New Light

Last Friday (1/18/08) we got to attend a wonderful worship night, followed by a lock-in at New Light. Bill, the youth pastor, called it Undeniable, based on Romans 1. He referenced a few other passages, too, but focused mostly on this chapter from Romans. The theme is that God's presence, His work, His knowledge, etc., etc., is undeniable. Knowledge began with God. So if you want to attain knowledge and be wise, you should know God.

I'm working on getting notes from Pastor Bill. But for now, check out their youth group blog. It was also cool being in worship with around 60 youth. That's definitely something we do not get to experience very much, and it's cool hearing a big room of voices like that worshipping God. We will definitely have more experiences like this. So stay tuned.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Tonight, we saw the second National Treasure movie with Nicolas Cage. It was a very good sequel. It did not disappoint- yea know, like Pirates 2, Ocean's 12, etc., hehe. I recommend watching it for everyone. There was a strong theme throughout the movie of fighting/doing whatever it takes for your country and for your family. That may come up in a bible study later on...

water park

Last Friday (12/14/07) we had a great fellowship event swimming at the Coco Key Water Resort, which is part of the Sheraton Hotel in Arlington Heights. This was a joint fellowship activity with the Meadows youth group, whom we share the same church building with. More events like these need to happen. It can get pretty monotonous with the same people in the same place all the time. I encourage you to read our fellowship/community blog to see why this is an important thing. Much thanks to DB for setting this up.

Fellowship/ Community

What a big topic for me personally! I try to get involved with a variety of communities whenever I can. At this church building, we are blessed to have three church communities. We rent space from Meadows Baptist Church, an English-speaking church. There is also a Spanish-speaking church that rents space. In addition to that, there is Meadows Community Services and Awana. My prayer is for there to be more opportunities for these different communities to spend more time together.

We looked at the way community worked in Acts 4:32-35. Then I brought up more points on community with games and a familiar movie clip. There are two major points I brought up from the passage in Acts. One is that the community was devoted to testifying of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's probably the most important thing of any Christian community. The rest of the passage combines into one big important aspect of community. They shared everything. Possessions and money were distributed to those who needed it. They spent time together each day so they knew each other.

The first game we played, Who's Your Neighbor, illustrates that last point in a playful way. The idea, of course, is knowing each other. I think any serious community needs to get together outside of their normal meeting place to get stronger. The second game we played is Whatever It Takes. Great game to illustrate a negative aspect of a community or group of people. Sometimes we alienate outsiders without even realizing it. In fact, that's just what was written about in a youth ministry ezine I read. Check out the article here.

Finally, we saw a familiar clip from Coach Carter. It is a PG-13 movie with language and other adult situations, but this scene has a good point in it. Timo Cruz attacked Coach Carter during his first meeting with the team. When we wants to get back on the team, Carter assigns 1000 suicides and 2500 pushups to be completed in a week's time. At the end of the week when he can't complete it, the other players step in to finish the assignment before Friday's practice is over. "You said we're a team...right. If one player struggles, we all struggle. If one player triumphs, we all triumph." I think that quote from Lyle (one of the teammates) says it all.

Vikings vs Saxons

No, I'm not talking about a period film. Last Friday we went to the highly anticipated Fremd vs. Schaumburg high school football game. It was quite a game, with Fremd coming out on top. Also worthy to note were the incredible amount of pink t-shirts worn to bring awareness and support those with breast cancer, as well as honor a mother who just passed away from breast cancer. All four of her sons played on the Fremd high school football team.