Opportunity Knocks!

Image from Dreamstime.com

Hi everyone!

THIS SUNDAY: Meet as usual 5pm @ WAC. We're on the home straight, finishing our gallop through an overview of the Bible - this week we look at Jesus' Resurrection - so what?  And Jesus' Gift to us - The Holy Spirit. And just because, we're going on a 'Treasure Hunt' - bring a camera or iPhone, we're 'collecting' treasure around Warragul town.  Permission slips are needed cos we're (walking) off-site: on the blog go to the right column and click on 'Treasure Hunt Permission' for a printable form.

NEXT WEEK:  We meet @ WAC for the grand finale!  The Return of Jesus, and the New Creation! New Creation... that's what we are when we're baptised into Jesus.   Hot summer evening... makes you think about water, doesn't it?!  Come in clothes you don't mind getting wet, bring a towel, and we'll have some watery outdoor fun (weather permitting)!

OPPORTUNITY:  Youth Bible Group has been invited to lead prayers for the Combined Carols, 8th December at 7pm!  We'll meet at the usual time, and plan our prayers over a bite to eat.  If you can't stay for the service, that's OK, we'd still love your input for the prayers. But we hope you can stay!

Term 4 Program is Finally Available!

Hi everyone, the Term 4 Youth Bible Group program is now available in hard copy (fluoro green) from Katie, and you can also look at it on the blog - go to the top menu and select 'Youth Bible Group Current Programme'.

I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this to you - thank you for your patience. Hopefully I'm nearly over this wretched bug and back to full speed!

There will be more information soon about the outing later this term (17th Nov), a movie and pizza night, we'll need permission if the movie is PG;  also we plan to go offsite for the Treasure Hunt the following week (24th Nov), just on foot, but will need permission for that.  Finally, I'm hoping we may be able to participate in the Combined Carols service on 8th Dec, but I'm waiting to have a meeting with Daniel about that.

Thank you all for your support over the past months - you've all been hugely helpful, in a whole lot of different ways! Cheers -
Katie.

'Bounce' Tomorrow! Consent forms available

Screen capture from Bounce Inc. website - looks pretty fun, eh?!

Only one more sleep till 'Bounce'!  Our itinerary, contact info., and consent forms are available NOW on our blog  http://wacyouthnews.blogspot.com.au/  - go to the right of the screen, find 'For Parents:  Printable Consent Forms' and click on 'Consent for trip to Bounce Inc. 20th Oct 2013.'

If you haven't filled out a form giving us your emergency contact details and medical consent, or if your details have changed since you last filled one out, please click on 'Parent Contact & Medical Consent Form'.  Katie needs these before we head off for Bounce.

If you want to get in the mood, they've got some great (short) video clips on their website!

Have You Seen This One?

© Pavel Siamionau Dreamstime.com

I was browsing a great youth ministry website today, and I found this:  http://fervr.net/bible/8-ways-to-stop-going-to-church-without-anyone-noticing

It's well written, and I can tell you, they aren't making it up!

S0me of the comments after is are pretty funny too - some people didn't realise that the article is tongue-in-cheek - they aren't telling us what they think we SHOULD do, they're telling us what, very sadly, lots of people DO do. 

Question for you:  what do YOU reckon are the main reasons people don't come to church?  I don't mean people who don't believe in Jesus, and don't already belong to a church;  I mean people who do believe in Jesus, and want to follow him, and belong to a church.  What do you reckon are the main reasons that people just don't show up?

Post your answers here - the first TWO people who post a comment on this blog will get a movie ticket!!  (for Warragul cinema, of course!)

Download and Print Consent forms for Youth Outings!

This one is for parents and other responsible adults!

We're all snowed under by paperwork, so I'm trying to streamline things a bit:

You can now download the Contact Info & Medical Advice Form by clicking the link at the right of this post.  I only need you to fill that out once per youth per year, unless details change during the year; I'll keep it in a file so that I know if there are any allergy issues etc for your youth/s, and have your contact info available in case of emergency during any outing.

Then there's a separate Consent form for each outing, in two parts:

The top half is for you to tear off and keep, it tells you what the outing is, and provides times, addresses, RSVP info, and how you can get in touch with the leaders during the event.

The bottom half is for me, it's where you consent to your youth/s attending the specific outing.  I need that back from you, signed, for each youth, before we head off for the outing. It will be filed for posterity at WAC - in case there should be an audit or question in the future.

The forms for our next outing are ready for you to download, print off, and fill in - all ready for 15th September!

This month's outing - Skating/Skooting at Moe!

Turns out that 'Bounce' is SOOOOOO popular that you have to book a couple of months ahead.  So I've paid a deposit for us to go there for our October outing.  More about that soon!

But that meant we needed a new plan for our end-of-term September outing!  So... This month's event will be skating/skooting in Moe, NEXT SUNDAY 15th September.  Not everyone loves skating (don't understand that myself, but each to his or her own!) - but that's OK because apparently there's also a skooting rink, with ramps and stuff - and you can hire a skooter $4 or ripstik $5 to use there.  Do I confess?  I'd never heard of a ripstik...

I borrowed this pic. of someone riding a ripstik from a website - click to visit

What do you need to know? 

Drop off @ Church 1.00pm, Pick up @ Church 4.30pm, Sunday 15th September. 
What to bring: $15 to be on the safe side.  Covers entry, equipment hire, and snack.  But there should be a little bit of change!  
What to wear: Comfortable stretchy clothes that you don't mind being upside down in!
Can you bring friends?  Of course!  Just let me know who's coming, and they'll need permission forms filled in by their parents.
RSVP:  I need to know how many people are coming, so I can make sure we've got enough drivers and adult supervisors.  So please let me know whether you are COMING or NOT COMING, by MIDNIGHT ON SATURDAY 13th PLEASE!

ALSO:  Alison can't make it this time, so I'm looking for a driver, preferably with a Working With Children Check.  Suggestions?

BBQ and Bonfire Night! Last Sunday's Outing

Well, that's what it was going to be - but God has a sense of humour!  When we were going to have a tobogganing trip, the sun came out and there was no snow.  When we were going to have a beach day, it poured.  This time, when we were going to have a BBQ and Bonfire night (doesn't that sound like a good choice for a chilly winter outing?!) we had wild wind, rain and thunder!

But the Youth Bible Group's motto is NEVER GIVE UP!!

SO... we had our BBQ and Bonfire at Katie's place - she doesn't have a BBQ, so we grilled the snags on the stove - and then rolled them in bread and tomato sauce in the traditional way;  and she doesn't have a bonfire, so we toasted marshmellows on the stove top - but hey, they went all crispy and black on the outside, and gooey and melty on the inside, just the way they do over a bonfire!  Someone ate so many he was feeling a little ill... or maybe that's because he prefers his marshmellows more charcoal than lolly...

AND we got to watch a rather peculiar animated movie - 'The Tale of Despereaux', which was definitely a warmer option than tramping through mud and long grass in a storm.

Next outing is scheduled for 15th September, and we're hoping to go to 'Bounce' in the city... what could possibly go wrong for that one??!

The Challenge...

OK, so I told the Youth Bible Group that their homework was to have a look at this blog... and that they would see something to their advantage...!  What could it be, what could it be?  ...  Here it is - this is a test of your ability to draw as well as whether you did your homework or not!

If you see this, sketch the pic. you see here, just a stick figure will do, as long as I can tell it's the same one - and show it to me after church on Sunday (you'll need  to be quick, I'm off to Ellinbank at 10.55!), or if (*gasp!* surely not!) you don't crawl out of bed in time for church, send it to me as an mms .... there's a chocolate frog in it!

This pic. tells us something about the big story of the Bible - it's not about a God who sits around hoping we'll like him.  It's about our God who comes looking for us, and does whatever it takes to rescue us.  Cool, eh?!

Term 3 in Full Swing - or Swim?

Today we started a new series - it's called 'Bible Overview', which is really random, because what it really is is an overview of the Bible.  Who knew?

Anyway, the plan is that in 15 sessions, we get a bird's-eye-view of the big story of God and human beings, through all of history, from when it all began up to now.  The coolest thing is that when we've got that big picture clear, it gets much easier to 'get' where different bits of the Bible fit in.
SO... we started by jotting down a whole lot of events from the Bible, 5 or so from each person, and put them in order.  We were pretty good at some parts of the Bible, but there were some shaky bits too!  Like, when exactly did Amos prophecy that Israel was in deep do-do?  Was it before or after Darius the Mede threw Shad. Mech. and Abed. into the fiery furnace??
And did Naomi sort out Ruth's love-life before or after Jonah went deep-sea diving in the first (fully organic) submarine???
The BIG question is, will we be able to answer those questions after we've done this series????
Anyway, if you want to get the jump on the course, click on the pic. at left - there's a website that takes you through it...
Or you can just turn up next week, for part two!