80 posts tagged “youth group”
Tonight my co-small group leader Laurie and I hosted a "Girl's Night In" for our small group girls. We had the girls over to my house for a super yummy pasta dinner and to watch the movie "Up". We had 6 out of 10 of our girls show up and we had so much fun together. We are all still getting to know each other and this event was prefect to talk and just hang out. Dinner was great and the movie was so funny, i really enjoyed it! These girls are so awesome and willing to love and care for Laurie and I. It's so sweet!
I really believe in nights like tonight. It's the time we spend with youth group kids outside of youth group that counts. Showing them they are special enough for adults to make time for them. Special enough to have someone take notice of who they are and want to know them better. I really am getting my footing in this group and I feel like i have come leaps and bounds over the past few months in getting to know the kids and making sure i spend time with them outside of youth group.
I really feel the Lord has put me in this church, with this youth group and with these girls for a real and powerful purpose. And tonight i saw a glimpse of what God wants to do. I keep having to remind myself that this isn't the same group of kids i used to have, and that they will never be the girls i had before. And that things will be different and that's ok. God has a plan and I am learning with each Wednesday night and each youth event that everything is new and i need to not dwell on the past or wish for things to be the same. Because i am learning that staying the same is boring. I am so thankful for the Lord pushing me into a new world with new teens. He knew better then i did, and this is where i am needed and where God needs me to be. Here i am Lord use me in any way you wish to love these girls and to show them the love of your Son! I'm ready and I know these girls are ready to be used by you too!
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?
Since having to say good bye to our old youth group, I haven't seen many of the kids. Most of them have moved away for school or work and go to school and lead very busy lives. However one of our old youth group kids attends youth group at Discovery with us now, and that has been a big blessing!
Today i got to have lunch with Kiersten, Matt, and Jessica. It was WONDERFUL. I have missed them so much and loved getting to hear all about their lives. So much has happened in just a few months and i so loved getting to catch up. I have had a few coffee dates one on one with several of the kids over the past few months. But it was so nice to go out with a group of them. I loved every moment of our time together and didn't want to leave In N Out. Just wished the time would last longer. However I know we will make time to get together soon. Hopefully more youth group alumni will be able to join us.
How do you know if you have touched teens lives? When they let you be apart of their lives even after they aren't in your youth group anymore. I love Youth Ministry!
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.
Today i got to join our Youth Pastor and some other Canvas leaders in having lunch at Simi High School. Pastor Dan has started this awesome thing, every Wednesday he brings Taco's to a different high school in our area, and then just hangs out with the youth group kids and their friends. The teens love it and look forward to the week he shows up at their school. Well today i got to go, i can't always get a babysitter so i can't go every week. But i was so excited to go today. I had so much fun just spending time with them. I can't wait until i can do it again. Thanks Dan for putting it all together and just being awesome and loving teens!
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!
This is 45 of our staff and teens, I took an additional 17 photo's tonight, that i will put up next week. The concept is for this wall to grow. That any teen that visits gets their photo added to the wall. Because once you've been to Canvas your part of our family.
So if you have a youth group or college group try this Photo Project, it's not expensive, just the cost of getting the pictures printed, and Costco has great prices. Plus you will make each teen feel special and excepted. Which is how we all want to feel right? So try it in your youth center and let me know how it works!
Raise your hand if you’ve ever doubted God. Everyone got their hands up? That’s because it’s human nature to doubt. It’s just in us to ask questions and to reevaluate. A lot of times doubt gets a bad wrap because of its ability to make us negative, and because we think once we start to entertain it our entire system of belief will collapse. But doubt, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. When used in the proper way, doubt helps us formulate an authentic and personal faith. That’s why it’s important to learn to express our doubts to others and to deal with them in the context of Christian community, so that God can work with our doubts to help strengthen our faith.
Tonight we started a new series on Doubt. Who among us don't have doubt? And i know that it's something most teenagers deal with. I am super excited to see what Pastor Dan will be teaching and how this will effect the teens. We started out the night with a fun game of "Human Knots" The kids loved it and all the teams except for one was able to undo their knot. In the end everyone had a great time, even if it was hard.
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.
