Things To Be Accomplished

Tonight, is the first official "Summer Wednesday" since we are the only group that has something happening at the church tnoight. It is Senior Night and I would love to see you all here. We only have three seniors that I know of who are planning on attending! As I think about this summer, I have a list of things that I would like to see happen. First, Wendy did a great job on the pictures for the teen area (she put some new ones up today) and I think they need to be in a more prominent spot so everyone can see them. I would love to put them in the hallway, but it would be cool if we could paint some picture frames on the wall to put them in. Second, I we need to start cataloging some of our CD's because I am out of room on the wall. I think we may be able to buy a CD Holder and start to take out some of the older ones and replace them as we get more. Third, this summer I think we should get an air hockey table for the game room to put in the corner. Fourth, I would like to get two TV's wired and ready for worship on Sunday Mornings in the main youth area. Finally, please begin praying now for the Bible Study groups that are going to start meeting on July 30th. I knew numbers would be low, but I think we need more than what we have. May God do His work in and through us. Have a great day.

-Joel

Last Normal Wednesday

Well, I can't believe it, but this is our last "normal" Wednesday of the school year. Next week we are having our Senior Night, so I would like to see you all there to give congrats to our seniors. I know there won't be any children activities next week so you can bring your kids with you. It will be more of a hang out time with the teens anyway, since I don't think there will be many seniors there (which will make the scheduled night short). It will be a good time to just hang with the teens and spend some good time with them. Starting the first week in June we will be doing our "Summer Wednesdays". This means that those of you who are taking the summer off only have two weeks left counting tonight. Starting in June our times will change from 6 till 8:30! Then on July 30th we are going to start our new schedule of Small Groups first and then Hang Out Time later! Remind me to continue to let the teens know about this. I am going to do my best to find out what people are interested in the Bible Study and which ones aren't. I know some of you have asked and if you could do it again tonight, that would be great. Write down the names of those that are interested so I know which groups I may have to combine at first. I think that is it for now. I hope you have all enjoyed your year and I look forward to our party on the 19th of June! Have a great day.

-Joel

All Positive Feedback

Well, after blanketing my idea to everyone I know about the new programming for Wednesday Nights, I have had nothing but positive feedback. Now, I will preface this entire post realizing that it is pretty hard to look someone in the face and say, "that is a stupid idea and it is never going to work"! With that said, most people I shared it with said they thought the logic made sense and it could possibly work. The encouraging thing to me was that some people not only thought it might work, but got excited about it. If worst comes to worst why not just give it a try and see what happens. I think we are going to go full steam ahead with this and plan on July 30th being our first night with the new format. I would like you, as small group leaders, to ask your groups in the next few weeks which ones would be coming early to participate and which ones would just come later and join us for the other event. This will help me to put together groups that may need to be put together because they are too small. I think if you have three or more you should be your own group though. We are going to do our best to make this work, but I know we need prayer and a lot of "buy-in" from you as small group leaders and the teens. Sometimes everyone thinks an idea is good, but then when the "rubber meets the road" no one participates. I am praying that this is not the case because I want to see lives changed! I want to see unbelievers comes to know the LORD and believers grow closer in their walk. The door is always open for suggestions and comments. Let me know what you think.

Is It Time?

OK, I am going to throw out an idea tonight at the YWT meeting that is WAY OUT OF THE BOX! It would be completely different than what we are doing now and it would probably struggle to get started and used to, but in the end may lead to a lot more spiritual growth (which is our goal). Here is my idea in a nutshell (this is only the first draft, it can morph as we get more imput). I want to do what we currently do now on Sunday Mornings for our Sunday School minus the crazy games and some of the frill that we have. Small groups would not meet on Sunday monrings like we do on Wednesday Nights now, the message would be a little longer and there may be like a question and answer time for everyone there. The current Small Group Leaders would not need to be there on Sunday Mornings. This would be our "crowd" event intended for believers that are looking to grow in their faith. On Wednesday Nights I would like to do two things. I want to have a "disciple" event and a "mass event" on the same night. I would like our Small groups to meet from 6 till 7 PM out of the church at the Small Group leaders' homes for one hour or at a resteraunt or anywhere but the church. Then at 7 everyone comes back to the church as well as friends we may invite or others that are non-believers and we do a "mass" event. This will have no lesson, no worship and just be a connection time for everyone to feel comfortable and hang out. I would love to Small Groups to meet on a different night, but this may not be possible with sports and other schedules. We need to address the different places these teens are spiritually to reach them better instead of trying to reach them all in one night. We will discuss this in more detail tonight, but I am excited about the possibilities. I look forward to seeing you all there.

-Joel