Pictures from Philadelphia I

Let’s start with the children!!

 

Creative Arts Group – June 14 Pictures

Here are some pictures of the girls in our creative arts group preparing for their participation in worship.  They danced to the song “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe on June 14.

L-R: Anna, Nicole, Jill, Caroline, Kirby

Lots of movement!

Gotta get down low, too!

Dance is an act of worship

 

YOM Philadelphia Behavior Guidelines

Youth On Mission
Behavior and Dress Guidelines

Philadelphia 2009

GENERAL BEHAVIOR

Mission teams are representatives of their home church, Youth On Mission, and Jesus.  Exemplary conduct is expected. The following behavior rules have been established:

NO SMOKING                                                                    NO ALCOHOL

NO DRUGS                                                                          NO CD/MP3 PLAYERS WITH EXTERNAL SPEAKER

NO PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AFFECTION                         NO PROFANITY

NO LEAVING ROOM AFTER LIGHTS OUT

HOTEL ETIQUETTE

The following are guidelines for courtesy and behavior in and around a hotel. Remember that we are representatives of our church and of Christ.

1. Remember that there are other guests in the hotel. Be courteous!!
2. When coming in at night keep talking and laughing to a minimum.  Other guests may be trying to sleep.
3. Elevators are used to take you from floor to floor – do not press all the floor buttons or play on the elevators. Other guests use the same elevators.
4. No running or horseplay in the halls or the lobby. This includes knocking on random doors as you walk down the hall.
5. In your room, keep clothes picked up as much as possible.  Housekeepers will not make your bed if clothes are lying on it.  Put all trash in the trashcan.
6. Do not leave valuables or money in your room. The hotel is not responsible for theft.
7. Students may enter the room of the opposite sex ONLY IF an adult is present.
8. Do not congregate in the lobby. This prevents other guests from checking in.
9. REMEMBER: You are a witness to the hotel employees and other guests. Please make your witness a positive one.

DRESS GUIDELINES

While these dress guidelines are not intended to be legalistic, it is a guide to which our groups should adhere. Youth On Mission participants are expected to dress responsibly and remember that we are God’s representatives. The following items are NOT appropriate attire at any time…

TOPS:

• Tops must not be low cut, and must cover the entire midriff when the arms are
• Please no halter-tops, tank tops, spaghetti straps, or sleeveless shirts.
• Sports bras may not be worn as outer garment.

• extended overhead (no half shirts).

BOTTOMS:

• Pants / shorts must be worn at the waistline. No low rise jeans or shorts.
• Pants / shorts should not be inappropriately tight.
• Pants should not drag on the floor.
• Shorts and dresses must be at least as long as the fingertips when arms are at rest
• down by the sides. (Finger-tip rule)

SWIMWEAR:

• Girls must wear a one-piece or “tankini” that does not expose the midriff.

UNACCEPTABLE DRESS INCLUDES:

Shirts containing slogans with negative influence music, TV shows, movies, or alcohol are not permitted. Any logos must have a positive message.

HOMELESS SHELTERS:

Most homeless shelters require volunteers to wear long pants and closed toe shoes (no

flip-flops or sandals).

HOME REPAIR SITES:

• Shirts with sleeves, long pants, and sturdy shoes are strongly encouraged. Sweat pants, half shirts, sleeveless shirts, tank tops, sports bras and halter tops are NOT acceptable.

WHEN IN DOUBT, IT IS BEST TO LEAN TOWARDS THE CONSERVATIVE SIDE.

WOULD JESUS APPROVE OF THE ATTIRE THAT YOU ARE WEARING?

 

Vacation Bible School

Next week we will be leading children in an adventure through the bayou with this year’s Vacation Bible School – Crocodile Dock!  As always, VBS will need YOUR help to be a success!  If you finished 8th grade or higher this year, sign up in the youth basement to be a part of this important ministry week!

Also, let me know if you can come to the church (or need to be picked up) at 10 am tomorrow to go through nearby neighborhoods and distribute flyers.  We’ll grab some lunch when we’re done.

 

God is HUGE

Last night, during our Way to Live session on Prayer, we entered into an imaginative prayer exercise together.  In that time, we reflected on just how big, how vast, how incredibly awesome God must be.  And then we heard the words of Scripture from the Apostle Paul: You are the dwelling place of God!  You are where God hangs out and lives.  Do you believe that?  Can you imagine God choosing to live within you?  What an amazing gift!  It’s hard to believe, but that’s just what the Bible teaches us.

To really think about the vastness of God, I showed a video clip from the beginning of the movie Contact.  This scene takes us from a position above the Earth and pans out from there to take in a view of….well, the whole universe!  Think about the fact that God created all this: billions of stars in our galaxy alone, billions of galaxies in the whole universe – and the God who made it all is a God who cares for each of us.  God is HUGE!

 

Group shot – Beach Retreat 2009

 

Beach retreat theme song??

Too bad Kermit the Frog won’t be joining us on this trip!

 

Letter to Parents about the Spring Beach Retreat

Dear parents of youth:

I thought it would be helpful to write a detailed letter explaining my plans for the Spring Beach Retreat this year that has been scheduled for Friday, May 15 through Sunday, May 17. If you are on the youth ministry email list then you have already received notice about these dates I had proposed for the retreat (and, if you are not on the email list, please let me know right away!). I know the youth are really looking forward to this – the spring beach retreat has been quite a tradition in the past and they’re eager to keep it alive. So let me answer the important questions I know you have:

First of all, where are we going? We will be returning to Atlantic Beach and will stay in the condominium complex “A Place at the Beach. It’s owned by the same company that rents out “The Sands,” which has been the usual facility the group has used in the past. We have reserved units 202, 203 and 301.

Second, what would be our basic schedule? It takes about four hours to get to Atlantic Beach. I would like to leave the church at 4:00 pm on Friday. If it makes your scheduling easier, you may want to have your youth bring a duffel with most of his/her needed items the Wednesday prior to the trip. We will alternate Bible study, games and free time while we are at the beach, leaving space for the youth to keep up with homework as needed. We will likely leave at 11:00 am and return about 4:00 pm on Sunday afternoon.

Third, what will be the cost and the due date for payment? Our arrangement to stay in 8-person condos makes this a very affordable beach trip. I will also subsidize part of the expense from the youth ministry budget. Therefore, I request a total payment of just $35 per youth to be turned in by Wednesday, April 22. They will also need spending money for dinner on Friday and lunch on Sunday. You should be proud of the frugality of your youth – they chose to do our own trip over joining the CBF-NC fall retreat at Myrtle Beach, which entails a cost of $110 per person.

Finally, be aware that space is limited and secured on a first-come, first-serve basis. A total of 18 slots are available for the youth. If your child is interested in bringing a friend, please let me know.

Thank you for your support of this ministry!
Sincerely,

Chris Schelin

 

Sunday night, Philadelphia

This is a reminder that we start early this Sunday night because we will be helping with the Sunday School banquet.  The door to the basement opens at 5:00 and our dinner will be served at 5:15.  We will move upstairs at 5:45 to begin helping with the banquet.  See you Sunday!

 

Thinking about Work: What is the “Way to Live”?

Two Sundays ago, our Way to Live topic was Work.  Work is a natural part of life, as basic as the effort to hunt or grow our own food if we didn’t have our many  modern conveniences.  If we want to develop good skills for a sport, then it takes the work of frequent practice.  Sometimes we need to “work at” keeping connected with friends.  And, of course, God calls us to do “good work” in his name for others.  Work is a good thing in that it challenges us, reminds us of our limitations, allows us to make things different or create something new.

But a lot of the time, perhaps most of the time, when we think of the word “work” we think of what adults do during their day – your parents  in their offices or yours truly typing this blog post at the computer keyboard.  Work is what has to get done to pay the bills and put food on the table…not to mention the Xbox in the living room.  Some people go overboard and become obsessed with work – “workaholics.”  But for most of us, we also try to have something we call “life” that is in some way separate from “work.”  Work is our duty, what we have to do, while life is what we choose.  Some of us find work that we integrate with “life” and work becomes part of who we are.  Others absolutely cannot wait for 5:00 to come.

There’s often a struggle to find what is called the “work-life balance,” a healthy mixture of personal time and one’s job.  A common question that is asked in search of this balance is, “Do I live in order to work or do I work in order to live?”  We hope that our answer is the latter – we work so that we can obtain what we need to have a secure and enjoyable life.

I think it’s interesting to compare how much someone is “supposed” to work today with how often people were at work in the past.  Today, in America and in similar countries, a “normal” full-time job is forty hours each week.  As recently as the beginning of the last century, however, many Americans were working much more each week – about 70 hours or more.  But in the Middle Ages and earlier, the average person may have actually worked less than the average person does today.  And the earliest humans, whose “work” was mainly hunting and gathering food, may have only spent about 18 hours each week working – that’s less than one full day!

This makes me think of some questions to think about as we try to figure out whether we live to work or work to live.  For example:

• How much work each week do you think would be too much?
• How much would be too little so that someone could deserve to be called “lazy”?
• Would you rather work longer hours for more money but less time to make use of it, or shorter hours for less money but more time to yourself?
• How could we as Christians help each other figure out the place of work in the right Way to Live?

This also brings to my mind the story of the Christian community in San Francisco called the Church of the Sojourners.  This is a church of people who actually live together and share things in common (a similar attitude to what we see in Acts 2).  Because they share a lot of their resources, many of them work only part-time jobs so they can spend more time with the community, or in prayer, or simply enjoying the day God has made.  They’ve decided that while they may have less money than most people, they’ve reached a better quality of life.  What do you think?  Would you work for more or live with less?