Sometimes we just need to hear it from the kids...
"I'm a sophomore at Onalaska high school. Before I met God I drank a lot and was badly influenced by my friends. Since attending youth group and getting closer to God I have learned that drinking is not a good choice. Thanks for supporting our youth group and helping kids turn their lives around."
"Dear Young Life Supporter,
I grew up going to church but when I started going to our youth group in 6th grade I really started my relationship with God. I am now a sophomore in high school and still going to that same youth group. I have been involved in many Young Life events that have helped my relationship with God grow. Thank you so so much for all that you have done, I probably wouldn't be the person I am today without Young Life. Thank you for all your support."
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
12 Days of Christmas Madness Meltdown - In Retrospect
The new year has come. Christmas is over, and the kids will be back in school and the kids are back in school. I hope they are able to look back on their Christmas break and remember some good times. The 12 days of madness went better than I ever could have expected. I was so blessed by the amount of food that was donated for the events. The generosity of the churches in our area has blown my mind; it's awesome to see them working as Christ intended, meeting every need that they see. Every day during the last two weeks God proved His awesomeness. We had just a few goals for these events: give students something fun and safe to do over break, and give students who normally won't attend "religious" functions a taste of what Young Life is all about. God has bigger goals than I do, and He never ceases to go above and beyond my comprehension.
Several years ago, I had a 7th grader attending the youth group I helped Levi Althauser with. After a few years of involvement, this particular student decided that Atheism was the direction that they wanted to go, and has not been to a church function since then. In fact, has become a very outspoken Atheist, and has been known for outwardly expressing that they don't want to have anything to do with God. This student attended multiple events over Christmas break, hearing the Gospel message more than once, and still choosing to come back to the events. Throughout the weeks, I was able to reunite my relationship with this student. Young Life has a saying, "As long as you love kids, they will respond." I don't know how any of the messages she hear affected her, but the fact that she returned to our events was SO AWESOME. God is so good.
Another student had been very uninvolved throughout the last year, and was pretty much drug to one of the events. After attending several events over the 2 weeks, this student expressed gratitude for being forced to the events, admitted that they had fun, and committed to coming to our Campaigners group every week (our more intensive Bible study group).
Literally every single one of the events, there was total confirmation that God was present and working mightily. It was very clear that each day, the students who attended the events were there for a reason. One day we had 45 students, another day only 10. And each day, God knew exactly who needed to be there.
Breakdown of the 12 days:
Day 1 - Dive-in Theater - We went to Thorbecks pool to see The Polar Express while we all swam in the pool. 2.5 hours of swimming is so exhausting! Kids had a great time, and were definitely wiped out by the end of the night.
Day 2 - Halo Tournament - The Onalaska Community Youth Center put on the event, we just showed up. Huge turnout! The winning team came from the losers bracket and worked their way up through the final rounds, beating the team who was in the lead twice in a row. It was a pretty exciting night!
Day 3 - Christmas Movie Marathon - We watched Elf, The Grinch (origional/animated), Rudolph (claymation!), and Charlie Brown's Christmas. It was nice to have a chill afternoon.
Day 4 - Surprise Christmas Party! We didn't let the kids know what was going on until they showed up! Food, fun games, dance party, and the Christmas Story.
Day 5 - Gingerbread House Making Contest - We split the group into 4 teams. They were judged on 3 things: Stability, creativity, and the story that went along with their gingerbread house. I was blown away by the creativity! One group tore the roof off of their house and decorated the inside of the gingerbread house. They made up a story about how the Godzilla of Christmas Past had attacked the house. Another group built a catapult onto the roof of their gingerbread house, to protect it against the Christmas Killer. One group decorated their house very sweetly and made up a story of a newlywed couple's first Christmas together (they named the people in their story Bethany and Nathan Hutson). The final group was the leaders (the students wanted to compete students against leaders). We had a 2 story gingerbread house built on a lilly pad in the middle of a lake, complete with a diving board off the second story in the shape of a Christmas tree, and a Christmas tree slide out one of the windows. You really don't want to know the story. Lets just say that we are going to make a movie out of it, and it will be released this Spring.
Day 6 - Bonfire - One of my favorite events. I talked more about it in one of my other posts...
Day 7 - Photo Scavenger Hunt - EPIC. We had two teams, and each team had a list of photos that they had to take of their team doing specific tasks. These tasks included: Pumping someone else's gas, your entire team upside down, dunking a team members head completely under water, tying a stranger's shoe, combing a strangers hair, singing happy birthday to a stranger, the entire team in a small place, an image of diversity, God's beautiful creation, an image of peace, and so much more. There was a time limit, and everyone had to be back at the youth center at a certain time, or their team would lose points. My favorite pics included: an entire team squished into a honey bucket, and an entire team doing handstands against a tree. It was a pretty entertaining afternoon, and the kids seemed to really enjoy it.
Day #8 - After Christmas Christmas Party - complete with a white elephant gift exchange. Surprisingly, the most popular item in the gift exchange was a coat hanger. ??? Sometimes I don't understand high schoolers.
Day #9 - CHILL TIME - Watched movies, ate food, and played a fabulous game of Cranium. It was a good time, and nice to have a day where we could all just relax.
Day #10 - Cookie Baking Blizzard - The guys outnumbered the girls for this event, something I wasn't expecting! Judy Hansen was gracious enough to let us destroy her kitchen for the day. We started the day off with home made lattes. After 8 hours of baking we had a batch of sugar cookies, 2 batches of gingerbread men, 2 batches of shortbread, 3 batches of chocolate chip cookies, 1 batch of Mexican wedding cakes, and 2 batches of giant ginger cookies, totally approximately 30 DOZEN cookies. The day wouldn't have been complete without being decked out (guys included) in aprons, and having an intense flour fight. It was a really great time to just hang out, have fun, and consuming way too much sugar and caffeine.
Day #11 - Originally this was going to be the Mud Olympics, but the ground was frozen solid, so we did an spontaneous movie day with a trip to Dairy Dan's for some ice cream.
Day 12 - New Years Eve Party - By the time this day arrived, I was completely exhausted. I was excited for the event, excited for the week to be over, and relying completely on the scripture that reminds me that God's grace is sufficient. Ken and Jennifer Zandecki were gracious enough to allow us to use their shop for our event. We had the Wii, Xbox, and Nintendo set up, a stack of board games, and a handful of group games. We had a great turnout for the event, and it was pretty hilarious watching some of the guys in Wii Dance. At about 11:30, we lit some candles and turned off all of the lights, and circled up for some God time. I had the students reflect back on the last year, and think about the good times, the bad times, the weird times, and the blah times. Then we thought about the times that were going to matter 10 years from now - what did we do in the last year that truely mattered? What should we have done differently, how should the next year look differently? I used the first part of Hebrews 12 which reads:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
I then asked the student to think about what things they need to throw off, in order that they may run with perseverance the race marked out for us. What did we need to do to make it so everything that we did in the next year actually mattered? We had a giant wooden cross, and I challenged the kids to come up and write down on a piece of paper the things that they needed to throw off, and then nail that piece of paper to the cross. So many students came forward, making commitments in order that they may run towards what Christ has planned for them without hindrance. God worked in the hearts of many students that night, and it was so exciting to be a part of.
I am so grateful for all of the things that God did over Christmas break. He never ceases to amaze me, humble me, and challenge me. I am also so very grateful that the 12 days of madness is over. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. You will never know the extent to which God uses your prayers and actions to further His Kingdom.
Grace and Peace,
Bethany
Several years ago, I had a 7th grader attending the youth group I helped Levi Althauser with. After a few years of involvement, this particular student decided that Atheism was the direction that they wanted to go, and has not been to a church function since then. In fact, has become a very outspoken Atheist, and has been known for outwardly expressing that they don't want to have anything to do with God. This student attended multiple events over Christmas break, hearing the Gospel message more than once, and still choosing to come back to the events. Throughout the weeks, I was able to reunite my relationship with this student. Young Life has a saying, "As long as you love kids, they will respond." I don't know how any of the messages she hear affected her, but the fact that she returned to our events was SO AWESOME. God is so good.
Another student had been very uninvolved throughout the last year, and was pretty much drug to one of the events. After attending several events over the 2 weeks, this student expressed gratitude for being forced to the events, admitted that they had fun, and committed to coming to our Campaigners group every week (our more intensive Bible study group).
Literally every single one of the events, there was total confirmation that God was present and working mightily. It was very clear that each day, the students who attended the events were there for a reason. One day we had 45 students, another day only 10. And each day, God knew exactly who needed to be there.
Breakdown of the 12 days:
Day 1 - Dive-in Theater - We went to Thorbecks pool to see The Polar Express while we all swam in the pool. 2.5 hours of swimming is so exhausting! Kids had a great time, and were definitely wiped out by the end of the night.
Day 2 - Halo Tournament - The Onalaska Community Youth Center put on the event, we just showed up. Huge turnout! The winning team came from the losers bracket and worked their way up through the final rounds, beating the team who was in the lead twice in a row. It was a pretty exciting night!
Day 3 - Christmas Movie Marathon - We watched Elf, The Grinch (origional/animated), Rudolph (claymation!), and Charlie Brown's Christmas. It was nice to have a chill afternoon.
Day 4 - Surprise Christmas Party! We didn't let the kids know what was going on until they showed up! Food, fun games, dance party, and the Christmas Story.
Day 5 - Gingerbread House Making Contest - We split the group into 4 teams. They were judged on 3 things: Stability, creativity, and the story that went along with their gingerbread house. I was blown away by the creativity! One group tore the roof off of their house and decorated the inside of the gingerbread house. They made up a story about how the Godzilla of Christmas Past had attacked the house. Another group built a catapult onto the roof of their gingerbread house, to protect it against the Christmas Killer. One group decorated their house very sweetly and made up a story of a newlywed couple's first Christmas together (they named the people in their story Bethany and Nathan Hutson). The final group was the leaders (the students wanted to compete students against leaders). We had a 2 story gingerbread house built on a lilly pad in the middle of a lake, complete with a diving board off the second story in the shape of a Christmas tree, and a Christmas tree slide out one of the windows. You really don't want to know the story. Lets just say that we are going to make a movie out of it, and it will be released this Spring.
Day 6 - Bonfire - One of my favorite events. I talked more about it in one of my other posts...
Day 7 - Photo Scavenger Hunt - EPIC. We had two teams, and each team had a list of photos that they had to take of their team doing specific tasks. These tasks included: Pumping someone else's gas, your entire team upside down, dunking a team members head completely under water, tying a stranger's shoe, combing a strangers hair, singing happy birthday to a stranger, the entire team in a small place, an image of diversity, God's beautiful creation, an image of peace, and so much more. There was a time limit, and everyone had to be back at the youth center at a certain time, or their team would lose points. My favorite pics included: an entire team squished into a honey bucket, and an entire team doing handstands against a tree. It was a pretty entertaining afternoon, and the kids seemed to really enjoy it.
Day #8 - After Christmas Christmas Party - complete with a white elephant gift exchange. Surprisingly, the most popular item in the gift exchange was a coat hanger. ??? Sometimes I don't understand high schoolers.
Day #9 - CHILL TIME - Watched movies, ate food, and played a fabulous game of Cranium. It was a good time, and nice to have a day where we could all just relax.
Day #10 - Cookie Baking Blizzard - The guys outnumbered the girls for this event, something I wasn't expecting! Judy Hansen was gracious enough to let us destroy her kitchen for the day. We started the day off with home made lattes. After 8 hours of baking we had a batch of sugar cookies, 2 batches of gingerbread men, 2 batches of shortbread, 3 batches of chocolate chip cookies, 1 batch of Mexican wedding cakes, and 2 batches of giant ginger cookies, totally approximately 30 DOZEN cookies. The day wouldn't have been complete without being decked out (guys included) in aprons, and having an intense flour fight. It was a really great time to just hang out, have fun, and consuming way too much sugar and caffeine.
Day #11 - Originally this was going to be the Mud Olympics, but the ground was frozen solid, so we did an spontaneous movie day with a trip to Dairy Dan's for some ice cream.
Day 12 - New Years Eve Party - By the time this day arrived, I was completely exhausted. I was excited for the event, excited for the week to be over, and relying completely on the scripture that reminds me that God's grace is sufficient. Ken and Jennifer Zandecki were gracious enough to allow us to use their shop for our event. We had the Wii, Xbox, and Nintendo set up, a stack of board games, and a handful of group games. We had a great turnout for the event, and it was pretty hilarious watching some of the guys in Wii Dance. At about 11:30, we lit some candles and turned off all of the lights, and circled up for some God time. I had the students reflect back on the last year, and think about the good times, the bad times, the weird times, and the blah times. Then we thought about the times that were going to matter 10 years from now - what did we do in the last year that truely mattered? What should we have done differently, how should the next year look differently? I used the first part of Hebrews 12 which reads:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
I then asked the student to think about what things they need to throw off, in order that they may run with perseverance the race marked out for us. What did we need to do to make it so everything that we did in the next year actually mattered? We had a giant wooden cross, and I challenged the kids to come up and write down on a piece of paper the things that they needed to throw off, and then nail that piece of paper to the cross. So many students came forward, making commitments in order that they may run towards what Christ has planned for them without hindrance. God worked in the hearts of many students that night, and it was so exciting to be a part of.
I am so grateful for all of the things that God did over Christmas break. He never ceases to amaze me, humble me, and challenge me. I am also so very grateful that the 12 days of madness is over. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. You will never know the extent to which God uses your prayers and actions to further His Kingdom.
Grace and Peace,
Bethany
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