Summertime is Here Again

As the school year draws to a close the things are just heating up. Ashlee and I are so excited to be leading Xtreme Disciples! Our theme for this summer “CHOSEN” comes from Galatians 1:15-16. “But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.” Sunday we discussed what it means to be chosen. Throughout the summer we will be digging deeper into other questions and looking beyond the predictable Sunday school answer. In addition to the awesome Bible study we also have some amazing activities planned. This is definitely a summer you don’t want to miss!!!


~Danielle

Activities for this Summer

Friday, June 19th- Girl’s/Guy’s night

Saturday, June 27th- Splashtown

Saturday, July 18th- Laser tag

Monday, July 27th- Volunteering at CCSC

Friday, August 7th- Sunday, August 9th – Camping Trip!!!

Friday, August 14th- Back-to-School Lock-in

Sunday, August 16th- End of Summer Pool Party

The God of Forgiveness

In youth group we have been discussing the characteristics of God. We have had great conversations about how God is a God of comfort and compassion. Last Sunday, we continued our discussion with God's amazing forgiveness. We looked at Matthew Chapter 18:21-35, the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. If God has forgiven us of so many things, can we be people who forgive others of the small things?


Here are some of our great you activities coming up.

May 9. We will be passing out lunches in Herman Park. The Pearland Bible Study will be providing the food to prepare these lunches. Let's meet at the church at 11:00 a.m. to make lunches. We will pass out lunches until 1:30 p.m. or so.After that, plan on going to the Galleria and we will do a really fun Scavenger Hunt.We can end the activity at 3:00 p.m. Bring your friends!

May 10. (Mother's Day) No Youth. Spend the night with your mom. Tell her how much you love her.

May 22. Let's go to an Astros Game. The game starts at 7:05 vs the Texas Rangers.I will need to know in advance if you are planning on going so I can get the group-rate.This activity is open to all youth...even the new class! Please let me know by this Sunday, May 10.

May 24. No Youth (Memorial Day Weekend)

June 6....We once said this would be a good day for Schlitterbahn. However many have said this is not a good day. (Graduation, out of town, stuff like that) Please suggest a new Saturday that works for you. Please mark your calendar for these fun events!

The God of Comfort

If you missed youth on Sunday night, you missed a great game of Sardines. We certainly found ourselves in all new places to hide and new ways to contort our bodies.

For our lesson we discussed how God is a God who comforts us in our time of need. We discussed examples of times that God comforted some of our Bible heroes like, Moses, David, and Daniel. We also talked about how God comforts us today, so that we can comfort those around us. Tonight the group looked at 2 Corinthians 3-7 and we may not be thrown in lion's den or a fiery furnace but each of us go through hard times. We know that God will be there when this happens and that we can share this with those around us.

Join us next week and bring your friends.

An All-Night Adventure

Sumo Wrestling....Check! Q-Tip target practice....You betcha! Duct Taping a fifth grader to the wall...It must be a church lock-in! At about 3:00 a.m. that I start asking myself, "Why am I doing this?" Sure it is fun watching as the X-treme Disciples drop off one by one as they try their best to stay awake. The weak ones always go first! At least we had a great time, staying up as long as we could and not to mention that Kellie and Andy did a great job giving their testimonies. The two spoke about how they came to a relationship with God and how our youth group has played a vital role in their lives. Their words were very encouraging!



Remember that there is no youth group on Sunday night or on Easter Sunday. Take this opportuinty to catch up on your sleep, do your homework, or practice your Soccer-Square moves! We will resume youth group again on April 19 with a whole new lesson series. I hope everyone remembers to bring your friends.



See you all soon!



Paul

Xtreme Lock-In

Hello friends. I wanted to remind you all of the youth-led lock-in this Friday, April 3, 2009 at First Christian Church. We will start the evening at 8 p.m. and finish 8 a.m. It will be a full night of fun activities, crazy games, and a time to build meaningful relationships. This is a great activity that you will want to bring your friends to. There will be good food, exciting prizes, and a talk at midnight (Kellie and Andy, two of our own youth, will be giving a short talk on their experiences with the youth group.) I hope that everyone can come.

Two Things

Okay, be thinking about two things.

1. The Youth-Led Lock-In (April 3, 2009)

2. The Easter Sunrise Service (April 12, 2009)

Think of a good game to bring to the lock-in and you may be asked to lead it. Thank you to Kellie and Andy for giving the devotional that night.

We will need to start practicing our Easter production. See you all on Sunday.

Paul

Losing to Gain

This week we played "What's Your Problem Kickball!" Its sort of like regular kickball, but you may find yourself running backwards, crab-crawling to base, or doing the worm. Each one of us had a particular problem, but all of us had fun! For a lesson, we discussed Jesus radical words from Matthew 10:32-42. How can we lose our life in order to gain the life that Jesus calls us to? There was some great discussion!

Remember we will be planning the Lock-In on Sunday, March 22 after church. We will all go to Chipotle, so bring money and bring your great ideas.

Life to the Xtreme!

This Sunday was a lot of fun! After church, we went to Herman park and passed out lunches to people without homes. It was a great way to practice living out a radical life for Jesus Christ. After our long walk through the park, we chilled out around the church with a little pizza. That night played kickball, ate a little more pizza, and studies John 1:14. The word became flesh! We discussed topics like,
"What does it mean for God to dwell among us?" and "How do we reflect God's glory?" Join us next Sunday night as we examine the Testimony of Jesus. See you all next week.

Student Life Tour and Double-Kick Ball

It was an exciting weekend for the X-treme Disciples Youth Group! It was such a fun and meaningful time at the Student Life Tour. I thought it was incredible to see that many students gathered together to worship God and learn more about his incredible ways. We were moved with the great music, the cleaver skits, and the powerful words from Francis Chan. I know I for one will never take it for granite that I am standing on a fire-water ball!

If you were at youth group on Sunday night, you were one of the first people in the world to play our new game. Double-Kick Ball! Does it make any sense? Probably not. But it sure was a lot of fun. Next week we may really have to come up with some rules for that game.

We also talked about some new activities coming up. Don’t forget to be thinking about fun games and activities for the Youth-Led Lock-In on April 3. We will need all kinds of crazy activities for the new kids.

We also discussed a time to go to the park and hand out lunches. This has been a really great activity in the past, so make sure that you vote in the poll to determine what date works for you best.

I look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday!

I wanted to give you all some more details about the Student Life Tour this weekend. This Friday we will meet at the church at 4:45 pm and will be leaving at 5pm. We will be staying at the Comfort Suites located at 2122 Tomball Pkwy on Friday night. (Telephone number for the hotel is 281-370-2727) We will be back at the church around 5:30 pm on Saturday. If you haven't paid for the tour please give money directly to the church. Tickets are $49 dollars at this point. You will need spending money for each dinner, breakfast, and lunch. There are things to buy at the conference, books, t-shirts, etc. Bring your camera, Bible, and positive attitude. Let me know if there are any questions. We have Travis and Jeanette Rogers as a our chaperons.

Soup and Super Bowls

Whether you were a Pittsburg Steelers fan or not, Sunday February 1, was indeed a super Sunday. Through donations from our church the youth raised $1,714 for the Christian Coalition Service Center through the Souper Bowl of Caring. It was hard work testing all of the different delicious soups and so the X-treme Disciples had to celebrate that night by having a Super Bowl Party at the home of Caryn and Paul Williams. It was a fun time of sharing and fellowship. And although there were a handful of disappointed Cardinal’s fans, we all had great time.
It was really fantastic to see the participation and the generosity of our church. From the time that it takes to make the soups, to the selfish giving from our congregation it is great to see how the body of Christ comes together.

When I Was a Child...

Imagine it. You are sitting with your friends at the cafeteria. One friend pulls out a big juicy cheeseburger with everything on it. Your next friend unwraps a piece of supreme pizza with anchovies. Then you, not to be outdone, reach into your lunch bag and pull out... a small jar of whirled peas and a baby bottle full of milk. Not cool. Suddenly, your face turns red, and run out of the cafeteria screaming, "I want my woobie!"

Not very mature. I could be wrong, but I don't think that's going to win you any popularity points. I know, it may seem ridiculous, but I think that a great deal of the time, that's exactly what Christians do. We stay content with being an infant Christian. The writer of Hebrews says in the fifth chapter,
"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." On Sunday night we discussed the process of Christian maturity. Let's all make an effort to grow up in Christ Jesus!

Don't forget to be at church for the Souper Bowl of Caring and that night come to the Williams House for a Super Bowl Party. Wear your favorite team colors and bring some really smelly-breath food. See you Sunday.

Are You Prepared?

RUPREPAREDRUPREPAREDRUPREPARED
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night at X-treme Disciples, we discussed 1 Peter 1:13-16. If you haven’t noticed, this contains the verses that are the theme on our T-shirts and our blog site. Prepare Your Mind For Action. What does it mean to prepare your minds for action? In the Apostle Peter’s time this was a common phrase. ‘Prepare for…action’ meant tucking your long cloak into your belt and get ready to do some work. Look around you. Are there places that action is needed? I think that if you open your eyes and truly look to the people around you, you will see that there is a lot of work to do. As followers of Christ, we should be ready to do the work that he has instructed us to do. I believe that means that we have to know what God is calling us to do. Listening for his voice, studying the scripture, and meeting with other Christ followers, are some ways that we can prepare our minds for action. Let’s be self-controlled, setting our hope fully on God’s grace, and strive to be Holy, like he is Holy.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Student Life Tour. I think this will be a really great weekend!

Also, join us for our announcement for the Souper Bowl of Caring on Sunday. Joel is working on a funny song. I have a feeling it will be great. I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Paul

Some News

Here are some things we have coming up!

Souper Bowl of Caring
Each year the youth group participates in the Souper Bowl of Caring. The money raised on this date is used to help fight against hunger and poverty. These donations can be sent to whatever charity the group decides. On February 1, 2009, the youth will be collecting donations for at church with large soup bowls and we want them to be active participants. The Souper Bowl of Caring believes that youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but can also be the leaders of today. We are asking the Xtreme Disciples to be in the service on this date and be ready to collect the donations. The year before last we earned $886 for the Houston Food Bank and last year we earned $1,320 for CCSC. Let's see if we can continue to help in this great cause.

Super Bowl Party
Also, plan on the Xtreme Disciples watching the Super Bowl together. For right now, let's plan on having the party at the Williams house in Pearland. (The cable guy is supposed to come on February 2...but maybe our prayers will be answered.) If not we still can hook up the rabbit ears one last time. More information will come on this.


Student Life Tour
The Student Life Tour is a weekend retreat that is happening at Champions Forest Church on February 20-21. The cost of this retreat is $44.00 (if we get the money in by Feburary 6.) Last year we had four students attend this conference and each of them had a great time. We will be staying Friday night in a hotel. The weekend is filled with great drama, exciting music, and compelling speakers. It is an event that I think can have a strong impact and I hope all of our youth will consider participating.