Offsite Insight - "Learning From Our Elders"

On June 8th we went to Englewood Estates Retirement Home and sat outside to discuss the value of listening to and learning from our elders. The value that they provide us, having traveled the road of life before us, is invaluable. As a bonus, we got to hear from a guest speaker - my Mom!!! She had some great insights about today's music, about what the elderly feel about us young people (What? What did I say?), and what advice she would give to young people today. Her advice? Read Proverbs 3:5 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Good advice, huh? Now you see where I get it... :-) Thanks, Mom!!! [and thanks, Parker, for leading us in a worship song beforehand!]

A bat attitude!!!!

Austin is known for our bats under the Congress Ave. bridge, and the Lake Jackson Church of the Nazarene youth group came down and joined us for some serious bat watching, washed down with some Amy's ice cream!! It was a beautiful night and the bats did not disappoint! And the guy selling the light sabers was REALLY glad to see us pull up!!

Offsite Insights - "Standing in the knowledge of God's Judgement"

On June 3 we started up our summer "Offsite Insights" tour, during which we take our Wednesday night Bible study on the road and go to places that highlight the topic of discussion that night. We visited the Travis County Courthouse, where there is a constant parade of people going in in various stages of presumed and proven guilt and prepare to stand before a judge to receive a sentence. This was an ideal setting to talk about our OWN guilt in the light of God's grace and the price that was paid for our freedom from death....the wage of sin (Rom 6:23). Many thanks to Nick for leading us in a song on the steps of the courthouse before we got started. I'm sure that woulda ticked off some people if they knew we were a bunch of "religious freaks"! Mwahahahahaha.....

Extravaganza 2009!!

The group posing in front of Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City!!

"Extravaganza 2009" was amazing!! No other way to describe it! If I had to categorize it, I would say it was a conglomeration of "Friends loving friends, friends loving Jesus, friends loving to worship, and friends loving to play!" 33 teens and sponsors trekked across the Red River into Oklahoma City to Southern Nazarene University to compete against other Nazarene youth groups in talent, drama, sports, quizzing, and art from all over our region!! Just over 1000 kids were there!! And out of those 1000, we made a huge impact on Extravaganza 2009! At the end, when all of the "all stars" were selected, two out of the final 12 acts selected were from OUR youth group!!! You can see our "Set Me Free" drama here on YouTube (thanks Alina for the video!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-RUCGJspC4

Also, Allison, Kendall, and Livvy's "The Door" skit was selected!! Check it out (sorry about the cheesy banner they put over the top of it...it was the only way I could get it on here quickly! Once again, video is courtesy of Alina H.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msEP8fQAn2o

What a privilege it was, too, when Aaron, Sergio, Nick, and Parker were asked to lead the worship music during the Sunday morning service for our district!!! You guys represented us and the Lord very well!!!

You can see Nick's cover of "Give Me Your Eyes" here (thanks again, Alina!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWny18fe2Sc

It was pretty awesome, too, to see Aaron and Sergio selected to be drummers in the "Stomp"-style portion of our worship service!!! Check it out here (thanks to Michael for a rather biased video! :-) ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcgc4hJ5l4k

Others of you received 1st place awards but were not selected for "The Show"!
Sierra R. - sign interpretation
Nick H. - Vocal solo
Leslie A. - Flute solo
Parker Y. - Vocal solo
Hunter, Rebekah, Imo, Alex, Kyle, Brandon, Aaron - Soccer
Lindsey G. - Art
Daniel W. - Quizzing (10th place)

Others who did not receive awards but of whom we were equally proud!:
Livvy M. - Art
Sergio P. - Vocal solo
Makayla V. - Clarinet solo
Keifer W. - Cello solo
Aaron J. - Art
Parker Y., Nick H., Sergio P., and Aaron J. - Band
Connor C. - Quizzing
Rebekah W. - Quizzing

What is usually a fun, competitive trip was this year also compelling and thought provoking with the messages brought by the drama team "One Time Blind". They totally brought the message of Jesus in a new and fresh way which spoke to us!

Be sure and check back here as well as on the Teen Bulletin Board for more pictures and YouTube vids from the event!!!

Sierra signs for the judges....

while Sergio and Josh show their demonic side...

30-Hour Famine!!

Ya know, we do a lot of things and events together. Some of them are strictly for fun, others are strictly for teaching, while still others combine the two. But I can't think of any...ANY other event that is designed to pick you up from the place you are spiritually and physically and place you in a completely DIFFERENT place spiritually and physically by the time the event is over. In a nutshell, that describes what took place from 6:00 p.m. on April 25 until 6:00 p.m. on April 26. The 30-Hour Famine took us quickly out of our comfort zones and into a "discomfort zone" that required us to look at the suffering of others who suffer more than we do, who deal with disease, illness, and yes, famine. Along that journey many of you made observations about yourself and your walk with Christ in your journals. Don't forget those commitments and comments you made to Him during that time. Those are definitely spiritual milestones where we put stakes in the ground and committed to serve Him with a whole new outlook.

Once again, a HUGE thanks to Cheryl Katrenick for your tireless labors to coordinate our activities over the course of the weekend!! It was a huge undertaking and God will undoubtedly richly bless you for your investment in our kids!!!
Here are the first 7-8 pics (out of 189) which I have been able to upload. Watch here for daily changes!!!!

An amazing Good Friday service!!

Hopefully you were able to be a part of the worship service this last Friday night. What a great time of reflection, praise, and worship we had together!! And Allison and Amber both used their talents to make it an even MORE special event, with Allison giving a moving soliloquy about her faith, while Amber draped a royal cloth around the cross as a beautiful tribute to the sacrifice made by Jesus for each of us, all while former teen Esther sang a moving rendition of "Your Grace Still Amazes Me". It was a poignant reminder of how EACH one of us stands in the shadow of the cross, each of us covered by the blood that ran down it, awaiting each of us to accept His grace. Awesome.

New dress code!!

We got to go see several of you in some recent band competitions and noticed that you guys can clean up really nice!!! Surge-E-YO was in a UIL competition while Sierra and Makayla performed at a school concert!! I think this will be the new dress code on Wednesday nights!!!