October 26 Wrap-up

What can we say but good things about our friends from Grace Valley Fellowship?! We really enjoyed sharing our time with them. If you missed out, don’t worry. They will be at Cherry-Crest Farms this Saturday.

1. Scavenger hunt - the scavenger hunt sent you all over the area. I heard a few people had some interesting stories like getting in trouble, leaving their youth pastor’s car door open while they ran off into Acme, and lots of competitiveness.
2. Pizza - delicious!
3. Hayride - Headed over to Sugartown Strawberries. I heard some singing during the hayride. Who was that? Anyway, it was enjoyable. Much laughter and joy.
4. Bonfire – I expected it to be bigger, but I think you all enjoyed beating each other up and running around like crazy people so we didn’t really worry about it.

I hope to see you all Saturday for Cherry-Crest Farms.

 

This week:

Saturday, November 1 [5-10 PM]: Amazing Maize Maze! $10

Sunday: Youth Group [5:30-7:30]

 

October 19th Wrap-up

October 19th the youth group joined in with the Sundae (ice cream sundaes, get it?) Praise that was emphasizing last summer’s trip to New Orleans responding to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Dan and Tyler (Cory’s in college) both did an excellent job expressing the impact the trip had on their lives then, and how it has changed the way they view many things today.

 

Here’s an excerpt from what Tyler said: 

•  Coming back to Philadelphia, Jesus restored my sight to the blessings around me.  I immediately began thinking of ways to give up some of the gratuitous excess around me, bereft of the painful greed that had once filled my heart.  I can now look into another’s eyes, and say:“Namaste,” meaning ’I honor the Holy One who lives in you.’ God has renewed my ability to look into His children’s eyes and see Jesus in each and every one.  In the aftermath of this trip, God really took the scales from my eyes, strengthening my ability to love others as He does.  God really did big things for all of us on that trip and since then, and I know he has even bigger things in store for every one of us.  Our trip to New Orleans was truly a dynamic and empowering experience. 

I tip my hat (and I hope you do too) to those who presented. It is difficult to get in front of people and share your heart with them. 

This is why we do short-term missions trips – to open our eyes to different pieces of our world; to stretch us emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally; to spread God’s love to those in spiritual and physical need; and to help us respond in a godly, missional way for everyday life. (That’s in no way a formal statement, but I think you get the picture).

Please pray for the following things:

1. Pray that those who went to New Orleans will continue to live godly, missional lives
2. Pray for those at Montvale Evangelical Free Church who went that they will do the same
3. Pray for those who are in NOLA (Steve, etc.) who have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina
4. Pray for the Gathering Community Church who continues to work in that area
5. Pray for God’s redemption and restoration to the lives of all those who have been hurt by the storm

This week:

Thursday: high school Bible study CANCELLED

Sunday night: combined youth group with Great Valley Fellowship (scavenger hunt, pizza, hayride, and bonfire) [4:30-8 PM] 

 

October 12 Wrap-up

Somehow, we’ve stumbled into October. Wow! Not sure what happened there. Anyway, this week we were relocated to Fellowship Hall since the Missions Conference needed the chapel. Don’t worry. We are fighting for our rights to get the chapel back! Youth group had a few “jams” because I forgot my cord to attach my laptop to the projector so we had to transfer everything to another laptop, which was not completely happy, but we survived…man over machine again.

A few things to mention about this past youth group -

 

1. The focus of the program was HIV/AIDS and the Christian response to this pandemic. 
2. Stations-worship asked God to lead us in responding and to heal those who have been infected by HIV/AIDS
3. Tim – thanks for giving announcements
4. Brooke kindly asked for the Eagles score – we were all bummed at the time but don’t worry, they did win
5. We proceeded to the second part of the Noah study called “The First Step.” We realized that God may be calling some of us to “take the first step” by being directly involved with helping those with HIV/AIDS, some may give money, and others will pray. But others may need to take the first step in helping someone at school, or on your soccer team, or at home. God sometimes breaks into our lives and asks us to take a step towards crazy, big things.
6. Frankie ended our time with prayer from Colossians

If you would like to watch the Kay Warren interview again, I found it on YouTube so you can view it below. I tried to find the other video “A Starfish Called Enoch,” but I couldn’t find it on YouTube; however, you can find the sample video of it here.

This week:

Sunday night: NOLA team presents to Missions Conference and ice cream sundaes to follow (5:30-7:30 PM)

 

High School “Redeem, Restore” Retreat

(This made my ministry update from my “What’s Cookin’?” weekly update on my blog, which you can check out here.)

High School’s “Redeem, Restore” retreat to Philadelphia was not only fun but was also a great time of growth for us. We did many things. I was wiped out by the end, and I know many of the high schoolers were, too. If you weren’t able to come this year, we missed you, and we hope you can come next year. Here’s some highlights:

1. Scavenger hunt in downtown Philadelphia – 15th & Market, down to 2nd & Chestnut, and to Chinatown. We did a lot of running around. Freshman destroyed all other high schoolers points-wise, but the others gained “style points” for their pictures. You can check out some of the pictures at the Flickr Photos section on the right-side of the page.
2. Slept on the floors of my parents church called Bethel. Surprisingly, I didn’t wake up with a back-ache so I was good.
3. Sunday Morning Breakfast Rescue Mission - we assisted the rescue mission clean up the streets, feed the homeless, and organize their food shelves, and we also heard some great stories from the people there
4. We were able to see our good friends from Montvale Church
5. Worshipped on Saturday night at Bethel - the Church at Franklin Mills and listened to Shane Claiborne give a talk. He really challenged us all to look deeply at how much we have and to treat each person with the love of Jesus. We loved Shane’s laugh and his southern accent.
6. We were able to visit The Well church in Feasterville, PA. The Well is a unique church, and they were very welcoming.
7.  Of course, being in Philadelphia we got cheesesteaks at Steve’s Prince of Steaks

Ultimately, what was really important was that we were able to spend the weekend with each other and gain a nice experience from the whole thing. Be sure to check out some pictures on some of each other’s Facebooks.

This week

Thursday night: high school Bible study from 7:30-8:15 PM

Sunday night: Youth Group from 5:30-7:30 PM (topic: “Noah: The First Step”) 

 

September 28 Wrap-up

Alright! A quick wrap-up of yesterday’s youth group. 

1. All of you brought tremendous energy and passion to worship. I actually heard clapping! Wow! I thought we were Presbyterian…just kidding.
2. Tim, Tiana, and Rachel both did an excellent job the past two weeks with leading and reading. Great job!
3. We finished our first part of the Noah series. If you’d like to watch the video, feel free to do so here. To sum up – the message there was that the world’s ways can be many-times evil, but God asks us to be “salt” and “light” in the world. We are not to be seduced by the world’s ways but to follow Jesus.

Thanks all for being there! We love you all, and we’ll see you soon.

 

This week

Wednesday: watch the Phillies in the Chapel (3 PM)

Friday-Sunday: High School’s “Redeem, Restore” Retreat to Philadelphia

Sunday night: NO YOUTH GROUP (next one – October 12)

 

September 21 Wrap-up

Wow! We are off and running. I have to say that I have been enjoying spending time with all of you. I’ve seen a few new faces, and I have enjoyed interacting with each of you. Here’s a few highlights:

1. The game time has been such a wonderful way to kick off the night. Everyone is coming to worship energized. It’s awesome!
2. You all really cheered for Amanda M. as she came up to give the announcements. It was loud and made her feel welcomed. Way to go!
3. We started our “The Life Of…” series. Noah – the world around him was evil, but he lived righteously. As I heard one group talked about, what a great compliment to be given from God!
4. The prayer time was a nice change during the night. To see guys with arms around each other and girls huddled up listening to each other’s requests was a blessing to the entire night

Coming this week:

  Thursday at 7:30 – High School Bible Study

  Friday night – Middle School Girls Sleep-over at Shucks

                        - Middle School “Guys Night” at GVPC from 6:30-9 PM

  Sunday – The Life of Noah Part 2 of Part 1 “A World Full of Evil”

 

September 14 Wrap-Up

I would like to thank any of you who came out last night to youth group. We had a great time…some of it being chips & salsa, and Rita’s water ice (why do they call it water ice?). Just a few things to remember from this past youth group until we meet again - 

1. Be Open to what God is saying to you this year (remember Samuel)
2. Be Open to each other’s differences. We are all one body, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians.
3. Be Open to difference and change. Like salsa, difference is needed to make it taste so good. Remember Paul says that people preach Christ differently, but the point is that they preach Christ, so what else matters?
4. Will we all be open to trying new things?

Also, the new song that we sang last night was called “Came to My Rescue” by Hillsong, and, if you’d like to download it, it’s on iTunes, and sing it out loud in your car or on the bus and have everyone stare at you…(warning: people may say, ‘Who sings that?’ Which you respond, ‘Hillsong.’ To which they respond, ‘Let them sing it.’ — This potentially could be a good conversation). You could also listen to a short version of it here (on the music player the top-right hand side of the page). Hillsong is much better than we are…maybe on day .

 

Coming up next Sunday: The Life of Noah Part 1

 

Rev Gen & BIG Saturday

Revelation Generation was an amazing time. Whether it was Bridget, Frankie, and Ethan in the pits or Tyler jammin’ to Skillet, we had an awesome time together listening to music and enjoying every moment of it. Here’s what went on – August Burns Red blew everyone away with the first set of the day at the Philadelphia Stage, and Bridget was introduced to the “pit;” Skillet brought lights and fog machines to make for some excellent entertainment; Toby Mac and the Diverse City Band helped the older crowd remember DC Talk and the younger crowd watch a good show; As I Lay Dying caused the Philadelphia Stage area to go into a massive frenzy of excitement; and Newsboys rose to new heights (literally) with their drumming. Here are some pics:

BIG Saturday was really BIG! Many of you came inside to enjoy the rainy day with jousting, obstactle course, sumo wrestling, and bands. GVPC represented at the dodgeball tournament – winning 1st Place! The trophy is a tiger on a block of wood and is in the High School Room. (I think I saw some kids crying after that but not sure). Also, “Chosen” dance group took us all through the history of hip hop dance, reminding us that it was the people who stood out from the crowd that were the ones who made a difference.

 

This week:

First HS Bible Study this Thursday from 7:30-8:30 PM

First Youth Group this Sunday, September 14

 

BIG SATURDAY is going to be really BIG

Big Saturday is on – Rain or Shine! We have enough space so we should be good. Meet at Hopewell UMC and get picked up there, too. Get directions from GVPC here. We will meet at the front of the church together at 5 PM, and food will be provided, but please come whenever you want…staying for the whole thing would be great! So…

Invite all your friends because this is going to be an amazing event.  The schedule has be filled.  City Life, Stephen Zimnock, Brad Rotz, Waiting for December, Tim Eaton, Unceasing, and Chosen from MTV’s Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew will all be performing.  There will be Sumo Wrestling, Joust, and an Obstacle Course to go along with numerous video game systems and Rock Band!  One team will be leaving with all the glory and the coveted Big Saturday Dodgeball Tournament Trophy (create a team when you get there). There will be food, which is by donations only, and the rest is all FREE!!!  Students from at least 6 different churches and 12 different schools will there, so again, get the word out, BIG SATURDAY is THIS SATURDAY 2-8pm.  See you there!

 

Starting This Fall: high school bible study

The high school bible study on 2nd & 4th Thursday nights of the month will be entering a topical series called “Burning Issues.” The series is based upon several articles by Relevant Magazine, where a panel of today’s Christian movers and shakers such as Brian McLaren, N.T. Wright, Nancy Ortberg, and others tackled the tough topics that have arisen in our current culture. The bible study will begin by looking at specific biblical passages that shape the ethical responsibility of followers of Jesus. The group will then move into discussing the Christian response to the burning issues of the current culture such as war, injustice, consumerism, gay rights, human trafficking, the future of the Church, and more.