SNL Christmas Party

This party was designed by the teens back on December 7th, with the intention of being a Christmas celebration with other members of our church family. A list of 70 members from our church who are 75 years and older were invited to come out for a time of Christmas carols, bingo, hot chocolate and a skit, but we discovered Sunday afternoon that it would not be a good night for the vast majority of our guests. So our party was just for us, but that's alright because we still had a great night!


Starting off with some killers decorations to the Family Life Center, we decked out the place with lights, Christmas trees, and festive table decorations. Baked goods ranging from brownies to cookies to homemade fudge (Yes that was my wife!) was washed down with hot chocolate.

The night started with a skit performed by a talented group of thespians from our group, "The Big Red Box" which looked at the sell-your-soul approach to selling Christmas gifts during the crazy holiday season, and the true gift that is Christ. The most memorable part of the skit, however might be when 20 helium balloons were
sent flying high into the ceiling at the end of the skit as the performers tried to hand them out to the audience. (And at this point they are still there!)

From there we spent time chowing down on the wonderful supply of Christmas treats while listening to Christmas music in the background.

Not to be outdone by a CD, we brought in Kris Kroll to lead us in some Christmas caroling of our own! The video below shows the 12 days of Christmas rendition we sang in which the teens were split into the days and sang/performed each day's activity. Alot of fun!


From there we had our crazy bingo game which turned out to be just as advertised, CRAZY! With a table filled to the brim with gag gifts, the bingo cards starting flying! The first time through playing, when someone got a Bingo, they chose two gifts from the table. Once all the gifts were picked out, Bingo winners were able to take only one gift, but had to steal it from someone around them...We never cleared the bingo cards after a winner, but kept plugging along, so there was a lot of craziness as multiple winners raced around the gym stealing what they thought would be a good gift.

We finished the night by watching the below video clip on what the birth of Christ means for us, how His coming to earth was such a huge deal; the God of gods, King of kings, Lord of lords, chose to humble Himself to the place of a servant...to give His life as a sacrifice...to serve and love on the needs of others...and to ultimately reconnect people to God. The challenge is still to celebrate this amazing event in the model of Christ: By giving, by loving, by serving...How does your family celebrate Christmas? Lots and lots of useless gifts? I challenge you to be creative and Christ-centered...Living, loving and giving as Jesus would and did do.

SNL : Giving Back in Thanks

This past Sunday night we spent the focus of our time at SNL doing a food scavenger hunt for Water Street Missions 8th Annual Food Drive. 40 teens were split up into teams of 3-5 and headed out into cold, wet Millersville with an adult driver and a list of items. Teens went door to door asking for donations. After an hour, each team reported back to the church where they counted up their items. They received 2 points for every item on the list, and 1 point for items not on the list. After some hot chocolate and cookies, we watched a short video clip challenging us to remember Jesus' words in Matthew 25: "What you do for the least of these, you do to Me." Teens were challenged to not only be thankful this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, but to give back out of the great abundance they've received. So many people are focused on the economic problems our country is facing currently, but it is in not even close to the troubles impoverished people continue to face in our country and worldwide.

The group of Ande Olson, Josh Carle, Dan Short and Jeremy Vital collected the most points, winning by the slight margin of 4 points. They were given $125 to choose alternative gifts from "Gifts that Give" which will be given in their name this Christmas. (Click here for more information about this great ministry) They chose to give: a Week of water purification at the Hold the Children orphanage in Haiti; A sewing machine to help a young Congolese widow support her family through Hope International; breakfast, lunch, snacks and diapers for one child for a week at Mom's House; 83 meals for a starving child in Haiti or Jamaica through the Cookie Sale to Combat World Hunger; and one week of art and craft supplies for a room at the child care center at the YWCA of Lancaster.

I would HIGHLY recommend and encourage your family to consider alternative gifts this holiday season as a way to give back in celebration of the joy of Christ's birth, rather than buying into all the Christmas materialism that we so often follow along with.

Thank you to all the amazing adults who helped drive! We couldn't have done it without you! Hundreds of food items were collected and dropped off at Water Street Mission the next day.

Dodgeball Champions!

Just wanted to post the official winning photos of our victorious team from this fall's dodgeball tournament. The tournament was held at Camp Hill UMC on Sunday October 19th.

The next tournament is scheduled for Sunday February 15th, 2009 at Messiah College!

30 teens and 5 adults made up the DB4JC team (Dodgeball for Jesus Christ) that participated in our second tournament of the year, competing against 11 other youth group teams including the two teams we lost to this past spring. We never really faced a close game on our way to an 8-0 record, which included a win in the championship game over one of the teams we lost to last year. I also want to mention that although we had some great performances throughout the day, Nick Patterson clearly holds the MVP award for our championship game. Flying low under the radar all day long, he came up with at least 4 catches in the big game (which means 4 of our players got back into the game, while sending 4 of the other team out).

Probably most important to me was the compliment given our team by one of the refs. As you many imagine, there can be alot of teens who bend the rules intentionally or unknowingly during the heat of competition. This of course leads to alot of tension between teams and t he refs. However, one ref told us later that she appreciated our team because she knew when we played on her court, she didn't have to worry about us. After the tournament, over 250 teenagers and adults joined together in a time of worship, a beautiful way to show that although we were all competing throughout the day, we still have the unifying bond of Christ tying us together. And giving us all a serious perspective check, we learned during worship that two girls in attendance lost their mother in a car accident during our time on Sunday. Abbie Manley, her Youth Pastor, is a dear friend to Jenna and I and the devastation of such news can only be given to God in request for His peace. I echo these words from one of the worship songs we sang as a prayer for those two teen girls:

Take them to that place, Lord,
To that secret place,
Where they can be with You,
And You can make them like You.
Wrap them in Your arms
Wrap them in Your arms
Wrap them in Your arms

Fall Retreat 2008: Connected (Nov 21-23)

Our Fall Retreat theme this year was "Connected" and centered on relationships. And our relationships as a group received some extra confined time in the car. Icy road conditions forced an hour and a half ride to Emmitsburg, MD into a 3 1/2 hour ride for some, and for yours truly, a 7 hour ride (Which included an hour long stay on an icy hill while waiting for an accident to be cleared, and dinner at Frank's Pizza)

Meeting at Summit Lake Campground with three other local youth groups (Millersville Bible, Lampeter UMC and Lampeter Church of the Brethern), 150 teens and adults got together for the weekend.
Unlike most other retreats or conferences that have someone up front teaching 4 or 5 main points, the retreat was centered around the concept of relationships, and was explored through experience and conversation. Friday night, teens created a relational grid that included specific names of people within the spheres of School, Work, Home, Community, Family and Church.

Saturday morning, each youth group split off for a time of serving the needs of the community around. Our group faced the cold weather and stood outside a mall, helping the Salvation Army greet mall-goers with the all-too-famous red smocks and bells.

Saturday afternoon held lots of possibilities for free time including naps, showers, card games, and an awesome game of football. After dinner, all the groups were mixed up into teams for a game of Mission Improbable: a tweaked game of Capture the Flag in which every team member had a physical limitation such as being blind, mute, or unable to walk. It was hilarious to watch these groups try to be stealthy while they're carrying someone on their back, but the purpose was to create a team-oriented activity in which it was more important to cooperate and support one another's needs, rather than simply trying to win the game.

Saturday night was probably my favorite session time. The building we had been having our large group gatherings (the Tabernacle) was turned into a deeply reflective environment. Stations were set up based on 7 topics of relationships: love, care, forgiveness, peace, compassion, truth and grace. Teens were asked to use the relational maps they had created and explore which relationships they needed to apply those characteristics to. Each word had music, Scripture, prayer focus and a letter writing component. Teens were challenged not to think about WHAT they were getting out of the weekend, but rather, WHO they were there for this weekend. Who did God want them to add love, or care, or truth to the relationship.

Sunday morning concluded with a time where small groups looked at passages in Ephesians, Colossians, and Romans to determine how we as a community of Christ-followers should act towards one another. Each group developed a code or creed of conduct based on the truth of Scripture. We talked as a group whether the components of these Scriptures would describe our group, and if not, how can we move towards these goals so that we can put the relationship with Christ as the staple of our youth group.

To finish our time, all 150 of us gathered together for communion, taking it in our small groups. We were reminded that we take communion not only to remember Jesus and His saving sacrifice, but that we also commit to the Way He lived, not only as individuals, but as a community of followers.

The weekend was filled with fun: card games, football games, mission improbable (at least it was fun to watch!) The weekend was filled with worship: Signs of Scarlet rocked out and led some amazing times of praise. The weekend was filled with relationships: small groups, cabin mates, other teens from other groups...And most importantly, how our relationship with Christ is the center of it all. For the 18 teens and 5 adults from Grace, it was certainly a weekend to remember how we're all connected to Christ, His Body (that's us!), and everyone else in our relational map.