Introducing teenagers to a cross-centered life

Frisco, TX >> This month marks their one-year anniversary as a church. But although they haven’t been around for long, Grace Church has already been serving other churches. In February, four men from Grace Church served at a youth retreat hosted by First Baptist Church of Beaumont, Texas. Discussions at the retreat focused on The Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney. A Grace Church member sent us this update…

When they received the invitation to serve at First Baptist Beaumont’s youth retreat, Grace Church pastors thought this would be a great opportunity to be a blessing to the church. Three men from Grace Church led discussions at the retreat and one spoke at the main sessions.

The weekend focused on reading and discussing every chapter of The Cross-Centered Life, using the questions that go along with the book. The retreat’s three main sessions focused on the work of the cross: removing God’s wrath, imputing Christ’s righteousness, and positioning us to experience the presence of God. For many students, this was the first book on the cross they’d read.

Justin Childers, associate pastor at First Baptist Beaumont, said, “The greatest impact from the conference was that our language has changed. This conference gave us precision and clarity to freely talk about what exactly the gospel is. I’m able to talk to my students about things like justification, sanctification, and wrath—terms I’ve never been able to use before. My students now have a framework for the gospel and it brings me great peace to know they know the main thing.”