Now that the Holidays are over and our high schoolers have finished their finals, Youth Group is rolling forward with a lot of energy. To start the year off, Scott Stoner led a discussion on the Compass program and provided the high school group a taste of what is to happen during the upcoming Tuesday Night Lights program.
Clare Bergquist was kind enough to volunteer her time and talent and taught 14 of our youths how to curl. The feedback: everyone had a great time, they were cold, and they cannot wait to see curling during the Olympics. Who knows, maybe the next USA curling Olympian will rise from our own congregation here at Christ Church. A big thank you goes out to the Bergquist family for donating their time, talent and money to make this happen.
As we look forward, we will begin preparing for our summer mission project. This year we will again be participating in the Appalachia Service Project. As of now, we do not know where we are going, but we do know when we are going. We will leave on July 24 and return Aug 1. Some of the efforts you will see the youth doing to prepare for this trip are a letter writing campaign, working at the pancake breakfast, helping at a spaghetti/amateur night fundraiser on April 24 (Yes, we will be looking for volunteers from the whole congregation….more to follow later) and a car wash May 23. One reason we do all of this fundraising is to pay for the trip. The other is to build a cohesive bond between the youth and adult leaders in preparation for spending a week together. We build our youth program around social, service and spiritual growth.
Some of the other events we have scheduled are a Valentine’s evening dinner, a sleep over in the church, volunteering at the Gathering, helping with the Feed the Kids outreach program, producing a Lenten program, attending Scott and Holly Stoner programs and occasionally getting together to just enjoy each other’s company. We play a mean game of Sardines, practice our reflexes with a round of Ninja and play Dude for fun. We have a great group of high schoolers and many adult leaders who are making this program a success. Next time you see a high schooler why not ask them where their favorite hiding place is for Sardines or how things are going in school. They have a great perspective and wonderful insight. Mike Pratsche