This summer we will not be meeting as a large group ever week.  Instead we will have special events and regular small group opportunities.  Put these dates on your calendar if they apply to you and get ready for fun.

Weekly Events:

Tuesdays 1:00 - 3:00 pm: Music at the church.  If you want to play music, or learn how to play an instrument come to the youth room on Tuesdays to play and learn.

Special Events:

June 10th - 13th: Haviland Lake Camping Trip

July 3rd - 4th: Night Vision Music Festival in Oletha

July 14th - 17th: Ski Camp w/ YFC

July 20th - 24th: VBX for middle school stuents.  9:00 am - 12:00 pm daily for the week

July 26th: All church picnic after the Sunday service.  We will float down the river together.

August 1st - 8th: High School Mission Trip

You can now register for this summer’s camping trip to Haviland Lake.  All the details are in the Registration PDF.

Download it HERE

Download the Parent Waiver form HERE

The Space Between is a new book by Walt Mueller, the president of CPYU.  The goal of this book is to help parents understand the changes your teen is experiencing, and help you effectively parent them.  I am excited about this book and have a number of copies to give parents. A review is posted below.

Parents, are you looking for a book that will help you survive your children’s growth through their teenage years? I recently completed Dr Walt Mueller’s book “The Space Between, A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development”. Dr Mueller has more than 30 years of experience working with teens and is the founder and president of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. Dr Mueller starts his book out with an aptly shared story about catching his son having an “afternoon snack”. He catches his son with his head tipped back pouring Italian dressing on a mouthful of salad while standing at the refrigerator. The author says he was “both proud and horrified” by the event. How many of us have share similar experiences with our teens? It is this mixture of pride, horror, stress, and change that we all experience as parents as we lead our teens through adolescence. In chapter 6 of his book, Dr Mueller describe adolescence this way: I have found it helpful to visualize the teenage years as “the earthquake of adolescence”; They arrive swiftly, pass quickly and leave the landscape of a child’s life radically altered”. In this book Dr. Mueller’s describes our teenagers Physical, Social, Intellectual, Emotional, Moral and Spiritual changes. As you read the chapters the author shares with you perspectives, tips and methods to help you understand and deal with the flood of changes. As cornerstone of this book, he shares biblical references to help you “Experience the joy of going deeper with God and depending upon Him during the challenges of adolescence”. I found this insightful book to be helpful for me as a parent of 3 as well as one of the leaders of the youth at our church. It helped me get a better understanding of the pressures on our teens today as well as help me gain perspectives on how to love them, guide them and grow them in Christ during this time of upheaval.  - Tom Clark

We are continuing to talk about how the Bible is REALLY relevant to our lives.  Last night we talked about selfishness and how we are really selfish sometimes.  How does that effect us?  How does that effect our relationships and change the way we act toward others.

We presented two verses to talk about: James 3:16 and Luke 9:23

Take some time and talk with your students about what they are selfish with.  Let them know what you are selfish with and share honestly with them.  Then agree with them to focus this week on not being selfish and see how it effects your relationships and life.

Last week at Summit we posed the question, “Is the Bible relevant to your life?”

There was some great feedback and the conversation went quickly to what the Bible says about gossip. So what is gossip and why is it something to avoid?

Gossip is defined by the dictionary as “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.”  Basically, gossip is spreading lies about other people behind their back.  It’s a common, everyday habit for many people.  So why should you avoid it?

Gossip hurts people and keeps the fire of conflict roaring.  Proverbs says,

“Fire goes out without wood,

and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.” (26:20)