Student Ministry Recaps: May 2-8, 2010

Senior High

May 2, 2010

 Over the past few weeks we have been talking about music.  We looked at scripture to see the different forms of music God directs us to use to worship him.  We talked about lyrics in the songs each student listens to and how music is important to God. We also talked about worship and how worship is not just for Sunday mornings, but should be a part of our lifestyle.

We concluded the study this past Sunday using music to discuss believing in the truth and how the truth can set us free.  From John 8 we talked about how Jesus was telling the truth but those listening didn't want to hear or accept what he was saying. The students were challenged to hear the words of Jesus, accept his truth and not be a slave to sin.

We will begin a study on the different denominations and what they believe on May 11th and give the students some fundamental foundation of the Christian Church.  We will not be meeting on Sunday May 9th so students can celebrate Mother's Day.

Middle School

May 5, 2010

Topic: Don't All Good People Go To Heaven?

The Point: Jesus Is My Only Hope.

Takeaways:
   1. We can follow all the rules and be good, but it doesn't necessarily get us into heaven. (story of the rich young ruler from Mark 10:17-27)
   2. Jesus will not chase us if we do not so what He says..we must be obedient to Him.

Next Week : ?

E-Klub

May 5, 2010

  
Wednesday night we had a cadet challenge, we ate like astronauts. Since there isn't any gravity in space food flies through the air when released. So we took marshmallows and tried to get them into the mouth of our partner by throwing them. It was a lot of fun. There were some that even made it into mouths.

We learned that we can not live with out reading the Bible everyday, just as we can not live with out eating everyday. Where the food nourishes our bodies, the Bible nourishes our spirit. We acted out a short story from the Bible. Jesus came to visit sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary sits near Jesus listening, Martha is busy cleaning. She gets angry and tells Jesus to make Mary start helping. Jesus tells her Mary is right where she needs to be. We need to do the same, stop and learn the Bible, love the Bible and live the Bible.

Next Wednesday is our last Wednesday until September. We will find out what happens on the SS Intrepid, make a craft and have a fun snack. The children have been working hard learning all the books of the Bible. Next week we will see how many more have made that goal.

Student Ministry Recaps, April 11-17 2010

Dropped the ball over the past few weeks, but we're back!

Senior High
Sunday April 11, 2010

Topic: A wrap up of the "Dateable" book. Discussion touched on risky behaviors, consequences of actions, and the appropriate roles for girls and guys in a dating relationship.

Take Away: Guys are supposed to take the lead in the relationship, even if that's not the way it goes anymore. Relationships are work and come with risks.

Next Week: The kids gave us a topic list, we're currently developing it.

Middle School
Wednesday April 14, 2010

Topic: Wednesday night was a fun night. The theme was God's healing touch. The story was from John 9:1-41, Jesus healing the blind man. For starters we had 6 students blindfolded. The object was for them to find someone with pudding, someone with a spoon, and then feed each other. It was interesting to say the least..and a bit messy. Afterward, we discussed how it felt to be blind, and then to see..and also how the blind man would have felt. Then a student who originally had the pudding said he was "manipulating" some of the "blind" students. So we talked about that for a bit and how it happens not to just blind or handicapped, but to regular people everyday.

Take Away: In the story, Jesus uses mud mixed with spit to put on the man's eyes to heal him. That led us to talk about how Jesus used ordinary things to heal this man. We are ordinary people and god uses us too. I saw some sparks in the eyes of some students who may not have realized that God uses the everyday person..including them..to do His work. What a great night.

Next Week: Jesus walks through walls.

e-Klub
Wednesday April 14, 2010

Topic: Wednesday night was a continuation of last weeks salvation discussion. The kids made glow in the dark crosses with pipe cleaners and beads. In snack we had bomb pops. And we had our skit that went along with our lesson.

Take Away: We met a new character in our skit. His name is Virus and he wants to take over Earth. He will be making further appearances in future skits. We learned the closest star is 4.2 light years away, which is 25 trillion miles. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. It would still take 2 million years to get there.

Next week: Our lesson will be on incredible impact. From science to music to changed lives, the Bible has an incredible impact on our world.

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 Recaps: January 31-February 6 2010

High School:

This past Sunday was the final week of our "What is the Bible?" portion of our study on Discipleship. We are using the last night of these topics to answer the questions that the students have. We talked about the following questions:

• How do we know the Bible is true when compared to other religions?
• Where is the original Bible?
• Did dinosaurs and people coexist?
• What about things like “The Chronicles of Narnia”? Are they inspired?

Most of our time was spent on talking about the truth of Christianity. The discussion was good and carried over into our small group time. Next week's topic is "A Disciple is Engaged in Prayer." The Take Home is available on the right! Ask your high schooler how they're doing on the work.

Middle School:

Steve Novak, one of our youth leaders, wrote this week's recap for middle school night.

This Wed night began as a review of last week. We talked more about God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and more specifically what God did to Lot's wife when she looked back. Was it appropriate, too harsh, just plain weird, or something else. The responses were again pretty amazing, nobody taking the easy way out. All the answers came an explanation with even asking them.

We talked about God being merciful and just in the things he does. We did an activity that called for aluminum foil to be smeared with Crisco. We had the students write their thoughts about God's character on their pieces of foil. There was..loving, grace, perfect, holy, understanding, serious, nice(more than once)..to name a few. I thought it was a good exercise. When that was done, we wiped off part of the foil to represent a distinction between a fuzzy description of God and seeing Him more clearly. Note: a mirror was originally intended to be used, and the point may have been hammered better, but this got everyone involved.

Finally we split into small groups. Unfortunately there was not enough time to finish all the discussions we were having, but they were good discussions..some new and some from earlier in the night. And the question of the night was an honest one which I feel is awesome...Who wrote the books in the Bible? I am just pleased how comfortable the student was to ask that question?

E-Klub:

Finally, an addition. Moving forward, we'll be posting a recap of our Children's Ministry program (e-Klub) on this recap. This week's recap is written by Corie Novak, our Children's Ministry Team leader:

Tonight's lesson was from Luke 4:22-30

"The Jews were angry when Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and warned them of the consequences of their sins. They tried to throw Jesus off a cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and escaped." (this is the "point" from the lesson guides)

There was a bit of singing in the beginning, a "fun fact" that was given and there was welcome time where the kids went around and high fived friends. Tonight there were two kids chosen to help with the skit. They held up a "boo" card and a "cheer" card. The children then listened to the Bible story on CD. When the narrator talked of the crowd all the children were to boo. When the narrator talked of Jesus the kids were to cheer.

We then divided into 4 small groups, each with 1-2 adult leaders. Two small groups then travel to different centers together. The activities we do in our centers revolve around the story from the beginning of the night. Tonight's was on trusting. We had Snack-It Cafe, where the children got to make ice cream sundaes, they read the story directly from their Bibles. We had Games, in one game they played the children put a stack of pennies on their elbow and predicted how many they could catch by flipping their arm down. The other kids had to decide to trust their prediction or not. The second game the kids paired up and stood facing each other, on one side of the room. On the other side of the room their was a child with a small pool noodle. That child was going to toss the noodle at the ones with their backs to him/her. They had to trust that their partner would move them in the correct way in order to not get hit by the noodle. The last center we did was Surprise Station. The children tried to solve brain teasers and had to trust the teacher to give them the correct answer. The first on was to take six cups placed in a row. Fill three with water and arrange in this pattern:empty, empty, full, full, full, empty. With moving only one cup change the pattern to full, empty, full, empty, full, empty. The second was trying to balance a Bible on top of a piece of cardboard. This would be a fun activity to do at home with your child.

Our ultimate lesson the kids took home tonight was that they can ALWAYS trust in Jesus, no matter.