Web Designer | Lee Pettijohn

Welcome to a new beginning!

First … the good news … We have confirmation of an agreement that the Old Library space will be used as a youth hangout for the next several months. We are excited to see what this will turn into and are hopeful that it will make a huge impact in the lives of kids in the town of Hermann.

With that said, there will now be a place for our group to meet during the school year and allow us to hold other activities throughout the week as well.

I want to use this as a new starting point and my hopes is that we can form a group of high schoolers that care for each other and treat each other like we were created. As a result, our group will officially be renamed as …

Tribe

(n) ˈtrīb: a social division in a traditional society consisting of communities linked by social ties, with a common culture

This is an opportunity to continue to overflow into other people but it focuses on where that overflowing comes from. As a tribe, we live, work and play together. We will support and encourage each other while also keeping each other accountable to reach goals and treat each other well.

Part of my mission is to continue to make the foundation of this Tribe centered on Jesus and his ministry to bring about the kingdom of God through his followers.

And Simple Responses.

Disclaimer: These are obviously short responses to the questions. If you want more detail, just let me know; send me an email at leepettijohn@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to clarify. Also let me know if you have more questions to add to this list. Enjoy!

1. Does the world need saving?
   • Yes.  A quick look at the news or even observing large groups of diverse people will tell you that something is “wrong”.
2. Do I need saving?
   • Yes.  We are not alone and should not be alone.  But when we’re together with other people, we never treat people the right way 100% of the time.  
3. Does science render Christianity obsolete?
   • No.  Science is an awesome way to make a list of how a system is, how it works, what the rules are, and how to predict what will happen in the future.  Science does not tell us if something is “good” or not.  Thus, we need something more in our societies (groups of people) to not just tell us the answer of “what will happen if we do something”, but should guide us into the answer of “should we do something?”
4. Who gets to decide what’s “good” and “bad”?
   • God.  When you talk to any kind of designer or creator, they get to decide if their work is good or not.  (“This is a good rule for this game”, “This is a bad piece of artwork”, “This is a good way for people to treat each other”) Thus, whoever ultimately created the world, gets to decide the best way for it to run.
5. Are people good with some bad or bad with some good?
   • Neither.  You can’t say that a cup of water is hot with a little bit of cold or that a room is light with a little bit of darkness.  We are like reflectors of good (or think of light if that’s easier).  When good shines on us, we either reflect that on to others or we don’t.  The truth is, there is good being shined onto the world.  Before we follow Jesus, we decide if something is good and if we want to reflect it. When we follow Jesus, we see how He reflects good onto other people.
6. How can the world not go to hell in a handbasket? (How can the world be saved?)
   • Each person submitting to an authority of “good”. Each person receiving forgiveness when they don’t do “good”.  Each person submitting to a system designed to flourish if we treat it the right way. Each person loving other people more than they love themselves.
7. Why is Jesus the only way?
   • He’s the only person in history that died and then was not dead.  Imagine if I told you that I was richest person in the world and that I could give you unlimited riches.  Now imagine that all my riches were in a vault that you could physically see.  Then, some thieves break into my vault and take everything of value and at the end it was empty.  Then, in a couple days, I opened the vault and all my riches were miraculously there again.  Would you believe I had the authority to claim the richest person in the world and that I could give it to anyone I wanted? 
8. How do we know Christianity is true?
   • Because Jesus rose from the dead, thus proving that he is the author / has authority over life.
9. How do we know Jesus rose from the dead?
   • If this is a sincere question and you’re willing to put in the work and time, then I urge you to read “Case for Christ” by Lee Stroebel.  
10. What do I have to give up to follow Jesus?
    • Everything! You give up everything you own and your right to be “right” or to think of yourself as the source of “good”.
11. What do I have to gain to follow Jesus?
    • Life … true life. A world view that comes from someone who designed the world how it should be.
    • Community.  You gain access and relationships with other people who have decided (like you did) to love others better than themselves.
    • Love. Acceptance into a heavenly space that discards every bad thing you’ve ever done and accepts you how you are and grows you into who you were made to be defined by the one that made you.
12. What is the Holy Spirit?
    • This is WAY-oversimplifying, but it is the “thing” (or better described as a “person”) that connects Christians.  If you love the Cardinals and go to a Cardinals game, you instantly have a connection with anyone else there that loves the Cardinals. That would be the “Spirit of the Cardinals”.  You can’t touch it or see it, but when you talk with a person like you, it is a thing and they are there! (Also, it is God … one of the mysteries of the trinity, but we can talk about that later.
13. How do I “follow” someone I can’t see?
    • This is a toughy, but stick with me.  You learn about this God (reading, listening, watching).  You receive the Spirit daily.  You form relationships with other people; like-minded people who have given up everything to follow the same Jesus you follow.
14. What / Who is “God”?
    • First, God is a union of persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  They are totally at peace with each other and love each other (kind of like the most perfect family ever)
    • Second, God created everything.  Don’t know how or the physics of it all, but space, time, matter … all of it … He made.
    • Third, as creator, God knows best what’s “good” for the world and what’s not.  So, we look to him, how he made the world and how he has interacted historically with the world, for an understanding of how we should best represent God on earth in the flesh.
15. What is the Bible?
    • To quote The Bible Project … it is a unified story that leads to Jesus.  
    • It is a collection of ancient scrolls, written by super smart wordsmiths, that records different types of literature (poetry, discourse, and narrative) to paint a picture of God’s inner workings, desires, motivations, interactions, etc. throughout history.  Then, it is miraculous intervention of God coming to earth in human form and calling people to himself.  Then it is the story of what happened after that.
16. How can I trust the Bible?
    • First, clarify the question … “How can I trust the Bible to …?”
    • Second, read it how the author’s intended.  Don’t bring your own personal or cultural “baggage”.  The best way to do this is to listen and learn from other people who have dedicated their lives to bringing out the message the original author’s wanted to say.
    • Third, educate yourself from lots of different sources about the Bible.
    • Food for thought: The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work of literature, with over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts cataloged, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic, Nubian, and more
17. What should I do before I decide to follow Jesus?
    • Consider the cost of giving up everything
    • Consider if there is some other way. (If you think there is, read Ecclesiastes [ a story about the man who had access to everything he wanted to find happiness ])
    • Be ready to be humbled and loved at the same time.
    • Then, just do it!
18. What happens / What should I do after I say I want to follow Jesus?
    • Tell me (970) 712-933 or tell Auntie Julie (808) 222-5642
    • We will talk one on one and help you through this
    • I could give you the “steps” here but that would disregard the beauty of communion that you have with God and other Christians immediately
19. If there’s one supreme God, why are there so many religions?
    • Because each person who has ever lived has an innate desire to be “good”.  Thus, we look for ways to do that in ourselves and with each other.  If you start searching through religions, you will see patterns and characteristics that relate to all of them.  However, you will not find any other religion that rests on the fact that the creator and community-driven God came to earth, lived a mortal life, died a real death and then came back from the dead.
    • In a nutshell, all other religions place the burden of being better on the person.  Christianity places the burden of being a better person on death to oneself and then being raised again to life with a different spirit than before.
20. What’s the most influential story from the Bible?
    • Genesis 1&2: The garden of Eden and the beauty of mankind living together and caring for the rest of the world
    • This accounts for every other story being built upon it and what happens when we don’t look to God for the knowledge of “good”
21. Where is God in the midst of evil?
    • First, God is before the pain when he gives power to all people to manipulate the world
    • Second, because God chooses what is “good” and “bad”, he allows people the freedom to do the same
    • Third, just like a mirror reflecting a light, if the holder of the mirror stops reflecting light because of their choices, God is absent in those actions (NOTE: God is not gone or absent from the person, just the actions being committed)
    • Fourth, after evil has been committed and pain and sorrow begin, we, as Christians, have the responsibility to shine light where it’s needed; feeding the hungry, healing the sick, comforting the hurting.  It is then that God and his light are shining where needed.
22. Will my life be better after I follow Jesus?
    • Depends on how you define “better”.  Will you be richer? Will you never get sick? Will you have everything you want? Maybe, but it doesn’t matter.  After following Jesus, you have committed yourself to dying to your flesh and what makes you comfortable.  You, then trust in Jesus to lead you into a life defined by God and when comfortable things happen, you rejoice and use them wisely for and with other people.  When uncomfortable things happen, you continue to look to the one who offered you life in the first place and follow where he leads and obey what he wants.
23. What’s the relationship between Faith and Reason?
    • Reason leads to Faith
    • Faith is not something that you have based on no evidence.  If I told you to jump off a cliff and you’d be fine, you might be hesitant at first.  But if I told you to jump off a cliff because it’ll be the most exhilarating experience of your life and I guide you and a group of people how to run, when to jump, what not to do, how to land in the water, and then you see 50 people jump off a cliff and be fine, you would then use your Faith to make a decision based on your reasoning that you’ll be ok and it’ll be a good experience.

Leg Swings

1. Forward – Backward
2. Side – to – side
3. Hurdle Trail Leg Forward
4. Hurdle Trail Leg Backward
5. Bent Knee Side – to – Side
6. Bent Knee Forward – Backward

Lunge Matrix

1. Front Lunge
2. Front Lunge w/ Twist
3. Side Lunge
4. Back and to Side Lunge
5. Backward Lunge