Summer will be here before you know it!  And were taking off for Falls Creek up in Oklahoma for our youth summer camp, July 23rd – July 28th.  If you’re not familiar with Falls Creek, then check this out…

What is Falls Creek?

Falls Creek is the LARGEST youth camp in the WORLD.  They can fit up to 7,000 students together for one week!  One Week!  That’s crazy!  And, while the size itself is pretty impressive, the things that happen during a week at Falls Creek are even more incredible.

We will be staying in the same cabin as last year (the one up on the mount), and it holds up to 56  people (26 guys, 26 girls, and 4 cooks).  And, we want to fill every one of those spots.  So, we’ve got plenty of room for you … and all your friends!

Rec games are a major part of camp!  They’ve got lots of tournaments for churches to compete in: 3-point basketball shoot out, disc golf, horseshoes, softball, and volleyball.   If tournaments aren’t your thing, maybe you’ll enjoy  the skate park, High Ropes Challenge / Obstacle Course, Lake activities, or the hiking trails.  And because its nestled in the heart of the Arbuckle Mountains, Falls Creek has some of the best trails to walk. On the last day of camp they have a 5K run for students and sponsors to compete in.

But the best part of the week… an opportunity to grow closer in your relationship with God.  Students will be challenged to engage God in some intense services with amazing worship and in-depth bible study in the tabernacle and in our own individual cabin times.

We are still looking for both chaperons and cooks for our week of camp.  If possible we need you to attend a pre-camp orientation meeting still TBD.  We’ll take the Church Van if we have a large enough group.

We are going during the 8th week of Falls Creek and our leaders will include the Ed Newton and the Nick Thurmond Band.  The theme this year is “Undiscovered Country” and It’s based on Jeremiah 33:3. We are having our annual Dinner and Dessert Auction mid-April.  You can help to offset the cost of camp by bringing desserts, and helping to serve.  Our Goal for camp is to raise $5,500.

We will begin accepting registration April 1st.  To reserve your (student’s) spot, we need a non-refundable $50 deposit by May 8th.  After this date, there will be a late fee of $30 tacked on to the price of camp. So, sign up now for what is going to be one of the best weeks ever.

TRUE LOVE WAITS (TLW)… is a commitment to following God’s plan for purity. In the Bible He calls us to be both pure and holy. Sexual purity includes refraining from sex outside of marriage, but that is not all. There is more to it than that. TLW is a comprehensive call to sexual purity that involves the mind, the spirit, and the body, as well as the actions that accompany those facets of our lives.

This commitment is huge! And, to be honest should not be entered into lightly. That’s why some may not be ready to enter into a TLW commitment.

Our study in TLW will be done in several different phases, with a special commitment service to close out our study.

Phase 1. …

Phase 2. …

Phase 3. …

Phase 4. …

Commitment Service. On the morning of _____________, students will have the opportunity to make their TLW commitments before God, the church congregation and their parents. As we have said already, this is a very special commitment. Because of this fact, we are encouraging parents to find some tangible expression of that commitment–a token if you will. It can be anything that family chooses to give. Some have used rings, while others have chosen charms, bracelets, or literal tokens to represent that commitment.

Ultimately, it is up to each individual family to decide what is best for their student and their situation. JamesAvery.com is a great place to look at some options, as well as FamilyChristian.com. Generally, you can find these tokens by searching for “Purity” or “True Love Waits” on each site. These are just two suggested places to start.

If you have questions, please feel free to email the student ministry office at youth@vansickle.org.

Our prayer in Flood Student Ministries is that students and families will be flooded (i.e. completely overwhelmed) by the love that God has for them in Christ Jesus. The problem is that so many people have come to church and leave without ever having seen the Glory of God. Even some of the people in the Bible left disappointed, because their own “stuff” kept them from seeing Christ’s Greatness. The word “Glory” is almost lost from our vocabularies today, and because of this many people don’t know what the Bible or Church means when we speak of the “Glory of Christ”. But, really it’s not something that the world is unfamiliar with. Glory is the thing we see and celebrate when we witness something great: it can be a sporting event; it can be a movie; it can be a scenic view; or it can be a person. Simply put, Glory is that thing that instills awe in us.

We long for the students and families withn our student ministry to be completely filled with awe… an awe for God, as a result of the crazy things that He is doing in their lives. We want to be a place that’s characterized by goose-bumps… because our students are experiencing the power of God everyday and are seeking to relay their stories of the god-stuff happening in their lives. For this to happen, though, we’ve got to be willing to step out of the boat. For the last few weeks, we’ve been participating in a study called I AM SECOND. It’s a series that features the stories of various individuals, ranging from athletes to movie stars, from children to adults, and everything else in between. Those featured share why it is that they have chosen to be Second in their lives, and what it is that brought them to that point. Their stories are remarkable.

The purpose in us sharing these stories is ultimately to help us understand that WE HAVE A STORY TOO! And God wants us to use it. Are you SECOND? If so, then share your story today!

Update: Our Videos to Date

The last time we went to a movie, I remember looking at my family when it was over and asking: Do you think we need to stay until after the credits? We all shrugged our shoulders, and said, “Nah”. Why the question? Because, more and more movies are strategically putting “stingers” (post-credit clips) at the VERY end of their movies. Pirates of the Carri bean, X-men: the Last Stand, and X-men Origins, Iron Man and Iron Man 2, Kung Fu Panda, and many others are all guilty of putting surprise scenes in the film after the final name flashes before the screen.

I did a little research to see how many other films actually do this, and I was surprised to see that literally 100s of films put post-credit clips at the end of their movie. I get so frustrated when we leave a movie early, only to find out that we missed one of the most critical scenes in the whole film. I find myself often thinking… I WISH I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AT THE END.

Well, with the help of modern technology, all you have to do is go online before going to a theater to watch a flick. There are whole websites that devoted to informing the public of which movies one should sit through the rolling acknowledgments. MovieStingers.com says… “The majority of people who watch movies tend to leave the theater as soon as the credits pop up, just to have someone tell them later that they missed an extra scene after the credits. Since the 1960′s movie producers have been adding extra footage after the credits of films and since then more and more movies are now including MovieStingers. Our site allows users to quickly view whether or not movies have stingers without spoiling the ending for them.”

But what about bigger matters… what about something like life? There are so many people feel the same way about life. What if we could have some insight into what was going to happen for us after the final credits role. Well, we do have a source we can turn to for the answers we seek–God’s word.

In the Scriptures we find that there is an undeniable truth that every person will face… Unless Christ comes back for His Church, we are all going to die. It says in Hebrews, “People die once, and after that they are judged” (9:27, GWT). Afterward, we face the eternal consequences for the decisions we made in life… and its one of two fates: Hell or Heaven.

We’re gonna be spending some time opening up God’s Word to find out about each of these “stingers” and how it is we can be better prepared when the last curtain is called.

With the Revival services here at the church, Fall Festival, and other stuff that’s kept us crazy busy, I’m happy to inform you that EXPERIENCING GOD is starting back up again. If you haven’t yet made it through week two, you will want to catch up. AND… If you’ve not been at all to xGod, then we ask you to come check it out. You’ll have some work to catch up on, but it’s well worth it. Sunday @ 6 pm.

Youth Ministry 360 had some great insights on reaching out to students who used to attend youth group but have since disappeared. This is a great article I thought I’d share with our youth ministry volunteers as they reach out to students who may have visited sometime this year, but whose chairs have since grown cold along the way.

Don’t Waste Any Time
Don’t wait to connect with a disengaged student. If you wait two or three or four weeks, you miss the window of opportunity that says, “I care about you. I noticed you were gone. You matter to me, so I called you.” If there is a problem, you can insure that you are quickly addressing it.

It should be a habit of yours that if you have a student miss your small group, or Sunday School, you should send him a Facebook message or text the same day he misses. Even if you know the reason. A timely response to a student’s absence says to him that they do matter, and that they are missed.

Address The Problem
If there’s an issue within your group that has caused a student to leave, you must do everything within your power to address it. If it’s a disagreement between students, you have the amazing opportunity to help facilitate the dirty work of reconciliation. Internal group issues are very difficult to address, but they provide great opportunities to teach students that despite differences, the Body of Christ is to be unified. It’s hard work, but effectively dealing with the interpersonal strife of a small group can increase the strength of the group immensely.

Maybe the problem is outside your ability to address it. I know a student who suddenly stopped coming to Sunday School. When a leader looked into it, she found out this girl’s parent’s divorce had been finalized. She had begun to spend the weekends with her Dad who lived in another city. Sometimes the reason for students’ disengagement is out of our hands.

Don’t Give Up
When you reach out to a student who has recently dropped off the map, he may very well tell you he’s done coming to your small group. Don’t take no for an answer . . . the first time. Be persistent; call back the next time he misses and invite him back. But be persistent within reason. At some point, you have done all you can do. If you let a student know he is wanted, if and when he does decide to come back, the transition will be considerably easier.

Enlist The Help Of A Student Leader
Many times students can see results we can’t. If possible, enlist the help of a student leader to reach out to a disengaged student. If a student feels like her peers miss her and want her back, she stands a greater chance of reengaging with the group.

As I was pushing my daughter on the swings, I heard familiar sounds behind me. The boys were playing football again. For whatever reason, the boy who had so humorously left with the ball had returned. Game on .