Contagious Tonight

Contagious tonight was cancelled, well sort of.  Tonight we gathered at NHC with 7 other youth groups from area churches.  We had a great turn out from the students.  

The Line Up:

• Cookout of burgers and dogs.
  
• Impromptu game of ultimate Frisbee on the parking lot
  
• Lots of little clusters of students and volunteers sitting around chillin
  
• Trivia Game
  
• Milepost 13 Band
  
• See You At The Pole Video
  
• FCA interview with a student
  
• Prayer for teachers and faculty
  
• Message - Reaching the hurting.  What will you do this school year?  Luke 10:25-37
  
• Commissioning prayer for students committing to reaching their school campus
  
• Prayer time with students in prayer groups
  
• Ice Cream compliments of Cold Stone Creamery in KDH
• Thunder on the Ridge - sliding down Jockey's Ridge.  It was sick! (video on Youtube tomorrow)
  

It was a great night and the end to a great and long day.  Pray for our students as they go back to school tomorrow as they enter the hallways once again.  I fully expect this to be an awesome school year for our students. 

This whole evening was put together and sponsored by the Outer Banks Youth Ministry Network.  

Food

Two topics that draw comments from the blogging world almost guaranteed:  Food and Politics.

I posted on politics and got some comments.  Now lets see what this stirs up (plus I'm hungry).

I created a squash recipe (sorry no cool pics like the pioneer lady or other world famous cooking blogs).  (notice I use ( ) a lot, it's because thats what I'm thinking but not what I'm really writing)

Ladies and Gentleman, The Fetasan Squash:

Take the beautiful yellow squash, at least 3 big ones or several small ones.

Slice them about 3/4 of an inch thick to 1 inch thick.

Slice some red (actually purple) onions in thin slices.

Melt a couple of Tablespoons of butter into a sizzling hot pan.

Dump the squash and onion into the pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Stir often and allow the squash to get a light brown crunchy crust on them.

Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan.

Then top with a healthy helping of crumbled feta cheese.

Pull it off the heat and place under the broiler to melt the cheese real good.

Put a heaping helping on a plate.

Place plate on top of your head.

Watch your tongue try to slap your brains out trying to get to it.

If it doesn't taste good to you then you didn't cook it like me.

Great served with any meat grilled, fried or baked. (spam doesn't count as meat it is it's own food group)

Politics

I'm tired of politics.  I can't wait for the election to be over with so we can move on to whatever and whoever is next.  I think I'm closing in on deciding who I'm gonna vote for.  

Wouldn't it be great if we had a normal regular person run for president and the nation got behind him or her?  Imagine having a president that could relate to making a mortgage payment every month on a $40k a year income?  Wait better yet what if we cleaned out the house and senate and put all "normal" people in there.  Then something would probably happen for the good of the nation and not a political party or party agenda.

There, I feel much better now.  I'm going to go wash cars for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation now.

Washing Cars for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Tomorrow Team Contagious Youth will be washing cars at Atlantic Financial Services in Kill Devil Hills to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  CFF is key in helping those with CF and also in researching new medications and treatments.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that:

• clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections; and
• obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.

In the 1950s, few children with cystic fibrosis lived to attend elementary school. Today, advances in research and medical treatments have further enhanced and extended life for children and adults with CF. Many people with the disease can now expect to live into their 30s, 40s and beyond.

If you are out and about in our area stop by and let me and our team wash your car for a donation.  All proceeds will go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Don't forget, if in our area to stop by Wendy's for lunch and mention CF when you order and 20% will go to CFF.  

If you are not in our area and would like to help you can go to my home page and donate to CFF online and help our team reach our goal of $1500.00.

If you live in the OBX area and would like to participate in the Great Strides walk we have plenty of room on our team, you don't have to be a teen or parent of team to be on Team Contagious Youth.

To find out how CF has impacted our family and church go to http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com

Watermelon Boy

Another high quality video for our youth group.

I'm an A+ Student

Just got my grade for my most recent class in seminary.  100 out of 100 possible points in Leading and Supervising Volunteers.  Last time I checked that would be an A+.  I knew my glasses made me smarter!

A Refresher Course

Sometimes we just need a reminder.  
This video interviews two of the coolest people I have had the privilege of knowing.

Guest Friendly Youth Ministry

I'm always impressed by students who come to youth group for the first time by themselves.  We often get guests that come with their friends, and that is fantastic, but to be a teenager and walk into a large group of other students knowing no one would be very scary for me.  So I tip my hat to the student who takes that risk.

How does your youth group treat the "newbie"?  Is the "newbie" made to feel welcomed by other students?

This is something we have been working on with our youth group.  We don't always pass the test but more and more I see students making the effort to reach out to the "newbie."  Several of our students have caught on to welcoming guests.  Some are still wrapped up in their own little world and group of friends that they aren't even aware when there are guests but that comes with the turf.

How do we create a welcoming youth group?

1.  Look for opportunities to teach about welcoming guests and truly loving others

2.  Look for a match.  Find a student that has something in common with the newbie, same grade, gender, school, sport, etc. and introduce the two.

3.  Set the example by welcoming the newbie yourself and take a student or two along with you when you do.

4.  Create some hang out time into your youth group gathering so students have time to get to know each other.

5.  Acknowledge students when you see they are welcoming.  "Hey, I saw you talking to the new kid.  Thanks for caring enough to reach out to him.  You are awesome!"

There are some newbies who don't want to be reached and could careless if someone talks to them or not.  I recently witnessed at our youth group.  A young lady obviously didn't want to be at youth group and when another girl went and talked with her the newbie was very cold towards her.  Sometimes parents don't think the youth group was welcoming when in fact their own child was cold as ice and hard as a rock.  Encourage students to not give up on reaching out when they encounter an unfriendly newbie.

Thunder Reminder

Contagious Tonight

Great night at the beach tonight. 

• Awesome group of students tonight
• Several guests and newbies
• Students reaching out to the newbies (a few of our students are catching on)
• Parent Pod was down a bit in attendance but was still a good time of fellowship
• Ocean temp was very nice
• 90 All beef Oscar Mayers were grilled
• Bible study was about trading in guilt for grace

Outline:

Psalm 51:1-17

Dealing with Guilt

1. Never ignore guilt
2. Seek forgiveness immediately
3. Explore the depth of your sin
4. Repent
5. Know that God's faithfulnes is bigger than your failure

Next Sunday:  Thunder on the Ridge . 5:00 to 8:30 at NHC

Hukilau Surf Camp

Pastor Steve combined his passion for surfing and his passion for Jesus Christ several years ago and Hukilau Surf Camp was born.  Today we finished up our surf camp season for 2008.

August 16th's Camp in a nut shell:

• 28 Surf Campers
• We went international with one from Russia and one from England
• Surf wasn't great today but campers learned how to withstand a pounding from the waves and boards, paddling and how to stand up on the board.
• Mickey McCarthy shared with the campers about surf photography and took some shots out in the water
• Nags Head lifeguard, Emily, shared about beach and water safety
• Steve shared how waves are generated
• I shared that God the creator of the surf desires a relationship with us and has a purpose for our lives
• More than 30 volunteers from the church served as coaches and support staff
• I forgot to rub sunblock on my noggin, Ouch!
• The lad from England won a gift certificate to SOS, a local surf shop at milepost 16ish
• Couple of other kids won fudge (not sure how that ties into surfing) from the Culinary Duck in Duck, NC
• All campers got a sweet Hukilau shirt, goodie bag, Noah's Arc DVD.

What is your passion and how can you use that passion to spread the love of Jesus Christ?