Hello CBC teens and parents!  Tomorrow night, Thursday, we have scheduled a barbeque from 5:00-8:00pm.  We are hoping both teens AND parents will join us.  We had planned on holding the event at Jenny's house in Dedham, but due to the questionable evening forecast, we have decided to hold the barbeque in the gym at the church.  We are really excited to share with you our plans for the Fall, show you our newly decorated space, and give you an idea of what goes on during a typical youth group night.  We would love to see you there!  It's going to be another great year!!!

Transition

As you may have heard Charlie recently resigned his post as the youth leader at CBC.  Jenny Flanders and Leigh-Anna Lavoie will be coordinating youth group now, and they would like to be able to be in touch with all of the parents.  Charlie's laptop with all of your contact information recently took a jump off his coffee table and is out of commission, so he can't give us your addresses and phone numbers.  We would really appreciate it if you would email
Leigh-anna@marscomputer.com with your contact information so that we can be in touch. 

Thank you.

CBC youth ministry team.

Don't forget

Don't forget we are meeting at Teddi's house for youth group tonight.  Call me if you need directions 4789738.

Rafting Trip Details

Here are the details for the rafting trip.

Meet in the CBC parking lot at 3:00 on Friday the 23rd.

Have $140.00 with you.  (and maybe some snack money)

If you are under 18, bring a parent who can sign a permission slip.

Bring dinner with you.

We will be sleeping in cabins, but you'll need to bring sleeping bags, pillows, towels, clothes, toiletries etc.

Bring shoes that can get wet, and won't fall off in the river.

Bring some warm clothes for time around the camp fire (it gets cold at night in Jackman, even in August)

If you are reading this an your name isn't Braden, Teddi, Ashley, Kes, Abby, Michelle, Philip, Kate or Leigh-Anna, then I don't know you are coming and I don't have you signed up.  Call me (478-9738) or e-mail me (ciiihodsdon@gmail.com) by noon on Thursday the 15th, or we won't be able to take you with us.

The rest of the summer

Hey guys and gals, just a quick heads up for the rest of the summer

7/29-8/2 we are volunteering at Camp Jireh in Hermon.  Be at camp by 8 AM and have your ride pick you up by 4:30 PM.  Bring a bag lunch.  If you are going to attend this you have to call me (478-9738) by 3:00 PM on Saturday so I can let the camp director know.

No 24/7 on Thursday August 1st, because of camp.

8/8 We will be at the Flander's for a cook out

8/15 Teddie's Family has invited us out for a bon-fire.

No Youth group 8/22

8/23-8/25 White Water Rafting for Sr. High.  Cost 140.  You must let me know by Monday 8/5 if you will be attending.

That will do it for our summer.  A new Schedule will kick off for September, and we will let you know what it is as it get's a little closer.

Update July 2013

Just wanted to take a minute to share a few important updates:

There will be No youth group this Saturday June 15th, as the youth ministry staff (along with many other ministry teams) has been asked to join the deacons for a special meeting of many of ministry leaders and church volunteers.

Instead of switching to our summer schedule on the 17th, we will have regular Youth Group (aka 24/7) on the 22nd to make up for not having youth group on the 15th.

Also, in case you missed out Saturday night, we heard some fantastic stories from people who had practiced the Private Discipline of "Pray, Read, Think, Write, Pray" (PRTWR) this week.  (I especially loved Abby's story about a tough situation with a teacher, and how some verses from Proverbs got her through it.)  We talked about our priorities again, and threw out the challenge to write down what you think your priorities should be, then see how much time you spend actually doing the things you say are important.  If you aren't sure what your priorities should be, then just keep track of what you actually do, and you'll find out what your priorities are.

Remember - God's priority for my life is that I become more like Jesus.

If we say that we love God with all of our Heart Soul Mind and Strength, and our Neighbor as ourself, but our actions don't back it up, we have a problem. As we read in James,  "Faith without actions is dead."

So while it is good to know what do you believe.  It is more important to be able to describe how what you believe impacts what you do.  After all "It is useless to know truth if you have no intention of doing anything about it."

How Faith Grows - private disciplines

Over the next several weeks we will be talking about the things that make faith grow, and hopefully getting better at communicating out personal story of faith (the word for this in 'christianese' is testimony).  

Tonight we discussed God's number one priority for our lives, being like Jesus.  In order to do this we need to learn how Jesus lived.

This leads us to number one on our list of Ways Faith Grows: Private Disciplines.
We have all been told "read your bible, pray every day and you'll grow grow grow". But how do we actually study the bible?

Answer.  if you've never really made opening the bible a habit, or if you have, but just don't feel like you are getting it, then try this:  Pray, read, think, write, pray

Pray: that God will help you understand what you are about to read.
Read: a chapter, start with one of the parts about Jesus.  They are labeled Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Think: what can I do because of what I just read, or what is something I need to remember.
Write: what you just thought.  Keep it short and sweet.  No longer than a single text message or tweet.
Pray:  that God will help you do something because of what you just read.

There you have it, a simply easy way to read your bible and pray every day.

Ps.  There are dozens of greate ways to study the bible.  If you've already got something that works well stick with it, or maybe try adding some piece of this suggestion.  I'd also love to hear what you are reading and thinking and writing, so post comments!