Quick update...

Quick update...

Tomorrow we're doing an announcement in front of the church regarding the youth ministry. It will be a simple presentation about what we're looking to do and Pastor Dave will lead us into it.

That's about it...

- Lance

Update!

Been going just about all day... figured I'd drop in and communicate a couple things.

Earlier today I met with Pastor Dave and we talked about the youth ministry and I just went over with him about how our meeting went and some of the things we discussed. He put in his planner that we're having our first event on the 27th of June and I told him a bit about what our plans were regarding the layout of that evening, etc. I didn't go into great detail about particular events, curriculum, (mainly because I'm still fleshing some stuff out)

As far as addressing the church on Sunday about an announcement- he's going to talk with the leaders this week about it. As far as future activities (games, etc.) if any one has any idea's... let's start brainstorming as time moves on I'll have more details regarding specific lessons I want to introduce and we can build games around those lessons. I was thinking of putting together a "show and tell" type activity each time we meet up. This would be a chance for the students (or even us) to share with the others how God is working in our lives and this can be signified by a keepsake that means something, a talent or gift that God is using (a song, a skit, a writing, drawing, a story, etc) this would help create community and would give allowance to each individual to worship how God desires them to.

I've been coming up with a philosophy regarding Christian world-view. For example...
1. Creation + Hope 2. Fall 3. Redemption... Vocation...etc
As far as the mission of the group... well to put it in plain sight
It has been said that roughly 88% of teens that graduate high school- leave the Church at the same time! We can put that on the world all we want and point at the "worldly" reasons for this... but the reality is that the Church has to own this. We have to own this. Why is there such a great divide? It could be that we have done youth group incorrectly for quite some time and it's going to take sound teaching, authentic living, incredible love and openness with one another to turn these numbers around. I'm telling you... we're going to change the world with this. I believe that this youth group is a hinge point for a lot of other groups in the future.

We'll wait and see... but I'm also questioning the combining of the middle and high schoolers. Yet lets just see how things pan out after our first get together on the 27th.

That's it for now... I could write for some time... but I have to get going.

- Lance

First Youth Meeting

Hey guys. 

Just a question. Are we still planning on doing the youth meeting on the 13th? If we aren't I feel like we should plan another day to get together. Haha I know Zac and Lance have been trying to get together for a while but the day is drawing closer.

Just throwing out a line.

Keely

Howdy

Hey everyone!

Sorry just now getting on here- life has been pretty busy as of late.

I believe that this platform could truly work as a solid communication tool. I can only speak for myself but with everyones busy work schedules, life schedules, etc... we just need to continue to work towards better communication as most of our success will be consistant with sound communication. There are a dozen different ways to communicate idea's, announcements, plans, etc... I would just hope that we could settle on one or two things in order to avoid frustration and so that we're all on the same page.

I'm really excited about the opportunity at hand, and hopefully my eagerness, or passion towards the material doesn't push anyone away. Because I believe that we all have amazing gifts to bring to the table, I'm just very passionate about the Gospel, about teaching God's word and about bringing up these teens with an understanding of God's love and purpose for them. So please bear with me if I come across aggressively about getting things underway, and about making sure that we're communicating on a regular basis. I have in the past been a part of different groups where we had an incredible range of talent sitting in the room but the lack of putting aside adequate time for planning and having sound communication divided the room and led to us failing.

So that's that... I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you!

- Lance

Response

Hey Guys!

Sorry it's taken us so long to get into the game...baby Reese and all!

We'd love to get together with everyone soon. We (okay mostly I since I didn't ask Zac yet) were thinking that if we wanted to meet somewhere we could either meet at the church or you all could come over to our place since we're probably the half-way point between your two places of residence. I know Sunday after church we have Keely's birthday dinner, but depending on everyone's plans after that maybe we could meet. I'll have Zac call the Pearce's then we'll call the Wallace's to see about getting up to announce things tomorrow at church.

As far as the Office thing...agreed...awesome idea to work toward...I'd hate to miss doing it!

Parents...I'd like to go to each one individually and let them know what's up and invite them to come to a pizza party one Sunday after church within hopefully the next month. I've already compiled a list of who all of our parents are so we can seek them out. All of the youth of our church minus one come from single mother homes. What a need for you guys to come in and love them and teach them...and us ladies for the girls to show them how to love our husbands and seek the Lord, etc.

Anything else...sorry I forgot already if there was anything. Zac gets off work at 6:15pm so I'll try to have him call after he gets home. We're excited for awesome things ahead! :)

Amy :)

Response

I wasn't sure if I should just comment on the post or just write another one. I decided this would probably be seen better than a comment so here is my response. 

1. I think your first point is a good idea. We obviously don't have a lot of time to put something like together and have it be well done. I think just laying out what we're planning is a good enough idea that will allow the parents to just kind of think about it and to also encourage their kids to come!

2. I just have a question about this remark. What do you mean by advertise? Like an announcement? Because really if you think about it this isn't a normal "announcement" like we have at church. If the six of us (or even just one couple) go up to the front and say that we're starting a youth group I think people will be so excited because we've never been close to having one.

3. We concur.

4. I think at least one meeting with the parents is also a great idea. And you are most likely right about not having to meet with them very often.

Just a side note on availability. This weekend we are available Friday afternoon/evening, Saturday morning/afternoon and then obviously Sunday is Sunday. I don't know if that's relevant but just wanted to throw that out there.

Keely  

Just an idea

Figured this might be a good way to communicate through out the day- we can list idea's, questions, concerns, etc here. Until Tina and I can get a microphone and skype up and running... we can utilize this as a means of comm. So here are a few things I've been thinking...

1. The "Office" idea is great for a future theme or something but perhaps due to time constraints, etc... we might want to opt for something a bit easier to run with? Just a thought...

2. We should advertise the event this Sunday- we can hold conversation about what we want to address through out the week on here... I've come up with a basic Who/What/Where/How/etc... type write-up... I'll attach the rough draft of it below for reading.

3. I'm very excited about everything that we're working on and I hope that we can all get together in the near future and talk about things further. Personally I'm ready to take this youth event to the max... Pastor Dave has told me in the past in weekly meetings that he wholy wants us to make it our own and that he would like to see our personalities in this project.

4. Last, perhaps it would be a good idea that we meet with the youth (even this weekend coming up) discuss with them what they might be interested in learning, etc... then create a write up concerning what they had to say and then we can meet with the parents. Either way I would hope (and I do believe) that we're only in need of meeting up with the parents one time, and after that I'm almost positive that we will have their consent to touch all area's of life concerning their children. With "heavy" issues I'm inclined to believe that we can do no worse that the public school system that's in place- quite honestly I'm positive that we will talk about "the big issues" in a way that is not only honest and real but also convincing- I'm just a big believer that if Pastor Dave has given us "the keys" to this activity then he must trust us to do well with it... which if he believes in what we're set to put together so should the parents that attend the church.


Youth Gathering

Topics Covered
-Who
-What
-Where/When
-Why
-How

-Who?
The Six of us.
- What?
Youth Group Bi-Weekly Service complete with an open forum for discussion, teaching, worship and (of course) Fun!
- Where/When?
SoulQuest Church (Saturday Evening)
-Why?
Because its imperative that our youth become equipped with a Faith they can be both lived out and that they can grow with. Because those that are in High School when they graduate from school they often also “graduate” from the Church. Because these are the formative years for Faith, Because Luke 18:16 has Jesus calling to the children, and stating that we’re “not to hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to them.” Jesus had placed a high importance on the children and so should we.
-How?
We’ll learn through a variety of activities. Through a curriculum tailored made to help the youth learn to engage and support their Faith convictions. Students will learn to question, and yet question with integrity and honesty. By helping the youth develop a worldview- a system of belief. By not leaving any questions off the table. By having fun and enjoyment through worship, fellowship and community building exercises. By opening up our own lives to the youth, by being real, and honest and acting with Christ-like love.

If you want to keep posts in secret- save them as a draft and leave them unpublished.

Hopefully this helps with communication and go ahead and change the format, template, etc. I just set things up in a hurried fashion.

Peace be With you.