CBC Youth

Mismatch and Ice Cream

2010-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our Trek group on Wednesday nights has been doing a great job of saying verses and bringing friends to club. In fact after only 4 weeks they have reached their first reward - ICE CREAM!! So this Wednesday, October 13th we will have ice cream sundaes at Trek!

This Wednesday is also Mismatch Night. If you come wearing mismatched clothing you will get points for your team. I'm looking forward to seeing how creative you all are!

Hope to see you Wednesday!

Taming the Tongue from Profanity

2010-10-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. James 3:9-10 (NIV)

Cursing, profanity and filthy language have long been a problem for humanity. I have shared with our youth at CBC that when I was in high school I used a lot of profanity - something that saddens me now as I look back on my life. I knew it was wrong because it was dishonoring to God, but I did it anyway because it seemed to be viewed as "cool" if you cussed. Rather than having a desire to honor God with my tongue I chose to compromise so others would accept me more.

God's word makes it clear that profane and filthy language is not honoring to Him. But more and more it is becoming acceptable by believers. There are certainly those who use it and know it is wrong. However, my concern is those believers who think there is no problem with it. When the world considers something profane and Christians have no problem with it, we have a real problem on our hands.

Profanity is more common today in music, TV and movies than ever before. Use of profanity that used to get a PG-13 rating in movies now seems to get a PG rating instead. Our culture seems to be more accepting of it. And so have we as Christians. I don't know how many times I have heard and even used myself the line that bad language in a song or movie or TV show doesn't affect me. You may not hear profanity and then start spouting it, but what we put in our minds no doubt affects us. This is why I believe God directs us not to "conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" - Romans 12:2a.

I recently read an article by Plugged In on this subject. It was entitled "Why Profanity Matters". In it the author does a good job of dealing with this issue. I would encourage you to read it.

I believe the Bible makes it quite clear that as with all of our life our language is to honor the Lord. As we yield to the Holy Spirit who indwells us as believers, the fruit that is produced includes self-control. Sure the filthy language during the time the Bible was written didn't refer specifically to the English profanity used today - it didn't have to. This command crosses all cultures and languages. And it reaches beyond just a profane word and applies to jokes and conversations that are filthy yet profanity free. The language we use is just one aspect of our Christian life but is still important. Let's use the tongue the Lord has given us to honor Him!

Sr. High Sledding

2010-01-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

Our senior high recently went sledding at Oakhurst Hill. We all had an enjoyable time. Here are some pictures:

MS Missions Trip - Day 2

2009-07-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a full day!

After Ryan A. and I were greeted by the red wasps, we started our schedule for the day at 9 a.m. with "orientation" of the ministry of FOA and a tour of the ministry. For more information on FOA, you can check out their blog.

We then headed into town for lunch at the Froghead Grill. In case you were worrying, there were no frogs served as part of the menu but they did have catfish and of course, some fried pickles. However, most of our group stuck with burgers and wraps - playing it safe!

After lunch what better place to go than the Mecca of the south - Bass Pro Shop. And boy was this store a doozy! We went to the shooting range inside (don't worry moms, they were laser guns) and looked around at all the hunting and fishing stuff. It took a while because so much was camouflaged. He he, I crack myself up. Okay maybe not so funny...moving on.

From there we saw a few other sights in Jackson including the Ross Barnett Reservoir and then drove on a portion of The Natchez Trace back to FOA.

After about an hour of free time, we loaded back up and went to The Club to enjoy a cookout and time of swimming with some of the youth from Riverwood Bible Church. We will be teaming up with this group this week to lead these 5 Day Clubs. Many thanks to Mr. Miner who allowed us to use his club for this purpose and provided the food for us.

After we were finished there, we went back to FOA to get some rest. We have to be well rested - we've got a full week ahead!

Here are some pics to enjoy from Day 2:

Touring the ministry of FOA in the heat

Our tour - donated items at a garage sale

Our tour - the girls couldn't resist this pic opportunity of course

And everyone thought this would be funny too for some reason

Caleb was just hanging around waiting for lunch

This was a sign at the Froghead Grill to know if you are a Froghead or not

Chowing down!

Scott made a new friend at the restaurant

Bass Pro Shop - from the inside

Our group in front of the big aquarium

David at the shooting range

Ryan and Hannah taking aim

NO RUTH!! Don't do it

Kay and Priscila being silly with camo coushins

Our group swimming at The Club

Having fun; staying cool

A little pool football of course

All that swimming works up an appetite

MS Missions Trip - Day 1

2009-07-11T21:04:00.001-07:00

Our summer youth missions trip to Mississippi to

be involved with 5 Day Clubs and to help at the ministry of FOA began this past Friday morning at 4:00 a.m.

Thankfully, our trip in 3 vans was uneventful and some kids even got some sleep. Everything went smoothly and by the time we stopped in Arkansas for lunch, we began to really feel the heat. After about 14 hours and a few stops we arrived in Jackson, MS at FOA around 6:00 p.m.

Unfortunately the electricity at the ministry had gone off due to a limb falling on the power lines. So we were without electricity and therefore air conditioning until about 8:30 p.m. But we survived the evening heat by walking around some parts of the ministry and spending some time in the pool. By the time we were ready for bed the air was back on...and from all reports I received everyone slept well after a long day!

Here are som pics from Day 1:

Stretching out at the rest stop with some football

Lunch at the Arkansas Welcome Center - HELLO HEAT!

Welcome to Mississippi!

Eating dinner on the porch at the girls' house

On our mini tour we met the horses.

5 Day Clubs @ St. David's

2009-07-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

Ten of our Senior High youth participated in a 5 Day Club hosted by St. David's church. Aaron, Hannah and ten of our Senior High youth group went and helped.

The club was a "High Octane" club in which games would start the club. There was a wide range of games, on Tuesday one of the children brought a soccer ball and the boys played soccer Tuesday and the rest of the week. The games outside would last for a half an hour and then the children would get water to cool everyone down.

Inside we would go, down to the basement where our ten Senior Highers would take control of the club. They did all the work while I sat back and watched. We would open with prayer and our 5 rules. Then singing. we would learn a verse, listen to a Bible story, play another game, have a craft, learn about missionaries in Fiji, and finally listen to a missionary story.

Our host and a few other ladies from St. David's Church provided wonderful lunches each day.

On the first day we had four children recieve Christ as their Savior!!!

This club was to help our ten senior highers prepare for a missions trip to Mississippi where they will team up with Riverwood Bible Church's youth and hold 5 Day Clubs. Each day there will be four clubs, beginning Monday July 13th and ending July 17th. Each of these clubs will also be "High Octane" clubs with games in the beginning!!!

Water Wars Tug-O-War Video

2009-06-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I couldn't resist - Jakob started out sitting out of tug-o-war since his team would have an obvious advantage. But then his team was getting handled, so he jumped in. So then Esther and Hannah (two other leaders) jumped in to help the other team while Jakob was in the front. Here is the video:

Jr. High Water Wars

2009-06-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

We had a Jr. High gathering this past Saturday at CBC. Since it was so hot out, it was nice to play some water games. Here are some pics for you to enjoy of our time.

JP taking aim

The rest of the team preparing to catch the balloon

Taylor ready to fire!

Here it comes!

Balloon toss down the assembly line

Marissa wringing out the sponge -
moving water from one bucket to another

Catching the balloon on your hat - with pins on it.

And that is what happens when you catch it!
BTW - Jake was a leader but was used to even up the teams
Good job Jake!

Putting on the oversized wet clothes

More oversized for some than others.

A little tug-o-war anyone?

Kind of like duck, duck goose - only splish, splish

SPLASH!!

All in all, we had a great time - and a great relief from the heat! Thanks to all who came and those who helped.

Summer Wednesday Nights

2009-06-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

We started our Summer Wednesday Night program for our youth a few weeks ago and have been having a great time so far.

We meet at 6:45 p.m. at CBC and start out by playing games of some sort. So far this year, we have mainly played volleyball - sometimes regular vball; sometimes with a gigantic volleyball as you can see in the pics.

Some people just like to hang out and talk.

This summer we trying to incorporate some singing into our time with some of our youth leading the music. So after vball, we head in to sing.

After singing we spend some time taking prayer requests and praying for one another. And then we spend time in our Bible study. This summer we are studying Basic Bible Doctrine by RC Barth. So far we have just focused on Knowing our Bible - Old and New Testament. How the Bible is laid out, why it is laid out that way, and what we need to know in order to be able to study it properly.

So far we are having a great time. If you are graduated 6th-12th grade and want to join us, please come and be a part. We are looking forward to a great summer!

By Your Side

2009-06-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

I recently heard this song by 10th Avenue North and I thought the lyrics were really good. So I added the song to the playlist below (if you want to listen to it) and then we played this song at our last Wednesday night Bible study and talked about the lyrics a little.

I think the line "why are you striving these days" is a great way to start off the song. The striving leads to the next line - "why are you trying to earn grace". WOW!! What a line. Grace by definition cannot be earned and yet because we often have little understanding of grace or we are caught up in the way this earthly world works, we often find ourselves trying to earn God's grace. We need instead to rest in all that God has provided for us. We don't earn it; he gives it to us freely!

And then the lines "why are you looking for love" - looking somewhere else besides God. "Why are you searching as if I'm not enough". God is enough. He is all sufficient. And yet we are often trying to fill a void in our lives with something else. We aren't standing on the fact that He is enough.

Anyway just some thoughts here. I really like this song. Listen to it and read the lyrics and I think you will like it too!

By Your Side

Artist: Tenth Avenue North

Album: Over and Underneath

Why are you striving these days?

Why are you trying to earn grace?

Why are you crying,

Let me lift up your face,

Just don't turn away.

Why are you looking for love?
Why are you still searching, as if I'm not enough?
To where will you go child,
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run?

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you.

My hands are holding you.

Look at these hands and my side,

They swallowed the grave on that night,

When I drank the world's sin

So I could carry you in

And give you life.

I want to give you life.

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you.

My hands are holding you.

Cause I, I love you.

I want you to know

That I, I love you

I'll never let you go.

And I'll be by your side

Wherever you fall

In the dead of night

Whenever you call

And please don't fight

These hands that are holding you.

My hands are holding you.

Long Time, No Post

2009-04-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, apparently it has been a while since I posted last - January 8th to be exact. I could blame in on the fact that on Jan. 12th, Brittany and I welcomed our second son into the world and have been trying to catch up on sleep ever since. But you know full well that this is not the first time or even second or third time that I have failed to update the blog consistently - oh and by the way it probably won't be the last time. So let's just move forward.

In January we took our Sr. High group out for a Snow Day. The only problem was that it was one of the coldest days of the year. The sun was out and it looks nice in the pictures, but the windchill was close to -25 or so. Needless to say, we only stayed about an hour.

After that we took the bus back to the church where we hung out, ate pizza, spent some time in God's Word together, and had fun together. And it was WARM!!

Here are some pics from the short sledding day:

Hiking up the hill

The view from the top

Mr. Sadler - ready to go

Going down!

Jakob in mid air - heading down!

Hopefully next year it will be a bit warmer for our snow day excursion. But even amidst the cold we still had a lot of fun!

Is This True of Us?

2009-01-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. (NIV) Philippians 4:8

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV) Romans 12:2

Christmas Story Fallacies, Part 3

2008-12-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken so long to get to part 3 - it has been a busy few weeks - that business can be the source of another post.

So since it is Christmas Eve, this is the last one I will get to, so let's make it a doozy.

Fallacy #3: The modern day nativity scene

Where to begin.

Our modern day nativity's usually look something like this: A stable scene with baby Jesus in a wooden trough filled with hay. The star is above the barn, and the shepherds are present along with the wise men and their gifts. And of course Mary and Joseph are there next to Jesus.

Now we have already dealt with the wise men situation - they are not present when Jesus is a baby. They were added due to flannelgraph and marketing conspiracies (okay, I'm just kidding but who really knows).

This is what the Bible text says, "And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7 (NASB)

As I researched some information about Christ's birth, where He was born, and what the manger looked like, the only thing I think I know for sure is that our present nativity scenes are not accurate. What is accurate - it is hard to say for sure.

Let's make these observations:

Mangers during this time were probably not made of wood, but carved out of stone.
The Bible never mentions a barn/stable.
The Bible never mentions an innkeeper - I have heard before that this innkeeper had a stable out back for the animals of the people staying in the inn, and so he put up Mary and Joseph there.

Some Biblical scholars say that the word "inn" actually is referring to a guest room in a house. So with this thinking, Mary would have had the baby in a home in the main gathering area because there was no room in the guest room for them. And since there were mangers in these main gathering rooms (because the livestock stayed in the house at night), she placed the baby in a manger.

That thinking basically takes our little "Western minded nativity" (like the picture I included) and throws it right out the barn window.

Others I have read would say that this manger would have been in a tower in the city. This tower would be used by shepherds to watch their flock. In the bottom level of the tower was a place where sheep would give birth. When these sheep gave birth, the priestly shepherds would wrap them in swaddling cloths and lie them in a manger. The reason for this was to keep them from having defect since these sheep born in Bethlehem were used for the sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem about 5 miles away. So when the angels told the shepherds where to find the baby, they knew right where to go.

I am not positive about either of these examples, but I am pretty confident our modern nativities are Biblically inaccurate in a few ways. Now, my purpose in these fallacies is not to be the religious Christmas grinch, but rather to remind us to examine the Biblical text and understand that an undertanding of the culture and lifestyle of the time will give us a different view than trying to impose our culture and lifestyle on the Bible.

These fallacies do not take away from this most important truth: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbled Himself and took on human flesh. He became a human and was born as a baby. He did this so that He could pay the price for sin that no other human could pay. He grew to be a man and died on the cross to pay for our (mine and your) sin because He loved us. He rose from the grave on the 3rd day, defeating death. He made it possible through His death and resurrection for every human being to be reconciled to God through faith in His finished work. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved..." Acts 16:31 (NASB).

Christmas Story Fallacies, Part 2

2008-12-03T14:58:00.001-08:00

I mentioned at the end of Part 1, that the next thing I would deal with would concern the nativity and the wise men.

Fallacy #2: The wise men visited BABY Jesus.

There is no doubt that these wise men or magi from the east did visit Jesus. But based on the nativities we see, these wise men visited Jesus when He was a baby. Many of them imply that the wise men were there with the shepherds when Jesus was born. This is not what the Bible tells us.

Back to Matthew 2:1, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea...behold magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem..." (NASB).

In Matthew 2:11 we read that the magi entered the house. This was not where Jesus was born. It is obvious that since His birth, Joseph and Mary had found a place to live in Bethlehem. In addition in the Matthew 2 passage, Jesus is referred to as the Child. This Greek word for child is different from the Greek word that would have been used for a newborn infant.

So how old was Jesus when the wise men visited? We can't say for sure, but he wasn't a baby and he was under the age of 2. How do we know that? Well, later in Matthew 2 we read about Herod's plot to kill Jesus. In order to make sure he killed him, Herod ordered that all the children 2 years old and under be killed (v.16). Where did Herod get this number? In v.7, we read that Herod met with the magi to find out when they saw the star? It seems that Herod was using this as a time when Christ would have been born. So from that information, Herod decided to kill all boys 2 and under. I would think that Herod would have added a little bit of time to make sure that he killed Jesus. I mean what if they were off a day or two and Jesus was 2 years and 2 days; Herod wouldn't have wanted to miss killing this one called the king of the Jews. (v.2).

So I would say that at this time Jesus was probably between 1.5-2 years old. Somewhere in there. Also, consider that the magi traveled from the east; not a short journey.

So why do all the nativities include wise men? I don't know. Maybe some of you know why. I haven't researched that. Maybe they want to sell more pieces. Maybe someone got confused early on and it just stuck. Maybe they were trying to put all of the visitors to Jesus together. Maybe it was a flannelgraph conspiracy (I don't hate flannelgraph, I just think it is interesting how much flannelgraphs can shape the minds of young children and confuse them if they are not accurate). But none the less, the nativities of the wise men visiting baby Jesus with the shepherds are not Biblically accurate.

So what do you do with the wise men in your nativity? That is for you to decide. My wife sets them up on the other side of the room as if they are traveling for their visit. Maybe you have other suggestions.

Christmas Story Fallacies, Part 1

2008-12-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Recently at our training for our Birthday Parties for Jesus coming up this month we were reminded that we must be careful to look at God's Word for truth and not necessarily what someone else tells us.

Taking that thought, I want to expose some common misconceptions concerning the Christmas story. When we look at God's Word we will see that what we have often been told is not actually exactly what is the truth. So I may try to devote several posts to this topic over the next few days.

Fallacy #1: There were ONLY 3 wise men

Well, we probably have all seen or heard that there were 3 wise men that visited Jesus. Not necessarily. I mean there could have been 3; in fact there probably were 3, but not necessarily just 3.

We find the account of the wise men visiting Jesus only the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 2:1 says, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying," (NASB)

Notice that the text does not say 3 wise men. So where do we get 3? Well, it is true that 3 gifts are mentioned. Matthew 2:11 - "...and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh." (NASB). So usually when pictures or flannelgraphs are made, there is a different person holding each gift. So 3 gifts and therefore 3 wise men.

So while I can't dogmatically say there weren't only 3 wise men or magi; we also can't dogmatically say that there were. But that is what we are often led to believe. Even the song that starts, "We 3 kings of Orient are" implies 3 wise men. Most all of the nativities that are made include 3 wise men.

I'll end there and let you know that the next fallacy will also include the wise men and the common nativity scenes seen each Christmas.

The most important question...what does God's Word say!

NOT SO FAST!!

2008-11-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't like how our culture seems to be "skipping" Thanksgiving again. Obviously we won't actually be skipping Thanksgiving, but for the past 3 weeks as I walk into stores I see lots of Christmas stuff everywhere. Christmas music playing on the radio, Christmas this and Christmas that.

Now, don't get me wrong...I really enjoy Christmas. I enjoy so many things about Christmas, but I don't like that Thanksgiving is being skipped over. I am sure this week we will hear a lot about how to prepare a Turkey and what football games are coming up and plenty of other stuff that our world has made Thanksgiving, but for us as believers Thanksgiving should be a great celebration of a much different focus.

Thanksgiving is not about having a few days off of school and a lot of food. Its roots are found in a feast that the Pilgrims and Native Americans gathered for in the fall of 1621, not quite a year after the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, MA after a long and difficult journey across the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower. These Pilgrims came seeking religious freedom. Although they were English colonists, they had moved to Holland looking for religious freedom before they decided God's will was for them to move to America. Although Thanksgiving wasn't an official holiday at this feast, we trace the roots of this holiday to this early gathering. Their purpose was to thank the Lord for His provision and direction and for the freedom they now did have to worship the Lord.

I recently was listening to the daily broadcast of Family Life and heard that Barbara Rainey had written a book that has recently been released in an audio book format that reminds us of the story of the early Pilgrims. I would encourage you to go their audio website and listen to this production.

We too should be continually thanking the Lord for all of His provisions - not just materially by the way. I often think that our mind would be changed so much concerning what we are thankful for if we heard the thanksgivings offered by our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world who do not have many if any material possessions. And yet they have so much to be thankful to the Lord for.

So this Thanksgiving, and every day really, have an attitude of thankfulness to the Lord and focus on thanking Him simply for who He is. If everything was taken from us and all was wiped away, we could still be thankful for who God is and as believers for who we are in Christ.

Catching Up...

2008-11-20T14:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, it has been a while - almost two months. It's not that things haven't been going on, I just haven't taken the time to blog about them.

So I thought I would catch you up on what has taken place since the end of September; not only in CBC life but making some comments about the life of our nation as well.

October was a busy, busy month. After a trip to MS to celebrate the 50th anniversary of FOA, we got back to IL and got to it. The fall is a very busy time for school events and sports - I went to football games, band performances, swim meets and volleyball games. We have lots of active kids in our group. They all did great at what they were doing. Here are a few pics from those different things:

Johnny in position on the football field

Jake jamming on the sax

Rachel ready to go on the clarinet - she is in the back in this pic

Jess (drum major) leading the Star Spangled Banner
Becca is out there too somewhere!

In case you didn't believe me - a little closer up

Amanda swimming - she did great - my first ever swim meet

Jenn serving it up

Katie (right side #11) going for the spike

So I had a great time at a lot of different activities. We also had the Awana Ministry Conference in October and a Trek activity that we planned for mini golf and go karts but due to the cold weather ended up being indoor mini golf and flashlight tag. None the less, really fun!!

November was also pretty busy. We started the month off on the 1st with a Fall Workday - we went to different folks homes from the church and helped with yardwork. Here are a few pics from that day:

Raking at Mr. Scharbert's farm

Hauling off branches

Bryan rocking with the rake!

Hmmm...yard waste with blue jeans and shoes...very interesting

Our workday group at the Jess' home

The following weekend we took our Sr. Highers to play paintball. This is the first time that we had done this and it was a really fun experience getting to shoot people with paintballs. It was a cold day, but we still had a lot of fun. I don't have any pictures of that - I was too focused on shooting kids!

Sprinkle in a couple of Sr. High afterglows and Worldview Nights for the whole church and that kind of sums up what we have been doing. It has been a great couple of months.

On the national scene, obviously a lot has happened. The economy is sputtering, many people have lost jobs and money, we have had an election for president as well as many other positions in our local, state, and national government, and there is a lot of uncertainty of the future. Let me simply encourage you as believers to be in prayer for our nation and our leaders, and don't lose sight of the FACT that God is Sovereign and in control of what is taking place. As believers our ultimate hope and trust is in Him, not in mankind and not in our economy. I would encourage you to be faithful to Him who called you!

Hopefully it won't be so long until the next post, but until then keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and grow in your relationship with Him through His Word!

Sr. High Mini Golf and Go Karts

2008-09-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago, we took our Sr. High group to the Aurora Sports Zone for our monthly activity. After chowing down on some pizza and pop and hopping on the bus, we arrived at the Sports Zone ready to go.

The weather was perfect - which meant many other people wanted to play mini golf and ride go karts. But even though it was crowded and we had to wait a long time in line for go karts, we still had a great time- and of course waiting around simply meant more opportunities to talk, which most of our group would rather do than anything else.

Here are some pictures from the night:

Our fearless leaders

Kathleen taking a different approach to the hole

Ryan talking to his pink ball - it wasn't listening

Interesting stance Ben!

The following pictures are of people picking their ball
up after hitting it off the "course".

In the grass...

in the bushes...

even in the water!

Embarassing enough to try and keep your picture from being taken

Like I said - we had a lot of time to kill in line for go karts

So overall, we had a great trip and a great time. As you saw, there were no professional golfers on hand, but lots of fun - that's for sure!!

Youth Room Renovations

2008-09-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry for taking so long to put up a new post. Things have been very busy lately and one reason is because we have been trying to finish up renovations with the youth room. We are almost completely finished now. We just need to touch up a few things and over the next few months we will do a little here and there to finish it up. So here are some recent photos from the youth room renovation:

Scraping up the old tile

Tile Scraping group with their "weapons"

Starting painting - Green wall

Painting the rest of the walls - Brown Bread

We were going for the splotchy look - not really

Arielle and Andrew painting

Liz painting the trim

Rachel rolling the wall

Rachel trying to roll Becca's face

Walls are finished - some of the tile down

Walls and tile finished

Another angle

So, a lot of work has been done and finished and there is still some to do. Thanks to everyone who has helped with the work. Thanks to Mrs. Sheehan for helping with all the color schemes. Thanks to Dave and Jim who laid the tile and put in the base boards - and Dave did a lot of other stuff too.

Now we get to enjoy it!!

Six Flags Great America

2008-08-05T09:10:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, July 26th we took our Sr. High group to Great America. This year we had the
largest group we have ever taken - 26 people (leaders and kids). We also must have gone on the busiest day of the year because I don't think I have ever seen so many people in one place in my life.

After waiting in line for almost an hour just to park (and talking to each other from car to car while we waited), we ate lunch at our cars and

ventured into the park where we found more lines to stand in as we waited to get on different rides. The lines were so long that I think we only rode 6-7 rides all day. We were there for 6 hours.

Even though the lines were long we still had a great day. One thing about long lines is you have plenty of time to talk to each other - and our group never is at a loss for words - kind of like their youth pastor. For a few people this was their first time on the big roller coasters and so of course we used peer pressure to help them overcome their fears. After rides like Batman, Raging Bull (one of the best rides there in my opinion), the Eagle, the Demon, and the Viper you either get over your fear or you get sick to your stomach. Thankfully we didn't have the latter.

Unfortunately we didn't get to ride what I think is the greatest ride at Great America - the Giant Drop. The wait was 1 and half hours. So we opted out, especially since only about 6-7 were going to ride it.

After the day at the park we stopped at McD's on the way home for dinner and then drove home while receiving prank calls from some crazy girls (I won't mention any names). Overall, a long and tiring day of waiting in lines, but a fun day of being together. Next year - we will pick a rainy day. :) Here are some pics of the day.

Our group

Eating lunch in the car

Batman: Those are some our group's feet in the front

Coming down the roaring rapids

More roaring rapids

They survived; although much more wet than when they started.

Ben was also a little wet and not too thrilled about it

What a nice looking group of young people

The O's: 2 of our fearless leaders

The Raging Bull

The Viper: Some of our group is on this one, but I don't know where

And the winner is...

2008-08-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

So, we finally have decided on what our Youth Tshirts will look like. Here is the winning shirt:

The front says "Rooted in Christ; Growing in Him". The back is the verse Colossians 2:6-7 and under that it says Central Bible Church Youth.

Now we just have to get them ordered. So if you are interested in having one of these Tshirts and haven't signed up for one, find me at church or leave a comment here with your size (S, M, L, XL). The shirts will cost you $5.

Thanks again to Elisa for a great job designing this shirt. We might see this design again in future posts about the youth room renovations.

Your Favorites

2008-07-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

All right, so I have recently added some music to this blog for you to enjoy while you read about what is going on. I have included about 30 songs so far; I can include up to 100 - not that I will, but I could. These 30 (besides Toby Mac and Switchfoot - those are two I know the youth like) are songs I enjoy. I realize that not everyone likes the same music as me - surprise, surprise.

So if you come to this blog and have a favorite Christian song or two that you would like me to include in the playlist, leave me a comment, and if they have it available I will add it. Then when you come here you can go to the bottom of the page and click on the song you like.

By the way, this is a free playlist. If any of you are interested in making one and adding it to your blog or facebook or something, just follow the link off the bottom of the playlist and get started. It is pretty cool.

Enjoy!

SHEETROCK!!

2008-07-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

The renovations continue and now the sheetrock is up. Its up, its taped, and its floated. The process continues... Here are some pics:

Stay tuned for more updates.

Youth Tshirts

2008-07-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Elisa approached me about having a CBC youth Tshirt. I told her that I would consider it if she made it. So she wasted no time. She took a youth brochure home and the very next day at VBS came up to me with her ideas.

The theme for the youth ministry is "Building a Framework on the Foundation of Christ". One of the verses in the brochure is Colossians 2:6-7: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, ROOTED and BUILT UP in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (NIV).

So Elisa came up with the thought for the shirt to be "Rooted in Christ; Growing in Him" for the youth. I must say that I loved it. She wanted to use a tree with some cool roots for the image, but also a tree that was full of life representing that fruit was being produced. So she set out to draw that tree herself and did a great job.

After a couple of weeks of her working on the designs and fonts on a really cool website, and going back and forth with her on ideas, we narrowed it down to two designs and colors and took a vote last night at Bible study.

Here is design 1:

Front: Tree graphic with the verse

Back: Well, I won't insult your reading ability by typing it out

Here is design 2:

Front: Tree graphic with the motto

Back: Verse and "Central Bible Church Youth"

And these are the 2 colors to choose from. After a poll of quite a few people it seems that design 2 is leading the voting and that the grayish color is also leading. We still haven't polled everyone, so we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks Elisa for a great idea and a great job with all the work. And she has gotten it here in about 2 weeks. We'll let you know what the final decision is.

Renovation Update

2008-07-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, work has resumed on the youth room.

The walls have been cleaned to get rid of the mold that was growing in some areas. They have also been painted in those areas that had a problem with a paint that is supposed to prevent future molding - hopefully it works.

In addition the studs have been put up over the existing block walls as we will be sheet rocking those walls - that will definitely make it easier to hang things.

So here are some more pictures of the latest work:

I'll try to keep you posted on further advancements in the process.

Honoring our High School Graduates

2008-07-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, June 8th, we had the opportunity to honor our 3 high school graduates - Melinda Hernandez, Brad Mulligan and Matt Stelter. These are 3 great kids...uhmm..excuse me...young adults. I am very thankful for their focus as they are graduating - each of them is looking the Lord for guidance and wisdom. As far as colleges are concerned, Melinda will be doing Moody Correspondence courses, Brad will be going to Emmaus Bible College in Iowa, and Matt will be attending Waubonsee for a year before deciding what to do next.

We had the opportunity to give them some Bible study books as a graduation gift for them. Hopefully these will prove helpful for them as they continue to study God's Word. Studying God's Word is key for us to know God and cultivate a personal relationship with Him that in turns produces fruit in our lives that honors Him.

To celebrate, we let the seniors decide where they wanted to go for lunch and the whole Sr. High group went with them and their families. This year they decided on Famous Daves. Since they had just built one in Oswego, this worked out great. I had never been to Famous Daves before, but I thought the had really good food. So we had a great time there.

Now I know that a really good youth pastor would have a picture of the three seniors together; but alas, what can I say - I don't! I wish I did but I don't. I don't even have a good picture of each of them throughout this special day. So I am sorry for that. But here are a few pictures that we did have.

Matt - obviously bewildered or concerned about something

Sorry guys - I caught Brad with a mouth full; and Jess looks grouchy

It's not that funny Mr. Mulligan

This was our awesome waitress - 1 waitress for 23 people -
no mistakes and full glasses consistently - AWESOME!

Let's see, what to say, what to say -
are we really surprised with this picture?

Sorry, I couldn't resist putting in a picture of my son -
he's a cutie! (I mean manly)

So congratulations seniors! We will miss you, but you won't be too far away - and we'll make sure to keep in touch with you. And of course, we will be praying for you.

Awana Awards Night

2008-07-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

So since no new work has been done on the youth room to report today, I thought I would once again go back a little ways and update you on the things that I failed to update you on previously.

Our Awana Awards Night was held on May 7th. While there were many awards given out that night I am mainly going to focus on the Trek (Jr. High) and Journey (Sr. High) awards since this is the YOUTH Blog.

The Meritorious Award is given to an individual who has completed 6 handbooks (4 TnT, and 2 Trek in our case). This year we had 5 recipients of the Meritorious Award - Becca Arnold, Katie D'Argento, Jenn D'Argento, Johnny DeVries, and Ryan Stelter. They did a lot of hard work to earn this award and have memorized many verses. Congratulations to them on a great job.

Katie receiving her Meritorious Award

The Citation Award is the "granddaddy of them all". This award is given to an individual who has completed 10 handbooks (4 TnT, 2 JV [now called Trek], and 4 Journey books in our case).

The Citation is the final award in Awana and few continue on this far to receive this award. The recipients of the Citation Award have put in a lot of hard work. This award also signifies responsibility and dedication. The real reward is not the plaque that is received (although it is certainly nice) but the growth in God's Word and the commitment of God's Word to memory. For the Citation Award, we ask the parents to present this award to the kids. It is very special for them to do that. Not only have the recipients of this award put in a lot of hard work, but so have their parents who have helped and encouraged them along the way to achieve this goal.

This year we had 2 seniors who received this Award - Melinda Hernandez and Brad Mulligan. They were the first group to achieve this award who were in Cubbies through Journey at CBC. Great job guys!!

Brad and Melinda with their parents

Melinda with her Citation Award

Brad with his Citation Award

Congratulations to all who worked hard in Awana last year. See you next year!

4th of July Church Picnic

2008-07-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great church picnic on July 4th at Don Scharbert's farm in Oswego. It was a full afternoon and night of fun.

There were games to play - football, volleyball, soccer, frisbee, bean bag toss, washer toss, wiffle ball and other games. Tom Schmidt brought out some of his rockets and launched them - that kept many busy finding the rockets in the corn fields.

There was great food. Fay's BBQ catered the event for us and provided some great BBQ.

There was also some great entertainment and speaking. We had a man playing the accordion for us throughout the evening, the DeVries provided some great music, Warren provided a great magic act for us, and Steve provided some fun Independence Day trivia. Marv also gave us an ecnouraging word from the Word of God.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Now that's a grill!

Serving up some BBQ

Breaking in the new fireplace and patio

I think this was the kids' table

Those kids look kinda big to be in the moonwalk

The accordion player playing on the porch

The Kaboda - our ride from our parked cars

Some football in the big yard

Rachel in the corn - kind of like Field of Dreams for volleyball

Preparing the rockets

Laurel, Grace and Chelsea sporting their patriotic colors

Jess' mullberry foot - yuck!

Thanks Mr. Scharbert for a great Independence Day!

Aaahhhh, FREEDOM!

2008-07-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hope you have a great celebration on this 4th of July as we celebrate our country's independence. Remember it did not come without a cost. Many men and women have sacrificed their lives for our nation and many continue to do so. I am thankful for our freedom in this country and especially as it relates to our religious freedom.

As we think about freedom, we can also think of our freedom in Christ. We have been freed from the slavery of sin. Sin no longer is our master. We have a new master if we have placed our faith in Christ. Some would say that if I have a master that is not freedom. However, we will always have a master as Romans 6 tells us. We are either a slave to God or a slave to ourselves. Being a slave to God and obeying Him is true freedom. Being a slave to self is bondage in sin.

Have a great day celebrating your freedom as an American and your freedom as a believer.

Day 2 of Youth Room Renovations

2008-07-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

The rest of the original wall is gone and the new wall is framed. Here are some pictures.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Day 1 of Youth Room Renovations

2008-07-02T10:54:00.001-07:00

Okay after 1 day of work part of the wall is out, some of the ceiling is gone and preparations are being made to begin the framing work. Here are some pics.

This is the light fixture just hanging around and still working

Check back periodically for more renovation updates. I have already seen what is taking place today and it is nice!

Youth Room Renovations

2008-07-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Renovations of the youth room started TODAY! I will try to keep you updated about what exactly is taking place and post some pictures up through the process. We think it will take about a month to complete.

Here are some "before" the renovations pics.

We will be knocking out the wall that is painted with names and handprints and building a new wall from the door to the pole in the TnT girls room and then from the pole to the wall. (See above picture). This expansion should really open our room up a bit hopefully and give us some more room as our Sr. High group is growing in number.

By the way, during the next month or so we will be meeting upstairs in the Cubbies room for Sr. High Sunday School.

Jr. High VBS 08

2008-07-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

Once again this year we had Vacation Bible School at CBC. As in the last couple of years we did a VBS for our Jr. High group (graduated 6th-8th grade). We did many of the same things as the younger kids like recreation, crafts, and a Bible lesson. One thing we did different was our opening time at the beginning. Liz played the piano for us every morning as we sang worship songs together - thanks Liz!! - great job!

Depending on the day we had 5-7 kids join us. During our Bible lessons for the week we focused on Christ's life and looked at a few different Biblical, historical accounts (not stories) during Christ's time on earth. We looked at the accounts of Christ healing a blind man who was born blind from birth, Christ healing the ten lepers, Christ healing the paralytic man whose friends lowered him through the roof, Christ speaking to the rich young ruler, and Christ appearing to his disciples after His resurrection.

Our recreation times included volleyball, an obstacle course, wiffle ball, dodgeball, and kickball. We also did some neat crafts during the week that included paint. On the last day of VBS, those who attended along with some of our Sr. High VBS leaders painted one of the walls in the youth room because it was soon going to be knocked out for youth room construction. That was very interesting and messy.

Giddy up Horsey!

Leroy Killroy Doofnschmirtz Jr., III

The wall was very scared when it saw this paint

Paintbrushes were simply not adequate enough

The finished product

Overall we had a great week. A huge thanks to Mrs. Ochodnicky and Mr. Lentz for all their help.

Jr. High Scavenger Hunt

2008-06-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Jr. Highers, we will be having an activity tomorrow afternoon - Saturday, June 21st - from 4-8 p.m. We will be having a Scavenger Hunt and other games. We will also have dinner and some time in God's Word.

This event is FREE! - no cost for you. Feel free to bring friends with you. You will need a Medical Release Form for this event if you haven't filled one out yet. You can get one by using the link on the right hand bar of this blog page.

Hope to see you there!

What do you think?

2008-06-19T15:05:00.001-07:00

I received this article via email earlier today. I thought I would post it up as I thought it was rather interesting. I was wondering what some of your thoughts would be on this.

This article is by Ingrid Schlueter

Posted: 06/17/2008

Hearing from Horton or the Word of God?

Wingclips.com reports that the top movie clip download by pastors for use in their sermons is from Horton Hears a Who—that has been the top clip every week for the last three months. Dr. Seuss is apparently growing in popularity as sermon fodder. The thrilling true stories from Holy Scripture are no longer enough to hold even adult attention in church, but Dr. Seuss evidently meets the need.

Our family attended a Thanksgiving eve service at a local church one year. We were visitors, and we appreciated the readings, the Thanksgiving hymns and the prayer. The church was heavily attended by faculty from the denomination’s local college and seminary, and the place was full that night. The pastor finally ascended the very large pulpit, looked out into the audience with the intense glare of someone with a serious message to proclaim. A hush fell over the congregation. He gripped the sides of the pulpit. His opening words were:

“I do not likegreen eggsand ham!
I do not like them,Sam-I-am.

You do not like them.
So you say.
Try them! Try them!
And you may.
Try them and you may, I say.

Sam!If you will let me be,
I will try them.You will see.

Say!I like green eggs and ham!
I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat.And I would eat them with a goat…”

The theme of the ten-minute crowd-pleaser message was “taste and see that the Lord is good. If you avoid God like green eggs and ham, you’ll never know what you’re missing. Give God a taste.” An exit sign never looked as good as it did that night.

Are there moral lessons in many fairy tales and stories? Of course. But when did church become a place for “moral lessons?” We have the whole counsel of God in our hands, the inerrant, powerful, authoritative Word of God, preserved down through the ages by God’s sovereign hand and the faithfulness of those who paid many times with their own blood. Why is that precious book not sufficient?

Why? Because nobody wants rich meat any longer. They want to be entertained and regaled with childish cartoons. They want to see movie clips of Spiderman, The Hulk, Sex in the City, and whatever other garbage the world is doling out. They want cute moral lessons from dancing vegetables on Sunday morning, not the true meat of the Word for grown-ups in Christ. With the persecution of believers that is coming to the West, Horton Hears a Who is not going to cut it.

Interviewing Richard Wurmbrand and Christo Kulichev, two pastors who suffered incredible torture and imprisonment in Romania and Bulgaria, it was clear to me that their knowledge of the Word was what got them through their suffering. The promises of God provide the only key to escaping the dungeon of despair in our own lives.

Let those who want silly elephants teaching them on Sunday morning carry on with their cartoons. But let those who desire a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ feed deeply from the true meat of the Word. It alone can sustain us in the one true faith.

Okay - so what do you think - agree or disagree?

Valentine's Dinner 08'

2008-06-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

Obviously Valentine's Day was a few months back. However, in an effort to "catch up" on a few things, I want to blog about our Valentine's Dinner this past year. We started doing Valentine's Dinner in 2006. It started out for just youth parents, then last year we included youth grandparents in the mix and we did so again this year.

We had 27 youth and siblings involved in the dinner. We had 29 parents and grandparents who attended.

Brittany oversaw the kitchen workers and they did a great job with our menu - Tuscan bruschetta, cruncy romaine tossed salad, classic lasagna with French bread, and "heart" warming applie pie cookies with vanilla ice cream.

Kitchen crew in full swing

Preparing the "Heart" Warming Apple Pie Cookies

Those youth not involved in the kitchen were involved as MC, Photographers, setup, servers, and cleanup. Many also performed in different musical ways throughout the night. I think we had a special music number just about every 5 minutes for the hour and a half dinner.

Our MC, Matt - and no he is not keeping reservations for the men's restroom

Here are 2 of our photographers; I wonder where the other one is?

Setting up tables

Servers preparing to enter the dining room

Bring out the food!

Johnny providing some "atmosphere"

A lot of work went into making the night a success. Ryan Anderson helped out in a huge way as he helped to direct the setup, servers, and cleanup. Everyone did a great job and I think the parents and grandparents had a great time.

Ryan was very hungry after all the hard work

Most of the youth, parents, and grandparents

Having fun!

And Brittany is already getting recipe ideas for next year...

A NEW POST!!

2008-06-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

So very sorry that it has been so long since anything new has been posted here at the CBC Youth blog. I have not done a great job at keeping this blog up and if you read previous posts you will see that this is something that takes place consistently. Usually, though I go on a rampage and post 3-4 posts all in one day - well not today, but I do want to say that I will try to update this a bit more often than every 6 months or so.

It is not like nothing has been happening to blog about - Valentine's Dinner, Quizzing Competition, Jr. High activities, Sr. High activities (including a Lock In), Spring Workday, Awana Awards including 2 Citation Recipients - Brad and Melinda, Seniors Graduating, SBR Camps going on, Summer Wednesdays starting (we are studying Philippians) and lots of other stuff. Maybe I'll try to catch up on a few.

So we'll see what happens from here and I'll try to keep you updated better from now on.

"We're gonna die"

2008-01-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

This video was of Matt and I going down the hill together on a snow tube. We didn't really fit very well in this tube, but we tried it anyway. Sorry for the camera going all over the place, but I was concerned first with not flipping...not having the best footage.

By the way, that is Liz and Katie that we pass by at the end of the video.

Sledding video

2008-01-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

I got these videos backwards in order. This is Andrew going down the "side" hill after Caleb, only Andrew went down on a board on his stomach, and he didn't fair too bad.

Snow tubing video

2008-01-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

This is Caleb going down a "side" hill of the big hill. This hill was a bit more dangerous and had a few more bumps.

Sorry about the purple hue to the video.

Snow Tubing at Oakhurst

2008-01-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

Most people reading this blog know that I am from the South. In the South we don't have much snow that we have to deal with in our lives, even during the winter months.

One of the things we were looking forward to when moving to IL, was that we would have more snow, because when you live in the South most of your life and don't have it regularly, you want to experience it more.

So far this year we have had a good deal of snow, but until last Monday, we didn't have any good accumulation sitting on the ground that would be good for our Sr. High Snow Day that I had planned for this past Saturday. But, alas, God provided us with a good deal of snow through the week, and we were able to go through with our Snow Day activity and go sledding and tubing at Oakhurst.

This was the first snow trip that I have taken our group on since I have been here, and in fact I have only been sledding or tubing a few times in my life. In addition to the first snow trip we have been on, this was also the first trip that we used the church bus to transport our youth.

After dressing warmly and packing all of our gear and people onto the bus, we headed off for Oakhurst. Oakhurst is a hill at a Forest Preserve. There are no lifts or anything like that. It is just a public hill that people go sledding on. There is no fee, no personel on hand to make sure you don't do stupid things, just a hill with snow and lots of people wanting to sled. I had been told that this hill was big, but I had never seen it. So when we drove up to it, I realized that this was a pretty nice sledding hill and should be a fun day of excitement.

What I didn't realize was how tired I was going to be just walking to the top of this hill. Then after you sled down, you have to walk back up again. It wasn't very long, actually probably about 30 minutes after we got there that someone (I won't mention any names) asked me when we were going to leave and go eat dinner. However, we endured. Actually, the day was perfect. The week before, we had seen literally sub zero temps during the day (not just wind chill - actual temps). Saturday though was around 30 degrees. It was a bit windy at the top of the hill, but not too much to bear.

Jess walking back up the hill after tubing down

Our group at the top of the hill on the rock

Jakob and Andrew racing down the hill

Jess and Kathleen making snow angels at the bottom

After multiple trips up and down the hill (and some other trips down the side of the hill by certain dare devils), we were exhausted. So we headed down to the bottom for a game of snow football (for some). That game didn't last too long as we were all pretty tired.

So when you are tired, hungry, and cold the best thing to do is eat....ice cream. We went to Culvers for dinner. Not too many people actually had Culvers frozen custard, but a few did and even when it is cold outside, Culvers custard is still good to eat....when you are warm and inside.

After Culvers we headed back to church to unload, have a devotion, and head home. All in all I would say it was a pretty good trip and one we may repeat in the years to come. And the bus did great...and the bus driver not too bad (except for one major oversight which I won't list here...actually 2 come to think of it).

Until next time...

Flyin' High

2007-11-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well since this took place at the end of September, I should have posted about this quite a while back, but I failed to....so, now I am going to try and make up for the lost time as best I can. Prepare yourself...this is a doozy!

Some of you are familiar with the fact that Answers in Genesis, headed up by the familiar name of Ken Ham, has recently built a museum in Kentucky - the Creation Museum. If you want more information about Answers in Genesis or the Creation Museum visit their websites by clicking on their names.

So I had been thinking that taking our youth to this museum would be a great trip. But with the museum being about a 6 hour drive, this would have to be a weekend trip...or would it? While the thought of this trip had crossed my mind, it was not anywhere in my mind that Sunday morning in August when Mr. Scharbert (affectionately known by some as "Poppi Don") approached me at church with a great surprise. He wanted to take the youth to the Creation Museum...and he wanted to take them via a private jet. WHAT!? Are you kidding me!? Are you serious!? (These statements of course didn't come out of my mouth, but they were taking place in my mind). Of course the answer would be YES!, but first we had to work out the logistics.

The plane only held 9 people...our group consists of a few more than 9. How would we narrow this down in a fair way? Well, for the past year and a half now we have been having what we call "Worldview Nights" at CBC. At times (and currently) we have used DVD curriculum from Answers in Genesis for these worldview nights. So, we thought it would be good to use this trip as a reward for those who had been attending worldview nights - since this was kind of a worldview trip. So we looked at our Sr. High group (which we had already decided this trip would be for) and saw that we had 11 Sr. Highers who had been coming to Worldview Nights. But we also found out that 4 of these kids were going to be in Cincinnati (very close to the museum) at the end of September with their families for the season ending Cub series against the Reds. So after some planning, we worked it out so that we would be going on this trip that same weekend. The remaining 7 plus Mr. Scharbert and I made the the number on the plane 9.

Our Falcon!

All smiles and ready to fly!

Our 9 on the plane met up with the other 4 and their families at the museum and we all went through together. That Saturday, the museum was packed!

After watching the opening film, we headed off through the museum. The museuem covers the 7 C's of History - Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation. The museum does a great job showing how the Biblical interpretation of science is supported by the evidence, and how we can trust the Bible in often debated issues such as what is says concerning the creation of the earth and a global flood. The museum walks us through the Biblical account of Genesis 1-11 with great life like looking figures and animatronics. But the great focus of Answers in Genesis and the museum is that when individuals come to realize the Bible can be trusted in areas like a literal 6 day creation and a real global catastrophic flood, it can also be trusted when it says that all men are sinners and that Jesus Christ died for our sins. It can be trusted when it says that salvation comes by grace through faith.

Today the authority of the Word of God is being attacked. A huge part of this attack is undermining the history of the Bible. Many today laugh at those who believe the earth is only 6-10,000 years old. Many laugh at those who believe God created everything out of nothing by speaking everything into existence. What about the dinosaurs? What about the Grand Canyon? How do you explain this or that? This museum helps to give solid answers to many of these questions and therefore helps equip believers to defend their faith as well as giving answers to unbelievers to show them the truth of the Bible. The musuem doesn't just deal with Genesis but also gives a clear gospel presentation explaining to each visitor their need for a Savior.

Methuselah - the oldest man to ever live - 969!
And boy does he look it!

A model of the ark

The sign Jess is touching reads, "Thou Shalt Not Touch".
Hmmm...I wonder if Rachel read that sign?

Obviously not...wherever do these kids learn to act like this?

Never mind!!

There was a lot of walking and reading involved...but it was great. We also got to visit the planetarium at the museum which was also phenomenal. I think our teens had a great time visiting the museum and being spoiled with the private jet ride. I would definitely recommend the museum to everyone and encourage you to try and go. I would like to get back myself.

Tired after a long day!

Thanks, Mr. Scharbert for an unforgettable day!

Encouraging Thought

2007-11-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Because of our position in Christ, we can never gain any more acceptance by God than we already have. We are accepted now as much as we can ever be.

"But how can this be when I sin?", we might ask. Because our acceptance is not based in ourselves but in Christ. We are not more accepted by God when we obey Him and less accepted when we disobey. If that was the case, then our acceptance would be based on our works. BUT IT IS NOT!! It is based on the finished redemptive work of Christ - something I cannot add to nor take from.

As humans this is hard to understand because our acceptance of others IS often based upon their works (deeds and actions). People ARE more accepted or LESS accepted in our sight based upon what they do. However, we cannot allow human ways to minimize God's ways and to cause us to have doubts that this is indeed our position in Christ - a position which does not change.

Stand firm on the truth of God's Word and KNOW that you are fully accepted in the sight of God if you are a believer!

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6 (KJV)

After its Kind...

2007-11-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

This Friday night, November 16th at 6:30 p.m. we will continue with our worldview nights at Central Bible Church.

We are continuing our curriculum called Answers Academy from Answers in Genesis Ministries. This month we will watch a two part DVD series entitled, "After Its Kind: The Truth About Natural Selection". The teaching is done by Ken Ham.

Remember that afterwards, we will have a time of snacks and fellowship together. So if you can bring a snack to share that would be great. We will be finished with everything at 9:00 p.m.

I hope you can join us for this important time.

Sr. High Laser Tag

2007-11-06T13:24:00.001-08:00

This coming Friday, November 9th, the Sr. High group will be going to Luigi's for a fun night of laser tag.

We will meet at CBC at 5:30 and eat dinner first thing. After that we will head to Luigi's for our check in, briefing, and one hour laser tag session. After we are done shooting each other with lasers, we will head back to CBC for some time in the Word of God. If we have time after all of this we may play some CTF (Capture the Flag) or FT (Flashlight Tag).

The cost is $6/person and medical release forms are required. Let me know if you are coming and if you are bringing any friends.

Hope to see you there!

Mississippi Monday

2007-11-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

Wow, where have I been? Let's see we went to MS in July and now it is...NOVEMBER! Maybe I'm just a bit behind. So let's try and catch up a bit!

Monday started our real work week at FOA. Up to this point we had been seeing the sights and having fun with the RBC youth. Now it was time to work.

Breakfast for the guys (who chose not to sleep in) was at 6:30 a.m. At 7:30 a.m. on Monday-Friday we had class. Class? you may ask. Oh yeah! We had a Bible class from 7:30ish-9 or 9:30 every morning studying Basic Bible Doctrine by R.C. Barth. The guys at FOA study this during the two month program there. We were there for study 6: Basic Truths of the Faith - Grace, Faith, Justification, Assurance, Rewards. This was great week of study. We also had homework each day and a test at the end of the week. Thankfully, everyone passed and we didn't have to leave anyone there.

After our Bible study, we went to work. Monday's morning work - picking vegetables in the garden. Due to all the rain we experienced, it was rather muddy. However, we still managed to pick corn and peas. Rusty was our "work superintendent" for the week. He did a great job of keeping us busy and exposing our northern group to some good ole southern work. Thankfully for our group it was a rather cool (temperature) week.

Rusty in his pick em' up truck

Hollywood meets corn field

Practicing to take Vanna White's job

Pea Picking

The Kelly Dance

Kelly eating some really fresh corn

After working in the garden we got cleaned up for lunch and after that got back to work processing the corn. The good stuff went to the kitchen or the freezer; the bad corn went to the pigs. So we also got to go down and feed the pigs some of the corn.

The piggies eating corn

Kelly fearlessly feeding the pigs

After this we had a break for 15 minutes and the option to go to the store. Many in our group had their first taste of Blue Bell ice cream (how could you have survived so long without it?). During our breaks, usually a couple of the guys were on the porch playing guitar and singing and sometimes our group joined them or watched.

After break we headed out to the wood pile and moved it over about 10 feet and stacked it nicer while trying to dodge red wasps. This wasn't just something for us to do - the point of this was to make more room for the wood we would be chopping on Tuesday.

Wood pile after lots of work

After this Andrew and Jakob went and helped clean the pool while the rest of our group went back to our rooms to get cleaned up for dinner. Every weeknight at 5:30 we had dinner with the guys. And of course we had corn on Monday night. Monday night we went to Question and Answer from 7-8 p.m. This is a class for the guys to ask questions about the Bible and have them answered.

Dinner Time

Luke really liked corn on the cob!

After class, some headed to their rooms to "sleep" (a.k.a talk) while others went to continue their week long game of Risk. Lights out at 10:30 p.m. to get ready for another hard day of work on Tuesday.

A great Monday at FOA. See you tomorrow (of course that could be a few weeks or months away :)

Golf, Go Karts, and Go Cubs...

2007-10-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went out to the Aurora Sports Zone (you know, the big white bubble) for a Sr. High activity.

This was no ordinary Saturday night activity though. Why you may ask. Because the Cubs were playing game 3 of the opening round playoff series against the Diamondbacks...and they were down 2 games to none. Basically, this could be the Cubs last game of the year. Now most of you know that within our group we have some Cubs fans and some Sox fans. And then we have some really hard core Cubs fans - like Melinda and Brad. Yes, I know there are others but these individuals took strides to listen to the game on the radio while eating, in the car ride and at the mini golf place (they actually had a TV going with the game on). And yet while these Cub fans could have stayed at home, they came anyway. I'm glad they did!

So we started the night with subs, chips, and pop. Then we headed straight for the "bubble". We started out with a round of golf. Some were serious, others not so much, but that was fine. We did have some nice swarms of gnats to greet us.

After 18 holes of golf we headed for the go karts. The thing about the go karts is that some are faster than others. The one I was in, not so fast. In fact I got passed by a few people including Jess who started behind me and Dan who started way in front of me. Basically Rick and I had slower carts and just "brother in lawed" it the whole way.

The ligthouse

Hey, how did your ball get in the grass

After go karts we headed back to the church for some ice cream (thanks Mr. Sadler) and a devotion on some of the Proverbs. After the devo we had just enough time for a game of flashlight freeze tag before heading home.

We had a great time (I think and hope)...but, the Cubs lost. So as hard as we were pulling for them, they could not pull it out and to that we can only say..."There's always next year".

Let's try this again...

2007-10-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know that some people come and check in at this blog to see if anything is updated and has been said as of late. Obviously you all know that as of late - ok for a long time now (like the end of August) this blog has not been updated.

I have a lot to catch up on, but rather than try to catch up on it all at once and miss out on new stuff going on, I am going to try to intermingle some posts. So you may see a MS trip post intermingled with October stuff and so forth.

Please forgive me for my unfaithfulness to my blog...I will try to continue to post some new stuff.

Last Summer Wednesday

2007-08-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well, our summer Wednesday night Bible study is over. We will take next week off before beginning Awana on September 12th.

We had a great summer filled with many fun times and I hope for you a profitable Bible study in the book of Colossians (even though we barely made it into chapter 2). I hope you also enjoyed the times of prayer we had together each night through the year. I cannot stress enough how important prayer and Bible study are for our individual lives; not just for a Wednesday night Bible study.

I thought I would include a video clip of our last night playing volleyball for you all to enjoy.

Our last night just happened to also be Jess' 16th birthday. So we made a cake to celebrate our summer and her birthday (and many other birthdays too). We had made a car cake for Luke's 1st birthday since he likes cars so much, so we thought we could put it to good use for Jess too concerning a certain phrase about cars that she likes so much. Thanks a ton to Brittany for making the cake! Here are some pics.

Yeah, so the last one was due to a little cupcake in the face after Bible study. Jess will be smelling funfetti for the next few days.

Anyway, thanks for coming to Bible study throughout the summer. Hope you enjoyed it!

CBC Kids Karnival

2007-08-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had a really great day on Saturday at Kids Karnival and we were thankful to the Lord for the nice weather he gave us.

Since blogger now provides opportunities to upload video clips...and since I took some, I thought I would share them with you. I'll try to post more pics later.

Here is Jess getting dunked by Brad. Ha Ha!

Ok, I guess I'll include this one too!

The Big TeePee!

2007-08-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Sunday didn't take as long to get to in real life on our trip as it did in this post, but it is finally here!

On Sunday we attended Riverwood Bible Church for Sunday School and the Morning Worship service. Some of the members of our group (Alyson, Jess, Jakob, Liz, Rachel, Kathleen, and Elisa) had the opportunity to do special music at Riverwood. They played and sang "Grace Alone". And they did a really good job!

It is hard to see everyone, but this is our group performing at Riverwood.

We also had the opportunity to hear Pastor Jerry Clark continue his study on prayer, which I enjoyed very much as I always enjoy listening to Pastor Clark teach.

At the end of the service we stood in the back of the church and folks greeted us as they walked out. Some of our group got hugs and the "arm grab". I think some people were a little taken back by those arm grabs. But Riverwood is a touchy type of church and in the South sometimes are a little different anyway. There is lots of hugging (appropriately) and stuff amongst friends and in the body of Christ. And the girls met Mrs. Scarbrough (Mr. Michael Scarbrough's (from CBC) mom).

After church we went back to FOA changed clothes and went to Big D's BBQ for lunch. Big D's is just a couple miles from FOA and not too far from our Catfish Haven stop on Saturday. Big D's is located next to a railroad track and has the slogan "Good Enough to Stop the Train" and apparently it has before as the engineers stop the train on the tracks and go in for a bite to eat. On the day we were there, however, a few trains went by without stopping.

Big D's does have good BBQ, but one of the interesting parts about the place is that the dining room is the inside of a TeePee. Now this is no regular TeePee made from animal skins or what have you. This one is made from a much harder material the thing is big enough to hold like 40-50 people. There are many Native American flags hanging from the ceiling and cool things painted on the walls. So it was pretty fun and good tasting. And they had pretty good pie too.

The TeePee doesn't look that big from outside but inside...

...it actually is quite large and includes many Native American flags

and a chandalier made out of antlers.

I just thought this was a cool picture.

After lunch we headed back to FOA to just hang out until the evening service at Berean. A few of the girls went to my sister's (Amy) house for a makeover. Amy is a Mary Kay makeup person and she was "practicing" on the girls. Sounds scary but the makeovers turned out good. Some of the others went swimming and others did, well, "other stuff".

I guess this is some "copycat" picture of the JB's that UI did after their makovers.

On Sunday night, we had the evening service at Berean. We sang some worship choruses that Jess played for. We also had some special music by Elisa and Kathleen and Liz. Warren did some magic for the guys and used it to present the gospel and talk about the Christian life. I gave a short (ok, we know that's not true) lesson from part of our study in Colossians on Wednesday nights (so obviously it was from chapter 1). We had a really good time doing all of that.

Elisa played "Amazing Grace".

After church, we headed back to the Philemon house for pizza and "coke". Then we played capture the flag outside until 10 p.m. Matt Sprayberry (my really good friend) came out and joined us. He was on the team with many of the crazy girls so they called themselves - Team ADHD. That is an understatement. No one won, we ran out of time. It was pretty hard in the dark with unfamiliar territory for most people playing.

After that we went in, got cleaned up, and headed to bed. We had to get up early in the morning to start the week!

Another fun day had passed; many more to come.

CBC meets FOA and RBC

2007-08-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

After settling in and meeting the MS critters, we all (I think) got a pretty good night's rest in preparation for all that day 2 had in store...and boy was it a lot.

After morning devotions we headed over to the FOA chapel (Berean Bible Church) for an orientation to the ministry of FOA. We heard about the focus of the ministry and its beginnings. We heard about God's faithfulness overy many years to this ministry in many ways. This year FOA celebrates its 49th anniversary. The focus of this ministry is helping men with drug and alcohol addictions. In contrast to the way the world views drug and alcohol addiction (as a disease), FOA views it as sin. Because of this, they teach these men the Word of God and new life in Jesus Christ as the answer they need to deal with their problem with sin.

The ministry of FOA is supported by church and individual donations. This doesn't just include financial donations, but anything that the ministry could use. Some people just give old stuff or junk to FOA. FOA then in turn cleans it up and sells it at a monthly garage sale at the ministry. As we were going through the metal building with all the garage sale stuff, I found a priceless possession that seems to have just been waiting there for me. So priceless that my dad told me to just take it.

Although it is hard to read, this jar says, "Ashes of Obnoxious Teenagers". I haven't decided yet who will be the first to enter the jar, but there were many people who obviously wanted to try and be the first. I won't name any names.

We continued our tour of the facilities and got acquainted with the grounds the best we could before the rain came in. By the way, the rain was a constant the first part of our trip.

For lunch we decided to head just a mile away from FOA to a place called Catfish Haven. Mississippi is known for farm raised catfish. While not everyone ventured to order the catfish, most everyone gave it a try. Fried catfish, hushpuppies, fried pickles, and sweet tea. Oh yeah, good eatin'.

Everyone's excited about catfish!

Fried Pickles!

3 catfish, small stomach

No catfish, big stomach

After lunch we headed out on the town of Jackson. Jackson is not a huge town, but I thought I would take our group to a few special places to Brit and I. Our first stop was the Sanders land where we used live and I used to work. Both these places are literally in the middle of cow pastures, but we loved it out there. Our friends (and my former boss) Greg and Karen Sanders and their children weren't there, but we did get to see Greg's parents, B.J. and Maxine Sanders. They showed the kids some of the land and then had us over to their house for some wonderful mint tea (one of my favorites) and tea cakes (cookies). It was great. I told everyone that Mrs. Maxine is one of the nicest people on the face of the earth. After meeting her, I think most everyone agreed.

This is Mrs. Maxine and Mr. B.J. (red shirt) on their front porch.
That's me drinking some mint tea!

Brad taming a goat.

At the Sander's house.
Ryan didn't venture to try mint tea,
he stuck with his water.

I parked in the best spot in the pasture.
As soon as I got out, I stepped in the cow pie.
But we got a good picture of man's righteousness - right Warren?

After the good mint tea and the great Southern hospitality, I decided to take our group driving down a portion of the Natchez Trace. The Trace is an old roadway that stretches from southwest MS to Nashville, TN. There are no big trucks on it and it goes through forested area most of the way. The speed limit is only 55mph, but the scenery is nice, and every once in a while you may see some wildlife roaming about.

A portion of the Trace passes the Ross Barnett Reservoir. There is a place called Lookout Point that we stopped at to see the reservoir.

The boys playing football by the reservoir

Tall trees!

Liz took this nice picture of Brit and I
enjoying a peaceful moment.

Jess enjoying her peaceful moment...
WITH A TREE!!

By the way, the reservoir (not Lookout Point but another place) was where I proposed to Brittany!

This picture was taken in the van at some point during this day. I had to include it because this picture is so awesome. When I first saw it, I couldn't believe it. I mean how can you get your face to do that. Kathleen, that is an awesome picture; one for the ages!

After finishing up there we drove over to Riverwood Bible Church to join their youth group for a night of fun and fellowship. After everyone arrived at the church, we headed for CiCi's for some pizza. After we finished eating we came back to the church where we spent some time in the Word of God. We then played some violent games. Let's see: hockey, scatterball, and bombardment. Thankfully, no one got seriously injured, although Harold Sprayberry (RBC's youth pastor) did get his nose cut (by one of his own youth).

Scatterball is the RBC dodgeball game. It is a lot of fun, but our CBC group wanted to challenge RBC to a game of CBC bombardment. So we did...actually 3 games. The result, RBC beat us 2 out of 3 at our own game. We wanted to get a rematch later in the week, but unfortunately that didn't work out. Here are some pics of the night!

The great Harold Sprayberry!
"No autographs, please"

Hockey

Scatterball

Harold's bloody nose

CBC leaders finding a safe spot

Bombardment

CBC

RBC

Let the game begin!

What a good looking group!

After all of this we were wiped out. But it was a great day. Thanks to RBC for being such nice hosts.

2 days down, 7 to go. Man I'm getting tired just thinking about it all.

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I !!!!

2007-07-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know we have been back for over a week now, but I am just now getting back into the groove of things enough to post about this awesome trip. And due to the length of the trip and number of pictures I have, maybe we should take it only a couple of days at a time.

So in this post I am going to cover Friday and Saturday (July 13th & 14th)

We met at CBC at 3:50 a.m. on Friday and left at 4 a.m.

Considering that it was 4 a.m., this picture is pretty good of most everyone.

Our journey took a total of 14.5 hours so that we arrived at F.O.A. (Friends of Alcoholics) right around 6:20 p.m. if I remember correctly. The ride was definitely interesting in a 15 passenger van with 14 passengers. Between talking, music, and silliness it was a fun ride.

Oh yeah, I forgot about all the digital photos being taken in the van. Some very interesting ones to be shared later. Maybe once I get done posting about the week, I'll have to just post crazy pics, because our group took plenty of them!

I couldn't resist including this silly pic of Ryan playing dress up in the van.

Before we got to F.O.A., we stopped at the wonderful, beautiful, and hospitable MS Welcome Center.

Our last hour of driving involved heavy rains, but when we finally reached our destination, the rain had stopped. And everyone was glad to be out of the van. I mean if I had heard "Hi, I'm Kevin Jonas and I'd like to sell you a caaarrr" one more time, my head may have exploded. So as soon as we got there we let everyone get situated in their living spaces.

Welcome to F.O.A. We'll talk about that white fence in a future post.

This is the FOA sign...I'm sure there are fire ants lurking.

This is the building the boys stayed in, and...

This was the girl's house.

After getting settled we walked around the staff side of the ministry and some of us visited Mamaw who although she didn't say it wanted to "WA PSH" "WA PSH" us with her cane. Ok, maybe I just made that up, but it was still fun to "WA PSH" all week. I actually am doing it out loud now as I type. "WA PSH" So much fun!

Since we were "fixin" to eat "supper", we headed back to the Philemon house (boys dorm and meeting hub) where we had burgers, chips, and "Cokes". After getting used to all the roaches, we met together to discuss some rules and regulations as well as the next days activities, and then dispersed for the evening. Most of the girls went back to their house to settle in and sleep. The boys and Alison and Melinda headed to the living room for a nice game of Risk (which was played all week during free time - not that 1 game but like 3 or 4 games).

However, on this first night the Risk game took an interesting turn. Why you may ask? This is why!

To some, this looks like an ordinary picture. To those who were there, this picture needs no explaining. But for those who were not, brace yourselves for this. In Mississippi there are roaches. At F.O.A. there are many roaches.

This picture hung in the living room where the Risk game was taking place. Someone saw a roach come out from behind it. Then another. So I walked over to the picture, pulled a corner towards me to see behind the picture, and many roaches began coming out from behind the picture. I do not lie when I say there were probably 30 or more roaches behind that one picture. Can I get an "Amen" from someone present.

So little by little I would move the picture and smash a roach or two. Then we found some roach powder, and Mr. Sadler put some of that around the picture frame. But then we decided just to have a roach killing. So Alison got the video camera, and the boys took off their shoes and waited for Ryan to remove the picture. We then quickly smashed the remaining roaches (by this time only about 10-12 were left). What a great memory! Lucky for us, those roaches were just little baby ones. They couldn't have been more than an inch long a piece. Now the 2-3 inchers are the nice ones.

Ok, looks like I'll have to do one day at a time. This post is already long. Well, that is a good start. So next time, I'll cover Saturday. Until then see "y'all" later. "WA PSH!!"

Wet and Cold; Six Flags part 2

2007-07-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I know I said I would post some more pics of Six Flags soon, but those of you who come to my blog often know that this is soon in comparison to how much I usually blog.

So after lunch we headed back into the park for an afternoon of fun. And not wanting to see our lunch again (gross!), we decided to start the afternoon off with a few slower rides. So we decided to go for the water rides. First things first, some folks decided to change into swimming gear in order to prepare for what the rest of us wanted to deny - that we would get wet.

As you can see, Ryan was making a pretty loud statement with his red and yellow trunks. And I think he was rather happy about it.

After changing (the girls didn't take as long in the bathroom this time), we headed straight to the Roaring Rapids line. It was pretty long, but we waited and got to see others coming down the rapids getting soaked. The roaring rapids consists of a huge inner tube that seats 12 people (we had 13, so we split up) and you go down a river. About halfway through, this guy is in a little tower and as you make the corner he hits the appropriate button and shoots water at you. Then as you are entering the home stretch, people can pay money to push a button and shoot you with water. That is what the people are doing in the background on the picture below as a tube is coming down the rapids.

After this ride, I think the wettest person was probably Kathleen; she got soaked. Everyone got wet though as you can see from the picture below.

Yeah, that is pretty funny. Jakob and Brad got pretty wet. I got wet too, but somehow even though I was sitting next to Brad I didn't get as wet as he did.

After this ride we decided to be gluttons for punishment. So it was on to the logs and boy did we feel water logged (ha, that's funny) after we got done.

This was us waiting in line, well 4 of us. Although I did make it into the picture. Do you see me? What a nice group of young ladies. As you can see of the 4 Kathleen is the wettest (hair) and the fun had only begun.

This picture if of a water logged Mr. M Most of us decided to put 4 people in a log. Well the only bad thing about that is that you are then heavier which causes more water to end up in the log and on you. Obviously Mr. M was in a log with 4 people. The group in my log didn't fair much better.

After this ride, there was only one more wet ride left and it was the wettest of all. However, on the way we stopped at the Eagle to get a quick blow dry. The eagle was very nice with some nice drops.

I can't remember the name of the last ride, but I would call it the super soaker. Basically, you are in this big boat. You get taken up a conveyer belt (not too high) and then you go straight down into water and the water goes everywhere. At the bottom of the drop there is a bridge that some people stand on and get soaked by the water. Going down and hitting the water you think it wasn't that bad, but then all of a sudden the water that went up starts coming down and basically lands right in your lap and you are drenched. By the way, I should mention that not everyone went on this ride. Some folks were tired of getting wet. If I remember correctly the participants of this ride were Rachel, Liz, Jakob, Andrew, Brad, Rick, Ryan, Melinda (that's right, Melinda rode this one) and myself.

As soon as I took this picture, I scrambled to get my camera in my pocket and then braced myself because about 2 seconds later we got drenched. This is the view from the bridge I just mentioned and a few of us held on for dear life and took a shower. Ok, it was more like being blasted with a ginormous fire hose than a shower. In fact the force was so powerful that Jakob's glasses flew off and were never to be seen again (well, for sure Jakob couldn't see them but none of the rest of us could find them either).

At about this point, most of us were ready for a fresh batch of clothes and a towel. The next best thing....ride roller coasters and dry out. So we did. Including the viper and the bull. And that dried us out some.

After all the rides and roller coasters we went on I felt fine. But something about this advertisement at Six Flags made me want to toss my cookies. I think it was the middle picture of the Jonas sisters. By the way, my camera was stolen from me for this picture to be taken. I would never have wasted a good picture on this!

Finally we made it to the end of the day. And despite getting soaked, we had a great time. We packed it in and headed for McDonalds for dinner and then back to the church to get picked up. But not before getting one last picture.

What a nice looking group of folks.

Can't wait until next year!

Bull Riding!!

2007-06-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to Six Flags Great America this past Saturday. It didn't look like we were going to get to go when I woke up due to the rain pelting my bedroom window. But after viewing the forecast and dopplar radar in Gurnee (where Six Flags is located - 1.5 hours North), I found out that most of the rain was further South and there was not too much at Six Flags.

So we (Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan, Ryan, Melinda, Brad, Rick, Andrew, Jakob, Liz, Kathleen, Rachel, Elisa, and myself) took off and drove up arriving around 11:00 a.m. And after having to listen to Toby Mac and some other rapper the whole way up, boy was I looking forward to getting onto some roller coasters. Some of our younger group had never ridden the bigger roller coasters before and some had never ridden a roller coaster at all. So we had to break them in the right way.

First we stopped at the restrooms and while the girls waited in the hour long line (funny how there is always a long line to the girls bathroom) Andrew and Ryan got to have their picture taken with Speedy. Andrew is looking a bit suspicious of old speedy if you ask me.

First stop, Batman (after seeing that Superman was an hour long wait). Might as well start out with the big daddy rides first to break them in. That was a very nice first ride although I am not the biggest fan of Batman. Next ride, the Raging Bull; the first of 3 or 4 rides on the bull. Each ride was great. In fact the first ride was so great that as soon as we got off, we got back in line for another ride.

Here are some pics of the BULL.

Mr. and Mrs. M and Rachel and Liz were actually on this coaster going down. You probably can't see them, but they were there. I took this picture while waiting in line.

Here is Andrew, Jakob, Rick and Brad waiting for their turn to tame the bull. Rick is in deep thought. I think we was thinking "Don't puke".

Here is Ryan, Kathleen, and Elisa (and I'm there too, you just can't see me since I was taking the picture). We are heading up the bull for the first huge drop. I think Kathleen must have gotten a bug in her mouth or something.

This is still going up. What can you say, they were preparing for the ride down by raising there hands. This picture reminds me of the old deodorant commercial by the brand Sure. "Raise your hands, Raise your hands if you're Sure". Sorry, just thought I'd share that.

This picture is taken from the peak of the Bull, just before we head straight down. This is about the time we yelled, "Hey I can see Jessicaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" as we plummeted straight down.

This is us plummeting! Yeah, the picture just doesn't do it justice. You feel like you are going to come out of your seet but the seat hold you in place thingy doesn't let you fall.....thankfully.

I think this picture was actually taken while we were riding the bull. I just stuck the camera over my head and took a picture behind us. I was surprised it actually came out. Look at the pure joy on the faces of these boys. Wow!

So that is part 1 of the Six Flags post. Once I get the rest of the pictures (Walgreens gave me a bad disk that I have to get replaced) I'll post more. Let's just say that the afternoon consisted of a lot of water. The words wet, cold, soaked, and tons of fun come to mind.

Overall we had a great time...at least I did. And I think I can speak for everyone else. I'll try to post more soon.

Blast off!

2007-06-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is in response to Kathleen's countdown on the comments section of my last post entitled "Sorry". She was counting down the days until it had been one month since I posted which would have been June 15th. So I decided to post a few days earlier since I had one second and who knows what is going on later this week - so BLAST OFF! Thank you for all your comments about how I should post more often - I'm just glad to know you read my blog and care about what I have to say - maybe!

I could say once again that I am sorry and that once again I have failed to keep the commitment I said I would try to keep in my previous blog - posting more - but you are probably tired of hearing apologies and would rather see results. And I could give you some good excuses why I have not posted, but I won't. But most importantly I am NOT going to make another promise or commitment that I am going to try to post more often because I will probably fail at it. Not that I don't want to post, but I don't always place posting on my blog as the top priority in my week.

You know, I was thinking about this whole situation in the Christian life and I was thinking how many times we desire to follow the Lord and we want to please Him and so we tell God that we will try real hard to do that. And then, we fail and fall flat on our faces once again in our relationship with the Lord. And then we say we are sorry and start the process over again.

But God uses these times in our lives to draw us closer to Him. He is teaching us that while our desire is good, our source of power is bad. Because we are trying to do for God ourselves rather than relying on what Christ has already accomplished for us through his death and resurrection and ascension. By this I am not just talking about salvation but that He has provided everything for us to live our lives each day in a way that brings honor to Him - through His power in us by means of the Holy Spirit.

So, I am not going to say that I am going to try harder to post. I do desire to post and communicate with you guys (gals included in the generic "guys"), but I don't always have the opportunity.

By the way, Six Flags Great America trip is June 23 for the Sr. High from 9:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Cost is $20 and if you have a Coke can for $20 off bring that too. Just thought I should throw that in there in case I didn't post in the next month!

Sorry...

2007-05-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

I am very sorry for not posting anything in a very long time. I have been busy to say the least.

Last week with the photo directory, Awana Awards Night, and moving into my new house on Friday and Saturday - pretty busy.

So let me just say CONGRATULATIONS to all our Trekers who earned awards this year. Zack earned a Compass Point Completion Certificate; Becca, Jenn, Johnny, and Ryan earned their milestone awards; Katie earned her Timothy Award (well, actually last year but we gave it to her this year); and Kathleen, Elisa, Liz and Caleb earned their Meritorious Awards. And thanks to all of our Trekers and Trek leaders for a great year of Trek! It was great!

To finish off the Trek year we will be having a Trek End of the Year Party on Friday, May 18th from 5:30 - 9:00 p.m. at CBC. We will have pizza and pop, a scavenger hunt, a devotion, and flashlight tag. And it is a FREE event! Invite your friends, but let me know if you are coming so I will have enough pizza for you.

So what is going on this summer you may ask...well, on Wednesday nights every week we will have a Youth Bible Study. This time will start at 6:45 p.m. and end at 8:15 p.m. We will start with a little volleyball or some other games. After that we will head upstairs for some refreshments and a group prayer time. Then we will have our Bible study. This summer we will be studying through the book of Colossians together. I hope you can come. And of course, friends are welcome for this as well.

So that about sums everything up. Hope to see you this summer.

Jump and Run!

2007-04-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

I got to go to Rachel's track meet yesterday and watch her compete in the long jump and in the 400 meters and the 1600 meter relay (4 people each run 400m). And even though it was cloudy, and windy and even a few drops of rain came down, Rachel did GREAT!!

So I thought I would include a few pics of Rachel doing the long jump into the sand pit and one of her running. I had a great time watching her...even with a wind chapped face.

Great job Rachel!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

2007-04-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

I had a desire to put a post up on the blog for each person's birthday. I started this with Josh Winton back on February 26. However since then I have failed to do it.

So, today is Liz's birthday and so I am starting back and making up for past birthdays that I missed.

So first of all. Happy 14th Birthday Liz - 4/19. Hope you have a wonderful birthday and a fun time celebrating with your family and friends.

Last Thursday, April 12th was Laurel's birthday. I am sorry Laurel for forgetting to post a Happy Birthday to you. But Happy Belated 13th Birthday Laurel. I hope you had a great birthday.

And I missed Andrea's sweet 16th Birthday on March 18th. So a very happy, very belated birthday to Andrea as well.

Happy Birthday everyone!

Thoughts and Prayers...

2007-04-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

First let me thank all of you for your prayers these past few days as I have been sick. Just a sinus infection but to me it was significant...enough to cause me to go to the dreaded DOCTOR!! - horrific scream-. Anway, I am feeling much better now as the doctor loaded me up with medications to take. And I am thankful that the Lord is using these medications to bring strength back to my body.

But that is not what this post is about. As many of you are probably aware, yesterday was a tragic day in our nation's history with the murders that took place at Virginia Tech. The worst shooting in American history as I'm sure you have heard based on the number of people killed - 33 or 34.

But what I find interesting in times of national tragedy is how often prayer is mentioned. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say on these news programs to keep the Virginia Tech family in our thoughts and prayers or that someone being interviewed or speaking says that the VT family is in their thoughts and prayers. Now, I am certainly not against people saying that, but how come it is ok to pray in tragedies and difficulties, but not when things "seem" to be going fine. Or maybe "thoughts and prayers" is just a saying that shows we care. Whatever the case, it is rather ironic that it is demanded by some that public prayer be banned, thrown out, and not mentioned until we seem to be in a place of "real need". Truthfully we ALL need prayer ALL the time because we ALL need to be depending on God.

But as I think of all these people saying they are praying, two questions come to my mind: Are people really praying? Are the prayers of these people being heard?

The reason for that last statement is that there are conditions or requirements for prayer...ones that often are forgotten. I take these from a book called Basic Bible Doctrine by R.C. Barth - founder of Friends of Alcoholics, a friend of our families, and the man whom the Lord used to show me my need of salvation; a man I hold in high regard as a man of God's Word.

The first requirement for being on "praying ground" is having a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, a person has to be saved. If a person is not saved (an unbeliever) then God does not hear their prayer. Sure God knows what they are saying because He is omniscient and so in that case he knows or hears their prayer. But we can only come before God in prayer through our relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Mediator between God the Father and us. Therefore, no relationship with God through Christ = no access to the Father.

The second requirement for being on "praying ground" is having fellowship with God. This concerns believers - those who already have a relationship with God. We do not have fellowship with God if we have unconfessed sin in our lives. So we must confess (say the same thing about our sin that God says about it - calling sin, sin and acknowledging we are guilty) our sin and restore that fellowship before we can have this access to God in prayer.

So relationship and fellowship are the two requirements for being on praying ground. Sincerity is not a requirement. I am sure that there are many people sincerely praying for the VT family during this time whose prayers God will not hear because they are not on "praying ground". While that may not seem like the nicest thing to say, the truths we have mentioned are based in God's Word. That is where I will stand for the truth. For those of us who are on praying ground, we must be faithful to pray often. We have been called to do so.

No Resurrection = No Hope!

2007-04-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes as we think about the gospel message we understand the importance of Christ's death on the cross for our sins, but we do not completely understand the full importance of Christ's resurrection in the gospel.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul makes it clear that the resurrection is part of the gospel and is important in salvation. In vv.2-4 he says "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,..." Obviously the resurrection is important for someone to understand if they are placing their faith in Jesus Christ. I mean, who would want to believe in someone who died and is still dead.

Paul goes on in vv. 13-14: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Then in v. 17: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins."

And finally in v. 20: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

This would be the longest blog ever if we went into all of the things that were provided for us by Christ's resurrection. But I want us to understand that Christ's resurrection means so much for as Christians. Without it, we have no hope and are still in our sins. Without it we have no eternal life. No doubt, it is something to remember every day and it is great to celebrate it on Easter.

For Christ to be our Savior, He had to be resurrected. His resurrection was just as important as His death for our salvation.

Romans 4:25 tells us that Christ was raised for our justification. Justification means that God the Father declares us to be NOT GUILTY. Although we have been forgiven, justification goes beyond that. Forgiveness recognizes guilt but refrains from judgement, justification declares one not guilty. But we are guilty as sinners (Romans 3:23), so how can God declare us not guilty? Only because Christ paid for our sins when He died on the cross. He died in our place and was made sin for us. And only if all sin had been paid for completely would God the Father be able to declare us not guilty. And if all sin had not been paid for, then Christ would not have been raised. Sin results in death and if a single sin placed on Christ had not satisfied God in payment of that sin, Christ would still be dead. But HE IS ALIVE and therefore the payment for sin was satisfactory to God.

We also read in that passage that Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection. Because He was the firstfruits, we know that we too will be resurrected one day. In fact, all people will be raised one day. Those who are believers (having placed their faith in Christ ALONE for salvation) will be raised at the rapture (church age believers) and at the end of the tribulation (tribulation saints and OT saints). Unbelievers will be raised after the 1,000 year rule of Christ. Believers will be raised and spend eternity in heaven; unbelievers will be raised and spend eternity in hell.

As believers we are told that we are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:4-5). This means we have resurrection life at the moment we trust Christ as Savior. Because of this resurrection life that we have, we should count ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).

We also have resurrection power in Christ. The same power that raised Christ is available to Christians. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. We have power from God. We must utilize it. Because of Christ's work we have this available to us. This doesn't mean you are going to start healing people and raising people and flying and all that like super powers. But you have power from God meaning that nothing is too great to overcome in our lives...especially when we fall short. (Eph. 1:18-20)

We could go on, but I will stop there. Be reminded of the importance of Christ's resurrection and understand that Christ was raised so we do have hope. And give praise to God for it.

Resurrection = Hope!

Since when do bunnies lay eggs?

2007-04-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered where bunnies and eggs came from for Easter? And how about all that chocolate that is supposedly necessary to really celebrate Easter? Isn't Easter supposed to be a celebration of Christ's resurrection?

YES!! For the believer, Easter is a remembrance and celebration of Christ's resurrection after His death (which is the focus of Good Friday). Hopefully, as believers we will never be so overrun by bunnies, colorful eggs, and chocolate that we lose sight that our Savior who died for us is alive today. More thoughts on that to come in another post.

So, what is with the egg laying bunnies? I mean, I hope we all know that baby bunnies don't hatch out of eggs like baby birds do. A rabbit is a mammal, they give birth like humans do (and that is as far as we will go with that).

So in my curiosity I went to GoodSearch (for Kelly Lamonica's school - Krug Elementary) and typed in "the history of bunnies and Easter". And I was directed to www.history.com. And since Easter is coming up they apparently are giving the history of Easter. So here is what I found out.
Easter is now celebrated on Sunday but used not to be so. Some, even still, want Easter to be a fixed date like Christmas (Dec. 25th if you were unaware). Originally, Christians of Jewish origin celebrated Christ's resurrection immediately after Passover festival and so Easter took place on different days of the week. Gentile Christians though wanted it celebrated on Sunday, the first day of the week. The Council of Nicaea got involved in 325 A.D. and ruled that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Got that! Anyway, more calendar discrepancies and stuff happened, but the end of the matter is that we celebrate Easter on Sunday but it could be different Sundays.

Now, for some pagan Easter origins. Since only believers were celebrating Christ's resurrection, the unbelievers also had celebrations not related to Christ's resurrection that began to filter into Christian Easter celebrations and are the reason that we have bunnies and eggs and the such today. New life is the central element. Unbelievers celebrated the new life of spring and fertility. In fact, the word "Easter" apparently is derived from Eastre who was the Anglo Saxon Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Eggs have long been a mythological symbol of birth and in the 13th century Christians began using eggs in Easter celebrations. The yolk was said to symbolize Christ's emergence from the tomb and the eggs were painted red to symbolize Christ's shed blood.

Soon however, the eggs were more than just red and the eggs "hatched" their own traditions including games like the Easter egg roll. The White House actually hosts an annual Easter egg roll every year - this year on Monday after Easter.

The bunny had long been a symbol of new life in European pagan celebration due to the fertility of rabbits. Apparently in Europe, especially among the Germans, there was a tradition that a bunny named "Oschter Haws" (interesting name for a bunny) would come to homes on Easter eve (sounds a lot like Santa Claus in a bunny costume) and leave colored eggs for children. Because of this children started leaving "nests" for the eggs to be put into, and from this came the Easter baskets and egg hunts and the such. Easter eggs were painted many different colors representing colors of spring and of course we know Easter eggs are painted all different ways now a days.

So what about all the chocolate. Well, you didn't think those chocolate makers were going to pass up on a way to make a profit did you? Of course not! So, in the 19th century (surprised it took that long), chocolate eggs and the like began being made to put into the Easter baskets and from there it has only escalated to the craziness that it has become today. In fact, billions (that's right, with a B) of dollars are spent every year on Easter candy. I spent a couple of dollars myself recently since my wife loves Cadbury Cream Eggs (of course laid by the Cadbury rabbit - those eggs aren't so good scrambled though).

So a new life celebration for the unbeliever - spring, fertility, eggs, bunnies, chocolate - that is where it comes from according to the history website.

I do not believe it is wrong for a believer to have Easter egg hunts or get chocolate and all. But if we forget the purpose of Easter (just like Christmas), that we are celebrating Christ's resurrection, and we allow the secular things of Easter to dim the importance of that, then we have a problem. So eat your candy, pet your bunnies, dye your Easter eggs (by the way probably want to use boiled eggs, the other ones are a pain to clean up); but don't forget that without the death and resurrection of Christ there would be NO new life. True new life is found in Jesus Christ alone!

Knocking out a wall!

2007-04-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday at the CBC Work Day, we were able to begin phase 1 of the youth room rennovations. Phase 1 involved knocking out part of the wall dividing the current youth room with the old youth storage/office room to make one big room.

Thanks to Alan Arnold for telling Brad and I what to do since I really didn't know where to start. We had a good time smashing the wall in. And now we have a little bit more room and a big metal pole in the middle of the room. We were also able to finally hang up our missionary map which has been sitting on the heater thing and getting bowed. Hopefully now it will straighten out.

By the way, what do you suggest we do with that pole. Since it gets really dark in those two rooms when we play capture the flag and flashlight tag, we probably should do something with it so someone doesn't eat it in the dark. Brittany suggests painting it with glow in the dark paint and letting everyone sign their names on it with a sharpie. Do you agree? Do you have any other thoughts?

All right, one phase down, 18,000 phases to go. Just kidding.

Skate Night recap...

2007-04-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took so long for me to blog about the skate night and post a couple of pictures. But since Katie requests a post about it, I'll try...

Well, we skated and it was fun! Ok, that's it.

Alright, maybe I can say something else. Let's see. We skated in a circle for almost 2 hours. We did the hokie pokie thing, had a 15 minute devotion (even though my limit was 10 minutes...hey I thought that was pretty good) and talked about the importance of encouraging one another with our words rather than discouraging and insulting one another. We saw that the tongue is very powerful - like a bit in a horse's mouth or the rudder of a ship (James 3:3-4). Then we continued to skate to some good music, had some skating races and then had a final skate with a friend to Butterfly Kisses.(sniff, sniff; shedding a tear)

Some people spent more time at the snack bar then on skating rink. Others spent quite a bit of time on the floor. But overall, everyone seemed to have a pretty good time - hope you did!

Awana Skate Night - TONIGHT!!

2007-03-28T09:12:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that we will not be having our regular Awana meetings at CBC tonight. Instead we will be having a Family Skate Night at the Aurora Skate Center. Also note that the times are from 6-8 p.m. instead of our usual 6:30-8 p.m. for Awana.

Hope to see you there tonight!

CEF Easter Party Training

2007-03-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

This Sunday night, March 25th, we will be having a CEF Easter Party training to prepare us for 2 Easter parties scheduled in April (April 6th and April 14th).

Jodi Ward will be coming to CBC to train us. The training will take place from 7:10 p.m. until about 8:30 p.m. If you are planning to help with the Easter parties, please try to attend this training.

The Easter parties are a great way to reach out to friends in your neighborhoods that may be unsaved. We will play games, sing songs, and tell a story that shares the good news of Jesus Christ. During this time of the year, we want to proclaim what the real meaning of Easter is that we celebrate as Christians - Christ's death and resurrection.

"...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Hebrews 9:22, NIV.

"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." 1 Corinthians 15:17, NIV.

These verses show us the importance of Christ's death and resurrection.

Hope to see you at the Easter party training.

Sr. High Fast Food Progressive Dinner...

2007-03-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Sr. Highers, we are having a progressive dinner - fast food style this Saturday night, March 17. We will meet at CBC at 5:00 p.m. and then head out on the town for dinner. We will make 3 different stops. One stop for appetizers, one stop for the main course, and one stop for dessert. So far I have only gotten one suggestion - Deri Delite for dessert.

If you have any suggestions besides that or in addition to that for the other courses, make a comment or email me. After dinner, we will come back to the church to play games and look into the Word of God together until our night ends at 9:00 p.m.

The cost is $5/person to help with dinner and you will also need to fill out a Medical Release form if I don't have one from you for the year yet. Check the links out on the left hand side of the blog for a link to a Medical Release form.

Hope to see you on Saturday night. As always friends are invited, but please let me know if they are coming so I will have enough vehicle space for them.

Here We Go Again...

2007-03-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be familiar with the recent buzz that Jesus' tomb, casket, and bones have been found in Jerusalem. This past Sunday night, the Discovery channel aired a special called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus". This "discovery" apparently was made by James Cameron (the director of the film "Titanic") and Simcha Jacobovici (glad I'm typing his name and not trying to pronounce it).

As Christians, the FACT that Jesus is alive today is foundational to our faith. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:14, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." But Paul goes on to say in verse 20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (NIV) Because the resurrection is so important, and because this "discovery" has been made, it is important as Christians that we understand more about this "discovery" and know how to answer questions that may be raised to us or to engage in a meaningful conversation should the question come up. Ultimately we either believe what God reveals to us in His Word (that Christ was raised and is alive) or we believe the shaky evidence men try to produce that Christ is not alive. Theories that Christ is really dead have been around since Christ was raised. Yet none of these theories have ever held up.

In order to give you a little better understanding on this topic I thought I would link you to two separate articles you can read. First, an article by Todd Friel that I received from Worldview Weekend. Second, an article by Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries. Both of these articles give us some more information on this whole hoax and will help you have a better understanding about it.

As Christians, we are constantly going to be under attack by the enemy, Satan. Trying to disprove not only Christ's resurrection but many other truths the Bible teaches is nothing new. Why, just a few months ago there was the whole buzz about the DaVinci Code movie that came out saying that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene among many other proposterous claims. But I want to encourage you to stand by faith on God's Word and not be easily swept away by every little theory given by man. Ultimately as Christians, we take God at His Word by faith. And remember, as we defend God's Word, never do so with an arrogant attitude to win a debate but rather with the motive to lead the unbeliever to Christ. Depend on the Holy Spirit who indwells you as a believer to give you the wisdom to speak the proper words at the proper time and to show love to people who don't believe what you do.

The Word of God talks many times about false teachers and false doctrines being espoused by others who think they have such great knowledge. In these passages we as believers are told to not be deceived by these thoughts. While many of these passages may not be specifically talking about a situation such as this, I think it no doubt applies. Listen to the words of Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20-21, "Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you." (NIV)

Stand firm on the Word of God!

Trek Game Night @ the DeVries

2007-03-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

HELLO TREKERS!

Wanted to remind you of the Trek Game Night at the DeVries home coming up this Saturday night from 4-8:30 p.m. Remember that we will meet and be picked up at the DeVries home. If you (well actually your parents since none of you will be driving - hopefully) need directions, contact me and I'll be glad to give them to you.

The night will consist of games (hence the name of the activity) as well as dinner (subs, chips, and pop) and a devotion. If the weather is nice as they are predicting, we may play basketball or football outside for those interested. There will also be ping pong, fooseball, darts, board games, and whatever else we can find to do. It should be a lot of fun hanging out with everybody.

Of course, friends are welcome. But please let me know if you are bringing friends so I can plan to have enough food for everyone. We certainly don't want crazed and starving Jr. Highers.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Journey/Trek Quizzing results...

2007-03-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to get the results of the quizzing competition posted (actually not too bad - just a few days).

Anway, congratulations to all 3 of our quizzing teams from CBC - 1 Journey team; 2 Trek teams. You guys all did a great job. I am proud of each of you for the work and time you put in and devoted to this, and I greatly appreciate your participation.

Our Trek teams were competing against 7 other teams, so there were a total of 9 teams if I recall correctly. Team #1 consisting of Caleb, Elisa, Johnny, and Kathleen finished 3rd overall, and Team #2 consisting of Elizabeth, Jenn, Katie, and Rachel finished 4th overall. By the way, I apologize that on the pictures it is hard to see Team #2 during the competition as you were in the back and I did not get a good picture of you ladies. Great job Trek teams!

Our Journey team competed against 5 other teams. So, including us, there were 6 Journey teams. While some members of our team were thinking optimistically (ok, not really) and thinking we would finish 6th, we actually finished 4th overall. Next year we will practice at buzzing in faster although there is not much you can do when the question isn't even nearly finished before another team buzzes in. Oh well, you guys did good. By the way, I thought the contrast of the two pictures of the team were funny. In one the guys are smiling (well, except Andrew), but in the other one they are all stone faced and trying to look mean.

Thanks to all those involved and thanks to Mr. M (aka Santa Claus) for coaching our Trek teams - he did a great job.

All we can do now is start preparing for next year!

Hats and Panty Hose...

2007-02-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, kind of a weird title for a church youth group blog post, but that sums up the craziness of our Trek night tonight.

Sure we had some over indulgence at the Trek store, but I won't name any names. But we also had some pretty crazy hats that showed up for crazy hat night. Let's see, we had a duct tape hat, a fuzzy green hat, a pair of bunny ears, cowboy hats, a weird hat with a duck on it (maybe the craziest of all), a Santa hat, a statue of liberty crown, a bicycle helmet, etc. Definitely some weird stuff in there. Well, you be the judge, take a look at the picture.

In addition, we (well actually I, *evil laugh*) decided to play a game that involved a head covering. The 8th graders played this game last year and I think it was their favorite game; or NOT! But the 7th graders had not yet played this wonderful game (wonderful if you're a leader and don't have to play). Maybe the word embarassing is a better way to describe it.

While this game may have had it origins elsewhere, my first exposure to it was in Ukraine during the summer of 2005. Basically you pull panty hose over your head and the other end left hanging has some sort of weight in it (not dangerous weight though - we used a pair of socks). The two or three or however many contestants line up against one another and on "GO" they start swinging their heads to get their panty hose moving. The point is to get your hose caught in your opponents hose and then pull his/her hose off his/her head. No hands can be used. It is kind of hard to explain...maybe these pictures will help! Well....I thought it was fun. It is really good when it is really hot outside and the people playing have been sweating and then you put it on over your head and the smell almost knocks you over - NICE!!

By the way, not to be overlooked in our night was Mr. M's council time on assurance. As a believer, I don't have to wonder if I will end up in heaven one day - I CAN KNOW, I CAN BE ASSURED! If I have trusted Christ as my Savior, I am sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in me and He is a pledge, deposit, or guarantee that one day I will be spending eternity with God. By the way, that guarantee is way more significant then that gurantee mentioned that the Cubs would win the World Series. I mean come on... :)

And remember our verse in our Compass Point: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." John 10:27-29 (NIV)

WOW!! Those words should give great hope to the believer and should give us assurance and security in our relationship with Christ. Stand on it. It doesn't make complete sense in man's mind, and that is why so many humans (even Christians) struggle with this truth. But God's Word makes it clear, and that is where we must stand - on His Word! I could keep going and start preaching, but I'll stop there. Enough said!

Journey/Trek Quizzing

2007-02-28T11:13:00.000-08:00

After all the waiting and practicing, the Journey/Trek Quizzing Competition is upon us this Saturday, March 3. The competition will take place at Elgin Evangelical Free Church in Elgin (makes sense, huh). This is the same location as last year.

Speaking of last year, these pictures are of our groups who quizzed last year. The First Place JV team and the Journey Team. You all look so young; my how you've changed in a year!

Although the actual competition does not start until 9:30 a.m., our quiz teams need to be there to register at 9:00 a.m. So we will be meeting at CBC at 7:50 a.m. and leaving shortly thereafter.

Quizzers should bring their study material with them to study on the drive up and at the church while we wait for the quizzing to begin. Quizzers, please also remember to dress appropriately. Guys should wear slacks, a collared shirt and a tie. Girls should wear either a long dress, a long skirt and blouse, or dress pants and a blouse.

Parents/Spectators are also asked to dress up for this event.

We also may plan to stop for a fast foodish type lunch on the way home depending on what time it is when we start the road trip home.

See ya Saturday!

Crazy Hats and the Store...

2007-02-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

A reminder to all of you Trekies that tonight at Trek will be having our Trek Store and Crazy Hat Night. So come prepared.

At the Trek Store you can use Trek bucks (earned by completing verses and units) to buy different types of items including pop, candy, notebooks, pens and SHARPIES!! Only crazed sharpie addicts really care about buying sharpies, but we do have a few of those...Hmmmm!

As far as the hats, feel free to express yourself. I know some of you who are Cubs fans will wear a White Sox hat for crazy hat night and some of you White Sox fans will wear Cubs hats. Whatever floats your boat.

So, just a reminder on those two things. Hope to see you tonight!

White and Dirty...

2007-02-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

No I didn't say "White and Nerdy" like the song by Weird Al. I said "white and dirty".

We have had a pretty decent amount of snow this winter. Although most any amount of snow is a decent amount for a boy from the South like me, it seems like we have had even a decent amount of snow for you tried and true Midwesterners.

In the book of Isaiah we read these words:
“Come now, and let us reason together”, says the LORD, “though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18, NIV)

As we are reminded of this passage of Scripture, we should have a new thought process when we see the snow undisturbed (like in the picture to the right of my backyard). Of course not all snow is pure white. The disturbed snow from cars and snow plows is very nasty and dirty (as you can also see from the picture on the left). But they didn't have cars and snow plows when the Bible was written (although obviously many things can disturb the snow). But when we read in Scripture that though our sins were as scarlet, they will be as white as snow it is talking about the pure, undisturbed snow. What a beautiful picture we have of what Christ did for us falling right in front of our eyes.

So if you don't already think about this verse when you see the pure, white snow begin thinking about it from now on. God has been faithful to give us a beautiful picture of what He has done with our sin right before our very eyes. And our response...it can only be "Thank You Lord".

Happy Birthday Josh...

2007-02-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

A very happy birthday goes out to Josh Winton. He turns 13 years old today. Welcome to the crazy life of a teenager, Josh. Hope you have a great birthday. I am very thankful to the Lord for you!

Amazing Grace...

2007-02-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

When you hear the words "Amazing Grace", most of the time you think of the hymn by that title that was written by John Newton in 1773. This hymn has become one of, if not the most popular hymn of all time.

However, there is now a new movie coming out by that same title - "Amazing Grace." Maybe you have heard of it. It actually was released yesterday, February 23rd.

This movie relates the true story of William Wilberforce's 20 year fight to abolish the British slave trade, which he won in 1807. One of the reasons for the title of the movie is that the movie includes John Newton in it as somewhat of a mentor of Wilberforce. John Newton actually was a slave trader for some time before his conversion and even for a little while after his conversion before he committed himself to full time ministry as a pastor. It was at this time that he penned the words that we sing today. He penned them to use as part of his sermon.

The movie is rated PG. You can watch a preview be clicking here. To check out a review of the movie go to Plugged In.

Although this movie is not a "Christian movie", the Christian should be reminded that only by the amazing grace of God were we freed from the slave market of sin. Sin, which was once our master, is not our master any longer. We have a new master - Jesus Christ.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:34-36 (NIV)

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:7 (NIV)

This film may be a good opportunity to talk about Christ with your friends. Take the historic story of William Wilbeforce and talk about how Christ freed us from slavery as well.

I'd love to hear your "reviews" if you have seen it.

Valentine's Dinner recap...

2007-02-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at our Valentine's Dinner last Saturday night for parents and grandparents of our youth who helped with the dinner. Basically the food was cooked by, the music played by, the night hosted by, the photographs taken by and the people waited on by our youth. Oh yeah, don't forget that they also setup and cleaned up (including many dishes). They did a great job!!

Thankfully despite my efforts to burn down the church, we only had some smokiness in the room for about 20 minutes or so. (ok, maybe 30 or 40 minutes - and it was a bit colder in the dining room due to the fans used to get rid of the smoke - SORRY!)

So here are some pics from the event for your enjoyment.

Thanks for everyone's hard work! It was a great night and everyone did a great job!

Upcoming Event Reminders...

2007-02-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Hello CBC youth!

Just a couple of reminders about things coming up this weekend that you may need to know.

First of all, on Friday (23rd) we will be having our monthly Worldview Night at CBC. This month we will continue with our study entitled re:View Discern Culture. Know Truth. This study is put out by Cedarville University. We covered the first two sessions in January and I hope to cover at least the next 2 this month. Worldview Night starts at 6:00 p.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m. This includes about 30 minutes to an hour of time to play games and enjoy snacks together after the study. So if you can come, please bring a snack to share if you are able.

The second thing to be aware of is on Saturday (24th). This is quizzing practice (I can see how excited you all are) for those participating in either Journey or Trek quizzing next week (March 3rd). Since this will be our final practice before the big event it is important that you try to be there. Practice is from 9:00-10:30 a.m. at CBC.

So, that is what is going on this weekend for you youthies. Hope to see you at one or both of these things.

Keep your focus on the Lord this week (and all weeks) and stay in His Word! It is important for your spiritual growth just as much as physical food is for our physical growth. Consume it!

Super Comments at the Super Bowl...

2007-02-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

Let me be the first to extend my deepest sympathy to all of you Bears' fans on the defeat of your team in the Super Bowl on Sunday night. I don't know how it feels to lose the Super Bowl since my team has never been there, but I do know how it feels to lose to YOUR team in the NFC Championship game and I know it stinks. At this point the solace you take is in saying to yourself, "Well, at least we made it to the Super Bowl" but I know that doesn't really help that much.

While I was pulling for the Bears to win for many at CBC and another friend of mine outside the CBC body who is a big Bears fan, I must admit that I was not torn up over the loss and I didn't mind seeing the Colts win the Super Bowl. I heard all the trash talk that "Colts" stood for "Can Only Lose The Superbowl" even though Super Bowl is two words and "Colts" doesn't end with a "B". I mean with that thinking, "Bears" must stand for "Bad, Especially At Raining Superbowls". In the end, the game was really not that exciting overall and the play of the Bears team as a whole was pretty bad (not just Rex Grossman).

But I must say that what I really appreciated most about the Colts win was the focus of their Owner and Head Coach after the game. During one of the greatest moments of their lives when all the attention was on them and they could have said how great their team was and they were, the first thing Colts owner Jim Irsay did was focus on those who had lost their lives and homes in the storms that hit just north of Orlando, FL on Thursday and then give glory to God for the Super Bowl win. Irsay is a professing Christian, and so is his head coach Tony Dungy who made mulitple mentions of the Lord. And when asked about being the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, Dungy said this,

“I’m proud to be the first African-American coach to win this, but again, more than anything, Lovie Smith and I are not only African-Americans but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord’s way. We’re more proud of that.”

I am certainly not saying that the reason the Colts won the Super Bowl was because their owner was a Christian and their head coach was a Christian. And of course I am sure that there are people on their team who are not Christians and people on the Bears team who are Christians (Lovie Smith according to Dungy). But what I am saying is that I appreciated the focus of these men. In an entertainment and sports world where we hear so much about all the "me" focus of high paid entertainers and athletes, it is nice to see something different. In his post game press conference, Dungy even mentioned that this isn't the biggest thing in the world - referring to winning a Super Bowl. He recognized that winning a football game was not the most important thing.

So, as much as I was pulling for the Bears to win, I must say thanks to Irsay and Dungy for focusing first where we all should be focusing first. Thanks for giving the glory to God when you could have taken the glory yourself. And thanks for being a role model in a world that seriously needs them.

So bears fans, I'm sorry...but I hope you stay tuned long enough to hear the comments of these men after the game. For a more complete story on Jim Irsay's faith you can go to http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=24865 . To read more on Tony Dungy's focus you can go to http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_63714.asp . Also on Dungy's faith, you can read the first part of this article - http://www.juiceenewsdaily.com/index.php/2005/12/30/tony-dungy-faith-in-christ-will-get-me-through/ .

And by the way Bears fans...there is always next year - for the Saints too!

Breakfast...

2007-02-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I am glad to know that there is at least 1 person coming to this blog frequently to see what is going on. And for that 1 person (Jessica), I apologize for my inconsistent posting. I must say that posting on my blog is not something that I think about too frequently but I do know the frustration of checking a blog frequently and finding that nothing has been updated since like October 2006 (Elisa).

One of the reasons I don't blog too frequently is that I don't really think I have much to say or that anyone cares all that much what I might say. But since you, Jess, even care what I eat for breakfast I will tell you. This morning I had a very nice bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with 2% reduced fat milk. In addition I had a small glass of applejuice which helped me to swallow my daily vitamin. I know that is really interesting and thanks for asking and thanks for your comments.

I will try to do better with posts. Of course I must do a Super Bowl post so stay tuned...

Trek Parent's Night...

2007-01-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hey Trekers, don't forget that this Wednesday night, January 17th is a special Parent's Night. All Trek parents are invited to join us for club on Wednesday night. We will have a special presentation about summer camp at Silver Birch Ranch in White Lake, Wisconsin. We will let you know when camp is and what scholarships are available through CBC to help with the costs.

After that presentation we will continue our regular club night with handbook and game times. Your parents are encouraged to join us for those times as well if they would like.

Hope to see you and your parents at Trek on Wednesday!

January Worldview Night...

2007-01-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

After taking a break for December due to everyone's busy schedules, we will be once again be having our monthly Worldview Nights. This month we will meet this Frida, January 19th from 6-9 p.m.

We will begin by meeting in the sanctuary as we view some DVD's. This month we will start a new worldview study called re:View Discern Culture. Know Truth. This worldview study will involved a short video clip, followed by some discussion of the video, teaching by Dr. Bill Brown and further discussion. This worldview study is put out by Cedarville University in Ohio. Dr. Bill Brown is the president of Cedarville and the teacher for these DVD's. Although this worldview study is geared more towards youth, anyone else is welcome to join us as well.

We will continue with a time of snacks and games after the worldview study. This usually lasts from 8-9p.m. If you can, please bring a snack to share with the group.

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)

Journey/Trek Quizzing Practice...

2007-01-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Quizzers, we are getting closer and closer to March 3 - the quizzing competition. We have 3 practices left until the competition and one of them is this Saturday, January 13th from 9-10:30 a.m. at CBC.

Don't forget to bring your book and Bible, and come with brains in gear, energized and ready to go. Hope to see you there.

Youth Christmas Caroling and Party...

2007-01-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

After we got done with our BP4J @ CBC, we had a couple of hours to rest and prepare for our Youth Christmas Caroling and Christmas Party.

First we grouped up and went out to sing Christmas carols to a few of our older folks at CBC who can't always get out and join us at church on Sunday.
We had a great time showing the love of Christ through singing carols. And although we are not pros at singing, I thought we sounded pretty good.

After the caroling we came back to CBC for some snacks and some fun. Once again this year, we had karaoke set up for those who wanted to try their hand at it. As you see in this picture we even had some of the adults get into it.

Then we ended the night with a ornament/white elephant gift exchange. There was much laughing and gift stealing taking place and of course some pretty weird gifts - thanks in large part to the Arnold clan - where do they get these things?

All in all, a fun night. Thanks to all who caroled and added to the fun.

More BP4J's...

2007-01-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not posting in such a long time. With Christmas stuff going on and taking some vacation time for Christmas, I have not had much time to "catch up" with my blogging.

I wanted to post about the Birthday Party for Jesus that we had at CBC on December 16th. If you read below, you saw that we already had one at LifeSpring.

Our one at CBC went well. We had lunch together, played games, made a Christmas ornament, sang songs, learned a verse, listened to a Bible lesson, and then went home. It was a very busy 3 hours. We had a great group of kids - I think about 24. And as always, we had a great group of teens helping with everything. Thanks guys (generic guys) for all your help.

And although I missed the BP4J @ Elssy Febela on December 20th, Jodi said that you guys did a great job. So thanks to all who were involved in that as well.

Trek games...

2006-12-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

We played some fun games at Trek the other night (thanks to Mr. DeVries) that got everyone moving and shaking.

One was "tails". Each person is given a tail and the person still standing with their tail at the end of the game is the winner. So basically you have to run around and try to pull everyone else's tail off.

The other game was "steal the bacon". The bacon (not real bacon, just a piece of cloth) is set in the middle of the floor. Each person on each team is given a number. When their number is called they run out towards the bacon with the people from the other teams that had their same number. So like if 2 is called, a 2 from each team comes out. The point is to get the bacon and get out of the circle before you get tagged by your opponent. This game takes quickness and smarts and maybe a little craftiness as well.

All to say, we had a good time playing games and since I got a few good pictures of the action, I thought I would share it with you. Notice the quick moves by Jenn and Bryan.

Birthday Parties for Jesus...

2006-12-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who helped with the Birthday Party for Jesus at LifeSpring on December 2nd. We had a fun time with the kids and adults there whether it was singing songs, playing games, learning our memory verse, listening to the lesson or eating pizza.

I hope everyone had a great time sharing about Jesus Christ.

Be in prayer for the next two parties. December 16th at CBC and December 20th at Elssy Febela. Thanks also to Mrs. Ward for training us and being there at LifeSpring to help us out. We appreciate her!

J.O.Y.

2006-11-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

Everyone is invited to CBC this Wednesday night, November 22nd for a FREE Bluegrass Gospel Concert by J.O.Y. (Just Over Yonder). We will not be having Trek, instead we will be having this great concert. By the way, this concert does involve some of our very own Trek members - Kathleen and Johnny DeVries. And their dad and one of our Trek leaders, Mr. DeVries is part of the band. See if you can pick him out in this picture.

So we really hope to see you there. The concert starts at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary at CBC.

And, in addition, just want to tell you all Happy Thanksgiving. Don't get so caught up in all the food, football, family, and fun that you forget to focus on the Lord and give Him thanks - not just for all the stuff we have but even just for who He is. Thankfulness should be a constant attitude for us as believers. Thankfulness should even extend to trials and tribulations in our lives.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

So enjoy your turkey and all the other food. Watch your football game. Have fun with your family. But don't put the Lord on the back shelf and forget Him. The reason we can be thankful is because of Him!

CEF Ministry Opportunities

2006-11-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Hey Sr. and Jr. Highers, you have some great ministry opportunities upcoming to help with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and our favorite CEF Missionary, Jodi Ward.

The first opportunity is one we have been involved with before. It is the Birthday Parties for Jesus. 3 of these events have been scheduled:

1. December 2nd - 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at LifeSpring
2. December 16th - 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. at CBC
3. December 20th - TBD at the Elssy Febela Foundation

If you can't come to all of these that is ok, your involvement in any of these would be great!

If you are going to help with these, however, you must attend the training this Sunday night after our evening service at CBC. This training will be from 7:10 - 8:30 p.m.

Birthday Parties for Jesus are focused on sharing the Gospel with kids as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and remind kids what the real reason is that we celebrate Christmas - Christ's birth. And why was Christ born - to ultimately die for and pay for our sins so that by faith in Him we can have eternal life; salvation.

There are many ways you can participate in this. You don't necessarily have to do a lot of upfront talking. There are games and crafts and all sorts of things you can help with.

The second opportunity that we have to help with CEF is through the Gospel for China Conference. This is an opportunity to help with childcare for a big conference focused on reaching China with the Gospel.

This will take place on Friday, December 29th and will be an all day event. If you can only come part of the day that is fine too. We are glad to have any help at all.

Here are the details:
- We will probably leave CBC around 9am and return to CBC around 9pm
- All meals will be provided (lunch and dinner)
- We will be going to the Crown Plaza Hotel at Ohare
- Transportation can be arranged if necessary
- We will be helping care for 200-250 kids ages 3-7
- CEF will take care of all the planning, we will just help implement these plans
- You need to attend an informational meeting, Sunday, December 10th immediately
following our morning worship service (around 11:35 a.m. - about a 20 minute meeting)
- Please sign up at the CBC information desk for this event
- You will need to fill out CEF's Safe Child Policy

This is a very practical ministry opportunity and through this you have a part in helping spread the gospel in China. You are acting in a support role.

Please strongly consider and pray about these ministry opportunities with CEF that will take place over the next couple of months. Being part of the body of Christ involves service when we know it is what the Lord would have us do. It is very important for me that our youth (you!) be involved in service opportunities.

Your involvement in service opportunities now may also make a difference in future service opportunities that I ask you to be a part of; like maybe missions trips (hint hint). This is not to try and pressure you into anything and I'm not saying that you have to do everything, but I do expect to see some involvement in service opportunities if you are going to be involved with future missions trips.

Many times service involves sacrifice....remember service is not about ME! it is about serving God as we serve others.

Sr. High Game Night...

2006-11-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

Sr. Highers (you know who you are), we are having a game night this Saturday, November 11th from 5-9 p.m. at the Anderson's home.

Meet at the Anderson's home at 5 p.m. and come prepared to have a great time together. We will play pool, ping pong, darts, air hockey and board games. We will also have dinner together and a devotion. And if the weather is nice we will head outside for a fire and maybe some smores (sounds a little sticky)

This is a FREE event (always everyone's favorite kind), but please let me know if you plan to be there so I can plan for food. If you have a favorite board game, bring it.

Thanks a ton to Gary and Debbie Anderson for letting us use their home once again.

See ya Saturday night!

Jr. High/Trek Laser Tag

2006-11-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

Hey Jr. Highers and Trekers, we will be going to play laser tag at Luigi's on Friday, November 10th.

Here are the details:
- Meet at CBC at 5:15 p.m. sharp - we have to leave CBC at 5:20 to head to Luigi's
- We will go to Luigi's for a 5:30 p.m. check in and laser tag briefing
- We will play a 30 minute laser tag session from 6:00-6:30 p.m.
- We will head back to CBC for pizza and pop
- We will have a devotion after dinner (continuing with your questions about the Bible)
- We will play games the rest of the night until you are picked up at 9:00 p.m. at CBC

Here is all you need to do:
- Let Aaron know you are coming to this event and if you are bringing any friends
- Show up at CBC at 5:15 p.m. sharp
- Bring a medical release form (either download one from the church website or get one from Aaron at church on Wednesday night)
- Bring $5 (your cost for this event)
- Bring your Luigi's laser tag card (if you have one if you have played laser tag at Luigi's before)
- Get ready to have an AWESOME night!!

Hope to see you there!

Have you paid your dues?

2006-11-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

No the title of this post is not a metaphor for anything. I really want to know if you have paid your dues - for Trek.

Remember, we are having a contest with the T&T boys to see which club has received more dues by November 8th - which just happens to be this Wednesday night.

The winning club will be served pizza and pop by the losing club. The winner is based on the perecentage of kids in each club who have paid their dues. Soooooo....if you haven't paid them yet, you may want to pay them soon. Remember they are 75 cents per night or $22.50 for the year.

See ya Wednesday night!

Trek Mini Golf and Go Karts...

2006-10-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Trekers or Trekies or whatever you want to be called...you know who you are.

This Friday night, October 20th, we will be having a Mini Golf and Go Karts activity. We will meet at CBC at 5:30 p.m. (please try to be prompt because...) and then leave from there to go to the Sugar Grove Family Fun Center at 5:40 p.m. to play mini golf and ride go karts.

After that we will come back to the church for pizza and pop and a devotion. If there is any time left we will play a few games at the church. The night ends at 9:00 p.m.

The cost is $5/person. This includes 1 game of mini golf and 2 go kart rides as well as pizza and pop...not a bad deal if you ask me. If you want to do anything additionally, you need to bring your own money for that.

By the way, you will need a medical release form for this event. You can get one from me at the church before Friday or print one off the church website from the Youth Page. Please fill one out and have it for me on Friday when you arrive.

Hope to see you there!

Last Chance for Tacos...

2006-10-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Trekers...this week is the last night you have to finish your Trek Check if you have not already. All those who have finished their Trek Check by the end of the night this week will get to have two tacos next week from that fine estbalishment known as Taco Bell.

So get to it if your still not done!! See you on Wednesday night!

Sr. High Laser Tag...

2006-10-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Sr. Highers, don't forget about laser tag this Friday night. We will meet at CBC at 6pm, have a bite to eat, a devotion, and then head over to Luigi's for a 1 hour session of laser tag. After laser tag, we will come back to the church and play games until time to go home at 9:30pm.

The cost is $5/person and you need to have a medical release form for this event. You can either download one off the Youth page on the church website, or you can ask me for one on Wednesday night at church. Please let me know if you are planning on attending and let me know if you are bringing any friends. By the way that means for you to INVITE FRIENDS, we would love to have them.

See ya Friday night!!

Parents night at Trek...

2006-10-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that this week at Trek will be parents night. Parents are invited to join us for a regular club night - That's right we will still be having council time, handbook time, and game time - only your parents will be there with you if they come.

So make sure your parents remember to come with you and join us for a great night and an opportunity to find out more about what Trek is about.

See you on Wednesday...and by the way - our taco contest ends on October 18th - you have that long to finish your Trek Check!

Belated Back to School Bash...

2006-09-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Sr. Highers, don't forget we will be meeting and Bill and Connie Schmidt's home in Plano on Saturday evening from 4-8:30 p.m. for the Belated Back to School Bash.

It is Belated because it was originally planned for Sept. 2nd, and you guys have obviously been in school a while now. But no problem anyway, we will still have a great time.

We will be playing some games inside and outside if the weather cooperates. And we will be eating some grub (obviously I mean food and not grubs, the worm like creatures). And, from experience, we all know that Mrs. Schmidt can cook up some good grub!!

We will also have a devotion time and if the weather is good we will have a fire out back and make smo's (also referred to as smores). Hope you can come and bring your friends if you want to. They can have fun with us! By the way, if you have any games you want to bring...GREAT!, bring them.

Hope to see all you Sr. Highers there.

Worldview Night...

2006-09-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that we will have our monthly worldview night TONIGHT!!

It will be, as usual, in the CBC sanctuary from 6-9 p.m. Tonight we will begin a new video series called Mind Siege by Tim LaHaye and David Noebel. This is a 6 session DVD series. We will view the first 3 sessions tonight and discuss them, and then we will view the next 3 sessions in October. And don't forget the big Worldview Weekend in Rockford that we will be attending on November 17-18.

By the way we will probably be finished with the video series about 8 p.m., so after that we will have some snacks and play some games. So if you could please bring a snack to contribute that would be great.

Hope to see you there!!

TREK tonight....

2006-09-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hope to see you at Trek tonight.

Tonight we will finally be getting into the normal routine of things. Don't forget to bring visitors for BAFTAN and for our own TREK Visitor Contest. We still have a long way to go to reach 30.

And keep working on your Trek Check or Bible Study units!

Luke update...6 1/2 weeks

2006-09-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that Luke is doing great! He is eating a lot and gaining weight. He is smiling and cooing and even sometimes giggling (or at least it seems that way to his parents).

Thanks for your continued prayers for him as he grows, and thanks for your continued prayers for Brit - she is doing well too.

All right, Luke said to tell you all he hopes to see you soon. And I just can't keep him from wearing his Mississippi State stuff...as you can see in the picture with his MS State hat on.