Passage and Updates

Hope that everyone is having a great week!

This week's "Recommit" passage is Psalm 119:9-12. It is a great scripture that speaks to the importance of having a wise and godly focus. I think that it could be a great starting point for a conversation with your teen about the things that they (and us as adults) fill our time, hearts, and minds with. So, please mediate over this passage and talk about it as a family. On Wednesday, we will have a discussion about this passage in class.

Updates:
If you have a teen going on the Spring Retreat it would be great for me to know ASAP for our planning purposes. We won't leave until after dinner on Friday (6 or 7 range) and will return by the end of church on Sunday AM. If you have additional questions about schedule, like if your teen has to come late or leave for a little while for a game or something, then please talk to me about that and let's see what we can work out! It's going to be a great weekend that will hopefully help our teens to grow spiritually and encourage them to finish off the school year strong.

Mission Trips- official sign-ups will begin in a couple of weeks, but if you need to mark your calendars, Chicago will be June 4-6 and the Murphy will be July 20-25.

Passage of the week: Philippians 4:4-7

It's a new week and time for a new verse to commit to meditating on and putting into practice. This week, as I was thinking about being "Renewed", it struck me at just how busy we are. How much time do we make in our life to let God really work in it, or shall we say, renew us? Do we slow down from our busyness and frustrations to see God and honor him? Do we recognize how He's working...or even give him time to work? Or, would rather figure out everything on our own? In turn, I started thinking about the loads of stress and frustrations that can end up weighing us down due to hurried and chaotic lives in which we feel we must solve every concern on our own. Some stresses are self-made, others are from incidents beyond our control. As Christians, I don't think we are called to carry such a burden of stress and anxiety on our own. Instead, I think that we are blessed to have a God that loves us and wants to give us reason to celebrate!

Philippians 4:4-7 is an encouraging scripture about finding God's peace and avoiding fixation on worldly stresses. Hopefully you put this passage on your heart this week and carry it with you as a reminder about our call to rejoice in God and ability to pull from His help in times that bring anxiety into our lives.

Weekly "Commit Scripture"

I hope that some of you guys memorized and meditated on Romans 12:1-2 last week. Greg rewarded those you that did by preaching on it Sunday morning. It's so cool when the preacher talks about something that you already know so that you can sleep through the sermon! Ha.

I really hope that as we encourage our teens (and families) to recommit to the Scripture this year as part of our theme of "Renew" that you will keep your teen on task to and have some conversations with them about this weekly meditative scriptures. It's and awesome opportunity to have some time as a family to chew on a small morsel of scripture, and then digest it together while it fills you and makes you stronger!

This week's passage is Proverbs 4:23-25. Make sure to read the context, as it comes from a great Proverb about the power of learning following God's wisdom.

Each Monday I will put the scripture on the blog. Hope that you will come check it out and then make some comments about that passage. Let's be renewed with each other as we walk through 2010!

Something to think about

Hey guys. I wanted to pass along this article and youtube video that I came across today. It's something that I've thought about for a few years now and am glad to see that there's someone is actually motivated enough to do something about! Maybe next year we should get on board with something like this as a church. It's not too late for our families to adjust some thinking for this year!

Advent Conspiracy

Youtube Promo

Hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys the days off with your families.

During the next few weeks we have a few things going on-
First- the Youthreach Christmas Party @ Mike and Nancy Decamp's house is this Sunday (the 20th). Food is free. Students are asked to bring a $5 or less fun gift for to play "Dirty Santa".

Second- The boys are taking a road trip over New Years. If your family doesn't have anything going on and/or you'd just like to get your guy out of your hair for a couple of days send with me! I'm mailing out more info to the guys today. Make sure you check out the flier. I hope this will be a good chance to get the high school and middle school guys bonding a little more.

Third- We will be off of SNL on Dec. 27th and Jan. 3rd.

Forth- on Sunday, Jan 10th, we are going to have a family worship time that evening to kick off our new year, let you know about some new stuff for 2010, and dedicate the year through prayer and praise. More info. will come soon, but just wanted to give you head's up to go on and mark your calendars!

Alright, we're going to try updating some info here!

As I told you guys, I'm horrible with trying to get into a consistent habit of doing things online. But, I really want to try. So, I thought that we'd start with something easy like information about upcoming events that I'd really like to see as many teens as possible get involved with.

First up- This Sunday is Rake-n-Run (Nov. 15)
What you need to know- we'll eat lunch at church following worship. One of the life groups is preparing and cleaning up the meal for us. We'd like to have the teens bring $3 to help pay for the food. Each student should bring a rake (and maybe an extra if you have one) and his/her own gloves. We'll rake after lunch and return to the building about 4:00.

Next- "Stay Treat" (Nov. 20-21).
Here's the scoop- I think this is going to be a lot of fun and a great opportunity for our kids to worship in some unique ways without having to leave Indianapolis or spend lots and lots of money.

Cost- $20 (will cover everything except for a fast food lunch on Saturday).

Schedule-
6:30 PM Friday- Meet up @ Teen Center
That evening we're going to go play games and hang out at Jillian's downtown and then return to the church about 9:30 for worship to focus for the rest of the weekend.

10:30- Go to host home (split up in groups of 5-8) and have some small group time, fellowship, and sleep.

10:00 AM Saturday- Meet at the building for a day of worship, fellowship, and some play.
8:00 PM- Show videos that the teens will have made Saturday morning...which I'd encourage you to come be a part of.
8:30 PM- Wrap up and head home.

Let me know if you have any questions, but I hope you'll really encourage your teen(s) to participate!!! Even if they can't come to the whole thing, I hope they'll come to as much as possible.

Winterfest sign-ups.
Our early bird sign-up is through November 29th. Cost until that date is $100. We have fliers available in the Teen Center with more information specific for our group.

check out www.winterfest.org for more info on what Winterfest is all about.

Liability Forms!

We really need to get liability forms turned in with all the activities coming up. I have several teens that I don't have on file. It only takes a minute and it protects your teen in case of emergency.

Here a link to a printable form: Medical Liability Form.

Getting Started!

Hey there guys! I'm excited about getting this blog going. I hope that it will help with better communication for what's going on with the Youth Reach and your teens!

Please be patient with me as I learn how to most effectively. I've never really gotten into doing online stuff, but it can be such a powerful tool that we need to utilize to keep in touch.