Hockey Change of Date

Those old folks decided they needed more time to prepare for us! :p The hockey game has been moved to Jan 10 instead. Please email me if you are interested and I will see you all next week!

2010: The Year of Youthful Domination at WBC?

When’s the last time you skated?  It’s been at least 13 years for myself and I imagine that the little skill I had has long since left me.  However, it may be time to prove that theory.  The young adults at church have challenged the youth to a hockey game after church on January 3rd!  Are you in or are you out?  This is no time to back down from such a challenge; rather, we should rise up as a united front of youth at our (ok, your) physical peak!  Sounds like it will be a sponge puck so the old folks don’t have to worry about their dentures! :p

So, make sure to bring your skates and a stick on Jan 3rd!!!!  And, does anybody have an extra pair of skates, size 9? 

Merry Christmas!

Clark Griswold & the Birth of our Saviour!

 

We will celebrate Christmas this Friday at youth group with a pizza party (free), gift exchange ($5 or under = dollorama!), and the watching of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (AWESOME!!!).  Bring a friend, but don’t forget to email me by Wednesday to let me know if you (and friends) are coming so I can get enough supplies and food!!!  Also, we decided at the last youth group that we should wear our “best” Christmas sweaters to the party; hopefully you have one in the back of your closet and if you don’t just ask your dad or mom for any kind of funky sweater (parents usually have at least ONE).  I think this will be a pretty sweet time if I do say so myself! 

DON’T FORGET THE TIME CHANGE FOR THIS WEEK, TOO!  6:30 – 9:30 PM!!

Later :D

Back in Action

Hey my peeps!  I’m back from Vancouver (where it was +5 and sunny all weekend) and ready for this week @ youth!  We will continue with our Bible study this Friday; this will be the last time we use this curriculum – I’m going back to my own for the new year.  This week is a regular Friday night youth.

Next week (Dec 18) we will meet on Friday from 6:30-9:30 PM at the church.  We will have pizza, play some games, and trade some presents!  Pizza will be FREE!!!!!  BUT, I need to know how many will be coming, so please let me know by Dec 16, ok?!?!?! The presents should be cheap, I’m thinking $5.00 and under, what do you think?  Invite some friends if you like, this is another one of those “easier than normal” youth groups to invite your friends to!

Word up

No Youth This Week

Hi all,
just a reminder that I am in Vancouver this week so there is no youth group. Next week will be at the church, same time as usual, and Dec 18th will be at the church also - I am wondering about a 6:30 - 9:30 time for the 18th as we will have a pizza party that night. Thoughts?

Also, be sure to keep our friend Emily and all her family in your prayers as they grieve the loss of Emily's grandfather, Les.

Peace,
Cliffy

I Mosh for Jesus

Hey peeps, been having internet troubles this week, hence the late post. We are going to Church of the Way this Friday for a concert. Meet at Willowlake at 6:30 PM - We should be back to Willowlake around 9:30 PM. I'll try and give you all a call tonight to see how many people are coming - if we don't have enough room for everybody we will meet at Church of the Way instead.

Later skater

This Week

It's once again time to serve others! We will be back to Siloam Mission this Saturday, from 8 AM to 11 AM! Parents, consider coming and sharing in this experience with the youth! Meet and pick-up at Siloam.

Later

Music!

So, after much talk the past couple years, it's time to get in the groove! Willowlake is full of musically gifted people, and this includes the teens. At last night's youth group we discussed the possibility (again) of starting a youth worship band, and are attempting to move forward with this idea.

The first step is trying to figure out a regular time to practice, which would need to be between Sundays and Wednesdays as the Worship team practices Thursday nights and we don't want to mess around with their soundboard settings. The idea is to practice on a regular basis so that once we are used to playing with each other we may be able to play on a (somewhat) regular basis in church. For myself, every second Sunday after church for an hour and a half would work well, and I am wondering what would work for those interested and their parents? Please let me know ASAP so that we can begin to organize and practice!

Who's interested?!?! Once we get organized and in a groove this will be something that the teens will be in charge of and I will be an "advisor" shall we say :)

See you all Sunday!

A Blue Day Indeed :(

First off, thanks for all the emails of sympathy . . . it has been over 24 hours and I am now able to get out of bed and face the day once again. I have no doubts that the Bombers will win the Grey Cup next year! :p

Make sure to check out the calendar as next week and the week after we will be away from the church. Next week is at Siloam Mission, and the time is moved to 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM; the week after we will be going to Church of the Way for a concert (no cost), and leave Willowlake at 6:30 PM and pick up at 9:30.

This week we will be at the church for our regular Friday evening. See ya then!

Cliff

Take Your Kid to Work Day!

Daniel Pooley can't go to work with his mom today because of all the H1N1 paranoia, so he came over to my place to see what I do all day . . . I had to think fast and make it look like something went down here! We took some video footage from last week's youth group & pre-teen event and have compiled it into a masterpiece you can viewby clicking here! Get the popcorn on!

We will be meeting at Willowlake this week from 7-10 PM. See ya then!

Rwanda Lunch!

Thanks to all the teens and parents that helped out in one way or another for Emily's fundraiser lunch today; I know she is truly grateful! The lunch raised $426.52 for her trip to Ubuntu in March of 2010 and you all played a part in the success! Be sure to keep the trip in your prayers over the coming months; for funds to be raised, safety of Emily and the group, and that even though this isn't a "Christian missions" trip, that Emily would be able to show the love of God to both her friends on the trip and the people they work with in Rwanda.
Peace,
Cliffy

ROCK THE HOUSE!!!!!

Hey all,
I was just extended an invitation to a pretty sweet event on Saturday night!!!! Cornerstone ALLIANCE (not our Baptist friends) will be hosting an event called "Rock the House" on Saturday night from 8:30 - Midnight. they will have a speaker, lots of fun, and 3 rockin bands! Cornerstone Alliance is just a little north of us, on the other side of Fermor. This would be in addition to our Friday night event, so just let me know if you're coming!!!!! This would be a great thing to do on a Saturday night and a chance to meet some new peeps from youth groups in the area! I am really excited about this event and hope you can come! Let me know ASAP if you're interested (parents would have to drop off and pick up at the Alliance church).


View Larger Map

Upcoming Youth & Lunch Fundraiser!!!!

Don't forget that this coming Sunday we will be holding a pancake lunch to raise funds for Emily Diehl's trip to Rwanda in March of 2010. Teens are asked to bring a dessert item on Sunday. We will also be setting up for the lunch on Friday at youth.

Youth takes place from 7-10PM this Friday at the church, and we'll be joining the pre-teens for about an hour for some AMAZING games!

Please remember to bring your desserts on Sunday!
Thanks

Time Change for This Week

As per the email sent out the other day, we will only be having youth from 7-9 PM this week! We will do a shortened Bible study, and spend about an hour just hanging out and playing that amazing game that Micheal Berryman invented the other week!

See you tomorrow!

MB Youth Retreat

***POST-EVENT UPDATE***

Well we all survived the weekend and I think even took a few lessons away from it too! Our speaker, Lynn Cole, blessed us not only with her testimony but also some very Biblical truths into her message. Claire McLean, the CBWC Youth Director, made it out from Vancouver to get to know our teens (and leaders). I've put up a few pictures just to prove we went and that I didn't take them to Vegas for the weekend or something ;)

Alrighty, we are only a few days away from the MB Youth Retreat! Be at the church Friday night by 5:45 PM at the latest. We are leaving at 6:00 PM sharp! We will be back on Sunday hopefully around 1 PM but will call each parent as we are about to leave the camp.

Be sure to pack warm clothes!!! Also bring:

BIBLE

Sleeping Bag
Pillow
Toothbrush & Junk
Maybe a few bucks for vending machine

This Week

Hey, just a reminder that Youth is at Willowlake this week, Friday 7-10. We will be starting a new Bible study and this ain't no normal Bible study! Bring your friends back too! See you Friday night.

Talking to Myself!

Youth is at Willowlake this week, 7-10 PM.

I NEED YOUR REGISTRATION FORMS FOR THE RETREAT HANDED IN THEN!!!!!! Get it? Got it? GOOD! :) If you haven't emailed me yet, but you want to come, contact me ASAP; my vehicle is full but we can try and figure something else out too!

Word.

WATCH ME! I'M AN INTERNET SENSATION!

Let's Try This Again!

o.k., the following is a cut&paste of last week's blog. It's important that parent's & teens read it and respond to it . . . otherwise I will rule the youth group like an Orwellian authoritarian leader, muahahahahaha!!!! :p But, seriously, please read this and use the comment section below to respond!

This past Friday the youth in attendance discussed what the meaning of our Youth Group is, and what we would like to focus on throughout this year. Of course, things like having fun and playing games were mentioned, and this is something we will continue to do. The other three most mentioned aspects were:
1. Taking [even] more of a focus on service opportunities to show Christ's love to others around us.

2. Study the Bible more in-depth; this could possibly mean lengthening Bible Study/Devotional times up to half an hour or even an hour.

3. Not only becoming more mature Disciples of Christ ourselves, but also looking at ways we can help our friends become Disciples of Christ . . . Evangelism!

For those of you who were not in attendance (and even those who were), what are your thoughts? Parents, this includes you too! What do you think the focus of Youth Group should be and what does this look like? Should we cut Youth Group back to a two hour event each week and add a bi-weekly Bible Study on Wednesday (or any other appropriate) nights? Maybe we can do online Bible studies by using the comment section on this blog!?!? What are some service activities that we can do, and should these be in the wider community of Winnipeg, such as Wpg Harvest & Siloam, or in the more immediate community of Southdale?

We also discussed the possibility of giving a name to our group rather than just "Youth Group." Something that expresses what we are about as a group and would look cool on a t-shirt :p Some of the names tossed around were, "Soulfire", "20Verse9" [from Jer. 20:9], "F2L" [a Fish & Two Loaves, hahaha!], and, well I forget the others [they're on the other computer right now, I'll get them later]. Anybody else have some ideas?

Use the comment link below to share your thoughts with myself and the others! Be sure to use your name so we know who we're talking to!

Gonna be amazin'!!!!

We are heading to Amazein Corn this Friday! Be at the church by 6:30; pickup will be at 10:00 PM. COST IS $5.00 for regular youth; free for friends!!!!! Make sure to bring a friend along! And also, I'm still waiting for those emails to confirm that you're coming. Let me know tonight so we can get a rough idea of how many vehicles we'll need. If a friend decides to come in the next day or two.

Also, don't forget I need your registration forms for the MB Youth Retreat this Friday. I'm gone to Vancouver next week, so if the forms aren't handed in to me this Friday we'll have a tough time getting you registered. Remember, you don't have to pay ANYTHING to go on this retreat!

Later

This Week & Last Week

Youth Group is on Saturday this week (Sep 19th) at Siloam Mission. Meet there for 8:00 AM; you all know the drill by now! We'll be helping with the prep for lunch and distributing breakfast along with the youth from Cornerstone! Pickup is at Siloam at 11:00 AM.

This past Friday the youth in attendance discussed what the meaning of our Youth Group is, and what we would like to focus on throughout this year. Of course, things like having fun and playing games were mentioned, and this is something we will continue to do. The other three most mentioned aspects were:

1. Taking [even] more of a focus on service opportunities to show Christ's love to others around us.
2. Study the Bible more in-depth; this could possibly mean lengthening Bible Study/Devotional times up to half an hour or even an hour.
3. Not only becoming more mature Disciples of Christ ourselves, but also looking at ways we can help our friends become Disciples of Christ . . . Evangelism!

For those of you who were not in attendance (and even those who were), what are your thoughts? Parents, this includes you too! What do you think the focus of Youth Group should be and what does this look like? Should we cut Youth Group back to a two hour event each week and add a bi-weekly Bible Study on Wednesday (or any other appropriate) nights? Maybe we can do online Bible studies by using the comment section on this blog!?!? What are some service activities that we can do, and should these be in the wider community of Winnipeg, such as Wpg Harvest & Siloam, or in the more immediate community of Southdale?

We also discussed the possibility of giving a name to our group rather than just "Youth Group." Something that expresses what we are about as a group and would look cool on a t-shirt :p Some of the names tossed around were, "Soulfire", "20Verse9" [from Jer. 20:9], "F2L" [a Fish & Two Loaves, hahaha!], and, well I forget the others [they're on the other computer right now, I'll get them later]. Anybody else have some ideas?

Use the comment link below to share your thoughts with myself and the others! Be sure to use your name so we know who we're talking to!

Cheese!

Cliffy

Gimme Your Lunch Money!

Well it's back to school for you and me! Are you as excited as I am? No? OK, well, let's ease the pain of the back to school blues with some good times and good food this Friday! First youth group of the year at Willowlake from 7-10 PM this Friday (Sep 11). Bring $2.00 for the pizza, and bring a friend or two also! We won't make first timers pay though :D

Notice that next week youth is Saturday morning at Siloam Mission from 8-11 AM. We'll be serving breakfast again to those in need of shelter and/or food.

Also, the Manitoba Youth Retreat is once again being held at Winkler Bible Camp! The dates are October 16-18. I'll be giving you registration forms ASAP. Because Serve '09 didn't work out for us this year we'll be using the money you worked hard to raise for your registration cost!

Talk to you soon!
Michael, aka Mike, aka Cliff, aka Cliffy, aka That Guy

Youth is Almost Upon Us!!!

First Youth Group of the Year: September 11th

We will meet for our first youth group on Friday September 11th from 7—10 PM @ Willowlake. Pizza is on the menu, so bring $2 to help offset the cost a bit! Food is always a good way to help kick things off and it’s a good way to convince your friends to come to something! Think about inviting a friend, and don’t worry about first timers having to pay; well take care of them!
We’ll also have a few volunteers helping out this year and some of them will be on hand to help us kick off the year in fun!

Spotlight

The Youth Blog & Calendar is updated and will be our main source of communication again this year! Make it your home page and pay close attention to the calendar and new posts. Once you get used to it you’ll wonder how we ever functioned without it!


What is the point of Willowlake Youth Group?

Seriously. What is the point of youth? This is something I would like us to think about over the next week and a half. Talk about it with your family. Do we want to be equipped to evangelize to friends and strangers? Do we want to take a more missional approach, helping others in need more often? Do we want to dig deeper in issues like “being in the world, but not of it”?
Direction is key to running any group successfully, so it’s time we pull out our compass and try and figure out where we are going! We’ll discuss our thoughts over the first night of youth and likely continue the discussion for a while. Your opinion matters!

Youth Blog & Calendar

Like the “Spotlight” above states, the BLOG will be your main source of info for all things youth group this year! Please get into the habit of checking it often; I want to see that stats counter moving up and up! The calendar at the top of the blog gives you months in advance notice of what will be happening with the group. Things like October’s Youth Retreat at Winkler Bible Camp are already on the calendar. Explore the different viewing options available on the calendar by clicking the different tabs (“week”, “month”, “agenda”) and see which works best for you. You can click on events to get a pop-up that gives more info on the event.

Hola from Mexico!

Hey everybody! I'm sitting on the balcony of our condo, watching the sunset over the ocean; pretty sweet view, eh!? AND I've made it almost two whole weeks without getting in trouble with my new wife :p

I hope you all are having a good start to the summer.

I just wanted to write a quick post as the date for Serve '09 is quickly approaching and I had talked about trying to make alternate arrangements with Siloam Mission for a service project of our own with them in August. As of yet, I have still not heard back from Siloam and I wrote them three weeks ago now (I also have not heard back from most of you concerning your vacation schedules). So as of right now, I am not sure if a project with Siloam is at all possible.

This got me to thinking a little bit. This past Sunday, Katie and I attended a church service at a neighbouring resort. This small church runs a mission at the Puerto Vallarta city garbage dump. Yes, at the garbage dump. You see, some families live at the dump; they make homes out of scraps found in the dump and try to eek out a living by collecting recyclables and scrap metal to sell. The people live, eat, and breathe in the city garbage dump every day of their lives! This picture to the right is a picture of some of their homes. The brown bed mattress with vertical stripes in the middle of the picture is actually the doorway to a family's home.

So Katie and I decided to go with the group and help distribute breakfast to the children that live there and play some games with them for a few hours on Tuesday morning. The kids came running out at each of the three usual stops, some with shopping bags so they can carry food back for their younger siblings, and all with smiles on their faces, though they were a little bit shy. It was so hot there (and a little bit stinky) that I found it hard trying to imagine what it would be like to live in such conditions.

The program is actually run by Canadians who now live in Puerto Vallarta full time; some of them used to go to my sister-in-law's church in Winnipeg so we had heard about this program a few months ago and had actually decided then that we would spend one day of our honeymoon working with this group. It wasn't much really; we took four hours out of our two weeks down here to "help" in a very tiny way. But I thought there was a great lesson here for all of us . . . We don't need to fund-raise and plan a year ahead to help others.



Wherever we are, there are always opportunities to serve others - and in doing so, serving Christ at the same time - it doesn't have to be with other youth groups, or even organisations like this one in Mexico. The opportunity is always there and, as young disciples of Christ, it is up to us to take advantage of those opportunities. One more quick example: on our first full day in Mexico we decided to walk a half hour down the beach to a small town just to look at the little shops and have lunch at one of the great restaurants on the beach. MMMM, fish tacos! Walking the beach you are constantly bombarded by people selling all sorts of things; there are especially a large number of families and young children selling necklaces and different crafts. The children are likely used as a "pity factor". If I had the money I definitely would buy from every young boy and girl on the beach; unfortunately, I'm so broke I can't even pay attention :p Anyways, Katie and I had our great lunch, but there was so much that we were unable to finish it. We waved two of the little girls selling necklaces on the beach over and shared the remainder of our lunch with them. There was a slight language barrier to say the least, but with my weak Spanish, and a few gestures we were able to discover each other's names, their ages, and that . . . they have Jesus in their hearts. God provides opportunities for us to share our resources and to share His love with others every second of every day!

This isn't a post to say "look at Michael, he's such a good Christian." It's a simple, humble post, using my life as a small example of what we are all capable of doing, whether you are at Serve '09 in Swift Current, on your honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on summer vacation in Winnipeg, MB, or wherever else you are and what you're doing right now! It's great to participate in things like Serve with other youth groups (and we will next summer in Flin Flon, MB!) but God is always calling us to serve others. Please think about this and discuss it as a family! What are ways you can serve others and God right in your neighbourhood, church, school, band camp, etc.?

Can't wait to see everybody again in a few weeks! Hope your summer is going well!
Love and Blessings,
Michael

p.s. I have lots more to say! lol, but for now, just check out the rest of the pics below :)

That's all Folks!

This weekend will be our final youth group of the school year! We are heading to Siloam Mission one last time before the fall on Saturday morning from 8:00 am - 11:00 am. Please get dropped off and picked up at Siloam.

**********

Also, very important: I have not received the final funds from a number of teens for the Serve trip and have only been contacted by one concerning making alternate arrangements. I have received yet another extension, but I MUST have those funds in my posession this Sunday at church . . . please. :p

I will have some forms for the youth to sign and a small booklet for the teens to go over concerning the Serve trip. This Sunday is also my last Sunday in church until the last weekend of July.

See you Saturday
Cliffy ;)

They Gots They're Edgeahkayshun!!!!

Woohoo, David and Kourtney will be graduating withing the next 2 weeks!!! This weeks youth group will be in honour of their perseverance and hard work through the many years of school and their faith in God that has guided them on their journey. We will celebrate with an Italian dinner, games, music, and more. This event will also be our "year end" celebration before summer break. Because this is a special night let's dress up real fancy like and see what a good lookin' bunch we really are ;)

The evening is at Willowlake, Friday, 7 - 10 PM. After this week, there is only 1 youth event left, which takes place on Saturday June 20 at Siloam Mission. Dropoff at Siloam at 8:00 am and pickup at 11:00 am.
Blessings

This Week

This week will be a solo evening for Willowlake Youth as both our group and Cornerstone have to finish up preperations for Serve '09. Look for a letter in your mailbox on Sunday concerning funds for Serve.

We will start off Friday night with some worship, then a Bible study concerning Christian service, and end with an hour of game/bonding time. Trying out a new game this week; have heard great things about it! If you're coming to Serve you should really plan on attending this week if at all possible.

Peace

Doh!

Apparently my Blackberry isn't set up properly for posting on the blog, hence the blog that I wrote on it Monday is not here. At any rate, the calendar is there for all to see, and I only have two confirmations so far! I think that the best thing to do if you haven't emailed already is to meet us at Winnipeg Harvest at 7:15 PM; it is located at 1085 Winnipeg Ave just behind the McDonalds on Notre Dame (see map here). You can pick up around 9:30 (we will likely have a snack and devotional at McDonalds before leaving).

Let's Go Go

This week we are going to Grand Prix Amusements with Cornerstone and Willowlake's pre-teen group. The idea of the night is to get the teens mixing with some of the younger kids who will be coming up into youth group in the next couple years, so we will start the evening with a quick game of mini-golf and then we are free to do whatever we please.

PLEASE EMAIL TO LET ME KNOW IF YOU'RE COMING OR NOT BY WEDNESDAY EARLY EVENING SO I CAN ARRANGE VEHICLES (IF YOU EMAIL EARLIER THAT'S EVEN BETTER)!!!

We'll leave Willowlake at 7:00 PM sharp! Pick up is at 10:00 PM. Cost is $6.00 each; bring extra for snacks if you like

see you all then!

Gearing Up!

Just getting ready for the big sleep-over tonight!

Please note on the calendar that next week there is no youth group due to the Victoria Day long weekend.

The week after, we will be going to Grand Prix to do some go-karting with Cornerstone and the pre-teen group!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, email me by Wed. May 20th if you are coming so that we can find rides for everyone PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!! Parents, perhaps you can start thinking now if you would be able to come along for that evening. We will likely need one extra vehicle, and I will gladly buy you some tickets for the rides too!

See you all in a few hours!

Tomorrow Night!

Just a reminder to bring a sleeping bag & pillow tomorrow night, and that we will eat supper together shortly after arriving, and have breakfast in the morning. Drop off Willowlake Friday at 7:00 PM & pick up Sat morning at 10:00.

Also, a suggestion would be to make the blog as one of your homepages and take a quick peek at the calendar each time you come online!

See you tomorrow night!
M

In Search of Justice

What is justice? What is social justice? Better yet, what is injustice?

The youth group will be taking a look at social justice this weekend and what we can do to right the wrongs around us. This will be an interactive event; we may experience injustices of our own (nothing too serious though)!

This is an overnight event at Willowlake with Cornerstone joining us. It starts at 7:00 PM Friday night, and pickup is Saturday morning at 10. Please bring a sleeping bag and pillow. Also, please DO NOT eat supper before you come on Friday as we will share a meal together. Let me know by Wednesday if you are coming (just so I can figure out how much food to get).

Blessings

Fore!

Well, I'm sitting here on day 7 of this flu/bronchitis thing I have; hopefully it's not that Mexican Swine Flu! :p Thanks for your emails and prayers, they certainly make me feel special.

Assuming I'm not on my deathbed, we will go mini-golfing this Friday night with Cornerstone. Cost is $3.00 [please bring change as I won't have any to break $5 bills and such] for each youth. You may want to bring extra money as they have some arcade games and snacks there.

Be at Willowlake to leave there by 7:00 PM. Pick up will be at the church at 10:00 PM!
Please be sure to email me by Wednesday morning if you are planning to come so I can arrange transportation. We don't want to have to leave anyone behind because they forgot to email!

Later skaters

Youth Cancelled

My sincere apologies, but there is no way I can do an overnighter feeling like I do. We will move the overnight event to May 8th.

HEADS UP

My apologies, but I MAY have to cancel youth tonight...

I have been very sick all week, and am feeling somewhat worse at the moment. My plan is to eat some soup and go back to sleep and then decide early this afternoon what to do (around 1:00 PM likely).

SO, if youth is cancelled tonight, I will phone this afternoon. If you don't here from me then it is still on. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hope you all are doing well,
Mike

Social Justice Weekend

A quick edit for the post below:
I forgot to mention that pick up will be Saturday morning at 10:00, from Willowlake. If you could email me and let me know if you're coming or not that would help as we have to get some supplies. Hope to see you all there!

I'm All Edumacated & Stuff!

Woohoo! Grad was yesterday; this means I am now the proud owner of a $20,000 piece of paper!!! This also means I can start focussing more on Youth Group again (oh, what's that Katie? Oh right, wedding plans too!). I will be a little busier than I would like still the next 8 days, but hopefully I can get the calendar updated tomorrow for the months of May and June.

For now, remember that this weekend is an overnighter at Willowlake! We will have activities focussed on social justice.

Well, back to packing up three years' worth of junk for me!
Peace all

This & Next

This week we have a special treat; Terry Whiting will be joining us and leading us in a special discussion. It looks pretty interesting, but that's all I'm saying ;) Normal time, Friday 7 - 10 @ Willowlake.

Next week, we will be doing an over-nighter. I just realized the calendar says it is the 30 hour famine, but it is not. There will be food (somewhat). We'll have more of a social justice aspect to it. Cornerstone will be joining us, and possibly Broadway First Baptist's youth group. You'll need to bring a sleeping bag, pillow, etc.

I pray you are all doing well. I'm only 2 exams away from graduating; thanks for all your prayers!!!!

Serve '09 Registration Forms

Please do not forget to bring in your Serve '09 registration forms this Sunday! If you will not be in church on Sunday, please scan and email to me ASAP (before Sunday PM at the latest)!

Also, Willyn is getting Baptised this Sunday! If you ever have questions about Baptism, be sure to ask your parents, Pastor Mark, or myself.

I pray that you all concentrate and meditate on the real reason for this "long weekend" and are grateful.

Christ is risen!

Reminders to Remember

#1 - There will not be youth group this week due to Good Friday and exam preperation for myself.

#2 - REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR SERVE '09 PERMISSION FORMS (WITH YOUR HEALTH INFO) TO ME BY THIS SUNDAY!!!! THE REGISTRATION HAS TO GO OUT NEXT WEEK!

Food for Thought

How do I continue to come up with these clever titles!? :p

So Friday night is our Progressive Supper; please ensure that you are at the church, ready to leave by 7:00 PM! Also, please email me today or tomorrow to let me know if you are coming (I have to make sure we have enough vehicles). I know that Gordon, Angus, and Willyn will NOT be attending. Can the rest of you please email ASAP and let me know what your status is!

CHILI COOK-OFF!!!
WE STILL NEED MOST OF THE ITEMS LISTED IN THE PREVIOUS BLOG. RIGHT NOW, THIS IS WHAT WE NEED:
7 DOZEN BUNS
3 LARGE SALADS
DESSERTS

Please email me today or tomorrow and let me know what you will bring; if not, I will phone and ask you to bring something (I don't have much time the next 2.5 weeks to be phoning though, sorry!). YOUTH, please be sure that you are ready to help out on Sunday with quick setup and then cleaning up afterwards.

Blessings

Makin Music

Hey hey everybody! So this Friday night will be our first youth group worship night! Make sure to bring your instruments and singing voices. Katie will be coming to lead us and we'll work on some familiar worship songs for now, before starting to write our own or put our own spin on ones in the next few months. If you could let me know if you are coming or not that would be cool!

April 3rd is the progressive supper. Please let me know by MARCH 30TH if you will be coming so I can make sure we have enough vehicles.

Also, April 5th will be our Chili Cookoff after church to raise some more funds for Serve '09. We will need the following:
7 dozen buns
5 large salads
Lots of dessert!
Please email me by March 30th and let me know what you can bring! Thanks so much. Also, if you want to enter your chili into the contest let me know!

I pray you are all doing well; please don't hesitate to contact me if you ever have specific prayer requests. If you all could pray for me as I enter these last few weeks of school I would really appreciate it!

Peace

Technological Destruction!!!

Sorry for the lack of action here this past week; my computer hard drive crashed last Saturday :( This is the first chance I've had to get to a computer, and to be quite honest, I have been going crazy!

Anyways, there's not too much to report on this week. We had a small turnout last night, and I have to say it was one of the best study times in a while (not to mention my amazing hockey skills on display)! Next week's youth group is moved to Saturday morning as we go to Siloam Mission to serve breakfast. BE SURE TO DROP OFF AND PICK UP AT SILOAM!!! Be there for 8:00 AM, and pick up is at 11:00 AM.

We'll look at doing our first youth worship band on March 27, so if you can let me know if you can be there or not that would be cool!

Be sure to keep Emily and her classmates in your prayers as the leave for Montreal on Friday I believe! I'm sure it will be a great trip; let's just pray that their bus ride is a safe one in this crazy Canadian spring weather!

Hope you all are doing good!

Serve '09 Deposit Needed This Week!

If you are planning on attending Serve '09 this summer please bring your $50 deposit with you on Friday!!! The deposit is non-refundable, so be sure you are coming!

This week cornerstone will be joining us for a video, and discussion afterwards. Come with an open heart, I'm suspecting God has a special message for each of us (including us leaders) this week!

That's all for now,
Peace

From Facebook to the Goodbook

Some of you often contact me on facebook, so this is just to let you know that I will be off of facebook for the next 40 days for Lent! Facebook is one of my addictions; often instead of reading the Bible I'll be on facebook; instead of doing schoolwork I'm on facebook (even during class!); instead of doing my dishes I'll sit and creep around on facebook. I'm hoping and praying that these next 40 days will allow me to draw closer to God in times when I would be on facebook instead (plus, maybe my apartment will get a little more clean!). There's a couple other things I'm giving up too, but this is the only one you need to know about ;) Email me if you need to get a hold of me!

Don't forget about the parents' meeting this Friday night also! See you all then.

Weeee (or Wii) & Parents Meeting!!!

I'm looking forward to dominating the Mario Kart tournament this Friday (or losing miserably and being shown once again just how old I am truly getting)! There will be prizes & I think this week I'll ask you each to bring something for a snack and I'll provide the drinks!

Parents, please do not forget that there is a meeting from 9:30 - 10:00 PM. If your teen(s) is/are coming to Serve '09 I ask that one parent/caregiver attends this short preliminary meeting.

God bless you all!

Prayer Item

News reports are coming in reporting that David Northcott, executive director of Winnipeg Harvest, is recovering at home from complications with a heart condition. Obviously Mr. Northcott has a very stressful job, but it is one that helps out thousands of people across the province each day. Let's join together in praying for Mr. Northcott over this week. Also, if you sign up for the free email recipe at http://www.peakmarket.com/ Peak of the Market will donate 50lbs to Winnipeg Harvest!

Remember, Christ promises that "where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Please don't hesitate to email Mike if you ever have a prayer request for yourself or friends. That's what he's here for!

Oatmeal!!!

My brain is like a bowl of oatmeal lately; bland and mushy. So I forgot we have a congregational meeting at church on Sunday, March 1, which means that won't be a good time to have a parents meeting. So, hopefully for the last time, we will change the date.

PARENTS MEETING @ WILLOWLAKE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27 9:30 PM - 10:00 PM.

The Birds, Bees, and God

Please remember that this week we will be at Cornerstone! This means you get dropped off and picked up there!

OK, so as the title of the post suggests and as has been mentioned, this week there will be a presentation on healthy/God-pleasing sexuality at Cornerstone. Quick true story: a few weeks ago I was sitting at my desk in my apartment attempting to do some school work, but as is often the case was distracted by thoughts of the youth group. I was thinking about how I could go about having "the talk" with the teens on sexuality, purity, etc. A few minutes into my thinking and an email pops up from Sandra at Cornerstone that says something like "Mike, a Christian group from Crisis Pregnancy is doing a presentation on healthy sexuality at our church. Would your group like to come?" So I said yes.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Parents: when I called on Friday to let you know about youth group for last week being cancelled I had also mentioned that I would like to have a parents' meeting on the 27th from 9:30 - 10:00 pm in regards to Serve '09. I wasn't thinking too clearly, as we are having a Mario-Kart tournament that night, and the point of it was to be an "outreach" night; a night where it will be easier for the teens to invite friends to than a "normal" (hah, what's normal with me in charge?!) youth group, and it would be best to devote the entire 3 hours to that. So I am wondering if it would work for you parents to have a quick meeting after church on March 1st? We could either have it at 11:30 am instead of Sunday School, or at 12:00 right after SS (we can do whichever the majority prefers, if this works). It won't take long - a half-hour max; I just want to let everyone know what some of the expenses are, and get some suggestions from the parents about what I should be thinking of as we begin to plan for Serve and make sure that we have open lines of communication for the trip! Parents can either email me your preference, or just let me know via the comments section below about which option works best and I'll make a decision shortly and let you all know! Thanks :)

Teens: start telling your friends now about the Mario-Kart tournament on the 27th. We will have some sweet prizes (don't ask me what, haven't figured that out yet!), food, and 3 hours of adrenaline filled Mario-Kart racing!!!

I hope you all enjoyed Riel day!

Youth Cancelled Feb. 27/09

I think I phoned everybody, but just in case, youth is cancelled this week. See you next week at Cornerstone (remember to drop-off and pick-up there!).

Coming up & going down

Hey all. I hope you all got at least one day off of school or work because of the weather this week! I'm unfortunately not feeling so hot; I've yet again developed a case of strep throat, complete with a high fever and chills today :( Hopefully I will be feeling better for youth at Willowlake tomorrow night.

Don't forget that the church will be holding a family day on Monday, complete with tobaganning!

For youth next week, we will be attending Cornerstone Baptist Church for a presentation on healthy and God pleasing sexuality. Please be sure that you drop-off & pick-up at Cornerstone!!! The following week (Feb 27) we will meet on our own at Willowlake for a Mario-Kart tournament! Also, we will be holding a parent's meeting for half an hour at 9:30! Please ensure that at least one parent is able to attend, as we will be planning for Serve '09!!!

Be blessed.

Missionfest Manitoba

A few of us attended Missionfest Manitoba's youth & young adult kick-off tonight at Immanuel Pentecostal. Local band Six5One started the evening by leading the packed sanctuary (seriously, the place was packed; there's nothing quite like the smell of 2,000 sweaty teenagers :S) in Worship. Be sure to check out their Myspace in the link above. Juno award winner, and also local gal, Amanda Falk, closed the evening in worship. In between these amazingly talented musicians we were blessed to listen to the special guest speaker, George Verwer. George shared his testimony, and was open & honest about his own struggles in life, how God continued to use him through these struggles, and how God has kept him humble. He also reminded us that we can be missionaries in a variety of ways, using whatever gifts God has given us, and that a mission field doesn't necessarily have to be half-a-world-away. Take a visit to George's website here.

Blessings

Serve '09!

Well, we've started our fundraising, it's time to find out who's coming for sure! We'll need a $50 deposit by March 6th if you plan on attending! We will also have a couple more fundraisers to do very shortly. One is called "a quarter a klick". The idea is simple: for every kilometre we are travelling, people can sponsor each of us for just a quarter for each klick. This way everyone you know can likely help you out. If they want to sponsor you for 100KM of the trip then they'll give you $25; if they can only afford to sponsor you for 1KM then they'll give you a quarter! According to Google Maps, we have 816KM to travel, so that is the potential of $204 each! I'll have a letter drawn up soon (in a couple weeks) that you can use so people know what's going down.

If you are interested, you can view the Serve '09 website here.

Money In the Bank

Today's fundraiser was a great success! After covering our expenses we still raised $415. The teens worked hard Friday night and today and it payed off with a good start in our fundraising efforts for Serve '09. There will be a few more fundraisers to do, including another lunch in March (most likely). If everyone works this hard for each fundraiser we'll have no problem meeting our needs for the trip!

This week we will be going to MB Missionfest on Friday night. Be sure to email Mike by Monday night if you plan on attending so he can set up transportation. We should leave Willowlake by 6:15 and pick-up will be at 10:00.

Peace

What's in a Name?

I've been thinking for quite sometime now that we need a name for youth, rather than just "Youth Group." Something like "Awesome Teenagers & Christians Cool Night." Yeah, something like that! Anywho, if you have some ideas email me with the idea and the reasoning behind the name. This is something we'll talk about over the coming month or two most likely. See you Friday night!

Disciple

This past week the youth group took in a Disciple concert at Calvary Temple. The concert was part of a YC Manitoba rally. While we won't be attending YC MB this year, due to Serve '09, I would encourage you to make your own arrangements with some friends to attend on your own for the weekend if you like. You can grab some info on this year's YC MB by clicking here.

So this weekend we will be meeting at the church on Friday night from 7:00 - 10:00. First order of business will be to set up the large room downstairs for Sunday's fundraiser lunch. We need all youth to be there to help out, especially if you want to come to Serve this year (don't forget to bring your food on Sunday)! We'll also do our second Bible study on God & love; it's shaping up to be a good one ;)

Peace be with you!

Hey Hey!

Welcome to the new Willowlake Youth Group "website." This simple blog will allow you as youth & parents to stay up to date with the happenings of the youth group. The calendar will always have upcoming events, and deadlines for letting the youth worker know if you plan to attend the event.

The actual blog posts will allow the youth worker to write on what has been happening, any ideas he may have, Bible studies, etc. The posts will also allow youth and parents to interact with oneanother and the youth worker through the "comments" section of each post (take note: the comments are moderated and will appear only after the youth worker approves them!).

On the left hand side you will find links to other websites for both youth & parents/caregivers.

Please be sure to check this site at least on a weekly basis to ensure you are aware of any changes to the calendar/events.

Let Mike know by email if you have any ideas, links, etc.

God bless!