Upcoming Dates

We've tried to be as comprehensive as possible so that you  (and we) can plan our calendars and our budgets.  I've also included event costs where possible.   Here are the dates of a number of things coming up...please read this CAREFULLY! 

While our Mexico mission trip is listed below, there will be a separate post later in the week, addressing not only the two biggest questions that a parent will have about that trip: safety and cost, but also on our expectations for those that desire to join us.  I'll keep you informed!

August 26 (5:30-10pm), August 27 (8:30am-4pm)

• Student Ministry Team Retreat
• This is for all members of our student ministry team, as well as parents and other interested adults.   

Wednesday, September 7

• E-KLUB/Middle School Youth Group starts
• 6-8pm

 Sunday, September 18

• High School Youth Group starts
• 5:45-8pm

Friday, September 16-Sunday, September 18

• All-Church Retreat at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp
• For all: students, parents, members, non-members 

Sunday, October 16

• Eastview Harvest Party
• Following Sunday services
• Zieser home, Center Point
• All are invited

Monday, October 31

• Trunk or Treat at Eastview Christian Church
•   6-8pm

Thursday, November 3 - Sunday, November 6

• "The Event" at Ozark Christian College
• This is our annual mid-year high school trip to visit a Christian College; it's a mini-conference, college visit and relationship-builder rolled into one event.  
• Cost will be $90/student; this covers all event registration, food, lodging, and transportation. 
• $30 deposit and registration form (available soon) due by Sunday, October 16.

Wednesday, November 16

• Thanksgiving Celebration at Eastview
• 6-8pm

December, Christmas event- Date and Times to be announced

Saturday, February 11, 2012

• Spaghetti Dinner/Dessert Auction/Talent Show
• Because of this HUGE fundraiser, we can help kids get to camp, events like CIY: Believe and everything else that we do.  
• Speaking of CIY: Believe...

Thursday February 17 - Sunday, February 19

• CIY: Believe is our annual mid-year middle school trip, and they won't want to miss it.
• We're going back to St Louis for an amazing time of worship, great speakers that share with middle school students in mind and some solid relationship-building between our students and adults.  
• Cost will be in the $150 range, which covers event registration, hotel lodging, food, fun...everything!  

Early July, 2012

• Mexico Mission Trip to San Luis Potosi, Mexico
• While this trip is open to any of those entering high school and above for the 2012-2013 school year, it is not for everyone.  We will have several informational meetings in November (you just need to attend one) to discuss this trip, the issues and, expectations surrounding it, in detail
• Assist with several different Vacation Bible Schools in and around the city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
• Trip cost in 2010 was $1000/participant.  While we will make every effort to maintain this level, transportation cost is the largest variable.  

Summer Camp Dates, 2012 (all costs were the 2011 early-bird camp year cost, and subject to change)

June 10-15:     Middle School Camp #1      $155

June 17-23:     High School Camp #2          $185

June 24- 27:    3rd, 4th, 5th Grade Camp      $125

June 29-30:     2nd, 3rd Grade Camp            $35
 
July 8-13:        Middle School Camp #2       $155

July 15-19:     4th, 5th Grade Camp              $125


July 22-28:      High School Camp #2           $185

Please contact me either by phone (319) 393-9570 or email (jmulholland@eastview.net) with thoughts, questions or concerns.  We are looking forward to another excellent year!

Trip update

Heads up...we made it to Omaha tonight.  Leaving 7am-ish, and will be home between noon and 1pm.  Be sure to look for updates in the AM.

Colorado Week of Hope, post 1

We started our first day of work today;we were split into several different groups. There'd are 44 total kids and adults here.

John and Larissa are on team one, our project is at a place called Respite Care. It is a care facility for special needs kids, they go there during the week so that they can receive additional care that their families cannot provide. Today, we took the kids to a water park in Ft Collins and played in the water with them. There were two girls in their mid-twenties from the facility along. I talked to them over lunch, they are Christians and are serving God there. They eventually want to go to Haiti and work with special needs kids there. I'll be posting More about their story over at my personal blog. Jenai is in group 2, and at the same place.

Heidi is in group 3, she went to a place called Waverly School. It is a school for troubled kids. Their project today was yard work: picked up sticks and dug up fence posts. Theres a total of 7 such facilities, but only 2 people to help at all 7.

Brianna went to Hearts and Horses, a therapeutic facility for special needs kids, they get to be with and ride horses. Today, they swept and cleaned out, and mucked the paddocks. Basically, they had a poop war.

Breanna is in group 8, they went to the Boys/Girls Club. They hung out and played with kids, board games, kick ball and went to art class. A kid offered to glue his project to her face. Ships declined.

Nate is in group 7, and they went to Elderhaus, an adult daycare facility. They took the adults to a rec center and played ping pong, pool and bowling. Nathan was beaten by a man sitting in a walker. He was surprised by the mans quickness. Apparently, he was a ping pong wizard.

Sarah and Tyler are in group 4, and they went to the Courtyard Nursing Home. they hung out with the residents, playing bingo, rummy, sorry and excercised with them. This included basketball and horseshoes. Tyler claims that the exercises were awesome. Sarah enjoyed talking with the residents.

All of the groups had lunch at their respective places, and dishes were wa(r)shed. Each of the kids has been assigned a specific task within their groups. Larissa and Heidi are organizers for their groups, Breanna and Jenai are the break makers, Tyler and Brianna are devotion leaders, Nathan is the quartermaster and part-time devotional dictator.

More to come...



Sarah and

Colorado, so far

What an amazing trip.  Thursday night, we stopped in North Platte, Nebraska for the night at a campground.  We baptized Tyler Wright in the lake.  It was a cool thing to see happen.  Our kids clapped and angels rejoiced.  We sat up late into the night around a fire talking, until the mosquitos showed up en masse.  Then, the wind started to blow.  From 1130-330 am the wind howled and howled.  Nate, Tyler and I were outside, so at least there weren't mosquitos to fight with.  Then the wind died and they were back.  It was brutal!!

Woke up Friday morning, packed all of our stuff and then left for Longmont Colorado.  We arrived around 1230 and went to the church to meet our host.  Then, it was off to Group Publishing for a tour and some face time with the team behind our service project this week, Week of Hope. Back to Longmont, a few games of Twister, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner, and of course, a trip to Wal-Mart.  More Twister, Phase 10, and then an early bedtime of 945pm.

Today, we are heading out to the Poudre River for rafting.  As soon as I find a more robust internet connection, I'll get some photos up.  In the meantime, just follow the Twitter feed for some photos.

Homeward's Weekly Culture Brief: 7/8/11

Great resource for parents, see more info here. 

iTunes Top 10 Downloaded Songs - 7/8/11
   1. Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
   2. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) - Katy Perry
   3. Give Me Everything - Pitbull
   4. Rolling in the Deep - Adele
   5. Good Life - OneRepublic
   6. Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
   7. Tonight Tonight - Hot Chelle Rae
   8. How to Live - Lil Wayne
   9. Dirt Road Anthem - Jason Aldean
  10. The Edge of Glory - Lady GaGa
Source: Apple iTunes

Top 5 Most Viewed Videos on YouTube - Week Ending - 7/8/11
   1. Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
   2. Shakira - Rabiosa (English Version)
   3. Rihanna - Man Down
   4. Chris Brown - Next to You
   5. Britney Spears - I Wanna Go
Source: YouTube 

Eastview Student Ministries Mid-Summer Update

It's been a great Summer, this is a great time to tell you a little about what's happened and what is coming up:

We took kids to both our middle school and high school weeks of camp at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp.  We also had kids go to 4&5th grade and 5&6th grade camp.  Please visit our church's Facebook page to take a look at pictures of some of the fun!  On the 17th of July in our weekly worship service, we'll be baptizing two of our students that made decisions to follow Jesus at Camp.  Pretty sweet!!

Just 2 weeks from now, we are leaving for Loveland Colorado for our senior high service trip for the Summer.  We're going to get some rafting in, and lots of opportunities to serve people.  It will be a great trip, I know that those going are really looking forward to it.

On August 10-14, we will be having a Vacation Bible School at Eastview.  This is for students e-klub age through middle school.  We'll have a HUGE carnival on Sunday, August 14 after Sunday service, food, inflatables, it will be a great time.  Come and see what the fun's all about!
We are asking that parents help as they are able, and if your high school student would like to help, please have them contact me ASAP.  We'll be handing out flyers on August 3rd, and having registration at Eastview and possibly one other location on Saturday, August 6th.  I'll have more details out shortly.


Fall 2011

We will be starting our regular programming for e-klub and middle school on Wednesday, September 7 at 6pm.  Our high school youth group starts on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 5:30pm.

We're bringing D-Group back.  What is D-Group?  D-Group was and is an intentional, straight-up discipleship/bible study/deeper-learning time.  In the past, we've read books together, gone through workbooks, etc, and the expectation for this group is that if a student joins, they will participate in the study.  This is NOT youth group, while we have fun, we don't play games or anything like that.  We have, and will talk about challenging stuff, and I hope that many of our students will join.  D-Group will be on Sunday afternoons, from 4-5:15pm.  While this is open to ALL middle school and high school students, in the past, some of our students were overwhelmed by the expectations.  I'd encourage all of our students to at least come to our first D-Group session on September 11, at 4pm.


Our annual All-Church Retreat is scheduled for September 16-18 at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp.  We hope that you will join us for this event.

A Little Later:

Our yearly visit to a Bible College is scheduled for November 3-6.  This year, we'll be visiting Ozark Christian College in Joplin Missouri.  We'll have more details out in early September.  High school students only.

Our annual Spaghetti Dinner/Dessert Auction/Talent Show will be scheduled in mid-February.  This is our huge fundraiser for the year.  The money raised helps keep our event costs low, and provides money for our scholarship fund.  


CIY:Believe for our middle school students will be sometime at the end of February, 2012.  Dates have yet to be announced, but we'll let you know ASAP.

Summer 2012


Summer camps for all age groups, specifics out late-2011, early 2012.

Mexico Mission Trip for high school students.  Each year we alternate between either a Summer conference/service project and our Mexico Mission Trip.  2012 is the Mexico year.  I've already been in contact with the mission that we support there to get some feedback about a trip next Summer.  While we will schedule a meeting in November that will have more details on this trip, it's important that you and your students be thinking and praying about this trip NOW. 

The two biggest concerns for this trip have traditionally been money and safety.

First, money.  Our 2010 trip cost was approximately $1000, but many students took advantage of our scholarship, sent support letters, etc and received money from our Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser. 


Second, safety.  There are obvious safety concerns in going oversees, and Mexico can indeed be dangerous.  There are a number of steps that we take to ensure the safety of the group, and that's one of the reasons we begin planning this trip a year in advance, so that you, the parent, can make the most informed decision that you can. 

The abilities, maturity and willingness of our students to listen is important; while
any high school student is welcome to apply for this trip, it's not for those that lack maturity or a willingness to serve. Because of this, we meet with each person being considered for this trip and we will have a very specific pre-trip process and a post-trip debrief for those going.

Please contact John Mulholland with any questions!!

2 Upcoming Fundraising Opportunities

There are 2 chances to raise money for our Summer Camp season:

1. This Saturday, April 16.  Camp clean-up day at North East Iowa Christian Service Camp.  We'll be leaving Eastview at 7am and returning by 6pm.  Lunch provided.  Students can earn $70 to apply to a Summer activity.
2. Saturday, May 7th.  We'll be having a clean-up day at Eastview Christian Church.  We've got all sorts of projects planned, so come prepared to work.  We'll start at 9am and be done at 4pm, again, lunch will be provided.  Students will earn $10/hour in credit to be applied to a Summer activity.

A note: since these events are fundraisers, we fully expect students to work hard.  While we will have fun, the purpose is to clean and earn money.  Students that do not work, or have to be told 82 million times to work, will not be paid and we will call you to come and get them.  Please communicate this to your students!!