Gimme God The Journey Of Your Unfolding Faith

Gimme God Leader's Guide: The Journey Of Your Unfolding Faith Copyright © 2004 by Youth Specialties Youth Specialties Books, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Aveune SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bundschuh, Rick, 1951- Gimme God leader's guide : the journey of your unfolding faith / by Rick Bundschuh. p. cm. -- (Highway visual curriculum) ISBN 0-310-25831-6 (softcover) 1. Christian education. 2. Christian education of young people. I. Title. II. Series. BV1471.3B86 2004 268'.433--dc22 2004008612 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (North American Edition). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or tranmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of publication. Please contact Youth Specialties via e-mail (YS@YouthSpecialties.com) to report URLs that are no longer operational and replacement URLs if available. Editorial and art direction by Rick Marschall Edited by Anita Palmer Proofread by Linnea Lagerquist Designed by Proxy Printed in the United States of America 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 / DC / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Avoiding God 1 Alternate Routes General Church Use Try running this little comedy-with-a-serious-message by some of your home Bible studies groups. You can even use ideas from the Small Group Bible study to get a discussion going. This concept ain't just for kids! Emergent Ministries Avoiding God is a wonderful starter for a number of messages. Toss it right up there on the screen and use it as a launch pad for some serious personal introspection. Small Group Focus: God loves us so much he pursues us. Biblical basis: Genesis 3:8-10, Daniel 5:1-29, 1:1-2:9, Matthew 27:3- 5, Mark 14:66-72 Stuff you need: Avoiding God film clip Getting Started When God gets on your trail he is hard to shake. Get a discussion going about some of the images that writers have used to describe this pursuing God. Get the discussion rolling by saying something like this: Writers commenting about God's tenacious love for people have sometimes made comparisons to him as a bloodhound on the trail of a fleeing suspect or as a cat who, once you feed it, keeps on coming back and back again. Some even use the concept that God is like benevolent acid-you can try to block him out but he eventually eats through everything we throw in his way. What do you think about these comparisons? Do they ring true? Why or why not? Any other comparisons you can think of for God in this way? If you have older students or more literary oriented students you may want to hand out copies of The House of Heaven by Francis Thompson (here are the first few lines; you can get the rest online) and get a discussion going based on this poem. The Hound of Heaven I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated, Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears, From those strong Feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase, And unperturbèd pace, AvoidBundschuh, Rick is the author of 'Gimme God The Journey Of Your Unfolding Faith', published 2004 under ISBN 9780310258315 and ISBN 0310258316.