys volunteering at the public library, 4-H, playing piano, and art. Acteens is important to me because I learn about missions, how God is working in the world, and it gives me opportunities to serve others.





Sabrina is a junior from Clinton, TN where she is a member of Black Oak Baptist Church. Sabrina has been involved in Acteens for 2 years. In her free time she enjoys FFA, Youth for Christ, and volunteering at Fort Sanders Regional Medical. Acteens is important to me because I get to feed the homeless and go visit the elderly people at a nursing home.

What’s on Your Perfect-Guy List?

“So, um, what if I don’t find godliness attractive?” The college student mumbled into the phone to her older sister. “What do you mean?” Her sister asked, caught off guard by the question. One minute they had been talking about spring break and the next … godliness.
“I’m drawn to guys for a lot of different reasons – great personality, boyish good looks, dry wit – but I’m never attracted to them because they are godly.” There was a long pause before her older sister responded, “Hmmm. Okay I see how that’s an issue for a Christian girl. Let me ask you this, how do you define godliness?” “Uh – morals, character and ethics, boring stuff,” the younger sister replied. “I think that’s part of the problem. You need to dig into the word and see how God defines as godliness. I think you’ll be surprised.”
Her older sister continued, “Do you value godliness in yourself?” “Of course I do!” The younger sister responded in outrage, “I love Jesus and am trying really hard to keep him first in my life.” The soothing mom-voice came out, “Calm down, that’s not what I am asking. Let’s try this a different way: If you had to fill out an online dating profile and list the top 5 things you offer to a relationship, what would they be?” The younger sister thought for a second, “Um, I have a good sense of humor, I am fun and spontaneous, a good athlete, I make good grades, and I cook a mean brownie. Is that what you’re asking?”
“I was asking if your relationship with God is the number one thing you think you offer in a relationship…and you just proved my point – it isn’t,” her sister explained. “When you think of relationships, God doesn’t really seem to be forefront of your heart. So until you see godliness as the best thing in you, I can’t see how you would ever find it attractive in a guy.”
• Godliness is NOT a balding old man
I don’t know where I got this, but every time I hear the word godliness I picture a balding little old man in a worn gray suit and bow tie. He’s straight out of the 1950’s and has lived a moral life full of upright character and good works. I’m not sure when it happens, but somewhere along the way we begin to see godliness as good deeds. We define it as a pound of good works, mixed with a good dose of church attendance, a dash of puritanical morals, and a sprinkle of pious facial expressions.
Ugh. Nothing about that definition seems appealing, fun, passionate, or worth giving up anything for. Thank goodness that is NOT how scripture describes godliness!
• Godliness is about God
Godliness is the people of God living in such a way that God is accurately reflected to the world. But godly living isn’t a list of moral do’s and don’ts, it is the natural result of spending time with God (1 Peter 1:3-7). As we spend time with him, being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), we look and act more and more like our God. Jerry Bridges, author of The Practice of Godliness, explains, “The New Testament word for godliness, in its original meaning, conveys the idea of a personal attitude of devotion toward God that results in actions that are pleasing to God.” Not outward good works or a moral to do list, godliness is the natural result of a person spending quality time with God out of love for God.
So godliness only looks like an old man if you actually are an old man.
• Godliness looks like love
But what does godliness look like? I am a visual person. I still cannot bring myself to make a recipe that doesn’t have a picture of the finished product – because I need to see it. For me, it’s the same with godliness. It sounds very abstract and theoretical, and while I appreciate that in theory, the reality is that I need to see godliness in action if I am to pursue it. So, what does godliness look like?
God, obviously – it’s in the word. But that doesn’t really help me, because our human minds are simply too small to ever fully comprehend God. The Apostle John helps connect the pieces for visual learners like me.
God is love, 1 John 4:7-8.
Love is the whole character of God. It’s so beautiful, holy and healing that it’s difficult for our minds to comprehend. We cannot, in our small human minds, comprehend God’s love in its entirety. But we can see the many ways love is expressed. Paul helps us out with this one in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is like a puzzle made up of many pieces. One piece is patience, one is kindness, one is unselfishness, one is humility, one is consideration, one is peacemaking, one is forgiveness, one is truth, one is righteousness and holiness, one is long-suffering, one is belief, one is hope, and one is endurance.
That is love. That is God.
If God is love, then being like God looks like love.
Did you hear that? Godliness looks like love!
The same kind of love that compelled Jesus Christ to leave everything in heaven, take on the form of a man, suffer a horrible death, bearing the punishment of sin for a people who did not yet love him back (1 John 4:9-10). God’s love is an all-consuming, life-altering, die-for-you kind of love (John 15:14). That’s the love we are to give the world (1 John 3:16).. A love that defines us as God’s people (Mt. 22:34-40, 1 John 4:19).
Love God. Love others. That is godliness.
• Godliness comes from God
Godliness is not something we ask for and God just dumps out on us from heaven. The only way we can develop godliness is to spend time with God. How do we learn to love, a.k.a. develop godliness? By spending time with the one who loves us – our Savior. Reading his word, praying, memorizing scripture, singing his praises. Being. With. Him.
The best thing you can do for your friends is to put Jesus first.
The best thing you can do for your church is to take time to rest in Jesus, not just be busy serving.
The best thing you can do for your boyfriend is make time alone every day for Jesus.
Because the best thing I have to offer anyone is my relationship with Christ.

“So, the question isn’t if I find godliness attractive in a guy, but if I am spending quality time with Jesus?” asked the younger sister. “And if he is spending quality time with his Savior, too,” added her older sister. “When you spend time with Jesus, you become like him – godliness – and you value those people who are also being transformed in the same way.”
“That is so cool,” the younger girl commented. “Godliness looks like love and comes from the overflow of my time with Jesus. So my relationship with God really is the best thing I can offer a guy! Sorry to cut this conversation short, but I really need to go read my Bible before class. Later!”
Her older sister smiled as she hung up the phone and went back to some Bible reading of her own.
Gabrielle Pickle

Hello :) I'm Natalie and I led a session at Connection called "If Cinderella Wore Cowboy Boots."

Before I go any further, I need to make you aware of this fact: you people are too fabulous for your own good.

Not only were you fun and funny (and adorable as ever!) but you were so open-hearted. Thanks for introducing yourselves and filling me in on all the crazy stuff happening in your world. I prayed through every card you gave me when I got back to my hotel room. As I was praying through that stack, I realized many of the gorgeous smiles I saw were disguising very broken hearts. You wrote about how you felt crushed by your regrets, by situations in your family, by boys who'd broken your heart.

One of the cards given to me at Connection read:

Help
me
overcome
my
fear

It was written just like that; broken up like a poem. I thought I would mention it here because fear is something I deal with on a near constant basis. If I were a Pooh character, I would be Piglet. I am not a risk-taker. I am, in fact, a wallflower. I don't like to stand close to the edge. I don't like to jump without a net. I tremble. I shiver.

I sometimes let fear dictate my steps. I have missed out on some incredible opportunities because of fear.

A verse that keeps popping up in my life lately is Joshua 1:9 which reads:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I've taken to praying that verse a bunch lately. I find it comforting too: I like knowing that my heroes of the faith, the men and women in the Bible who did BIG things for God, also wrangled with fear. Fear was their first response sometimes, just like it is mine.

I've learned that I can't control when fear will hit or how hard it shakes me. But I can choose to shift my focus (like Hebrews 12 tells me to) and concentrate on God's Character. I remember that He is good. And faithful to me. And that His love for me endures forever (Psalm 107). I know, through His Word, that He's bigger than anything I feel. Even *gulp* my fear.

I've also learned that, if I keep waiting for my fear to simmer down before I move ahead, I'll remain stuck. But clinging to God's Word: hearing it, making it mine, and living it (SMS*GO ;) gives me the power to move even when I am afraid.

Because I know He has a good plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11).
And I know He wants the best for me.
According to Joshua 1:9, God is with me wherever I go.
According to Isaiah 40:28, my Hero does not grow tired or weary.

That makes me feel lion-hearted, even if my hands are trembling.

I don't know what you have ahead of you this year. Maybe you're scared about starting High School in a few months. Maybe you're scared about starting college, and leaving your friends behind. Maybe you're at a new school and afraid to reach out and try to make a few friends. Maybe you’re shaking over a big decision coming up. Maybe you’re afraid that you wouldn’t have any friends at all if people really knew you. Maybe you don't even know why you're so afraid all the time. Whatever it is, let's strap on our boots, lock arms, and move ahead together.

Because fear is not the story we were created to live. I don’t want this year to be full of moments I ran away from everything I was afraid of. I want this to be the year I ran after the life God has called me to live, even if it means looking fear in the face.

I’m so grateful we get to run alongside each other. : )

Shine,
Natalie Lloyd

Let Us Fix Our Eyes on Jesus by Sarah Valley

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run…

Okay. That’s enough to make me stop there. Run? Me? I hate running! I have some friends that just came specifically into Nashville to run in the Music City Marathon. This is crazy to me! Run? Much less pay to run? Who in their right mind would do this? Running is for dogs. Well healthy dogs anyway. Lately things have been a bit difficult for my husband and I. We have 2 dogs that we absolutely adore. I completely understand now when people say their dogs are like their children because I feel as if I would do anything for my dogs. We don’t just have dogs-we have big dogs. One is a 120-pound Alaskan Malamute named Rio who looks to be about 200 pounds because of her fur. Lisa, who played drums for me at Connection actually referred to her as a polar bear recently. She is every bit as beautiful as this breed can get- very smart, independent and man oh man does she have a dominant, stubborn nature. Our other dog, Forrest, we adopted about a year ago. We’re not quite sure what kind of dog Forrest is. He looks to be a boxer mix of some sorts and is literally half of Rio’s size. Forrest is an energetic, fun-loving dog who is eager to please, always ready to run…….ugh! There’s that word! Run! And that my friends is where the trouble begins….

We brought Forrest in for his yearly vaccinations, and as we were waiting in the room my veterinarian comes in and says, “I have some bad news.” Not really the words I was expecting to hear. I was thinking, “what? He has fleas? No big deal.” Nope. This was something else. My sweet Forrest has heartworms. How is that even possible since he’s been on heartworm medicine as soon as we got him? My sweet boy was diagnosed with something that I knew was expensive to treat. We have a baby on the way! Spending exorbitant amounts of money on our dog was not really something we were expecting at this point. Not only is it expensive to treat, but also after treatment there is a long hard recovery period. Ugh.

….with perseverance the race marked out for us…

For those of you that don’t know heartworms are transmitted through a mosquito and primarily affect our canine friends. Heartworms are treated by giving a dog 2 different shots that are really harsh on a dog’s system. They give him one shot on one day, keep him overnight to monitor him, and then give him one the next day. After giving him these shots it is now our duty to make sure Forrest remains still and calm for the next 6 weeks. SIX WEEKS!?!? Are you serious??? This is my little dog that loves to run and has the energy of 5 of my malamutes rolled into one. Keeping him still and making sure his heart rate doesn’t go up is very important because during this time, as the heartworms are breaking up, Forrest could throw a clot if his heart rate gets to high and it could kill him. Oh. I see. So there is purpose in keeping him calm for 6 weeks. We can do this. By the grace of God we can do this. This means we have had to choose to keep him indoors. We have had to choose staying home over going out of town so that we could make sure he was okay. We have had to choose to walk him on a leash when he goes outside to go to the bathroom instead of just letting him run out there. We have had to choose the hard things. We all have a choice to. We can choose to persevere and endure. It may feel impossible but this is how it is done. This is how we run this race:


…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1,2

That’s how I feel in my walk with God sometimes. Sometimes the daily life-the perseverance part can get me so bogged down to where I definitely don’t feel like I’m running. Maybe I’m going at a turtle’s pace, but then again the turtle did win that race in the story about the turtle and the hare. (Rabbit for those that don’t know what a hare is. I know? Why not just say rabbit?) =) Let’s look at why the turtle won the race though…the turtle won because he stayed on the path. He kept racing towards his goal-the finish line. The rabbit got sidetracked and decided to go off the path and take a nap and lost all track of time until it was too late, and there was no way he could win the race. The turtle won because he kept going. He kept his eyes on his goal. It is the same with us. No matter what the pace in our journey with Christ, if we fix our eyes on Jesus we will reach our finish line. I love that word “fix.” It doesn’t just say keep your eyes on Jesus it says fix, which means to become stable or permanent. With our eyes permanently set on Jesus we can stay on the path and achieve our goal. The only way that Michael and I are able to endure going through this with our dog Forrest, is to keep our eyes on the end result. To throw off or get rid of those nasty worms that entangle his heart so that he can run again, we must endure and persevere through these 6 weeks by keeping our eyes on the end result. At the end, he will be better and healthy and finally able to run again! Praise God that our journey with him is this way. To get rid of the things that slow us down and the sin that keeps us from racing, sometimes we walk, sometimes even crawl but with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ we will run again. We will “run and not grow weary,” we will “walk and not faint” as it says in Isaiah 40. The only way that Jesus himself was able to endure the cross was he kept his eyes on the end result. He knew that in the end death would be defeated as he sat down at the right hand of the Father. It is finished. Let us keep in mind too dear sisters and brothers in Christ that this life is not forever. It may seem like it, but it is quick and even our most trying times will be worth it if we keep our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Praise the Lord that as we run this race we are not alone! There are many racers alongside us. I was so grateful to meet many of you at Connection this year and look forward to the day when in heaven we can gather around our Savior’s throne and look at each other and shout about our own race- it is finished! Then we will bow before the One who has gone before us and marked out the finish line. In the words of the song Our God by Christ Tomlin that we sang at Connection: Our God is greater, our God is stronger, our God is higher than any other, Our God is healer, awesome in power-our God! Our God! And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us than what can stand against?

Let us fix our eyes on Him!