Younglife Event

A group of people from several area churches have been trying to figure out a way to have a community-wide youth group. I've been a part of that group and we've been meeting for about 6-7 months now. Our youth group has really died out, due to lack of kids, and we're seeing that in many of the area churches. So, we've been talking with an organization called "Younglife". Our pastor has been spearheading this campaign and Tuesday night we had some of the Peoria team come up and put on a sample club for us. We had 6 different churches represented that night and over 30 people come to see what it was about. And, boy, did we have fun! We had a great group of people come and are so hopeful that the word will get out about this. That way more and more people will show interest in this program and how they can help get this off the ground here in town. We need something where teens can go that is safe and teaches them the Word of God and how to live as a Christian during that critical time in their lives. Younglife makes it their mission to reach out to the disinterested. Those who don't even know about God. What a great ministry to bring to our kids!

There were a couple leaders there from Peoria as well as some teens and they are the ones who put on the skits and lesson. This was a game called "Win or Don't". It was so funny!

This was a giant game of Jenga and I swear, I was laughing so hard during this. I will try and get the video uploaded of this, because it was so fun! Having lots of trouble doing it, so if I can't get it posted, you'll just have to take my word for it. :-) Just imagine these 6 people trying to play Jenga while having someone blow them in the face with a leaf blower at the same time an air horn is going off and a squirt gun is being blasted at them! It was awesome! When one of the guys said, "Is that all you've got?!", Ryan, one of the leaders, jumped on his back to add to it. Like I said, hilarious!

They showed a video of their camps, which teens can go to once a year either as a student or as a helper. Looked amazing! The team from Princeton is going to Colorado this year. I told Scott, the lead rep for the Peoria branch, that I almost wished I had teenagers, just so they could be a part of it! You'll know I said ALMOST though. ;-)

Afterwards was a question/answer session. Seemed to be a lot of interest there, so I'm really so excited to see this ministry take off, though I know there is a lot of work ahead to see this materialize. Our next meeting is to decide whether or not we feel led to go in this direction with this ministry. And, if we do think this is where we want to go, we're praying that God continues to lead us and open the doors we need for volunteers, finances, and interest from the kids in our community!