Counselors, Teachers, Parents, and Youth Group Leaders:

Nothing but Trouble after Midnight has been regarded as an excellent tool for broaching abstinence education. Please use the questions below as a springboard for discussions on such pertinent, yet difficult, topics.

NBTAM Discussion Guide: Abstinence Education

What are qualities of a healthy relationship? 

What are qualities of an unhealthy relationship?

Can a relationship be both healthy and unhealthy?

What are some positive aspects about Chloe’s relationship with Austin?

Is positive the same as healthy?

Why does Chloe choose abstinence?

Is it possible to remain abstinent?

Why does Rob choose abstinence?

How does the rape change Chloe?

How does the rape change Rob’s feelings about Chloe? 

Why was Chloe afraid to tell about the rape?

Are Chloe’s relationships more damaged by the actual rape or her thoughts about herself based upon being raped?

*Discussion questions were created by Ann Williams, MS Ed, a clinical therapist who specialized in abstinence education.*

Today I’m blessed withe the clowns (youth group) performing for us.  The did a great job, & Tara & Teresa were in it, too! I’m really glad they made up this “Clown Ministry” thing.

Tasha L. Thomas

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
~St. Augustine

Travel can bring you the most memorable experiences, regardless of whether it is just a church outing or a boy scouts romp; or a student tour and sporting event. Travel is a learning experience, and the best thing to be found in our expeditions, is an honest friend to share it with. Traveling is a quest, which you wouldn’t want to accomplish all alone. Travel, especially for young students, is all about exploring the world together!

Youth group travel fulfills the need felt to isolate oneself from family and companions and go to new places, to be open to new influences and changes. Group travel is all about tapping into the collective intelligence of other like-minded travelers, to take truly memorable trips. However, for a group travel experience that you want to cherish for a lifetime, vacation-planning is necessary. To do all the arrangement and scheduling for your travel group, Prep Traveler is a great pick!

Prep traveler is an online community that acts as your guide, a comprehensive one stop resource for destination information; an open-source portal, where travelers can edit and add information about different destinations, according to their personal experiences. Have a favorite sight, restaurant, or hotel? Irked about long lines, lousy food, or bad service? Express yourself or find out what others think before you go.

Prep traveler tells you about the not-to-miss attractions, facilities, nature trails, adventure spots, shopping arcades to get best deals, cheap travel and accommodation, restaurants and clubs, and anything else, a youth group would be interested in. Prep Traveler will also work with you to structure a fundraising program to make sure that your group receives an excellent value, and achieves desired results. Prep Traveler offers personalized version of travel planning, which is becoming increasingly popular!

So, I was talking with another leader in my youth group tonight, about the small size of our ministry, and how everyone always used to talk about having this vision to see the building packed out every friday night, packed with people, children, youth, and anyone, just worshipping the Lord from their hearts.

So where did we lose it?

What is it that we’re missing? Why isn’t this place packed? We have some great people here, it’s not that we’re scary and unfriendly (though I’ve been told my Bible study topics can be ’scary and harsh’ but that stuff is in the Bible and we need to know it). And we have an amazing worship band. A cafe with food, and an open gym for basketball, volleyball, and the likes. So why isn’t this place packed? Why isn’t our ministry drawing in people who are hungry for God?

My answer, plain and simple: “We’re not hungry for God ourselves.”

I don’t see a hunger for God, a passion for His Word, and living faith. I see a social club. I see kids who are here because their friends are here and this is where we go on friday night. I’ve gotten honest answers from people there that they either don’t really know why they go, or they only go because their friends do, and if it wasn’t for their friends they wouldn’t go. This is not the attitude of someone who’s here to worship Jesus Christ.

Where did it start? It started with the leaders. We were/are not hungry for God. I was guilty of this myself for the longest time, only in the past 2 years or so have I been woken up by the Lord, and made aware of my stagnation, and begun to chase after His purpose for my life. Actually learning what it means to love Him with all my heart, soul, and strength. Starving for His presence.

Do you know what it means to be hungry for God and His Word? To hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness? This is what it means, and it’s very literal, it’s not some crazy metaphor, the Bible has a lot less metaphors than we realize, it usually means exactly what it says.

At one youth meeting about a year ago I was having a hard time paying attention during the message, actually I wasn’t paying attention at all, and it was terrible I know. I didn’t eat lunch or dinner that day, and I don’t deal well with hunger. So the whole night, all I could think about was how hungry I was, and how much I wanted some food to eat. The fact that I was hungry caused me to forget about everything around me, it consumed every single one of my thoughts. But God used that moment to teach me something, in that moment He spoke that scripture to me, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst…”, He then told me “This is what it means to be hungry for Me. Every thought of every waking moment should be to long for Me, to desire Me, to seek Me and glorify Me.” I was completely floored, I still can’t tell you who was speaking at youth that night, or what they said, but never in my life will I forget what God revealed to me that night.

This is exactly what our ministry is lacking, that passionate and desperate hunger for God. To have Him be our sole desire, and our only treasure. This is when He will be high and lifted up in our lives as the leaders, and this passion will flow out into the youth who attend and this is when the ministry will grow. When it is God who is moving and God who is advancing the ministry, and forcefully advancing His kingdom here on earth through us, His witnesses, His ambassadors, His vessels to do His will. And that’s when we’ll see this ministry explode into what God has called it to be.

And why will/should we do it? For no other reason than that we love Him. We absolutely love Him. We adore all that He is, our Savior, our Healer, our Redeemer, our Creator, our Maker, our Father, our Provider, the Holy One, the Sovereign Lord above all, the great I AM THAT I AM. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God. This is who we love with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all of our strength.

The Winter 2009-10 Student Ministries Newsletter is now available.  If you are on our mailing list, you should be receiving your copy in the mail within the next couple days/weeks.  Until then, feel free to download and print off your own copy right here from our website.

For the Winter 2009-10 Newsletter, CLICK HERE.

If you are not receiving the Student Ministry Newsletters but would like to, please contact us.

*All newsletters are in PDF format. If you do not have a PDF reader, we suggest Adobe Reader (free).

Introduction

This is a memorandum by the youth of Kenya expressing the voices of the youth of Kenya after analyzing the harmonized draft constitution, presented to the Committee of Experts for review and consideration.

The Youth Katiba Consultative Forums

The Youth of Kenya convened under the national youth convention (NYC) hosted youth consultative meetings to analyze the draft constitution and made key recommendations.

The Youth Katiba Consultative Forums took place between December 10 and 16^th 2009. Online discussions took place between November 17^th and December 16^th 2009 with over 2000 youth contributing through the online discussion forum of the NYC on google groups and facebook. This is to highlight the key issues raised, pending the memorandum that will be ready on Wednesday 16^th December 2009.

Locations of Meetings

The meetings were held in the following places

1. Naromoru – Kieni East and West
2. Machakos
3. Kariobangi North
4. Nakuru
5. Eldoret
6. Chwele
7. Busia
8. Kakamega (9 Districts in Western Participating)
9. Kisumu
10. Kisii
11. Garissa
12. Malindi
13. Mwatate
14. Mombasa
15. Marakwet East
16. Marakwet West
17. Meru
18. Kiambu
19. Marsabit
20. Pumwani
21. Makadara
22. NYC IV Online google group platform with over 1200 members participating and facebook with 970 contributing.

A total of 1050 youth participated in the physical meetings country wide.

Summary of the Recommendations from the Kenyan Youth

The following are the outstanding recommendations from the young people who attended

1.    A National Youth Council established in the Constitution under Article 40

2.    Dual Citizenship and holding of elective and constitutional offices. The Constitutional should expressly provide that any person who owes their allegiance to another country through dual citizensip shall not be allowed to hold an elective public office or be eligible for appointment to a constitutional office.

3.    Land Ownership: We demand that there should be prescribed

a.    The maximum amount of idle land that should belong to an individual to NOT more than 10 acres

b.    The maximum amount of land owned by an individual to NOT more than 100 acres

4.    Parliamentary Recall

a.    We want this right to be guaranteed in the Constitution and extended to the Senate

b.    We want it stated that this clause shall only be invoked at least 2 years after the election of an MP

c.     The conditions of recall should be as those for impeachment of a president.

d.    The Executive: We want a Presidential System of government with the following provisions:

• Transfer ALL the powers the HDC currently bestows in the PM to the President.
• Choose the entire cabinet from OUTSIDE parliament
• Retain all the checks and balances.
• Retain the election procedure but make the President a member of a Political Party
• President however, should not be a Member of Parliament.
• Make ALL cabinet members appointed from outside of parliament
• Make it a requirement that not more than 2/3 should be of the same gender
• Make it a requirement that at least a 1/3 MUST be young people
• Provide a clause for approval of Cabinet appointees by Parliament to ensure the people appointed enjoy support across the board
• Appointment of Principal Secretaries  should be a function of the Public Service
• Appointments of Ambassadors and High Commissioners should be done by the President and approved by Parliament
• Create the position of a non-executive PM and his/ her deputy who shall be the Leader of Government Business in Parliament and who shall sit in the Cabinet.
• As regards the Attorney General, it is our recommendation that the AG should be appointed by the President and approved by Parliament.  The AG should only serve for a term of five years as the president shall serve. The president can sack the AG if the AG does not promote the policy objectives and legislative program of the government of the day.

i.             170 1. (c) Elucidate on gross misconduct

When we lived in England, my Dad and a friend of his led a youth group for kids from the local high school. They called the group Off the Wall, and most of the the people who came were boys. So, on Friday nights during the school year, we opened up our home to the scary local teenage boys who smelled like musty sweat-filled locker rooms and looked like poster children for the grunge movement with their greasy hair and their black Doc Martens. I was still young enough to be wearing pink leggings paired with Disney sweatshirts featuring Tigger or Winnie-The-Pooh doing wholesome things, so my response to older teenagers who wore black from head-to-toe was to hide under the bed and cry. This response was similar to that of our Cocker Spaniel, Cassie, except that in her case, she also piddled a little. Cassie did not care for those kids, although they all innocently claimed that they were great with dogs.

There were a few things that were taboo in our household when I was little. First, I was not allowed to say “shut up” to anyone, ever. Second, I was not allowed to stick my tongue out at people. Third, I was not allowed to use the word “butt.” Lastly, I was not allowed to watch the Simpsons, because I think Bart was disrespectful to his father, or Homer was disrespectful to Marge, or someone in some episode was disrespectful to somebody. Also, sometimes characters said a bad words like “barf” or “hell” or something. I don’t really remember the reason.

Sometimes the Off the Wall kids would get loud and rowdy, and then I wouldn’t be able to sleep. When this happened, I would sit on the top step of the stairs, wrapped in a blanket, and wait for them to shut up go home.

Imagine my surprise one evening when I heard someone yell out, “Oh shut up!” I waited for my dad to say something stern that would make them consider the seriousness of what they had done, but everyone just went on being rambunctious and noisy. I wondered what else those hooligans were up to. I imagined them in our living room, nonchalantly sticking out their tongues at each other with evil grins on their faces, talking about their butts, and discussing the merits of Homer Simpson. Oh, the outrage!

Sleepiness usually overcame outrage, though, and I would eventually pad off to bed in my teddy bear pajamas. Then I would snuggle up to my innocent little elephant, Bobo, who never used words like “butt” or “hell,” unlike the naughty boys downstairs.

I love asking questions; it’s the quickest way to learn. I try to think of myself as a news reporter or a police detective when I study God’s Word. I interrogate the text and ask it tons of questions. I believe that the Bible is living and active—and I want to learn everything I can from it! In order to know the answers—I need to ask the right questions. At youth group on Sunday we asked these basic questions from the text that we studied:

Who are the main characters in this story?

What are the main characters saying or doing in this story?

Why is this message important?

How can I use this message in my life?

These are not the only questions you can ask when studying God’s Word—but it is a great place to start! You can use these questions for any passage of Scripture. Try it this week and connect with God through His Word.

tim

Friday, January 1st, 2010, 6pm-12midnight
@ Parkview Christian Church in Centralia, MO
(120 Gano Chance Dr, Centralia, MO)

While a lot of people do “New Year’s Eve” parties, we’re doing one on New Year’s DAY! Lots of fun games, food, friends, and some time to consider what God might do in your lives in 2010. Parkview Christian Church in Centralia is allowing us to use their gym for some late night fun! If you would like a ride, we will meet at the RFF Office (555 N. Route B, next to Route B Diner) at 5:30pm and return approx. 12:30am at the same location. We can also arrange to drop you off at home.

Basketball tournament, Wii Tournament, Food, Music, Board Games, Card Games, Texas Hold’EM, Friends, Noodle Ball, Gross Games, Buckeyes, Video Games.

I grew up in a Christian home with Christian parents and I have gone to church every sunday ever since I can remember. As a child, I attended sunday school, but for me, it was just something I did regularly like brushing my teeth or going to school. The church I attended back then was quite a small church with no youth group. Since it was small, there really weren’t very many kids my age if any.

I remember growing up into a young teenager of thirteen years old and not understanding why the adults would sometimes lift their hands up while singing worship songs. I thought that only adults could do that. I honestly didn’t even understand why they did that.

Then one day, my Uncle invited to me a youth group at his church. That day was definitely a divine appointment. I can still remember that day quite vividly in my mind. There were a lot more teenagers in one place other than school than I had ever seen. Back then I would I was pretty much an introvert. I was quiet and didn’t say much. I realized something was different when we started singing worship songs at youth group that evening. People were closing their eyes. Hold on–teenagers were closing their eyes. Teenagers were lifting their hands during worship songs and from what I could see, it was genuine worship. It was the first time I had ever seen it being done by teenagers. It was a foreign concept to me. I didn’t know teenagers could worship like that. But I felt something.

I was invited yet again by my Uncle to a youth rally in downtown Vancouver at Waterfront Station. I remember meeting my now very good friend Alyssa for the first time. At the time, we were both eighth graders who didn’t know what the night would consist of. After we found our seats the worship band started up and as I was reading along with the lyrics up on the big screen, it was a different experience altogether. Suddenly, the words of the song captivated my heart like they had never before whenever I would hear a worship song. I can still remember which song it was. I Could Sing of Your Love Forever. I truly can’t pick out which verse or stanza it was that captivated me. I can only say that it was the Holy Spirit pursuing my heart. Suddenly the songs came alive and I understood that yes, God’s love for me is so great that all the songs in the world weren’t enough to describe it. I remember tearing up quite a few times, but holding it in. When the time came after the speaker said the message and the worship leader was encouraging people to pray, I remember praying. It was the first time I prayed without feeling like I was being told to by my parents at the dinner table but I was praying because I wanted to. To be honest, I can’t remember every single detail of that prayer. All I remember was that it was more heartfelt. I came home that night and prayed some more, prayed differently like God was right in front of me. I felt like I was speaking to a friend and not some far away being that I didn’t know much about except that He was very powerful.

That was the beginning of a lot of growth in my teenage years. From then on, I began to regularly attend that youth group’s bible study every week. It fostered in me a relationship with God while going through high school. I became committed to God and my prayer time was getting more intimate and more longer. Eventually, God brought me into a position on the youth leadership team where my relationship with God grew even more as I prayed with and fellowshipped with mature Christians. That youth group (Jesus Freaks) was not only used by God to bring me to a place of maturity in my faith, but also brought to me the most amazing friends I have ever known. It was a great four years with them. We grew together from young naive teens to older, more mature teens who wanted to live for Christ.

Sadly, a time came when our youth group ceased to meet. That time consisted of many of our members going separate ways because their parents were moving to different churches. That was true for me and my family. My Uncle (who was the one who invited me to attend this said youth group) gained a position as a full time Pastor at a church in North Vancouver. My dad who is his brother wanted to support him and move to his church and so my family moved.

During this time, our youth group members slowly began to lose contact. We were all part of different churches now and no longer seeing each other every week. The friends that I was once close to became distant. I used to know what was going on in their lives as they would tell me, but eventually, I had no idea what was going on with them at all. The friends that once encouraged me and edified me became absent in my life.

The rest is continued in My Story – Part 2: God Changed the Direction of My Life where I speak of how a difficult situation was necessary in my Christian growth.

Join us for an all-night party to ring in the new year with style and fun! This is for all current 6-12th grade students. There will be games, food, movies, music, events, and a ton of fun! The cost is ONLY $5 (to cover the cost of food). Be sure to invite your friends!!

Below is the permission slip. Be sure to get it in to RCC by December 29, so that we can prepare enough food.

Click here for the New Years Eve Party 2009 – Permission Slip.

Also, feel free to RSVP on our facebook event page.

Ruth 1:1-5 “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.  The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.  But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.  These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”

This week we started in the book of Ruth.  We only looked at one big theme in this text: the consequences of a life without God.  Even though Elimelech was probably a “Christian” of the day it is obvious that God was not his Lord.  As we see in the text, things were going bad for God’s people in Bethlehem, God is still the one we are to place our trust in.  It is obvious from this story that Elimalech did not have his trust in God, which is odd because his name means “my God is king”.

His intent was to move his family from Bethlehem, to Moab, so that they wouldn’t die.  On the surface this seems like a good thing.  But if we look deeper we see that is not the case.  A Jew moving to Moab then, would be like a Christian moving to Saudi Arabia today…bad.  There was a lot of bad blood with the Jews and Moabites during that day, and it wasn’t a good idea.  On top of that God’s people were not supposed to associate with them because of two parts of their history.  First, they’re origin: they came out of the lineage of Lot and his daughter through incest.  Second, at one point God offered to redeem them but they would not repent and turn to Him, so they were left to their own selves and sins.

On top of all that leaving God’s people and God’s land shows a lack of faith and trust in God.  Therefore Elimelech makes a choice apart from God to go and live away from God’s people.  And both he and his whole family pay the consequences.  He and his sons die (somehow, we aren’t told how).  The very thing they sought to prevent happened.  And his wife and daughters-in-law were left with the consequences.

This is what life can be like for us today if we refuse to live with God.  We are left to reap the consequences of the seed we sow, and are left without God’s protection and guidance.  And on top of that, when we step out and do our own thing, it isn’t just us who are hurt, but often the people around us as well.  We should all take this opportunity to reflect on the guidance and protection that God provides and embrace His love and grace and forgiveness of our sins.

We’ve been attending Ellis Avenue Baptist Church. Honestly, it’s the weirdest church I’ve ever been to. The congregation of about 40 meets in a century-old house on the diagonal opposite corner of the block from Barack Obama’s house.

It’s popularly accepted that Sunday morning at 10 is the most segregated hour of the week. However, Ellis Ave is one of the most diverse communities I’ve ever visited. About half of the congregation is under the age of 18. Many of the youths’ parents don’t attend the church, meaning the youth wake up early on Sunday and go to church because they wish to do so.

Racially, the congregation varies greatly. If I were to estimate, I would say that 50% of the congregation is black, 40% is white, and 10% is other (including Latina woman, and a Korean couple who barely speaks English). Additionally, there are several interracial couples.

The socioeconomic diversity is just as great. The former president of one of the biggest banks in Chicago regularly attends, as do a number of people who live in projects in nearby neighborhoods. People on food stamps worship next to people who vacation in Europe.

Educationally, we have people with Ph.D.’s steeped in academia and children who struggle to read (undoubtedly due in part to the failing public schools in their neighborhoods).

Theologically, the spectrum includes left and right views. One of the youth told the pastor she believed in God but didn’t believe in the Bible. One of the pastors uses gender-neutral language to talk about God. The other pastor is a woman. Some believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. Some believe Jesus is the only way to heaven.

I find the diversity of Ellis Ave refreshing. I get the chance to learn from those whose experiences have been vastly different than my own. Furthermore, having so much diversity challenges me to think critically about what I say and how I say it. It keeps me from making offensive generalizations and stereotypes. It prevents me from verbally attacking those whose views I disagree with. (I’m less likely to talk bad about someone if they’re sitting next to me).

Yes, the news came out in October, same month Wolfmother called it quits last year.. Rocktober in Oz…. tough month!

From YG:

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Youth Group are going to have a break from being Youth Group.
We are drawing a line through 2010, and plan to reconvene in 2011.

The band has been our lives for the last five years. Pretty much from the release of Skeleton Jar, through the recording/release of Casino Twilight Dogs and The Night Is Ours, to the accompanying tours it has been our furious, intense and fulfilling job.

We poured everything we had into The Night Is Ours. Maybe it wasn’t exhausting, but it was exhaustive and we are just not ready to venture into that again in a hurry. We’re a band that has always valued the process of making a record as much as the end product. We need some time before the next one.

And well, we are just looking forward to having a good slice of time to do other, non Youth Group things with our lives.

We would like to thank all those that have been to a show, bought a record, bought us a drink, shared their couches, floors and lives with us. Until the next chapter…

…an epilogue: those in New York have one more chance to see us play before the break. We are playing at Littlefields, Park Slope, on Sunday 25th October. Goodbye Brooklyn. Someone will cry.

Toby, Danny, Cam and Pat

We were able to not only catch them at MFNW this past September but Indy partied with them at the INCREDIBLE  Black Francis gig that weekend – it made a huge impression on the YG and Indy… as well they all went out to celebrate after the show at Portland’s infamous ‘Voodoo Donut’ shop (see photo)

We were all so impressed with Frank Black’s gig we were walking on a cloud afterwards.. or was it all the sugar in the Voodoos!!

Here’s some artwork and comment about the show from YG, click on their artwork below

Frank Black (Pixes) aka "Black Francis" @ Dantes Portland Oregon MFNW

We will miss them dearly and their music. Thanks for all the love guys and for covering “Forever Young” – the best cover ever!!!

YG @ Voodoo Donut Portland Oregon

and so that is how we rolled, first we were taken down the rabbit hole by the incredible set of Black Francis, totally out of body experience, and then, filled with all that Voodoo goodness, and, as the saying goes, The Magic is In the Hole… “

Cheers to Cam, Phoebe and the YG!!!!!

more photos courtesy of YATM here

Join us for a dinner party that moves from location to location throughout the evening. This year we will be meeting at the Chorlian’s house at 7pm and stopping at selected homes along the way for food and caroling. The night will also include a grab-bag gift exchange.

For more info., contact Evan Brownell.