Christmas Blessing to All!!!

We want to wish everyone a very blessed and happy Christmas celebration. Our family is glad to be spending time in Minnesota and Iowa over the next week, reconnecting with our families, relaxing, and celebrating God's gift. I wish everyone a great time of relaxing, avoiding anything dealing with school, snowmobiling, presents, getting fat like me, and finding time to really think about what this holiday is all about. I'm excited for our upcoming Silver Birch Retreat, and if you or a friend is not already signed up please do so by Sunday. There are registration cards in the youth room, as well as a box to placed your filled out stuff.

This past week both of our ministries spent sometime talking about the gift of Jesus. I think sometimes we focus so much on the cute factor of the Christmas story that we miss out on what its all really about. On Christmas God CHOOSES to leave the perfect bliss of heaven, taking on this lovely thing we call humanity. You know humanity, its the thing you always complain about. Pain, work, criticism, death, losing loved ones, illness, feeling tired, etc. Yet, God CHOOSES to take that all on, to experience what our life is like. But, even more, God CHOOSES to suffer and die. Not just to experience those things, but to conquer death FOR YOU AND ME. We are given the gift of eternal life because God chose to come to earth as a human, to take the punishment once and for all for all the bad things you and I do. My challenge to everyone this Christmas is: what do you do with that gift? Is it like that favorite present that you use again and again, telling everyone you see about? Or is it like that bread pan from my wedding, which sits in a closet for six years collecting dust? Do you put your faith on the shelf, or are you really living it? It's great to see the wall outside the youth room full of ways people are going to respond to Jesus' gift. My prayer is that you follow through and live every day with Christ as we head into 2010.

Have a great Christmas everyone, and see you all in January!

Silver Birch and marshmallow mayhem

I now know how Cinderella must have felt: half the day on my hands and knees cleaning up marshmallow particles from last night (had tarps, they failed). Oh, the things that youth ministry entails. We're getting REALLY excited about our Silver Birch Retreat, January 8-10th, for both Middle School and High School students. If you have not signed up yet please do so, as it's going to be an exciting weekend of games, activities, and worship on our theme: How NOT to Get Caught.

Last night we did have a lot of fun throwing marshmallows and cheese puffs all over the youth room in a variety of different games. We then turned to part three of our Big Time Basics series, this week talking about Jesus. We opened with a clip from the DaVinci code in which the Prof. Lee character claims the idea that Jesus was God was invented 300 years after his death. The Bible, however, tells us that Jesus was 100% human (John 1:14: So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us) AND 100% God (John 1:1-3: In the beginning, the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that He didn't make). That seems rather strange to us, but it's how it had to be for God to fulfill his mission. He had to take on human/fleshly elements to teach us directly, experience the difficulties of human life (pain, illness, sadness, suffering, rejection, etc., and to pay the price for our sins. Yet, he remained God through it all, so that it is GOD, and not some mere messenger, that does all those things FOR US. When we get that it becomes so obvious how great God's love is for us.




AND 100% God

Cancelation for tonight

Because of the storm and because Oostburg schools canceled we will not be having Youth Group or any of our other programs tonight. Hope everyone enjoys their day off of school and PLEASE stay warm and safe today. We'll see you next week.

Breakfast Buffet

Saturday is our annual Breakfast Buffet Fundraiser. This has proven to be one of the best fundraisers for our ministry year end and year out, so we're excited for Saturday. The breakfast runs from 7-11am in the HRC fellowship hall. Cost is a free will donation. We'll have all the typical breakfast foods, plus THREE made to order omelet stations. We'd love to have a packed house to support our two major trips this year, our Winter Silver Birch Retreat and our summer mission trip to Annville, KY. Students, just a reminder that the 2 shifts are 6am-9am and 9am-noon. Middle schoolers help set-up Friday, from 5pm-6:15pm. Anyone bringing utensils needs to have them to church by 5pm Friday.

Follow us on Facebook! After years of resistance I have finally gotten into the world of Facebook over the past few months. If you want to further keep up with the world of BLAST Youth Ministry become my friend on there and join our BLAST ministry group.

Thanksgiving blessings to all

Wow, lots has gone on since my last post. Andrea and I just returned from a great trip out West, getting to see Las Vegas, the Hover Dam, and the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon may be the most incredible thing God has created. My jaw was dropped the entire time we were there. It was a great few days to relax, enjoy, and refuel a little.

I wish everyone a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving this week. Make sure you take some time to give God some credit for all the things in your life that make you smile. If your crazy enough the brave the shopping arenas on Friday best of luck to you. The last time I went on a black Friday someone took my legs out with a shopping cart. Seriously people!

I get to preach in "big church" this Sunday (I have deemed the Sunday after Thanksgiving National Associate Pastor Preaching Day). I'm really excited though because we are kicking off a new series entitled There's Something About The Name. Throughout Advent we're going to be looking at all the different names the Bible ascribes to Jesus and exploring their significance. I get to talk about my personal favorite this Sunday, Servant. If your not too full from Turkey or busy stalking deer we'd love to see you this Sunday. Plus, this is my first time preaching for TV, which is kinda cool and scary at the same time.

What an Event!!!

Wow! What a crazy night we had on Friday. Nearly 90 middle schoolers invaded HRC for a night of games, friendship, Blue Harbor Water Park, and worship. We may have even set a world record for amount of soda consumed in one night (even I thought it was ridiculous, and that's saying something!). Plus it's not every night I get bit by a 7th grader AND get thrown into a pool by a 6th grader. Nearly every student made it the whole night, enjoying late night activities such as lazer tag, glow in the dark dodgeball, a game room, tons of video game systems, a dodgeball tournament (which was more intense then the state basketball tournament), and more. A very tired group headed out Saturday morning expressing having a great night. The Event saw over one dozen students commit their lives to Christ for the first time, and over 40 students pledge to renew and strengthen their faith. Praise God for such awesome work!

A huge thanks to the army of volunteers that made this possible, as well as our students who so willingly invited friends. Without our high schoolers who spent the night and the various shifts of crazy, ah I mean willing, adult volunteers who came in and out throughout The Event this would have never been possible. Special thanks to Tammy Horswill and Laura Dolfin for bravely arriving at 10am to start clean-up, as well as the adults who came to help at 1pm. Also a big thanks to Pamela Krueger for heading up the food and Kurt Dulmes for putting together the praise band. Our intern, Ryan Arentsen, was also an amazing help and led a riveting game of Let's Make A Deal. Again, what an awesome night, so thanks to everyone involved and a big praise to God for making it possible, safe, and meaningful.

Weekend update and EVENT FAQ's

Thanks so much to everyone who helped with Service Day #2. We were able to work on four homes, all of which had quite a bit to be done on. Thanks to everyone who helped rake, lay chips, move rocks, move a windmill (yes, that's right), haul ancient farm equipment, and more. And I also proved I am an excellent fire starter (Phil taught me everything he knows!).

Here are some answers to questions we've been getting about the Event. They are going out to everyone at HRC tomorrow, but we wanted to get them on the web too. We are so excited for Friday night and can't wait to see all 80+ of you that night! So awesome.

Arrival time: You may arrive and register in the narthex anytime between 4:15-4:45 Friday night. If you are going to be later then that please call the church at 564-2879.

What to Bring: Sleeping bag, pillow, tennis shoes (for various running activities), swimsuit (girls: we really prefer one piece or tankinis, but if you don't have one don't worry about running out and buying one.), and a towel. You also may want sandals for Blue Harbor.

Spending money: No money is needed. EVERYTHING is included in your fee. If you wanted to bring money for the arcade or snacks at Blue Harbor you could, but you are responsible.

Video game systems and TVs: Thanks to all those loaning us TV's and video game systems. If you could have them to Andy's office by 8:00pm Wednesday night that would be fantastic.

Volunteers: If you volunteered to help at any point of the night you should have received a letter in your box about the volunteer meeting on Wednesday night at 6:30. If you would still be interested in helping us out please speak with Andy as we could still use more hands.

Clean-Up: We need ANYONE and EVERYONE who can to help with clean-up on Saturday, November 14th at 1pm. Your help is greatly appreciated.