9 posts tagged “canvas”
Tonight all of us youth leaders were left to run Canvas as Pastor Dan had the night off. He works so hard and makes such a BIG difference in teens lives, that I am so glad he was able to have a night off. So of course since Dan wasn't their i planned a really big messy game! haha, Dan knew about it, but i'm not sure how he would have reacted if he was actually there. We played "Snow Relay". Living in southern California these teens don't get to play in the snow like teens on the east coast. So i thought i would bring a little snow fun to Canvas with a bucket of paper confetti. The teens sat in circles and were each given a cup. They had to pass confetti over there head to each other to fill a bucket. This made for great fun since the confetti did not want to stay in the cups, but rather flouted away every time they poured it. The teens had a blast! After the game was over they all enjoyed a little snow fight. It was awesome to see them play like little kids again and have so much fun at youth group. The mess was so worth it!
Pastor Scot gave a great lesson on Temptation tonight, he also showed a really hard hitting video. Check it out by clicking here.
The Battle Within week 3
Bottom Line: We are tempted to believe we know how God works and how we think we can work Him.
In the boxing world, sometimes things aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes the winner is known before anyone walks into the ring. Sometimes the outcome is pre-determined by a person who has manipulated things behind the scene. Sometimes a fighter takes a dive. Sometimes a boxer throws the fight. And if each one of us were completely honest, sometimes we try to work things as well in our fight with temptation. And who or what we are manipulating isn’t the temptation, it’s God.
Scripture References: Matthew 4:5-7; Psalm 91:12; Exodus 17:2-3
Question for the week: Are you cooperating with God or are you manipulating him?
Last night after an amazing message from Pastor Dan on temptation, we broke up into our small groups as usual. I have an amazing co-leader Laurie and a great group of about ten girls. We had a deep discussion on temptation and what it means to be pure. I was surprise when i saw Dan telling me to wrap it up. We almost always go over, but it's never a problem. So we finished the discussion and headed back to the youth room. Which was dark and quite, not normal at all. I open the door and hear 50+ teens and volunteers scream "Surprise!". I was shocked, i couldn't believe that the whole youth room was decorated and set up to be a Baby Shower! Gifts, cupcakes, balloons, drinks and games all to welcome Daniel and I into the Canvas Family. I tried not to cry or pee in my pants, i really needed to use the bathroom. hehe :)
I was overwhelmed by the love that this church showed to us. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the whole thing. We have been volunteering for a little over three months there, and love it. However i just couldn't believe they would go to so much trouble to make me feel loved. It was so sweet. The pastors and staff here at Discovery work so hard to make sure everyone feels loved and appreciated, which many churches forget to do. It is my hope and prayer to be able to show them all my deepest gratitude and repay them in love for their love.
Love you all!
Tonight was a night full of fun and rejoicing. We started of with a super fun game of "Balloon Battle". Daniel and I blew up 120 balloons and broke the teens up into four groups. The teams need to protect their balloons while trying to pop the other teams balloons. Needless to say the kids had a blast and balloon shapnal was every where. After games and a AWESOME time of worship lead by Pastor Ben, we headed down to the church sanctuary to witness one of our youth group guys get baptized! He made a commitment before the Lord and all of Canvas to live his life for Christ. It was amazing to be there at that moment in his life. The teens cheered and clap has he was baptized. What a wonderful choice for a young man to take in his life. So proud!
Tonight was week two on the Battle Within. Here is what Pastor Dan taught on:
Bottom Line: Every time you’re tempted, your confidence in God is at stake, not just your self-control.
When facing temptation, it seems like it’s always about the choice, the decision, the temptation. But it’s always about more than that. It’s not just your reputation or your innocence that’s at stake—it’s your confidence in God. The lure of temptation makes us question whether we can really trust God to come through for us, to be there for us, to provide for us. We begin to think He’s not in our corner, that He’s not looking out for us. But what if we began to see Him there? What if we realized that whatever is luring us away really has nothing to do with what we think it’s about, and there’s a deeper issue, a trust issue, at work? It might completely weaken the pull of that temptation, and it might help us get to the heart of what is really going on.
Scripture References: Matthew 4:1-4; Deuteronomy 8:3, 11-14,17
When you stop trusting, you stop obeying. And when you stop obeying, eventually you stop believing.
Tonight was awesome, there was just something special happening tonight. I was standing in this room full of teenagers and we were singing songs of praise to God. When all of a sudden i stopped singing and just sat down and listened. I lost my breath, because as i just sat and listened I could hear ALL and i really mean all of the teens singing. It wasn't a group of teens mouthing the words, it was a group of believes pouring their hearts out to their Savior. I was in awe! Truly in awe of the Lord and what He was doing in this place. I have been in large groups of teens singing praises, but i had never seen so many hearts open to the Lord singing with every fiber of their being. It was truly an amazing moment. I only wish you could have been there to see and feel it. Almost indescribable.
After our Christ centered worship time we continued in our study on doubt. Here is what Dan taught on:
Bottom Line: Faith grows when you learn how to view doubt through both what you know and what you’ve been through.
So what do you do when a doubt is too big? How do you handle a doubt that you just can’t seem to move past? You look back. You draw on the things you do know, the things that God has shown you. The things you have learned about Him in the past, both through information and experience. And you hang on to those things you do know, even when you’re left with questions about the things you don’t. Once we are able to see what God has done and is doing through both our experience and our knowledge, we are better equipped to manage the doubt.
Scripture:
Psalms 13:1-2 & 5-6
Psalms 71:16-17
It was an amazing night and I had a great time with my small group we went about a half an hour of time while discussing this topic. It really hit home to my girls and they had a lot to say and ask. They are awesome. Each and every week I have just grown deeper and deeper in love with these teens and this awesome ministry!
From the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing,
and forceful men lay hold of it.
Matthew 11:12
It’s easy for all of us to unconsciously slip into
the mentality that our words, thoughts and actions only affect us.
That it is only our
world and our kingdom
that is affected. But there is a much bigger picture! Whenever we
make decisions in our lives to live in the kingdom of God, we are
participating in God’s ultimate plan to bring the kingdom of God
permanently to this world. Every time we make “upside down”
decisions, we are demonstrating to a watching world what it will be
like one day when God makes everything right once again. Every
decision matters and affects a much larger picture.
That is what we talked about tonight at youth group. It was our last night in the "Upside Down" series. This series has been eye opening and challenging for the students as well as for myself. Truly making me think about how i live my life and what changes i need to make. We didn't have very much small group time tonight, but that was ok, because Pastor Dan had a great message and even an awesome video for us to watch. The night was powerful.
We started out with a giant game of "Guess Who?" and then had a special guest lead us in worship. Ben Kolarcik, our worship pastor lead us in worship tonight. It was awesome, I love to hear him on Sunday mornings, and it was a treat to have him at Canvas tonight. The kids really enjoyed it as well, it was most defiantly a blessing! Thanks Ben for taking time out to be at Canvas tonight!
Tonight was another powerful night at Discovery Church. It is amazing to see God moving in teenagers lives.
Meet my small group, photographed to the left. They are a mix of ages and personalities, however they all get a long and seem to really connect with each other. They go to differnt schools, have different hobbies and would other wise never really associate with each other. This is such a great way to broaden their friend base and learn that God created everyone to be different. I can't wait to get to know them more and build relationships with them.
Tonight I lead games again, i think i might be the official games person! Super excited about that! We played "Musical Chairs" my way! hehe! Which meant that each person wasn't trying to get a chair, but instead trying to get as many people in one chair as possible. This way they work together, instead of against each other. We started out with 30 chairs and 50 kids. We ended with six kids on just one chair. However I'm pretty sure if they did it again they could have gotten 10 kids on one chair. Most defiantly a game we need to play again!
"It's your direction not your intention that determines your destination"
Tonight I got the opportunity to lead games at Canvas High School Ministries. We have visited the youth group, but haven't done much yet. So when Dan (Youth Pastor) asked me to do a game for tonight, i was super excited to have a chance to participate and contribute. I did a new game called "Human Etch-a-Sketch".
Here's how to Play:
A
number of teams are first formed (at least 5 members per team). One
neutral judge then calls out some object (i.e. sailboat, state of
Michigan, etc) that all the teams need to form with their
bodies.
Team members must lay down and together with the help of
their team, form the object together which the judge has called out.
The judge decides which team is first in the formation of the object.
The judge declares that team to be the winner for that round.
The kids and leaders seemed to really like it. Everyone got really into it and it made for some funny pictures of everyone laying on the ground. After the game we had some AWESOME worship. Sometimes i like to stop and watch people during worship, it's encouraging to see others in awe of their Savior. I was surprised by how many teens were truly worshiping. It was intense and overwhelming. I have really never been in that large of a group of teens and really seen them singing their hearts out. As i looked around the room, I could see God moving and shaping these teens. I look forward to seeing what God does with each of their lives.
After worship Pastor Dan gave a great message on "Doing everything for the Lord" even if it's your homework. hehe :) based on Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Earlier in the week Dan had asked all his Facebook and Twitter friends this question, "What regrets do you have from High School?" and during his lesson he read a lot of the feed back that he got from adults. The kids seemed to really listen to what was being said. It is my hope that they take what Dan preached and what the word of God has to tell them about their lives and uses it.
All in all it was a great night. Also i was so excited to connect with four of the girls, we got to chat and get to know each other a little bit. It finally felt like i was a part of the group. I told Daniel as we drove home that I am really starting to feel like this is where God wants me to be. I am so blessed to have been given another great group of kids to work with. I am looking forward to next week and building more relationships with the girls at Canvas.
Tonight Daniel and I went to Canvas, our church's High School youth group. We are checking it out for a few weeks to see if this is where God wants us to be serving. This group of kids are great, they had about 50 kids there and they have about 14 leaders. A very different feeling from the youth group we used to work it, about 12-15 kids and only two leaders. Not to mention that the staff were so welcoming. We felt so wanted and needed and the Youth Pastor really made a point to show interest in us and really has wanted to get to know us as friends. Pastor Dan has been doing a great job with these kids and you can easily see his passion for teenagers
and telling them about Christ. We have so enjoyed getting to know and become
friends with Dan and his wife. We have a lot in common and we enjoy
hanging out together. I also enjoyed meeting a few of the kids and getting to chat with one of the leaders for a while. The worship was amazing, one of the students lead an awesome time just spent singing praises to Jesus. It was a great first experience, and we look forward to next week. Please pray for us as we try to figure out if this is where God wants us to be. We want to follow the plan the Lord has set before us, so pray that we are wise and have an open ear to hear God's voice. I so want to be in the place that God wants me to be in. The events of the past few months have made me timid about jumping into anything, and I want to be sure we are doing what the Lord wants not just want we want. Thank you all so much for your on going prayers and for your wonderful kindness to me.
