Summer Schedule

Parents of Youth News (June 5 Super Edition)

Wed Night

We have WNL tomorrow as usual. Anyone can come hang out at The Hairy starting at 5:15pm. WNL starts at 6pm with pizza dinner (bring $4) and ends at 7:30.  Kids are welcomed to hang out until 7:45.  We'll be continuing our series "Insta-God: Pictures of Jesus."  You can read about a beautiful thing that happened 2 weeks ago at WNL on Chris Meriwether's blog. 

Transportation

This will be our last week picking up the guys from school on Wednesdays because SCHOOL'S OUT!  Next Wed we're meeting at 3pm to go to a night at Celebration Station to celebrate.  If you need help with transportation to that event or any other this summer, please let us know or ask someone else to carpool. We will need some parents to help with transportation to lots of the events this summer so let us know if you can help drive others or want to help chaperone.

Baby Hill

Great to see many of you at church this Sunday. Hopefully Nat, Honey, & Hutch will be there next week. We cherish your continued prayers as Honey is still fighting a week long sickness. Insert shameless plug for bringing us a meal here, mainly because I love my wife and I'm a terrible cook. 

Hairy Needs

-Vacuum cleaner for small area rug

-someone to volunteer to come install a few light switch and outlet covers. 

-1 or 2 Bar stools

-Couch or futon in decent shape

-someone to make us and or hang curtains over the windows

Leeann Mangum

Leeann, our female youth intern, is away for the summer serving as the camp director for Camp Loy White. I know she'd love to get some mail while there, so if you'd like to write her: 258 Hull Rd   Casar NC 28020

Summer Calendar

Attached are two formats of the Youth Summer Calendar. For you spatial learners we have one that looks like an actual calendar. For you linear folks, we also have a basic list of each event. You can download the attached files, read the list at the bottom of this email or access the list of summer events online  or the PDF of the calendar online here. 

We've got a lot going on for your kiddos this summer and are excited to spend time with them. Please take a moment to transfer the applicable events to your own personal calendar. If there is a way we can make this easier for you, please let us know. 

Each activity this summer is on the schedule for one of four specific reasons.  

1. Discipleship 

2. Outreach

3. Community

4. Service

 

Some events, like Celebration Station, Wet N Wild, etc...are scheduled as outreach events to provide an opportunity for your kids to invite their friends.  Typically it's easier to invite someone to an event than it is to invite them to church. Hopefully it can be a step towards helping your kid's friends get connected.  These events will not be a big win for us if your kids don't invite friends.  We hope they will help create community amongst our existing group, but the main reason for these specific events are to provide an outreach opportunity.

Other events, like Summer Discipleship and Service Projects will not be as "outreach focused." They are more geared toward developing a deeper relationship with Christ. Guests and friends are invited and welcome to come, but the focus of these will be discipleship and service. 

Please feel free to contact Chris or I if you have any questions. We're looking forward to spending lots of time with your kids this summer!

Drew

2012 Redeemer/Sojourn Summer Youth Calendar For Parents

-Events marked with * are further explained below      

-We will not have WNL in July
-Due to vacations, holidays, Drew preaching, combined service, etc...our typical JAM schedule for Sundays is not typical this summer. Please follow the schedule below.

JUNE
Wed, June 6- WNL 6-7:30p at The Hairy
Thurs, June 7- Last day of school for GCS
Sun, June 10- JAM @ Redeemer & Sojourn
Wed, June 13- Celebration Station* 3pm-9pm
June 15-25- Crooked Creek Camp in Colorado (High School)
Sun, June 17- Combined Sojourn/Redeemer Service, No JAM
Wed, June 20- WNL 6-7:30p at The Hairy
Sun, June 24- No JAM @ Redeemer and Sojourn (Chris & Drew gone)
Wed, June 27- WNL 6-7:30p at The Hairy

JULY
Sun, July 1- JAM @ Redeemer, No JAM at Sojourn (SCC Fam Sunday)
Mon, July 2- High School Discipleship* 7-8pm at YL House
Wed, July 4- No WNL due to holiday
Sun, July 8- JAM @ Sojourn, No JAM at Redeemer (Drew Preaches)
Mon, July 9- High School Discipleship 7-8pm at YL House
Sat, July 14- Youth Service Project Day 12-5
Sun, July 15- JAM @ Sojourn and Redeemer
Mon, July 16- High School Discipleship 7-8pm at YL House
Wed, July 18- City Lake Park Water Slides* 11am-3:30pm
Sun, July 22- JAM at Sojourn, No JAM @ Redeemer
July 23-27- Vacation Bible School*
Mon, July 23- High School Discipleship 7-8pm at YL House
Sun, July 29- No JAM at Redeemer (Drew preaches), JAM @ Sojourn
Mon, July 30- High School Discipleship 7-8pm at YL House

AUGUST
Wed, Aug 1- Wet n Wild’ Emerald Point* 9-5:30pm
Sun, Aug 5- JAM @ Redeemer, No JAM at Sojourn (Fam Sunday)
Mon, Aug 6- High School Discipleship 7-8pm at YL House
Wed, Aug 8- Youth Night at Johnson’s Farm*
Sun, Aug 12- JAM at Sojourn, No JAM at Redeemer
Wed, Aug 15- WNL Prep Night*
Fri, Aug 17- Redeemer & Sojourn Back to School Bash* 5-8pm
Sun, Aug 19- JAM at both Sojourn and Redeemer
Wed, Aug 22- WNL FALL KICKOFF NIGHT*
Sun, Aug 26- JAM at Sojourn, No JAM at Redeemer

Explanations of Events*

Celebration Station
Meet at The Hairy at 3pm on June 13th. Pickup at The Hairy at 9pm. Bring $29 cash per/student. This covers unlimited rides (bumper boats, go karts, mini golf, batting cages,) pizza buffet dinner, bottemless drinks, and $10 worth of tokens for game play.  Great to invite your friends.

High School Discipleship
July 2-Aug 6. 7pm-8pm at the GSO Young Life house, located beside Westover church. Park in back right corner of the Westover lot & walk through the back yard, follow the YL signs. Summer Discipleship is open to all high schoolers in GSO, led by Drew, Chris, and other YL leaders.

Youth Service Project Day
On Sat July 14th we’ll meet at 12 at SteaknShake for lunch. After lunch we’ll head over to The Hairy to prepare crafts. At 2:15 we head to Spring Arbor Assisted Living to encourage the residents, making crafts, painting their nails, etc... We’ll be back at The Hairy at 5pm for pickup.

City Lake Park
On Wed July 18th our Childrens Ministry has invited families to gather at City Lake Park from 10-1.  If you have younger children and would like to head over at 10, we’ll meet you there. The water slides don’t open until noon, so the youth will meet at The Hairy at 11am and head over. We can ride the slides for $6. Kids can either bring lunch or buy lunch there. We’ll return to The Hairy for pickup at 3:30pm.

VBS
Sojourn/Redeemer are hosting a combined Vacation Bible School at The Grove July 23-27th. We are asking the youth to help lead and serve the children during this week. More info to come.

Wet N Wild
Meet at The Hairy at 9am and we’ll be back for pickup at 5:30pm.  Bring $30 for entrance and $ for lunch. Pack sunscreen, towel, dry clothes. Great event to invite a friend.

Youth Night at Johnson’s Farm
On Wed. Aug. 8th we’ll meet at Steve & Beth Johnson’s farm from 5:30-8pm. We’ll eat dinner and have some good ol’ redneck farm fun. More details to come.

WNL Prep Night
On Wed, August 15th we’ll meet at The Hairy from 5:30-8pm to prepare for the semester of Wednesday Night Lives. The youth will practice skits, make videos, work on music, and get ready to invite their friends to WNL the following week.

WNL Fall Kickoff
This will be our first officially WNL for the school year, a great night for kids to invite their friends.

Parents Invited To Join Us Tomorrow Night At The Hairy

We're getting back on a normal schedule for Wednesdays.  Tomorrow night we will meet at The Hairy from 6pm-7:30. It is not ready yet, so we'll actually be having a work night tomorrow night. We would love for you as parents to join us if possible. We'll be putting together a ping pong table, air hockey table, hanging a TV, organizing a skit closet, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms, etc...


If you and/or your child are able to come please bring brooms, work gloves, cleaning gloves, dustpans, tool sets (screw drivers, hammers, wrenches, etc...), we need a vacuum, windex, anything that makes things clean.


We'll order pizza for all who want dinner, so please bring $4 to pitch in if you want food. 


Without Chris, I will only be able to pick up 6 guys tomorrow after school, so please let me know if your son is planning on coming.  


Hopefully we'll be ready to rock n roll with an official grand opening next Wednesday night.

Yard Sale!

The yard sale was a great success! Thanks to all who helped and donated items to sell!

We raised $650 for our Compassion children, Dan and Ruth! 

'Understanding Your Teenager' Please RSVP Below

In order to see the submit button on the Google form, you will need to scroll up on the embedded form. Thanks for registering! Feel free to invite others.

How To Talk To Your Kids About Lent

Yesterday on Twitter I saw that one of my high school friends (14 yr. old) had written: "I wish I would have given up something for Lent."


I replied, "It's not too late man. You still have 40 of 46 days. DM me if u want any suggestions." (DM=Direct Message on Twitter)


He wrote back and we moved the conversation to facebook.  I've copied and pasted the message below. Hope it could be helpful to you in talking to your child.  -Drew
.............
Mark,


I'm excited about you wanting to do Lent. I didn't ever practice Lent until I was in college, always thought it was just a Catholic thing. But then I realized it's an ancient tradition for all Christians. It's a worthwhile experience I wish I would've started in high school or earlier. 


The reason we call it 'Lent' is because it comes from the English word Lenten (lengthen), referring to the season of the lengthening of the days, the season of Spring. 


At the junior guys bible study the other night we discussed the concept of Lent through the metaphor of athletic training. In order for an athlete to excel, they must prepare. When you watch an Olympian break a record, you know they didn't just walk out there and get lucky. Their performance happened because of years of repetitive behavior.


Lent also involves preparation. Prepping our hearts to grasp:
-the power of the cross over our sin (Good Friday, the day Jesus died on the cross)
-the hope we can have in a God who is more powerful than even death (Easter Sunday)


One way we can prepare is the same way athletes prepare, with repetitive behavior. We can set our mind to do almost anything for 40 days.


Here are a few suggestions I threw out to our Jr. guys group of things to do for Lent, things that prepare our hearts to encounter Jesus in a fresh way. 


A nightly time of written honest confession. 
Do it in a password protected document on your laptop or phone, or in a hidden journal. Three sections of specific confession each night (based on the Book of Common Prayer general confession)


"Thoughts" - God, I confess I had these thoughts today that I know weren't pleasing to you: Lust towards…, anger towards…, etc..


"Words"- God, I confess I spoke words today that I know weren't pleasing to you, words that weren't always honest, words that hurt others… (specific things you said)


"Deeds."-- od, I confess I did things today that I know weren't pleasing to you, specific examples


Giving up a bad habit that will be hard, but doable. 
Some guys in our group are giving up porn, alcohol, masturbation, sex, weed, etc... (things that should be given up anyways, but hopefully Lent will be a catalyst to some better life habits following these 40 days.)


Giving up a comfort that will be hard, but doable. 
Some guys are giving up things that aren't necessarily "bad", but things they consistently run to for pleasure instead of God. Ex: desserts, fast food, soda, Netflix, iPhone games, video games, Twitter, etc..


Taking on a new habit replacing an old one. 
Instead of playing iPhone games or reading Twitter before bed, reading a chapter of the Bible on theYouVersion app on their phone.


I recently read this about Lent that was helpful to me. It was written by some guy named Dr. Chuck DeGroat. "Lent...is an intentional season...where we’re challenged to arrange our lives in such a way as to be daily frustrated. As people addicted to comfort and convenience, we’re often unaware of how we live to feel good about ourselves, to gain a bit of affirmation, to exert influence, to maximize our own pleasure, to satisfy our immediate needs. Lent invites us to intentionally frustrate ourselves, to engage in a season of deprivation, which actually makes us more aware of the depth of our dependence on any number of things – a substance, our reputation, control, achievement, being right, being comfortable, being secure. Depending on things other than God for pleasure and happiness."


Here's another helpful quote is by an author I respect a lot named Dallas Williard: "If you want to keep all of Jesus' commands, don't just try to do it, but become the kind of person who would routinely do what Jesus said."


So how do we become that kind of person?  By practicing spiritual disciplines, like giving something up or taking something on during Lent.


Maybe a good prayer to start with would even be the lyrics from the Foo Fighters song 'Walk'


A million miles away
Your signal in the distance
To whom it may concern
I think I lost my way
Getting good at starting over
Every time that I return


I'm learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
I'm learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?
Where do I begin?


Mark, Just pray and ask God where you should begin. Say, "God, what do You want me to do for Lent?" He listens and answers and will nudge you in the right direction.


One thing I'd encourage you to do is to not tell anyone (other than me if you want) what you're giving up for Lent. It's a thing that is between you and God and when you make it public, it loses some of that personal and private connection between you and God. Make sense?


Praying for you bro. Thankful for your desire to know God more. Let me know if you have any other questions. Sorry I wrote a book.


Drew

Hairy Demolition!