July

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By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.

Proverbs 24:3

Hey Students!

We hope you're having an awesome summer! Whether you've been relaxing, working, traveling, or spending time with friends and family, we hope you've had a chance to enjoy the season. We just wanted to check in and let you know about some exciting things coming up over the next few weeks. We have some great events planned, and we'd love to see you there as we continue to grow in community and have fun together this summer!

What We Are Learning

Key Passage

Jeremiah 17:7

Big Picture Question

Can God be Trusted? ~Yes, God cannot lie or ever be wrong, so we can trust whatever He has Said.

Baptism

If you're interested in getting baptized, fill out the form and contact Wes with any questions.

Baptism Interest Form

Parent Resources

https://www.gracebiblesouderton.org/parent-resources

The Truth About Influence

And the smoothing of the stone.

I have five kids. They range from teenagers all the way down to a newly minted five-year-old. I hope you're picturing the variety of smells, the daily dramatics, and the mountain of dishes that, even as I write this, we still haven't gotten to. (Go ahead and throw in a dog named Sunday, and a cat named Friday, for good measure as well.)

There you go. Now we’re on this ride together.

There are so many voices in our home too. And not all of them belong to us. They belong to sports tryouts, and that friend that said that thing today, and the relentless chatter of YouTube. And then there are the voices that ambush me in the in-between moments. The pang of shame or the uninvited memory that creeps in while I'm busy doing life.

Our inner and outer worlds are just so loud.

One of the most extraordinary things I've discovered across five births is that in all the noise and chaos (and god-awful fluorescent lighting), something remarkable would happen— each one of my babies would turn their little head the moment they heard my voice. Not toward the nurses or the doctors. Toward me.

I was never prepared for how that would feel. And it was fresh with every child.

Researchers have found that babies begin recognizing their mother's voice in the womb as early as 18 weeks, and their father's as early as 23. By the time they arrive, they've heard these two voices thousands of times. A newborn will actually exert measurable effort to hear their parent's voices over any other. Neurologically speaking, we are the first things that register as safe.

Let me say this another way: Parents, we were written into them before they ever took a single breath.

I think about that now as some of my children have crossed the threshold into the teen years. Because somewhere between that delivery room and right now, a lot of other voices showed up. Loud ones. Ones with platforms, and a great deal of "influence." And sometimes, my voice feels entirely drowned out.

Influence is a funny concept these days. Culturally, we've handed the word "influencer" over to the internet, but like we spoke about in last week’s email, stripped back to its Latin root, influence — or influere — simply means to flow into. It's something that keeps returning, flowing inward, and over time changes the shape due to its presence.

Think about a river rock. Smooth and worn, rounded at most every edge. The rock didn't start off that way, nor did the river muscle it into shape. It happened because the same water moved over the same surface, day after day, year after year. And over time, it changed the sculpt of something sharp, into something shaped.

Parents, this is our work. But make no mistake, it will be our work over a lifetime.

Maybe you’re in the same season I am; navigating a whole lot of new voices. I want to remind you of something that I often remind myself of: None of the noise knows your child the way you do.

Not one of those voices was there in the beginning. They don't know what your kid looked like before they learned to mask up for an audience. They don't know their real laugh, or the way their cheek twitches when something is actually wrong. They don't know the version of your child that existed before the world had any opinion about them.

But You do.

That knowledge is the whole foundation of real influence. It's trust built slowly, through relationship, from the person who keeps showing up and truly knows them.

You are the original influencer in your teen’s life. And, as research continues to affirm, you are still the most profound one. There may be other voices, and that isn’t a bad thing! But they need your help sorting out which are worth their ear.

Your influence is discipleship in the making. Jesus spent three years forming His followers through presence. He walked with them, ate with them, corrected and encouraged them, all in the middle of ordinary life. And then He sent them out to do the same thing

Go. Make disciples.

Through your very real and needed influence, you are helping shape disciples who will one day go out and do the same. What beautiful and holy work to partake in.

We don't take lightly that you let Axis be a small part of it, so thank you.

Next week, we'll be talking about one real and tangible way you can keep that influence going in the lives of the rising generation.

Until then…

—Brie Naughton & The Axis Team

CONVERSATION STARTERS

For You to Ask Yourself:Where have I underestimated the power of simply being present and known, the way I was to them from the very beginning?
For You to Ask Your Teen:When something hard happens, whose voice do you hear in your head—and what does it sound like?

Axis equips parents with practical, Christ-centered resources to help navigate today's culture and lead meaningful faith conversations with their teens. Subscribe for conversation guides, culture updates, and biblical encouragement.

Grace Bible Souderton

Mission - Transformation - Prayerfulness

Grace Bible Church is a community of people on a journey to become like Jesus in our relationships with God, one another, and the world.

Sunday Worship Service 9:30 AM | Sunday School Hour 11:05 AM

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