Alright, I can here the collective groan of most students with that comment, but the fact is school for most of our students starts next week, and many students have all ready been practicing for soccer (which already has like 6 games in), football, cross country, and volleyball. It seems weird to be going into "kick-off" season when we really did not take any sort of a ministry break this summer. I really had an awesome summer really getting to connect and hangout with our high school students, as well as teach through the Beatitudes in our Happy series. It was also great having Middle Schoolers over at our house all summer, and our Hot August Nights events have been a huge success (both in terms of numbers and the fun we have had). Nonetheless, it is time to return to our somewhat normally scheduled programming. Because of how full the youth room was getting last year, and the record numbers we have seen all summer, we are undergoing our second youth room remodel in as many years. Starting today we will be ripping out cabinets, moving the soda machine and fridge, and taking out the sink. In their place will be an additional two sections of stadium seating. This will allow us to seat 50 in seats and another 15 or so on the floor if needed. With the way our middle school attendance has been this is a very needed change.
If you have students in our ministry you will soon be receiving a packet with all the information you should need for the year, including your group's schedule. Schedules can also be found on this website to the right and on the HRC site. I am so excited about all of the things we have planned for this year. Because of weather and other things that tend to come up we did not post all of the games/activities for this year, except where necessary. We will still have all the fun stuff you know and love, you'll just have to wait tell you get there to discover what is up. I also feel we have some great things planned teaching wise for this fall, and honestly I'm kinda chomping at the bit to get started. So, don't get too depressed about school and we'll see you here real soon.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
HS Retreats, pics, and updates
,
Wow! It's really been a crazy summer around here. I took some time this morning to put up some pictures from the MS and HS retreats to the Dolfin Cabin. Thanks to Miranda and Hailee for being the photographers for their respective groups.
We just got back from our HS retreat to Dolfin's Cabin yesterday. On my calendar I had written this down as a "mini-retreat," but we ended up having 26 students able to join us for a weekend on the lake. We did a ton of tubing, and let me tell you it was some intense stuff!
Never seen so many people jumping all over the place. Also were able to do a lot of swimming, jet ski stuff, and more. Plus, there was plenty of time to just relax, hangout, and be goofs together. We also had three sessions this weekend on our theme of Crossroads, based on Jeremiah 6:16: This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls”. 
We talked about how there are many times in our lives where we come to a Crossroads moment, a moment where we have to chose to either follow God's path or the world's. We often know that we are to follow God's ways, and indeed know what that way looks like (i.e. we know the difference btw. right and wrong), but we choose the wrong way because it is easier. This weekend we looked at why it is we chose the worlds' way so often at these crossroads. Often it is because of roadblocks that make it hard to follow God's path. We looked at three of these roadblocks: our past, our conflicts, and our fears, and talked about how we need to stop letting those stop us from living the life God wants us to live.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Just some quick summer updates
,
Hey, it's a busy week around here with over 125 kids in VBS, but I wanted to take a moment and just put some quick updates up about our summer.
Kentucky Pictures: In the next 24 hours a KY image gallery should appear to the right. To see full size images simply click on any picture. Pictures are hosted by Picasa, and they allow you to purchase pics from a number of vendors (including Walgreens, which will send them to a local store and thusly no shipping charge). BLAST does not endorse nor profit from any of these vendors, this is simply an option we are able to offer.
Lake Day: We had an amazing lake day for middle school and high school last Wednesday. Nearly 60 middle schoolers were able to participate (it was an outreach event for that ministry), as well as 20 high schoolers (we used it as a community building event for them). Special thanks to Damon Huibregtse for the use of his lake and waterslide, and to Greg Dirkse for the use of his amazing boat.
Middle School Dolfin's Cabin: We had nearly 40 students for an amazing weekend focused on building the Heart of a Champion. The weather really cooperated, meaning we were able to fit in all our great lake activities, including tubing, jet skiis, swimming, the water trampoline, and more. We also had some great activities, including our now famous Woodchipper game. God really moved over the course of the weekend, with 15 students accepting Christ for the first time and many more making some awesome new commitments. Thanks to Todd and Laura Dolfin, as well as our huge team of adult and high school volunteers, for making the weekend such a huge success.
Kentucky Pictures: In the next 24 hours a KY image gallery should appear to the right. To see full size images simply click on any picture. Pictures are hosted by Picasa, and they allow you to purchase pics from a number of vendors (including Walgreens, which will send them to a local store and thusly no shipping charge). BLAST does not endorse nor profit from any of these vendors, this is simply an option we are able to offer.
Lake Day: We had an amazing lake day for middle school and high school last Wednesday. Nearly 60 middle schoolers were able to participate (it was an outreach event for that ministry), as well as 20 high schoolers (we used it as a community building event for them). Special thanks to Damon Huibregtse for the use of his lake and waterslide, and to Greg Dirkse for the use of his amazing boat.
Middle School Dolfin's Cabin: We had nearly 40 students for an amazing weekend focused on building the Heart of a Champion. The weather really cooperated, meaning we were able to fit in all our great lake activities, including tubing, jet skiis, swimming, the water trampoline, and more. We also had some great activities, including our now famous Woodchipper game. God really moved over the course of the weekend, with 15 students accepting Christ for the first time and many more making some awesome new commitments. Thanks to Todd and Laura Dolfin, as well as our huge team of adult and high school volunteers, for making the weekend such a huge success.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Kentucky mission trip: Wed and Thr
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God continues to do amazing things here in Jackson County. Our shed building team has everything all enclosed and is putting the finishing touches on as I write. We plan to hold a dedication in memory of Taylor VanderWeele later tonight. The poor team at the house continues to be plagued by difficulties. Yesterday they simply checked above the ceiling (they were told it was "all good," but thought smart to check anyway), and were summarily bathed in coal dust that had gathered up there from the coal burning stove days. They thusly worked overtime for the second straight day trying to get to a good place. While they may not make it to their goal they have been a massive help and have set the stage very well for the next work group. They have really dealt with some tough set backs and conditions, yet have stayed upbeat and positive because they know they are really making a difference. My hat is really off to that crew.
The daycamp is getting close to wrapping as I write. Not only will we wrap our time with them at 3pm today, but it is also the last daycamp of the summer (many have come for three weeks now). Jackson County School District ended up with only around 30 some days of summer vacation this year due to having over 30 snow days this winter. So, JCM had to cram all their summer programs into one month (which is why there is not only our daycamp this week, but a horse camp, drama camp, and an evening VBS run by a group staying at JCM). There have been some awesome connections made between our students and the daycampers, and some hopefully eternal seeds have been planted in hearts.
Last night we got to hear from Denny Pehrman, the youth chaplain from JCM. He was INCREDIBLE! He shared stories of heartbreak and triumph. Jackson County Schools have had over 30 teen deaths related to drug overdoses and suicides over the past 8 years. In the midst of that Denny has probably saved many times that number of lives, as well as 100's of souls. He challenged out students to move from being believers to being disciples who really act on their faith. It starts simply by reaching out and seeing what needs you can meet at school, in your home, at work, etc. The students were really moved by his message and made some great commitments afterwards.
One of those commitments involved one of the students from the Barnabas Home for at risk youth located at JCM (some are there because they are at risk, some because they have committed crimes). Our students went from being scared of them, to cautiously playing hoops with them, to befriending them. One of the students from the home is moving back home to a tough situation today. Our students wrote him a letter they had the JCM staff deliver to him to offer him guidance, prayers, and encouragement. In fact a basketball game yesterday turned into simply sitting down and talking about life and God. It has been awesome seeing our once scared students MINISTERING to these other kids!
Tomorrow we will have a free day, which will include a trip to Cumberland Falls (the "Niagara of the South" and the original KFC. Should be a nice end to an amazing trip.
The daycamp is getting close to wrapping as I write. Not only will we wrap our time with them at 3pm today, but it is also the last daycamp of the summer (many have come for three weeks now). Jackson County School District ended up with only around 30 some days of summer vacation this year due to having over 30 snow days this winter. So, JCM had to cram all their summer programs into one month (which is why there is not only our daycamp this week, but a horse camp, drama camp, and an evening VBS run by a group staying at JCM). There have been some awesome connections made between our students and the daycampers, and some hopefully eternal seeds have been planted in hearts.
Last night we got to hear from Denny Pehrman, the youth chaplain from JCM. He was INCREDIBLE! He shared stories of heartbreak and triumph. Jackson County Schools have had over 30 teen deaths related to drug overdoses and suicides over the past 8 years. In the midst of that Denny has probably saved many times that number of lives, as well as 100's of souls. He challenged out students to move from being believers to being disciples who really act on their faith. It starts simply by reaching out and seeing what needs you can meet at school, in your home, at work, etc. The students were really moved by his message and made some great commitments afterwards.
One of those commitments involved one of the students from the Barnabas Home for at risk youth located at JCM (some are there because they are at risk, some because they have committed crimes). Our students went from being scared of them, to cautiously playing hoops with them, to befriending them. One of the students from the home is moving back home to a tough situation today. Our students wrote him a letter they had the JCM staff deliver to him to offer him guidance, prayers, and encouragement. In fact a basketball game yesterday turned into simply sitting down and talking about life and God. It has been awesome seeing our once scared students MINISTERING to these other kids!
Tomorrow we will have a free day, which will include a trip to Cumberland Falls (the "Niagara of the South" and the original KFC. Should be a nice end to an amazing trip.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
KY Mission Trip Day 3
,
Morning y'all!
WE continue to have an amazing experience here in Jackson County, KY. On Tuesday our daycamp kicked off, with around 50 students attending. We must have done well, because today they all came back and some even brought new friends! Melissa did such a wonderful job planning everything before we got here, and it has run really well. Our students have been awesome teachers, role models, pool toys, and jungle gyms! They are really making a positive impact on the young people here.
Work crew #1 is building a shed in honor of Taylor VanderWeele and, as I speak, are to the point of raising the roof. They should finish tommorrow. Their adults have been really impressed by their work ethic, and they are building a great structure. They did have the joy of raising truses in a mega downpour, but otherwise the rain has done well avoiding them. They are in for two days of scorching heat, so pray for breezes and good hydration as they roof in 100+ temps.
Work crew #2 is working on rehabing a house, with their project being the bathroom. The have torn out EVERYTHING, and are now putting in a new appliances, floording, finishings, walls, etc. They have had quite the experience owing to the lack of coding in KY, which led to poor Jacob going into a crawl space that ended up being where the kitchen and I believe a bathroom had been empting into for decades (he politely requested NEVER to go in there again). Some of the pipes just simply dump to the outside, including a bathroom into a creek. Scott has certainly had his hands full plumbing, but they are getting much done and VASTLY improving the living conditions for the family.
Our team continues to mesh amazingly. It's an amazing community of adults and young people. They are being so unselfish and getting along with everyone, which is really awesome to watch. I'm off to film a roof raising (yes, film, not participate in. The joys of being in charge!) We'll update you all again soon. Blessings!
WE continue to have an amazing experience here in Jackson County, KY. On Tuesday our daycamp kicked off, with around 50 students attending. We must have done well, because today they all came back and some even brought new friends! Melissa did such a wonderful job planning everything before we got here, and it has run really well. Our students have been awesome teachers, role models, pool toys, and jungle gyms! They are really making a positive impact on the young people here.
Work crew #1 is building a shed in honor of Taylor VanderWeele and, as I speak, are to the point of raising the roof. They should finish tommorrow. Their adults have been really impressed by their work ethic, and they are building a great structure. They did have the joy of raising truses in a mega downpour, but otherwise the rain has done well avoiding them. They are in for two days of scorching heat, so pray for breezes and good hydration as they roof in 100+ temps.
Work crew #2 is working on rehabing a house, with their project being the bathroom. The have torn out EVERYTHING, and are now putting in a new appliances, floording, finishings, walls, etc. They have had quite the experience owing to the lack of coding in KY, which led to poor Jacob going into a crawl space that ended up being where the kitchen and I believe a bathroom had been empting into for decades (he politely requested NEVER to go in there again). Some of the pipes just simply dump to the outside, including a bathroom into a creek. Scott has certainly had his hands full plumbing, but they are getting much done and VASTLY improving the living conditions for the family.
Our team continues to mesh amazingly. It's an amazing community of adults and young people. They are being so unselfish and getting along with everyone, which is really awesome to watch. I'm off to film a roof raising (yes, film, not participate in. The joys of being in charge!) We'll update you all again soon. Blessings!
Monday, July 12, 2010
KY Mission Trip Days 1 and 2
,
Howdy! We have now been in Annville, KY for two days, and I think I can speak for basically everyone here when I say we are having a great time. We had a great bus ride down Saturday that seemed like it went really fast, even though we were on the bus over 12 hours. I was so awesome to see so many of the school, group, and grade barriers break down almost right away as everyone moved around, sat with different people, and filled out many an "interesting" mad lib.
Once we pulled of the interstate in KY the scenery got absolutely amazing. So many tall tree filled hills, Mt. streams, and winding roads. It was simply a breathtaking drive from the interstate to Jackson Cty. Ministries. Once here we started getting acclimated to the really large campus they have. All of our students are housed in a 2 story dorm (that sadly lacks AC, but it has not been terrible). The accommodations are certainly good enough, and indeed a marked improvement from sleeping on a school floor as we did in LA 2 years ago. Saturday night and Sunday our students got a lot of free time to take advantage of all the recreational opportunities here, including swimming, basketball in the AIR CONDITIONED gym, canoing and paddle boating, and "fishing." I say "fishing" because it is not exactly sporting in their pond as the catfish are so clumped against the shoreline you could probably walk on them for awhile. Needless to say many fish were caught (it's catch and release here). \
Sunday we also attending worship at the RCA church on JCM's campus. WE probably trippled their congregation. Thanks to Dan, Mal, and Kathryn for leading the singing, Mal and Dan for singing a special music, and Kathryn for playing the offertory (we got pressed into service because their music director was gone and nothing quite got lined up in her absence). They had a substitute pastor, who had retired a few years ago after serving the area for about 40 years. He had known Nick and Kathryn's grandparnets, as well as Becky's mom's entire family, so it was cool for them to talk with him after worship. We also had time for our own devotions last night, which are focusing on the hard sayings of Jesus.
This am both of our work crews have already taken off. One is building a shed and canoe storage unit in memory of Taylor VanderWeele (the VanderWeele family has donated the money to JCM for the project). The other is doing a rather complete rehab of a house in the community, starting with totally overhauling a bathroom. We had a lot of fun learning about KY plumbing codes yesterday (translation: they don't really have those down here), and hearing that until 8 years ago you sewage could simply run into the nearest body of water to your house. Note: never swim in KY! Our daycamp team got a great start yesterday and will continue their prep work all day today. The campers start arriving at 9am tomorrow (Tues).
The students and leaders have been amazing so far, and I'm exciting to see what today holds. I HOPE to post daily and to get some pictures up, so stayed tuned! One prayer request we do have is that the forecasted rain showers don't affect our work projects and daycare too much. We're working on some adjustments, but no rain would be the best!
Once we pulled of the interstate in KY the scenery got absolutely amazing. So many tall tree filled hills, Mt. streams, and winding roads. It was simply a breathtaking drive from the interstate to Jackson Cty. Ministries. Once here we started getting acclimated to the really large campus they have. All of our students are housed in a 2 story dorm (that sadly lacks AC, but it has not been terrible). The accommodations are certainly good enough, and indeed a marked improvement from sleeping on a school floor as we did in LA 2 years ago. Saturday night and Sunday our students got a lot of free time to take advantage of all the recreational opportunities here, including swimming, basketball in the AIR CONDITIONED gym, canoing and paddle boating, and "fishing." I say "fishing" because it is not exactly sporting in their pond as the catfish are so clumped against the shoreline you could probably walk on them for awhile. Needless to say many fish were caught (it's catch and release here). \
Sunday we also attending worship at the RCA church on JCM's campus. WE probably trippled their congregation. Thanks to Dan, Mal, and Kathryn for leading the singing, Mal and Dan for singing a special music, and Kathryn for playing the offertory (we got pressed into service because their music director was gone and nothing quite got lined up in her absence). They had a substitute pastor, who had retired a few years ago after serving the area for about 40 years. He had known Nick and Kathryn's grandparnets, as well as Becky's mom's entire family, so it was cool for them to talk with him after worship. We also had time for our own devotions last night, which are focusing on the hard sayings of Jesus.
This am both of our work crews have already taken off. One is building a shed and canoe storage unit in memory of Taylor VanderWeele (the VanderWeele family has donated the money to JCM for the project). The other is doing a rather complete rehab of a house in the community, starting with totally overhauling a bathroom. We had a lot of fun learning about KY plumbing codes yesterday (translation: they don't really have those down here), and hearing that until 8 years ago you sewage could simply run into the nearest body of water to your house. Note: never swim in KY! Our daycamp team got a great start yesterday and will continue their prep work all day today. The campers start arriving at 9am tomorrow (Tues).
The students and leaders have been amazing so far, and I'm exciting to see what today holds. I HOPE to post daily and to get some pictures up, so stayed tuned! One prayer request we do have is that the forecasted rain showers don't affect our work projects and daycare too much. We're working on some adjustments, but no rain would be the best!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Awards Night and other happenings
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First, sometime this week check-out all the Youth Sunday pictures that should be posted to the right of this article.
This past Sunday our high school ministry celebrated its annual Awards Night. Every student won some sort of fun award decided upon by the leaders (such as best pantser, least ladylike, best death glare, and "best" big sister), we awarded the BLAST awards to students judged by their peers to best live out the values of BLAST, and the senior wills. Our leaders did a terrific job organizing and hosting the event, so mega hats off to them. I walked away from the night really blown away by not only the giftedness of these students, but their willingness to put them into action. As I said that night, how many churches does the Youth Sunday sermon morph into an eight part sermon series by the senior pastor? My guess is not to many. I am certainly going to miss the highly talented group of seniors we currently have, but I also some great classes coming up that will certainly try their best to take over their leadership role.
2010 BLAST Awards:
Believing (evangelism): Kathryn VerVelde
Loving (fellowship): Sara Crynock
Adoring (worship): Stephanie DeGroff
Serving (service and mission): Vanessa VanderWeele
Teaching (discipleship): Becky Kappers
This Wednesday night our middle schoolers started the evening building Bible smuggling boats out of various materials. They will finish these off next week before racing them down the Mill Pond/Onion River. Gotta admit, I'm very excited to see how that goes. This goes along with our current series, Underground Reality: Vietnam, in which we are looking at the persecuted church in that communist country. This week was also had a worship night, and one of the things I was really struck by was the number of non-HRC students we had serving in worship. All three of our lighting techs and two of our singers were not from HRC, which is really encouraging to me. It shows me a couple of cool things. First, there really seems to be no barrier between HRC and non-HRC students (translation: those who parents are members here and those who are not). They attend, interact, and serve as one body at BLAST. Second, it shows me that our non-HRC member students are willing and able to serve Christ in numerous ways. In reality, it's probably not even fair to talk about non-member and member students any more. They are all really members: they all attend, worship, learn, and serve God according to the gifts they've been given. To me that is a really awesome thing.
Worship set:
Rise and Sing: Steve Fee
Take It All; Hillsong United
Dancing Generation: Brandon Grissom
Mighty to Save: Hillsong United
This past Sunday our high school ministry celebrated its annual Awards Night. Every student won some sort of fun award decided upon by the leaders (such as best pantser, least ladylike, best death glare, and "best" big sister), we awarded the BLAST awards to students judged by their peers to best live out the values of BLAST, and the senior wills. Our leaders did a terrific job organizing and hosting the event, so mega hats off to them. I walked away from the night really blown away by not only the giftedness of these students, but their willingness to put them into action. As I said that night, how many churches does the Youth Sunday sermon morph into an eight part sermon series by the senior pastor? My guess is not to many. I am certainly going to miss the highly talented group of seniors we currently have, but I also some great classes coming up that will certainly try their best to take over their leadership role.
2010 BLAST Awards:
Believing (evangelism): Kathryn VerVelde
Loving (fellowship): Sara Crynock
Adoring (worship): Stephanie DeGroff
Serving (service and mission): Vanessa VanderWeele
Teaching (discipleship): Becky Kappers
This Wednesday night our middle schoolers started the evening building Bible smuggling boats out of various materials. They will finish these off next week before racing them down the Mill Pond/Onion River. Gotta admit, I'm very excited to see how that goes. This goes along with our current series, Underground Reality: Vietnam, in which we are looking at the persecuted church in that communist country. This week was also had a worship night, and one of the things I was really struck by was the number of non-HRC students we had serving in worship. All three of our lighting techs and two of our singers were not from HRC, which is really encouraging to me. It shows me a couple of cool things. First, there really seems to be no barrier between HRC and non-HRC students (translation: those who parents are members here and those who are not). They attend, interact, and serve as one body at BLAST. Second, it shows me that our non-HRC member students are willing and able to serve Christ in numerous ways. In reality, it's probably not even fair to talk about non-member and member students any more. They are all really members: they all attend, worship, learn, and serve God according to the gifts they've been given. To me that is a really awesome thing.
Worship set:
Rise and Sing: Steve Fee
Take It All; Hillsong United
Dancing Generation: Brandon Grissom
Mighty to Save: Hillsong United
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