2009 SCHEDULE

Hi Gang.......the following is the 2009 DiVe Wednesday night schedule. I think we're heading for a great year and hope that all of you are there every single time-you won't want to miss a night. Seriously.

See you in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and enjoy your break!

January 7 Mentor Night

14 Paul Parallel

21 Paul Parallel

28 Paul Parallel

February 4 Mentor Night

11 Paul Parallel

18 Breaking Bread

25 Game Night

March 4 Mentor Night

11 Open Topic Night

18 Open Topic Night

25 Service Week-Concert Kick-Off

April 1 Mentor Night

8 Catacombs

15 Cats & Dogs

22 Cats & Dogs

29 Cats & Dogs

May 6 Mentor Night

13 Cats & Dogs

20 Exams Escape

27 Youth Sunday: Take One

June 3 Mentor Mayhem

jingle jingle...it's time to be merry

This Wednesday is the DiVe Christmas party. Don't forget your white elephant gifts! You can also still bring goodies to put in the care package for Heminger House-see the post below for goodie ideas.

See you Wednesday.

This Wednesday-Care Packages

This Wednesday evening we will be stuffing care packages for the area police and fire departments for Christmas. On Sunday I handed out a list of things to bring to pack these packages.

Here's the items:

Christmas Care Package List:

Microwave Popcorn
Coffees - Tea
Packaged Cookies
Packaged Candy Bars
M & M’s
Skittles
Granola Bars
Hot Chocolate Mix
Little Debbie Snacks
Packaged Candies
Candy Canes
Trail Mix
Package Dried Fruit
Canned Mixed Nuts& other packaged snacky things

See you all Wednesday night!
Next week is the Christmas party.

schedule reminder

There is NO DiVe this week! Stay home and be thankful.

Next week is MENTOR night, so no official DiVe that week either!

We'll see you all back on December 10th.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

what a night!

wow. praise God, what a great time we had last night. Thank you for being obedient to the Spirit's moving in all your hearts last night at our first Catacombs. It will be, without a doubt, one of the most memorable times I've had with you all. The richness with which you ministered to each other, to us, was phenomenal and it gives us something wonderful to build upon.

God heard our prayers, the Lord is making us one.

Catacombs

The Catacombs were second century Christian burial areas underground. Christians could not follow pagan practices of cremation-or burning the deceased-because of the belief in the resurrection of the body. Following the deaths of the apostles and other first century Christians, followers of Christ began to build underground passages with tombs carved out of the rock for their dead, and for the Saints that became martyrs for our faith. People speculate that Christians hid from persecution in these locations, but what we know for certain is that services were held here in honor of the martyrs.

Several years ago, “catacombs” was chosen as a name for a special time of worship of the youth at Crossroads. It is a time for reflection, prayer and coming together as one to worship our God, just as they did almost two thousand years ago.

Together we are in an interesting place in our lives. Some of us are hurting or are struggling with issues. We need God to hear our prayers. As a church we’ve been without a youth pastor and I believe at times seem disconnected from each other. We need God to make us one again.


Imagine yourself, there in a hillside catacomb outside the ancient city of Rome tonight. Because there was no natural light, those who would visit the catacombs did so by candlelight, in solemn reverence for their departed brothers and sisters in Christ. We can imagine the cool, damp atmosphere…….giving way to flickering light that casts shadows on the carved rock walls. We can imagine the prayers of early Christ followers spoken almost two thousand years ago. We can imagine how their voices echoed as they sang and worshipped God.

Join us Wednesday night, as we continue this tradition in prayer, in song and in reading the Holy Word.

God, hear our prayers. Lord, make us one.

important to note! Schedule

Here's the schedule through the end of the year.......posted, just like I said I would.

November 19: Catacombs

November 26: No DiVe, Thanksgiving!

December 3: Mentor night

December 10: Service project night

December 17: Christmas PARTY

December 24: Christmas Eve-no DiVe!

December 31: New Year's Eve - Lock-In

wednesday rewind

So, I know we all want to judge the kid who sat on the ping pong table and broke it last night, but then, that would go against the point of our discussion last night about Christians being too judgemental, wouldn't it?

In the last of our series from UnChristian......we talked about the perception that outsiders have of Christians and the church being too judgemental. And they must not be too far off the mark, because a majority of Christian teens ALSO feel that the church can be too judgemental...and at least my guys gave me some instances where they felt like they were being judged.

I appreciate your thoughts about how we can be with people outside the faith and not judge them, but still love them in a way that shows Christ. And that's the purest form of evangelism we have.......reaching those who need Christ by modeling Christ. Crazy eh?

too judgemental? who, me?

This week we cover the perception that Christians are too Judgemental.............and it is the last in the series from "UnChristian".

What do you think? Can the church be too judgemental? Is the church a friendly environment for outsiders to come into? Stats paint a bleak picture of how outsiders view the church with regard to being a welcoming place.....only 1 out of 5 outsiders say they view it as a positive environment.

What about each of us? Are we judging when we're called to love? What's a healthy way to accept and love someone, but yet reject a sinful lifestyle?

Important questions. Bring your thoughts Wednesday-see ya there.

Mentor night this Wednesday-NO DiVe!

that's right.....just a reminder that there will be no DiVe youth meeting this coming Wednesday. Those of you who signed up for the mentorship program probably have already, or will be contacted by your mentors for arrangements.

We'll see you back on the 12th!

Political Rewind

I'm impressed.....last night's topic probably brought out the most discussion of any of the UnChristian series topics to date.

Is it because we are currently bombarded with politics?

Maybe.

But, I can tell there was some real depth to your concerns involving Christians in the political arena. Yes, we should be involved-but maintaining a witness and our integrity may well cost us. As we hurdle toward election day, the most important thing to remember is to pray for our leaders regardless of who they may be.......that's a Biblical mandate. And we must also understand, according to scripture, that God places people in authority over us.

It's all political.....

Tomorrow night we "dive" into the topic.....are Christians too political? Data from the outside world says that non Christians do believe that we're too political in our agenda/involvement.

What's the right mix? how should a Christian engage in the political process.....in being a part of the leadership of their community in this way?

Let's talk tomorrow night.

it's all fun and games....

tomorrow night-just plain fun. Bring your favorite board game, card game, whatever....it's all fun and games.

IN or OF the world?

As we "dove" into the perception that Christians are sheltered, or out of touch with reality, we needed to take a closer look at how we engage the world around us.

John 17:14-18 says:
I have given and delivered to them Your word and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Separate them for Yourself, make them holy by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

So, we looked at the difference between being in the world and of the world. As you called out those areas where we were in the world, I asked "what do these have in common"

And someone nailed it...........in each we found a way to build relationships with outsiders, to engage the world and be the salt & light we are called to be in Matthew. With this command, we are still to be set apart.......which is where the "of" comes in........not conceding to peer pressure, not being "of" the negative culture of this world.

Next week we break from UnChristian for a night of fun. Bring your favorite board game and we'll see you then.

Out of touch?

This week's topic is "Sheltered". From the survey in UnChristian, 42% of outsiders believe that Christians are out of touch with reality. 25% of you agreed, a little lower than the national average among Christian youth.....32%.

We're all familiar with the Scripture reference charging us to be "In the world, but not of the world".........so the question is, how do we do that? What does that look like? How do we maintain an effective witness for Christ in the world, without looking like the world? And is that "being sheltered"?

See ya Wednesday.

wow....thanks.

I'm hearing plenty of good feedback from last night's discussion.........I so appreciate everyone's willingness to talk about/be open to the subject of homosexuality, and handle it in a mature way. It became obvious in our group that the perceptions homosexuals have of Christians rings true right here in our community...that we automatically shut them out, or hate them.

So, how do we, as loving agents of our Father deal with this issue? First, see that we are all sinners-and as Billy Grahm said-all in need of God's forgiveness, regardless of associated sin issues. Stepping out and befriending, building relationships and understanding people who struggle with this issue is the only way to overcome the perceptions that Christians hate gays.

And probably disassociating ourselves with those who like to hold signs and yell this.....as Lizziey described.

Next week's topic from UnChristian is........the perception that Christians are sheltered. Are we?

Wednesday's Topic?

Anti-Homosexual.

This should be an interesting discussion. Is the church anti-homosexual? or just anti-the sin? A whopping number of you felt that, yeah, Christians tend to view themselves this way.....but there is a difference between the Biblical stand against the sin of homosexuality and being against people who take part in this sin.

We're called to love, regardless of the sin, and point people toward Jesus. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject.

mentoring

The Titus Mentor Model:

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8 sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Thanks for so many of you-14-agreeing to pursue this mentorship model with adults in our church. I think that you guys will have a good time. As we pull this together, please don't hesitate to ask me any questions or let me know if things aren't working out!

tomorrow's topic: mentor program

Tomorrow night will be a little different at DiVe. We're breaking from unChristian and will be discussing what a new mentor program might look like. Come prepared with questions and your ideas about how the program could work to further your faith development in Christ.

I think I might also have you fill out a profile sheet-which I'm sure will be more fun than the survey a few weeks ago.

too much fun!

Random pictures from the senior high guys camp/kayak weekend

How to offer someone a donut

So, what did we learn from Josh's pushy donut ways?

As Christians we have something to offer the world.....in fact, we're told to share our Faith in Christ with the world.....and, most importantly, we're called to love our neighbors. What we know from the book UnChristian is that 3 out of 10 non-Christians believe that we're not genuine in our concern for others.......that our message is only "GET SAVED!"

and many believe we're pushy about it.

So, just like the real-life story of my friend B......who became a good friend of mine, long before he turned his life over to Christ.........we need to love our neighbor, take an interest in them regardless of a decision on their part to follow Christ.

Ultimately they may realize they want that donut that Lizziey offered, because we're genuine in our concern and love for them. Now that's a novel idea, be like Christ, huh.

sneak preview.......GET SAVED?!?!?!?

What does that donut have to do with anything? No, we're not having donuts for snacks, I don't think......I'm not sure.

Tomorrow night's topic from UnChristian is "Get Saved". Do you believe that as Christians, our only interest in people is that they become Christians? Or, do we actually care about people enough to build a relationship with them.........to SHOW them God's love?

Come and listen to an insanely (shout out to Elder Todd) beautiful true story of one guy's turning his life over to Christ because he "felt the love".

And you will not be a bit disappointed in finding out what's up with the donut.

hypo-follow-up

Following up on the first of six negative perceptions of the Church, from the book unChristian, that we plan to cover over the next few weeks: Hypocrite.

Thanks for being so honest with your thoughts on the topic.....and insight you have from your "outsider" friends. The difficulty is that we're not perfect......only Christ. So, we mess up, just like everyone else who is human, and people view that failure to live up to the standards we preach as hypocrisy.

The Christian life isn't about a heavy set of rules thrown on your shoulders by religious leaders (Matthew 23). It IS about drawing into a relationship with Christ, our Saviour, and our Father, the God of the universe.

We will mess up. It is important that we're "transparent" when we do......that we admit to our friends, "hey, I made a mistake.....it doesn't mean my faith is faulty; I'm just trying to follow my model Christ, as imperfect as I am."

And I think that people can respect that. Then, all of a sudden, it isn't about putting on a false face (2 Face from Batman as Tyler so eloquently put it)......but it's about being honest, which is the direct opposite of hypocrisy. And that's closer to the model of Christ.

Next week: GET SAVED!........."is that all Christians care about, or do they care about me, as a person?" We shall see.

hip' o-krit

n. one who practices hypocrisy....pretending to be what one is not; false profession.

The next lesson, for September 17, in unChristian is the perception that the church/Christians are hypocrites. 67% of you said you AGREED! wow. That's even higher than the national average among Christian youth.

Tomorrow night you get the chance to explain your thoughts....and I'm looking forward to it.

And it's Tyler's birthday......he's bringing cake.

NOTICE: upcoming dates!

A couple of upcoming events important to note:

Senior High Movie Night @ Stillsons - September 20

Meet Me at the Pole - September 24

Senior High Guys CampOut - September 26-27

the results are in!

Oh, we soooo appreciate Scott's singing last night. I think we'll have to have him lead worship. OK gang, here are the pared down, comparative results from the senior high survey last night....from the intro to UnChristian:

Percent saying they agree/strongly agree or somewhat agree that Christians are:

ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL outsiders 91% our youth 83% young Christians 80%

JUDGEMENTAL outsiders 87% our youth 66% young Christians 52%

HYPOCRITICAL outsiders 85% our youth 67% young Christians 47%

OLD-FASHIONED outsiders 78% our youth 33% young Christians 36%

TOO POLITICAL outsiders 45% our youth 41% young Christians 50%

OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY outsiders 42% our youth 25% young Christians 32%

INSENSITIVE outsiders 70% our youth 17% young Christians 29%

BORING outsiders 68% our youth 42% young Christians 27%

CONFUSING outsiders 61% our youth 16% young Christians 44%

OFFER HOPE outsiders 73% our youth 100%

OFFER RELEVANT outsiders 40% our youth 75%
THOUGHT

Important to note that from the book UnChristian “outsiders” are those not in the church, “young Christians” are those in the church across America and the survey was done for young adults ages 16-29. The discussion was interesting....one of the discussion questions was "what is your church/Crossroads known for in the community? Two responses, Bible teaching......and comfy chairs. And I'm glad for both!

Next week: Are Christians hypocritical? More than half of you said, yes.
And it's Tyler's birthday next week too.........

Bears or Colts? Bird on a perch, fish outa water, cavalier, cavalier, cavalier.

DiVe Schedule - 2008

Solid—Wednesday nights
Italics—Sunday mornings

August 20 Informal discussion, , ice breakers, pizza
Keep the group together; discuss transition for stability/security

August 27 testimonies: understand we all have a story

August 31 Godview series—exploring our views of God and how that affects our
actions/lives

September 3 Service night; meet at Neighborhood Center/Sharon Carnes
Announce Sunday before, post on doors that evening

September 7 Godview series

September 10 Introduction to first series UnChristian

September 14 Congregational meeting

September 17 Series Topic 1, Hyprocritical

September 20 Senior High Movie Night @ Stillsons

September 21 Godview series

September 24 Series Topic 2, Get Saved

September 26-27 Senior High Guys Camping

September 27 Junior High Movie Night @ Stillsons

September 28 Reflections series: examining who we see in the mirror and what we
want to see changed

October 1 Intro to mentor program to Youth Group, everyone together

October 5 Reflections series

October 8 Series Topic 3, Anti-Homosexual

October 12 “We” Series: exploring why we need Christian community and we do it

October 15 Series Topic 4, Sheltered

October 19 “We” series

October 22 Open night….just fun & games, movie and hanging out

October 25 Fall Party: Corn-maze, bonfire, hayride

October 26 “We” series

October 29 Series Topic 5, Too Political

November 2 “If only” series: dealing with the regrets we have in life and examining how we can do things differently

November 5 Mentor night

November 9 “If Only” series

November 12 Series Topic 6, Judgmental, series wrap-up

November 16 “If Only” series

November 19 Catacombs

November 23 Stormwatch series: Dealing with the storms of life and their aftermath

November 26 Thanksgiving break, off

November 30 Stormwatch series

December 3 Mentor night

December 7 Stormwatch series

December 10 Service project, to be determined

December 14 A Christmas story series: The Christmas story through the eyes of
Herod, Simeon, and Mary

December 17 Christmas party & Movie Night

December 21 A Christmas story

December 24 Christmas Eve, off

December 28 A Christmas story

December 31 New Years Eve Party

January 4 The Thin Green Line Series: Talking about how we give, spend, and
Save money

January 7 Mentor night

January 11 The Thin Green Line

January 9-11 Sr. High Winter Retreat at Spring Hill

January 14 new series begins, yet to be determined

January 18 The Thin Green Line

February 20-22 Jr. High Winter Retreat at Spring Hill

UnChristian begins

Wednesday we'll begin our Fall series from the book UnChristian. The book's author is with the research group, Barna Group, specializing in collecting data by interviews and other means for churches and other religious organizations.

The book came about because of an alarming trend of perceptions of the church by the younger generations.......post-boomers. That is the "Mosaic" and "Buster" generations, but the research focuses on the age bracket from teenage thru 29 year olds.

The findings from that age bracket, both of those inside and outside the church, were astonishing. Six main perceptions seemed to keep showing up:

Christians are:
Judgemental
Hypocritical
Anti homosexual
Too political
Sheltered
Only concerned about getting people saved.

Whether or not YOU believe this about Christians/the Church, the fact of the matter is that these are widely held beliefs of people under 30, whether Christian or not. The question is...what do we do about it?

Wednesday we'll introduce the series, talk a little about your thoughts on this and take a survey to see how your thoughts align with these. Then we'll knock each one of these perceptions off over the course of the Fall.

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday.

a clean sweep

thanks a ton!!! for showing up last night

to give a helping hand to the Neighborhood Center. There was sweeping, mopping, weeding when you could find flowers to weed, mowing-thanks Caleb, taking stuff outa the storage shed and shoving it back in.....Abby enjoyed scrubbing toilets with her bare hands and Shelby found just the right shirt for me to wear on Sunday.......and I WILL!

Honestly, the place had a remarkable transformation. See you guys on Sunday.

REMINDER - NC NIGHT

Just wanted to remind everyone that we will be meeting at the Neighborhood Center this coming Wednesday night at 6:30. It is at 301 North Plum Street, or two blocks west from the library's south entrance.

Hope that you're not too Blueberried out.......and to see you there for a great opportunity to serve.

follow-up 8/27

it was an opportunity to have your youth leaders on the spot.

an opportunity to hear what drives their hearts.

and we learned that Lizziey likes chick flicks....and Kurt does not.

thanks for listening to our stories last night. I hope to begin some kind of "personal profile" time when each of you can share something about yourselves, what God is doing in your lives....or simply what makes you happy. I see another sign-up sheet in the not-so-distant future.

Speaking of sign-up sheets.....I'll make phone call reminders on the snack sign-ups....not to worry, we'll have your stomachs covered!

we hope to see you all Friday night at the Battle of the Bands. 6:50.

hey....

I'm thinking we're going to have an awesome year in DiVe......and I'm looking forward to a great time every Wednesday night. Now, to prove I was listening to your comments last night....here they are...in no specific order:

Notes from Wednesday night combined youth discussion, August 20, 2008


Regarding the room: would like to do a “graffiti” wall
Not needed to be repainted
Do something to personalize countertop/favorite verse
Leave couches in room
Fix/replace ceiling
Carpet room

Communication: Best way to communicate is by phone/set up phone tree
Student mailboxes in room to write each other encouraging notes
Shoe Box for anonymous questions/comments (is already in room)

Youth share: the “Catacombs”, a night solely for reflection & worship, sharing
Each share their favorite Bible story & why
Share their testimony
As part of worship, share what a song means to them

Service projects: Neighborhood Center
Adopt a Child
Plant a tree, tie prayers to it
Missions trip
Spend time in helping poor areas of town
Fundraiser to help with these projects

Topics/series: Revelations/Left Behind Series
When God Writes a Love Story
Chronicles of Narnia
How to present the Gospel to others
Teach others about Christ
Teach how to reach out for help, or to help

Activities: Movie night
Lock-in
Get together with other church groups
Youth camp with other churches
Photo scavenger hunt
Trade up (bigger & better) scavenger hunt
Ping-pong tournament

Other: T-shirts…..they want new t-shirts!
A majority, senior high, wanted to keep the name “Dive”
It was commented Jr. High could be different

Josh Stone also took down requests for songs for worship

Did I get it right? Did I miss anything? Let me know.
Just a reminder, next Wednesday Lizzie and I will be sharing about our faith walk, and the following Wednesday-September 3, we'll be meeting at the Neighborhood Center for a little sorting.