Utter Chaos!

Sunday night's program started off with a crazy game of "Chaos" where we divided up into four groups, each at a corner of the room. The object of the game was for each team to get to the opposite corner of the room at the same time. Needless to say it got nuttier as we had to change our form of locomotion each time: hopping, skipping, crawling, jumping, and twirling. After the game we joined the middle school and Christian Adventurer groups to hear Emma Jones and Rachel Levy talk about their experiences in the Peace Corp. They both volunteered to spend two years of their lives helping other people in other parts of the world. Rachel spent time in Peru and Emma in Tanzania. We got to hear local music, see clothes that the local's wore, and see pictures of the interesting people they encountered.

Fantastic Kick-Off!

We had a great kickoff night. We got to meet the new rising freshmen and a few new faces and got introduced to the theme for the year, "Thy Kingdom Come". Laura Jones led us as we first went outside to play a beach ball game. Each person got tossed the beach ball and had to answer one of the crazy questions written on the ball. After we learned a few wacky new facts about folks we went inside and used crayons, markers, and lots of old magazines to create on big mural paper what we thought the Kingdom of God looked like. After creating our first impression we talked about what we thought the Kingdom of God was like and what "Thy Kingdom Come" meant. We then returned to fresh mural paper and again did our best artistic impression of what we thought the Kingdom of God looked like. You can see some of our creations hanging in the youth room. This year looks to be fantastic fun!

Spring Roll (this is our Spring in a nutshell!)

Whoa! It's been a while since we entered anything on here. Spring tends to fly by and be so busy. Just a brief wrap up of our Spring events since last update:

• Terrific Youth Sunday! Melinda and Gair's planning and the kids' execution was very powerful and meaningful. We had comments like "best youth Sunday program ever" etc.
• Great "Fun Raiser" with the youth putting on a fantastic talent show. Wonderful BBQ thanks to the men of the church.
• Beach Trip - See Andy's note below:

We had a fantastic time at Topsail Beach on the Spring Retreat. This year's theme was "The Upside of Down Time" and we learned all about Sabbath. We learned why rest is important (and even a commandment from God). We stayed in a rockin' beach house that came complete with a pool table, ping pong table (on which Eric Fletcher dominated), an air hockey table, and a foosball table. We ate great food, colored awesome pictures, dove into cold water, relaxed ourselves from toe-to-head ("breath iiiinnnnn, breath ooooouuuut"), watched dog shows on TV, threw balls at each other while blindfolded, played competition twister, and even managed to get a few hours of sleep. Most braved the cold water to enjoy hopping over and under the waves. Many shells were collected and only a marginal amount of sand was brought back into the house to end up in our beds. No injuries were reported other than minor sunburns and near heart attacks when Andy showed us the finer points of running over things (curb check!).

Youth Sunday Planning

Twenty youth were present tonight for our first brainstorming session for Youth Sunday. We discussed the liturgical scriptures to glean their meaning and get ideas about what we should begin thinking about for their interpretation and for our theme. We learned that doing this is called exegesis. The scriptures for March 9th are:

• Ezekiel 37:1-14
• Psalm 130
• Romans 8:6-11

If you didn't make it tonight, don't worry, there is still plenty to plug in and do. We will go more in depth into our planning next week and really be defining the theme, laying out our program, and assigning our roles and to-dos.

Until next week!

Family Feud

Tonight, we had another wonderful meal prepared by the kitchen volunteers. Scott then led us downstairs for a terrific game of Family Feud Bible Edition in the Senior High room. We had 20 youth present and they really impressed us with their knowledge of the Bible.

Up Next: Next week, Feb. 3rd, is the Super Bowl Party for all Senior High youth at the Zeugners' house.

Feb. 10th: We'll use our meeting time to get started planning for Youth Sunday! Bring your talents and ideas!

Ski Trip!

Last weekend, 3 advisors and 16 youth visited Boone and enjoyed perfect weather for skiing. Our scripture discussion for the weekend followed Simon Peter through a down time (valley) in his life when Jesus rebuked him in Mark 8:31-33, to a mountaintop experience, when Jesus was transfigured before him, in Mark 9:2-9. We discussed how like Peter, a lot of times we may be confused about our faith, and focused too much on worldly things, but that God gives us "spiritual mountaintop experiences" to give us a glimpse of his glory. We discussed how the mountaintop is a place where we, like Peter, would like to dwell, but that in our faith, it is our duty to come down from that mountain to share these experiences with others.

See all the pictures from the trip here --> http://picasaweb.google.com/appstate95/SkiTrip200802

Christmas Party 2007

The senior high youth and advisors celebrated Jesus' birth and the end of the first semester at our house on Dec. 16th. We shared some great appetizers and then traded our funny gifts in what has become our traditional Christmas "White Elephant" gift exchange. Some of the most coveted gifts included an "Easy Button", Froot Loops cereal bowls, and one rather unusual purse.

See pictures here --> http://picasaweb.google.com/appstate95/SHYouthChristmasParty2007

Next Up Jan 6th - "The Ups and Downs of Transitioning into Post-High School Life" with a very special guest panel.

Jan 13th - Exam Study Break - Games & Movie "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey"

Jan 18-20th - Winter Retreat - Ski Trip to Boone and Sugar Mountain

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2008 to All!