Lies, Lies, Lies

We are surrounded by lies and deceit.  At least that's what the Bible tells us:

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places"-Ephesians 6:12.

We are taking our entire year's worth of youth group in both middle school and high school to talk about the lies and deceits that we hear, accept and then make decisions based on.  All of these lies are ruinous to us, and we need to do two things: 1-recognize them as lies, and 2-make decision to seek the truth.

Here is the list of lies that we'll be covering in one way or another this year:

1. God is not enough
2. God is not really involved in my life
3. God should fix my problems
4. God is just like my father
5. Everything that happens is spiritual warfare
6. Iʼve never been exposed to Satanic activities
7. Beautiful people are worth more
8. I have to perform to be loved
9. I need a boyfriend/girlfriend
10.Itʼs ok to go out with a non-Christian
11.Itʼs not really sex
12.I canʼt handle the loneliness of being alone
13.Itʼs ok to be one person at home and a different person with others, especially online
14.If I just had friends, I wouldnʼt be lonely
15.Iʼm my own authority
16.My youth pastor is my connection with God
17.Everyone at church is judging me
18.Of course Iʼm a Christian, I...
19.I canʼt overcome sin
20.In certain situations itʼs ok to break the law or rules if Iʼm not hurting myself or others
21.The benefits of constant media usage outweigh the harms
22.Itʼs not a waste of time, even if it is, itʼs ok...
23.Having a successful career is more important that just being a mother or father
24.What I do now doesnʼt affect the future

Please let us know how we might come alongside and encourage you!

A little about us, part 3- Youth Group

Sunday School

D-Group

And now...Youth Group.  What is it?  Why have it?

For the last 40 years or so, Youth Groups have been a huge part of churches and their programming geared toward kids.  When I was growing up back in the 80's (Dated?), each Sunday night you;d find me hanging out with the youth group of First Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City, Georgia.  We met each week in the homes of other kids; each week was in a different place.  We'd gather for some food, some fun, and a youth group lesson, usually 15-20 minutes in length.  The favorite topic?  Sex, of course.  I remember that the week before "sex night" (that just doesn't sound right!!) we were handed small pieces of paper, a pen, and encouraged to write down our questions, ANY questions that we had and the following week, our poor youth minister got up in from of the group and answered them. 

Guys like Steve Rembert, Thom McArthur, Martin Huggins were awesome; they loved us, put up with our antics, and taught us what it was like to follow Jesus each Sunday night and on trips all over the place.

Our "youth group" has two parts:

• Our middle school youth group meets on Wednesday nights from 6-8pm.  We have a meal, do a group activity, have a group lesson, and then split into small groups for some deeper discussion.  It takes a special kind of adult to work with middle school kids; they have high energy, lots of questions, and are really coming into their own, developing their identity.  We love middle school kids at Eastview.
• Our high school youth group meets on Sunday nights from 5:45-8pm.  We have a meal, do a group activity, have a group lesson, and then split into small groups for some deeper discussion.  High school kids are at the point in their lives where they are asking big questions and dealing with big issues; they are wrestling with who they are.  I love the depth of our high school kids at Eastview.

This year, in both middle school and high school youth groups, we'll be talking about the lies that surround them, are told to and about them, are told by them, that they fall for and believe, and then act on.  Lies like:

• God could never love me.
• I need a boyfriend/girlfriend.
• The music I listen to, and the movies I watch don't affect me.
• It's not really sex.

Each day, kids in our youth group struggle with and fall for these lies.  Satan is the great deceiver, we actually believe that and this year, we will be confronting our students with the truth of the gospel, and most importantly, with the Truth that is Jesus Christ.

Our youth group is designed to be a great place where kids can feel welcome to bring friends and have some good honest conversation about the God that loves them.  This is called "community" and we see in the Bible that Christians are called to it.  We want to talk about with them what Christianity looks like and what it means to be a follower and disciple of Christ.  We are looking forward to starting up next Wednesday (for middle school) and Sunday the 18th for high school!!

Student Ministry Recaps, week beginning September 26

It's been a very interesting week.  It is evident that our students are coming to Sunday school and youth groups ready to talk and listen.  What have we been talking about?

Sunday School

We just finished a multi-week series through what are called the "General Epistles", 1, 2 and 3rd John, along with Jude.  Each week we asked the kids to read the book or chapter for the following week.  Also, we've asked them to paraphrase what they've read.  We had mixed results at the beginning with the reading and paraphrasing, but many of the kids have really taken to it.  At this point, more kids are doing the reading than not, and the number of those paraphrasing is increasing.  Starting next week, we'll be reading and studying the Gospel of John and learning Jesus' life and ministry.  Our hope is to introduce them to the Jesus they don't know.

Senior High Youth Group

We're in chapter three of Francis Chan's Crazy Love book.  We had some amazing conversations and sharing going on.  One of the main pieces that we talked about was how our human relationships affect our thoughts and relationship with God.  Again, many of the kids are doing the reading (hopefully before 4:15 on Sunday afternoon), and this has really helped.  Some of the questions are starting to change, revealing some depth that we hadn't seen before.  A main struggle with this group is unity, we have several small groups of 2-3 kids, so we are working on group unity.  Our upcoming SEMP service project will help with this.

Middle School Youth Group

We continue with our Grapple series.  Last night we finished the first section of our semester, called "Who's the Man?" which dealt with the nature of God himself.  Our Bible story last night was from the book of Jonah, and we grappled with the question "Isn't God just mean and cruel?", the main thought being that bad thing happen to people, and how can we trust God through them?  We've also been doing a "Bible Scavenger Hunt" each week, asking the kids a question and then telling them which Bible book that it is in, and having them find it.  So far, we've had kids read the ENTIRE book of Revelation, the book of Acts, and this week, their question is from the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament.

How you can help us help you

As you can see from above, at each weekly activity, we are asking the kids to do some sort of preparation, it might be reading, paraphrasing, doing a take-home sheet, or whatever.  We are working hard to equip you to minister to your own kids.  As a parent, this is truly one of the hardest things to do.  If you're like me, you feel inadequate (I do...and I'm a minister!).  We're trying to give out simple tools and things that you can do as a family.  Regardless of what we may think, polls continue to state that parents are the most important influence on the faith of kids.  If there are other things that we can help, please let us know.  You can call me at 319-393-9570, email me at eccparents@gmail.com, or...better yet, attend our upcoming "Second Wednesday" on Wednesday night, October 13 at Eastview.  It's an event just for parents and grandparents, we'll be talking specifically about building meaningful relationships with our kids.  W'll be hanging out from 6-8pm.  Would you join us?

High School/Middle School Youth Group Recaps, March 21-27, 2010

High School Youth Group--March 21, 2010

Topic: The second week of discussion of the book, Dateable: Are You? Are They? has been awesome. Our students are learning about relationships, character and recognizing lies that have been told to them, their friends, themselves and even those they may have done to others. We talked about how our actions are important and what our actions say about us and how they make others feel. How if their friends ask them to lie for them, they will lie to them. It's great seeing our students talk honestly, openly and looking at their own relationships and expectations.

Take away: We need to be truth-tellers and truth-hearers in our relationships with others.

Next week: We continue this study next week with talking about their appearances, revealing clothes and physical boundaries.

A quick reminder....we will not be having Youth Group April 4th Easter Sunday. We want the kids to enjoy that celebration time with their families.

Middle School Youth Group--March 24, 2010

Topic: We talked about our need to trust God when He tells us to do things. We talked about the example of Jonah, found in Jonah 1.

Take Away: God wants us to be obedient to Him. As He asks us to do things, and we do them, we learn that He is trustworthy. We cannot simply say that we love Him with words and then not do what He asks.

Next Week: We'll be talking about Jesus' desire to heal us, using several stories of Him casting out demons.

E-Klub/Youth Group Recaps, March 14-20, 2010

High School Youth Group--March 14, 2010

Topic: Chapters 1-3 of "Dateable": discussion of the nature of high school dating relationships and the tactics guys and girls use in these relationships.

Take away: High school dating relationships will always end.

Next week: Chapters 4-6 of "Dateable": the lies teens tell to make high school dating work.

Middle School Youth Group--March 17, 2010

Topic: We talked about the ways that God speaks to us, using Daniel 5:1-30 as our story.

Take Away: god is speaking to us, and will often go to great lengths to get our attention. He wants us to talk about all aspects of our lives with Him.

Next Week: We'll be talking about God's love for us, as shown in the book of Jonah.

E-Klub--March 17, 2010

Topic: Last night we continued Operation Space. Last night was a continuation of things we learned the week before. We will have the same topic for two weeks then move to a new one.

Take Away: Last night, in our skit, we met a young girl names Sydney. She works at the planetarium. She taught us that there are 100 billion stars in the sky. We also learned that God has a name for all of them. Sydney's boss says that working at the planetarium you need to "leave your Bible at home." Over the next few weeks she will learn that her boss is wrong. She fell asleep stargazing and woke up on a space ship. She is starting her cadet training. Our memory verse for this week is still from 2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God".

Next week: Next week we will talk about the authority of the Bible.

E-Klub/Youth Group Recaps, March 7-13 2010

High School Youth Group--March 7, 2010

Topic: Our topic was "The benefit of face-to-face relationships when loving others. We talked about Facebook, texting, technology and cliques that can develop within our group. Scripture used was James 2 and 1 Corinthians 11.

Take Away: The students were challenged to build personal relationships that went beyond Facebook friends and to look outside of their existing groups of friends and build relationships with others.

Next Week: We are starting our "Dateable" series...first up? Chapters 1-3.

Middle School Youth Group--March 10, 2010

Topic: We talked about the weird instructions that God sometimes gives us to follow. Scripture used was Ezekiel 4.

Take Away: The students were asked to consider what instructions God may be giving to them, and whether or not they would recognize them as from God.

Next Week: We'll be talking about being courageous for God, as told through the book of Daniel.

E-Klub--March 10, 2010

Topic: We started our new series called Operation Space. Among many things we talked about was how huge our universe is, how to measure it, how fast light travels, and the most important thing, we had a close encounter of the Bible kind.

Take Away: We learned how truly unique the Bible is. We gave the Bible awards as we named off how one-of-a-kind it is. We learned facts about how the Bible was first copied, how many languages it's been translated into, that it's the most read and best selling book, and how some kings and emperors tried to ban it, burn it, and ultimately get rid of the Bible. Having no success. Our memory verse for this week comes from 2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God".

Next week: We will talk about the authority of the Bible.

E-Klub/Youth Group Recaps, February 28-March 6 2010

High School Youth Group--February 28, 2010

Topic: We began a new topic on Sunday after finishing up our series on prayer. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at loving others. This week we studied gossip and how it effects our relationship with God and others. This subject is one all students have either done or have been a victim of. A quiz was taken just to open their eyes on how they handle gossip. We looked at scripture to see what the Bible says about gossip. One of the verses put gossip in the same league as murder. The seriousness of gossip as sin was stressed.

Take Away: The students were challenged to be aware this coming week of the gossip around them or in their lives. They were encouraged to repent of the sin of gossip and to "avoid association with persons who gossip" from Proverbs 20:19 . We had some great discussion on gossiping and what can be done to keep from gossiping.

Next Week: It's great seeing God work through our students. Next week we will continue to look at loving others through technology that our kids use everyday and how it too can be gossip. We intend on expressing to them how to "love others as myself."

Middle School Youth Group--March 3, 2010

Topic: We talked about Elijah taking on the prophets of Baal. Over time, God's people stopped worshiping God and began to worship Baal. Elijah was a prophet, and was tasked to show the people that there was only one true God, the God of Israel. He did this by testing the prophets of Baal and challenging them to a contest. You can read all about it in 1 Kings 18:16-40.

Take Away: We asked the kids to write down a thing that was getting in the way of their relationship with God. They said things like, "video games", "homework", even "family". We ended our time in small groups, and prayed for one another.

Next Week: We'll be talking about God's plans to restore His people into a right relationship with Him. The Bible story is from Ezekiel 4:1-5:10.

E-Klub--March 3, 2010

Topic: Tonight's lesson was about living what you believe. Our scripture was from Luke 6:43-44. Jesus compared people to trees. He said that good trees don't bear bad fruit and bad trees don't bear good fruit.

Take Away: We learned if we truly believe in God, our actions will show it and good things will come out of our hearts and lives. We had fun in groups acting out skits. We took facts, like snow is cold, and one person acted like they didn't believe a fact was the truth. The others had to show how it was the truth.

Next week: We start a new series called Operation Space. We will be exploring the answers to these, and other, questions: How did the universe begin? How is the Bible unique? Did the meteorites kill the dinosaurs?

Youth Group/E-Klub recaps February 21-27, 2010

High School Youth Group -- February 21, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: We concluded our 3-part series on prayer. We opened with the following video from the movie "Talladega Nights":




What they should have left with: Prayer is a spiritual disciple that all Christians must be engaged in. It is one of our connecting points to God. We need to take it seriously, and understand that there are right, and wrong ways to pray.

Next week: We begin our series on "Loving Others". First up? Gossip.

Middle School Youth Group -- February 24, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: Wednesday nights lesson continued with our "Scary, Gross and Weird Stories from the Bible". Our story this week was from Judges 4:1-29, about a king named Jael who took in an enemy of Israel and then killed him by putting a tent peg through his temple. OUCH!

What they should have left with: Monna Kreher did a GREAT job sharing about courage. The kids were asked to write on a slip of paper something that they needed courage for this week, and then the requests were passed around. Each of the kids were prayed for and were asked to pray for others through the week.

Next week: We will be talking about Elijah and the prophets of Baal, as detailed in 1 Kings 18 from the Old Testament.

E-Klub- February 24, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: Last night's lesson was about being friends. Our scripture was from Luke 6:27-38. Jesus taught that we should love our enemies and treat others as we want to be treated.

What they should have left with: In our centers we worked together as teams to accomplish goals and we made beaded pin-ons to give to friends. We learned that being friends isn't only being nice to each other it's also helping someone when the need help.

Coming up: living what you believe.

Youth Group/E-Klub recaps February 14-20, 2010

Trying to keep these shorter!

High School Youth Group -- February 14, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: Sunday night's lesson continued with the study of prayer. Several scriptures were used along with the Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6 to give us many examples of how, why and the importance of prayer. A good example presented to the students was ACTS.....Adoration...Confession...Thanksgiving...Supplication

What they should have left with: This form of praying was studied through scripture and students presented examples of how they can use this in their own prayer life. There was discussion on the obstacles and hindrances to prayer they face. Students were encouraged to use ACTS in the coming weeks when they pray.

Next week: We will conclude the study of prayer with any questions the students may have on prayer.

Middle School Youth Group -- February 17, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: Wednesday nights lesson continued with our "Scary, Gross and Weird Stories from the Bibel". Our story this week was from Numbers 22:1-41, about a king named Balak, a prophet named Balaam and a donkey that talked. We told the story using this.

What they should have left with: We talked about doing only what God wanted us to, and the roadblocks that sometimes get in the way of us hearing God's voice, and what we can do about those roadblocks.

Next week: We will be talking about Jael putting the tent peg through the temple of Sisera, the commander of the army that was coming against Israel.

E-Klub- February 17, 2010

Lesson Theme/Topic: We talked about living God's way. Our scripture was from Luke 6:17-26; Jesus taught that God blesses people even when life is hard. He warned people about the dangers of wealth.

What they should have left with: Christians do not live God's way to get recognition. We do it because that's how he wants us to live. We also learned that living God's way means that while can can be sad about things, God wants us to be happy with what we do have, and not to focus on what we do not have.

Youth Group/E-Klub recaps February 7-13, 2010

High School: Sunday Night

Because of the Super Bowl this past week, we were missing about half of our group. We decided to have a chill-out night; we played a card game called "President/Vice-President". We also had a time of prayer in our small groups. This Sunday night, Monna Kreher begins our study on prayer. The Take Home for this week is to the right.

Middle School: Wednesday Night

Last night, we talked about the 10 plagues that God sent on Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelite people go. Each of the 10 plagues could be related to one of the Egyptian gods which means as God brought the various plagues upon Egypt, he was revealing to the Egyptians that there gods were meaningless. It was also an opportunity to communicate the truthfulness of the Bible. One of the pretty tough questions asked:

• If God knew that Pharaoh would not let the slaves go until the last plague, why did He stop the others?

Next week, we'll be talking about Balaam and his talking donkey. Take Home at the right.

e-Klub: Wednesday Night:

Wednesday's lesson was from Luke 5:1-11
Jesus asks Simon to cast his fishing nets into the water, even though Simon had fished all night with out catching any fish. Simon obeyed and caught so many fish that his nets began to rip.

In all our centers we re-enforced how Simon, even though he'd fished all night, did what Jesus asked him to do. He followed instructions he was given by Jesus. Just as we should.

In Surprise Station the children had to work together to put a puzzle together with out seeing what the picture was to look like. Then they got to see the picture on the box and they were able to try again. Because they followed instructions, or the picture on the box, they were able to accomplish their goal.

In Snack-It Cafe the children ate gold fish while hearing the story again.

In Games the children ran relay races using pop bottles. Again needing to work together as a team and following directions. Then they separated into partners and were given coins. One partner laid the coins out in a pattern. Then they mixed them up and the second partner had to arrange the coins back into the same pattern. Then they traded jobs.

Youth Group Recaps: January 24-31

What a great week! We had an awesome turnout for both high school and middle school youth nights. God is working in both groups! Don't forget about the take home sheets! They can be downloaded from the link at the right. Help us help you by asking your kids about their progress each week!

High School

This past Sunday night, we talked about WHY we should study God's Word as people who want to be followers of Jesus. Specifically, the reasons we taught are:

1. The Bible tells us the truth
2. We should know what it teaches firsthand and not depend on others to explain it to us
3. Personal edification (growth)
4. To help others
5. Points us to Jesus
6. God's Word to us
7. To know God better
8. To avoid error.

We split into small groups for prayer and further discussion. The students opened up about some of things that were being brought out by the series. It is great to hear about what God is telling them.

Middle School

Last night, we talked about God's character, and how He always keeps his promises- the ones we want kept and those we choose to ignore. The story we read from is found in Genesis, and deals with God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We talked about how God deals with man's sin, and we had questions about why the earthquake happened in Haiti and many other DEEP questions.

Each week the leaders are amazed at the thoughtfulness and depth of the questions. We are going to make a slight adjustment over the next few weeks to allow for more of their thoughts and questions.

A slight programming note, next week I will be gone for middle school night. I begin graduate studies at Indiana Wesleyan next week, and need to travel there for a few days for their integration process. Steve Novak will be leading the lesson time next Wednesday.

Youth Group Recaps: January 10-16 2010

Both Youth Groups:

Beginning last week, each youth group will be given a Take Home sheet to work through to help them prepare for the following week's lesson. We ask them to read a few verses, and then answer a simple question or two about what they read.You can find these Take Homes to the right. We'd love it if you would ask your kids how they are doing on their Take Home during the week.

High School Youth Group:

In high school, we are talking about what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. We introduced the idea that there are five components of a disciple of Jesus:

1. A Disciple Reads God's Word
2. A Disciple is Engaged in Prayer
3. A Disciple Loves Others in Attitude and Action
4. A Disciple Desires to Reach the Lost
5. A Disciple is Engaged in Worship as a Lifestyle

In particular, we talked about how Jesus taught, corrected, supported, restored and gave Himself as an example to His disciples. We also talked about how Jesus does these same things to modern-day disciples. If we are to be His followers, then we are to expect Him to lead us the same way. We closed our big group time by watching two interviews with Colt McCoy, quarterback of the Texas Longhorns. Colt was injured at the very beginning of the game and in his post-game interview he gave a compelling testimony to the goodness of God.





Middle School Youth Group:

In Middle School, we're going to be talking about the Scary, Gross and Weird Stories of the Bible. Last week, we had a "welcome back" lesson and focused specifically on the value of good friends.

Eastview Parent Weekly, November 22-28, 2009

Dear Parents,

I just got back from the National Missionary convention in Peoria and WOW! What a tremendous weekend. Heard many great messages, attended some wonderful workshops and saw some old friends. We had a few students go with their families, and they also enjoyed the time there. The location next year is Lexington, Kentucky and the dates are November 18-21, 2010. I hope you’ll consider going as a next step.

This Wednesday, November 25: No youth group, but we’ll be raking leaves at the church from 5:30-8pm. Please bring rakes, blowers, etc. A meal will be provided.


Important Dates Coming Up:

December 9: Final Middle School Youth Group for 2009
December 12: Ministry Team Meeting, 8:30-10:30am at Eastview
December 13: Final High School Youth Group for 2009
December 16: Middle School Youth Group Christmas Party at Eastview
December 20: High School youth Group Christmas Party at Mulholland’s house

Have a great Thanksgiving!

High School Youth group Recap, November 15, 2009

I realized that I've gotten away from posting recaps of our meetings.

Last night, we watched the film, "To End All Wars" during our group time. After, we discussed love, sacrifice and purpose in the big group.

Those present were challenged to really think about loving their enemies and those that persecute them.

November 1-7 Eastview Parent Weekly

Dear Parents,

What a great weekend we had on our retreat!
You can check out a TON of pictures over here.

Middle School Youth Group Update:
Last week, we gave all of our middle school students a FREE Bible. The translation is called the NIrV (New International reader’s Version) and is more easily understood. What’s the NIrV? Some of the Christianese is removed and elaborated on, and the language is a bit more modern. It should be easier to understand. It also helps us teach, because we can ask the kids to go to a specific page number and from there go to chapter and verse. We understand that some students have bibles of their own, but we’d really like all of our students to be reading from the same text. Please encourage your kids to bring these Bibles. This week, we’re starting a new message series called, “Crime Scenes of the Bible.” As part of this study, each week the kids will be given something to take home with them and do some Bible reading at home. We’re also encouraging them to memorize a scripture verse per week. To encourage them, we’re also having a contest. Over the next 5 weeks, they will have an opportunity to earn 15 stars (3 stars/week x 5 weeks = 15). They can earn one star for a) bringing their bibles to youth group, b) completing their “homework”, and c) by memorizing one of the verses from that week. At the end of this contest in December, for students that have more than 10 stars, we’ll have a party at Chuck E. Cheeses for them. Students were given an assignment for this week, so the stars go on the board starting THIS WEEK!

High School Youth Group Update
On Sunday nights, we’ve been talking about the life of Jesus as described in the Gospel of John. In a few weeks, on Sunday, November 15, we’re scheduled to talk about the sacrifice of Jesus for our sin. We are planning on showing the film “To End All Wars” on this night. The film is set in a Japanese POW camp during WW2, where the internees are building the Burma Railway. It is probably the most explicitly “Christian” film that I’ve ever seen, and does a great job of putting Christ’s sacrifice front and center. To be clear, this film is rated R, it is a war film. There is violence and war brutality. There is also some language, and brief non-sexual male nudity. It is for teens that are mature. The gospel is clearly communicated in a compelling manner, and such ultimate questions raised in this film include “Is there any higher reason to live?” “Do I have a purpose in life?” “How can I forgive those who have wronged me?” and “What would make a man once so selfish sacrifice himself for others?” As you discern what’s best for your student, I urge you to visit the following websites and read what others have written about this powerful movie:

Christianity Today
Christian Answers
Hollywood Jesus


You can watch 7 powerful clips from this movie here.

The “Human Beings” clip is amazing.

Finally, I would like to arrange a showing of this movie for you, so you can see what your kids are going to see and ask questions. We’ll also walk you through our discussion questions for the following Sunday Please join us on Thursday, November 12, at 7pm. The movie is a bit longer than 2 hours, and will be well-worth your time.

As always, I welcome questions and thoughts!

First Senior High Youth Group...

Last night was awesome! We had 16 high school students here for our first ever Sunday night youth group. We had a great time eating some pizza and just chilling out as a group. The environment was much more relaxed and we had some great conversation. We split into our new small groups, and continued the discussion there. We also introduced journaling into our group.

8pm came awfully fast.

Activity:
Discussions about favorite youth group activities, rules and expectations.

Teaching Series:
God's Status

Topic:
Talked about the 4 soils that Jesus explains in Matthew 13.

Key Verses:
Matthew 13:1-10, 18-23

Attendance:
16 students, 6 adults

Main Group Testimony:
Talked about the status of our hearts toward receiving direction from God.

Small Group Time:
Talked about our favorite parts of the past summer, and journaled about the current status of out hearts toward God.


Coming up next:
Middle School Youth Group (September 3)-Youth Group 101
Sunday School (September 6)-FaithWeaver
Senior High Youth Group (Sunday 6th, pm)- "God is out changing people's names"

Eastview Parent Weekly, July 19-25

It's that time of year...our summer break is half over. 3 out of 4 summer trips and events are past. Our final trip, CIY's summer conference is right around the corners, just 6 short days away, and then...September. The weeks of August will go extremely fast. Our ministry team met on Saturday to talk about Jesus, to talk about youth ministry, to talk about Eastview and how those three things should be aligned. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. At this point, I want to get through the next 6 weeks and start.

While the notes from our ministry team meetings are available for all to read (at right), here are some highlights from this past Saturday:

• It was officially decided that beginning this Fall, our youth group will be "split", with grades 9-12 meeting on Sunday nights and grades 6-8 meeting on Wednesday nights. Specific times and more details will be out in mid-August.
• Small Group Leaders for 2009-2010 school year:
• • Middle School-
  • John Mulholland
  • Rob Frederick
  • Steve Novak
  • Monna Kreher
    
  • High School-
  • John Mulholland
  • Megan Clark
  • Betty Dickerson
• Curriculum Plan for Fall/Winter
• • Middle School
  • “Scary, Gross and Weird Stories from the Bible”
  • High School
  • Gospel of Mark-The Person of Jesus
  • What it means to follow Him

In the meantime, I hope that you'll be praying for those going to Carbondale next week. I'm anticipating God working in a big way (which He does here) in the lives of those going. Pray from open hearts and minds, for sleep and rest and patience and encouragement.

As with our recent Kansas trip, you'll be able to follow along using the Twitter feed to the right starting next Sunday, at Noon.

Final youth group for the summer

Well, last night was it. We had 27 kids and 5 adults at the Dickerson's last night for our cook out. We played games, ate food, had some s'more's...a great night. The summer schedule starts this week, no weekly youth group meeting until September. Our Fall Kick-off will be held August 26th, time and location to come. In the meantime, here's part of a blog post from tim Schmoyer, a friend of mine who happens to be a youth pastor about what can happen when you take the summer off, and split your group into 2:

"About two years ago we had around 20 jr. highers involved in our “go deep” Bible study...It sounds like a great program, except that the kids who came were only there because their parents forced them. The jr. highers felt like they were learning very little and the amount of life change we saw coming out of that Bible study was very disheartening.

So, we stopped the program for a summer and did a lot of hard evaluating, refocusing, and renewing the vision for what it should be like. In short, we decided that it was too academic and needed to be more intentional about connecting God’s Word to jr. highers’ individual lives. The plan was to take the curriculum out of the classroom and put it into small groups where two adult leaders could co-teach gender and grade specific groups of about 5 to 8 jr. highers for two years....

But two years later I can look back and say it was definitely worth it. This past year we had about 110 jr. highers actively involved, 24 adult leaders passionately teaching in small groups, and amazing stories of life-change like you wouldn’t believe!"

You can check out his whole post here.

Did you catch the increase? In 2 years, they went from 22 to 110 middle school students.


Change...is coming.

Youth Group Recap, June 3, 2009

Game:
Kickball, Middle School vs High School, High School Wins!

Teaching Series:
Wineskins, Have we grown?

Topic:
We watched "Spilt Milk", a video from 36 Parables. We talked about how we should be changed once we've encountered Jesus. We also talked about the need for our ministry to change, we're not the same group we were 2 years ago, so we should stop doing youth group the way we did it then! We also gave the kids a survey, which asked them questions about their growth over the past year.

Key Verses:
Matthew 9:9-19

Attendance:
31, 124% of same week last year.

Main Group Testimony:
See Topic (above).

Small Group Time:
We went through the survey, and then had prayer time with our students. I'll be posting some results from our survey in next Monday's parent email, as well as some correlations.

Closing Challenge:
Change is coming. Be ready for it.

Questions You Can Ask:
Whe is the last time you did not change something because you've "always done it that way"?

Coming up next:
Sunday School (June 7)
Youth Group (June 10, @ Dickerson's)

Eastview Parent Weekly, May 31-June 6 2009

Dear Parents,

Today is the day! If you are hoping to get your kids to NEICSC sometime this summer, TODAY is the last day that the cheaper rates apply. Remember, if you want to use student accounts or scholarship funds, I MUST sign the registration form. Registration forms MUST be postmarked with today’s date. There are great things being planned at camp. We hope your kids will be joining us!

Today is also the due date for scholarship requests to be turned in for CIY Summer Conference. I’ll be here at Eastview most of the afternoon. Please get these turned in to me TODAY!

Next Wednesday night, June 10, is our final youth group for the year. We’ll be traveling to Alburnett for a year-end cookout at the home of one of our youth leaders, Betty Dickerson. Transportation will leave Eastview at 5:30 and we’ll be back by 8:30. If you cannot be here by 5:30, you’re welcome to join us in Alburnett. If it rains, we’ll meet at Eastview and eat here.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve dropped all sorts of hints about changes coming to our youth program for the 2009-2010 school year. We are looking at separating our group, and moving high school youth group night to Sunday night from 6-8, and keeping middle school youth group night on Wednesday night at it’s current time. This would eliminate our Sunday night d-group study. To see the thoughts behind the switch, click on the “Change is Coming” link to the right. I would love to hear your thoughts, questions and concerns. I was asked the other day if this was a “done deal”. The honest answer is “no”. Our ministry team is meeting this Saturday, from 9am-noon. While we have many things on the agenda, this will be a large part of the meeting. After the conversation, our ministry team members will decide if we are going to pursue it further and make a recommendation to that effect. After that, we’ll take a few weeks to pray through it, and a decision will be made by our July ministry team meeting so we can communicate these changes. Again, we would love to hear your thoughts, so please, contact me this week, prior to Saturday. If you’d like to attend the meeting and be a part of the discussion, please let me know that as well.

Have a great week.