Happy New Years everybody!
Here are the final details for the New Years Eve Lock-In:
WHO: All Youth Groupers and College Folk
WHAT: Food, Fun, Fear Factor Games, Fellowshippin'
WHEN: 7 PM to 7 AM
WHERE: Robinson Avenue
WHAT DO I BRING?: EVERYONE NEEDS TO BRING SOME SNACK FOODS AND A 2 LITER!! You can also bring sleeping bags and pillows if you would like to sleep at all. We'll have sleeping areas for those who choose to.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
NEW YEARS EVE LOCK-IN
The time has come to celebrate a new year! There is a church-wide party that night (December 31) as well, so the youth can obviously feel free to come and play games and such with the whole crowd, but our Lock-in will officially begin at 7:00 pm, and end at 7:00 am. We'll have lots to do, but they can feel free to bring any games (video games, board games, etc.) that they would like.
Just to re-cap for quick glances later...
WHO? Any RAVE Youth Groupers AND College folks!
WHEN? 7 PM on Dec. 31 to 7 AM on Jan. 1
WHERE? Everything will take place at the Church Building
WHAT DO I BRING? Games, snacks, etc. and SLEEPING BAGS AND PILLOWS!
It's gonna be a BLAST!!
Just to re-cap for quick glances later...
WHO? Any RAVE Youth Groupers AND College folks!
WHEN? 7 PM on Dec. 31 to 7 AM on Jan. 1
WHERE? Everything will take place at the Church Building
WHAT DO I BRING? Games, snacks, etc. and SLEEPING BAGS AND PILLOWS!
It's gonna be a BLAST!!
Christmas Party Highlights!
Here are a few special moments we had at the Christmas Party. Note the quality clothing we all had on..
Obviously, this is just a taste of the merriment, so check out my Facebook album for all the beauty!
Friday, December 17, 2010
CHRISTMAS PARTY and SCAVENGER HUNT!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!
I just wanted to give you all the most updated info on the Christmas Party!
WHAT: Scavenger hunt followed by a dinner and "Dirty Santa" Christmas party for the Youth Group.
WHEN: This Saturday, December 18, meet at the Hankins' house at 5:30. Done by 9:00.
WHERE: Hankins home (3002 Valley View Dr.)
WHAT DO I BRING: 1. Wear the cheesiest Christmas sweater you can find. 2. A gift for under $5.
I can't wait to see everybody there! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good afternoon!
P.S. More info coming very soon about the New Years Eve Lock-in, Winter Retreat, and the rebirth of CRAVE!
I just wanted to give you all the most updated info on the Christmas Party!
WHAT: Scavenger hunt followed by a dinner and "Dirty Santa" Christmas party for the Youth Group.
WHEN: This Saturday, December 18, meet at the Hankins' house at 5:30. Done by 9:00.
WHERE: Hankins home (3002 Valley View Dr.)
WHAT DO I BRING: 1. Wear the cheesiest Christmas sweater you can find. 2. A gift for under $5.
I can't wait to see everybody there! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good afternoon!
P.S. More info coming very soon about the New Years Eve Lock-in, Winter Retreat, and the rebirth of CRAVE!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
WEEK 1: DONE! So here we go into real life..
Well, folks, we've been here one week. Some day, I'll look back on this entry and say, "Wow, we had only been here a week.." I can't express this enough: Your welcoming arms, your generosity, your love shown not just to me, but to my kids and my beautiful wife, have been AMAZING to say the least. We already feel like this is our home. I can't wait to get into regular life with you folks. The future is very, very bright.
I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a very important part of my ministry approach. I'll try to keep this brief for now, and then we'll have a meeting soon to discuss these things in a little more detail. But here's the nutshell:
PURPOSE.
EVERY SINGLE THING WE DO in this youth ministry will have purpose. And they will ALWAYS fall into one or more of these five specific purpose categories:
Service
Growth
Evangelism
Worship
Fellowship
Everything we do, whether it's a trip with 75 people or a one on one lunch or a night of just hanging out watching movies or a mission trip to Mexico, EVERYTHING will have a purpose. A deep, powerful, and important purpose. And the purposes all feed each other.
Service: Anything we do to serve other people, to meet their immediate physical or emotional needs, also meets their spiritual needs because it's DIRECT imitation of Jesus. Christ walked from town to town, healing the sick and blind, not just preaching sermons. He got down next to them on his knees and listened to their stories. This is why we serve.
Growth: Anything we do to grow spiritually is of obvious importance. Personal spiritual disciplines, ranging from the more "mainstream", such as personal prayer time or reading the Word more regularly, to the much more difficult and unexplored, such as fasting, will bring us closer to our God.
Evangelism: Sharing Christ, plain and simple. But it's more "simple" than we ever realize. It's so much more than just preaching sermons. ANYONE can do this. Anything we do that involves our teens telling people, either by their words OR their actions, is evangelism. Anything that points someone toward putting their Savior on in baptism is evangelism.
Worship: This is so much more than singing. Anything we do that praises God is worship. Singing songs of praise is a huge part of that, but it goes so far beyond it as well. Worship is anything that focuses our hearts on telling God how amazing He is, how thankful we are to Him, how much we need Him, how much we love Him.
Fellowship: We NEED each other. We simply can't over-emphasize this. Christ set up the church, and called it his body, because we need each other. He spent the last week before the cross talking more about unity than anything else because we need each other. Spending time together develops trust. Trust breaks down walls. Breaking down walls gives these teens a safe place to be themselves and to belong. And that sense of safety and belonging literally saves lives. So the night of playing video games together has more spiritual value than anybody ever gave it credit for. And it's been planned that way on purpose.
So when different events are presented to the teens and to the church, you'll hear me say, "This is a growth event", "This is fellowship trip", etc., know that there's a purpose behind literally everything we do, whether it drives us to tears or makes us ache with laughter. EVERYTHING has a purpose.
Thank you all so much for your trust, your love, your generosity, your acceptance. The list just goes on and on. Like I said, the future is a bright one. And it's gonna be a good ride getting there.
I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a very important part of my ministry approach. I'll try to keep this brief for now, and then we'll have a meeting soon to discuss these things in a little more detail. But here's the nutshell:
PURPOSE.
EVERY SINGLE THING WE DO in this youth ministry will have purpose. And they will ALWAYS fall into one or more of these five specific purpose categories:
Service
Growth
Evangelism
Worship
Fellowship
Everything we do, whether it's a trip with 75 people or a one on one lunch or a night of just hanging out watching movies or a mission trip to Mexico, EVERYTHING will have a purpose. A deep, powerful, and important purpose. And the purposes all feed each other.
Service: Anything we do to serve other people, to meet their immediate physical or emotional needs, also meets their spiritual needs because it's DIRECT imitation of Jesus. Christ walked from town to town, healing the sick and blind, not just preaching sermons. He got down next to them on his knees and listened to their stories. This is why we serve.
Growth: Anything we do to grow spiritually is of obvious importance. Personal spiritual disciplines, ranging from the more "mainstream", such as personal prayer time or reading the Word more regularly, to the much more difficult and unexplored, such as fasting, will bring us closer to our God.
Evangelism: Sharing Christ, plain and simple. But it's more "simple" than we ever realize. It's so much more than just preaching sermons. ANYONE can do this. Anything we do that involves our teens telling people, either by their words OR their actions, is evangelism. Anything that points someone toward putting their Savior on in baptism is evangelism.
Worship: This is so much more than singing. Anything we do that praises God is worship. Singing songs of praise is a huge part of that, but it goes so far beyond it as well. Worship is anything that focuses our hearts on telling God how amazing He is, how thankful we are to Him, how much we need Him, how much we love Him.
Fellowship: We NEED each other. We simply can't over-emphasize this. Christ set up the church, and called it his body, because we need each other. He spent the last week before the cross talking more about unity than anything else because we need each other. Spending time together develops trust. Trust breaks down walls. Breaking down walls gives these teens a safe place to be themselves and to belong. And that sense of safety and belonging literally saves lives. So the night of playing video games together has more spiritual value than anybody ever gave it credit for. And it's been planned that way on purpose.
So when different events are presented to the teens and to the church, you'll hear me say, "This is a growth event", "This is fellowship trip", etc., know that there's a purpose behind literally everything we do, whether it drives us to tears or makes us ache with laughter. EVERYTHING has a purpose.
Thank you all so much for your trust, your love, your generosity, your acceptance. The list just goes on and on. Like I said, the future is a bright one. And it's gonna be a good ride getting there.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Countdown is ON!! T minus SEVEN DAYS...
Well folks, A LOT has happened since my last post. We've gotten about as much done to sell our house as we can. We had our tear-filled farewell dinner at Southside on Sunday night. We've packed up the house for the most part, and I'm currently packing up my office. It feels weird sitting here with bare walls. I'm REALLY looking forward to filling up the walls, shelves, and desktop with awesomeness in the new office! Rachel is taking muffins and a surprise visit from Granny to Grace's class for her last day of school in Hopkinsville today, too. Things are really wrapping up here.
The bottom line, though, in the midst of all this other stuff, is that we're pumped beyond belief to get there. This limbo period is exhausting! We're all so ready to get out there with you guys. Grace was even saying yesterday, and keep in mind this is a five year old, that she CAN'T WAIT to come and meet new friends and get back together with the teens that she ran around and played with during our weekend with you guys. She LOVES you guys!
So the countdown is on! We're officially in our last week! I've got SO MANY ideas and plans bouncing around in my head (and luckily being written down) that I can't WAIT to put into action. I hope you guys are half as excited as we are!
Love you all, and can't wait to get there!!
The bottom line, though, in the midst of all this other stuff, is that we're pumped beyond belief to get there. This limbo period is exhausting! We're all so ready to get out there with you guys. Grace was even saying yesterday, and keep in mind this is a five year old, that she CAN'T WAIT to come and meet new friends and get back together with the teens that she ran around and played with during our weekend with you guys. She LOVES you guys!
So the countdown is on! We're officially in our last week! I've got SO MANY ideas and plans bouncing around in my head (and luckily being written down) that I can't WAIT to put into action. I hope you guys are half as excited as we are!
Love you all, and can't wait to get there!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
WELCOME!!
Hello Ravers!
Andrew Collins here, and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about what the future holds for all of us. Rachel and I are gearing up more and more every day to get there and get the ball rolling. Grace, who is 5, and Cooper, who is 2.5, are very pumped too! Every day we get more and more excited about getting to our new home. You have already made us feel like family, and we are so thankful for that.
Anyhow, I wanted to go ahead and create this blog for us to all stay in contact. You can find us both on Facebook, for all you members of the FB Nation, but this is where you will find a lot of news, info (dates, times, cost, etc.) for events, and even some pictures after each event happens. I will post a simple post about each upcoming event with all "who, what, when, where, and how (much)" that you will need to know. You can, at any time, just look in the list to the right called "Archives" for the name of the event you need info on, and there it will be.
I would recommend that you "follow" or "subscribe" to the blog, so you'll stay up to date when a new post is posted. Click "Follow" at the right, if you're a regular blog reader, or click "Subscribe by email" at the bottom of the page to get them sent directly to your email. You can also leave comments at the bottom of the page.
Again, we can't wait to get there and meet and hang out with everybody and get to know our new church family better. See you all soon!
Andrew Collins here, and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about what the future holds for all of us. Rachel and I are gearing up more and more every day to get there and get the ball rolling. Grace, who is 5, and Cooper, who is 2.5, are very pumped too! Every day we get more and more excited about getting to our new home. You have already made us feel like family, and we are so thankful for that.
Anyhow, I wanted to go ahead and create this blog for us to all stay in contact. You can find us both on Facebook, for all you members of the FB Nation, but this is where you will find a lot of news, info (dates, times, cost, etc.) for events, and even some pictures after each event happens. I will post a simple post about each upcoming event with all "who, what, when, where, and how (much)" that you will need to know. You can, at any time, just look in the list to the right called "Archives" for the name of the event you need info on, and there it will be.
I would recommend that you "follow" or "subscribe" to the blog, so you'll stay up to date when a new post is posted. Click "Follow" at the right, if you're a regular blog reader, or click "Subscribe by email" at the bottom of the page to get them sent directly to your email. You can also leave comments at the bottom of the page.
Again, we can't wait to get there and meet and hang out with everybody and get to know our new church family better. See you all soon!
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