It's almost time for youth again! Did you know it's only a little over a month until Spring Break? Crazy, right? Where has the year gone?

Tomorrow night we're meeting at the church at 6:30 for Double-V Spree. If you've never been here for one before, it's a crazy night! We start of the evening with spinning a wheel of randomness, which has a variety of different eras and themes on it. It could be 80's, could be Hanna Montana, could be Blue Bayou fishing. Then... your team runs to Value Village and must dress your leader in the best outfit possible, within your budget!

Then we drag (hopefully not literally) our leader's back to the church, and our expert fashion judging panel decides how you've done while you explain the reasoning behind your choices!

The cost for the evening is $5, but if you bring a friend, the cost for both of you is only $5! So bring a friend, and it's half price!

See you tomorrow at 6:30!

I'd like to invite you the Current Issues session tomorrow during Learning Centre Hour (10 AM-11AM). I'll be leading the presentation for all generations, and I'd love to have your voice to speak into the Q&A at the end.

I'll be presenting some of our philosophy behind youth ministry at Bakerview, and how that has affected our programming, purpose, and training. We'll be reviewing briefly the past year, and also discussing the way forward. I'd love to have your input!

Hope to see you there,

Pastor Stephen

This month in Foundations we're going to be talking about Sexuality. We've talked about relationships and boundaries, and now we're going to touch on the Biology of what God has created, and also about how that affects us. It should be a slightly awkward (or not) conversation, and plenty of fun too!

Parents, I'd encourage you to follow up on this conversation at home. Touch base on relationships, as well as your own thoughts. A good ice breaker for some otherwise tough conversations!

Things get started at 6:30 PM... see you then!

I've got a TON of awesome games planned for you tomorrow night, from relays to team building games, to crazy run around games. Bring your shoes, and be ready to have fun! Great night to bring a friend with you too!

Things get started at 6:30 PM. Calendar's are out too!

Young girls who spend the most time multitasking between various digital devices, communicating online or watching video are the least likely to develop normal social tendencies, according to the survey of 3,461 American girls aged 8 to 12 who volunteered responses.

More here: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/25/tech/social-media/multitasking-kids/index.html

This year, we have all sorts of awesome fun things planned. We're starting off the evening heading to Langley for lasertag, then coming back to Abbotsford for some late night bowling, and (I'm still confirming it) hopefully heading to the ice for some skating (I'll update tomorrow when I know, but plan to bring your skates!).

Then we'll come back to the church for night games, cookies, popcorn, board games and movies! It's going to be a blast. Something you definitely don't want to miss.

The all nighter costs $25, and things get started at 6:30. Pickup is Friday morning at 8AM.

Parents, we have some help for Friday morning, but we could use a few extra hands to help make breakfast!

Got questions? Give me a call or send me an e-mail!

Update: 26/01/2012 @ 11:38 AM - Just a quick update on tonight, we ARE going skating, and there WILL be skate rentals! Cost to you is $25 for the event, and $2 for the skates. Just let us know when you sign in and pay the additional money, and we'll get it all arranged when we get to the rink!

See you all tonight at 6:30! The bus leaves at 7, so don't be late!

Things get started at 6:30, and the movie starts shortly after that, don't be late... and feel free to come in your Onesie, Alyssa!

On another note, our Senior High All-Nighter is this Thursday night, and I was wondering if a few of you would be willing to come in a 7 AM on Friday morning to help make breakfast (and eat it too!). It'd be a huge help to those of us that will be sleep deprived!

See you tonight at 7!

Once again, some things have changed! You like change, don't you? Because of the many things that are going on around Bakerview lately, we've decided to change tomorrow's Boys/Girls night into a movie + discussion night. Yes, there will be popcorn.

We're going to be watching the movie Juno, and having a discussion afterwards about the importance of relationships, and how they play out in our lives. The movie deals with a variety of things that many of you see each and every day, and we want to talk about them!

Parents: I do want to warn you that the movie deals with some fairly deep themes, if you haven't had a chance to watch it. You have the freedom to not send your youth, and I want to give you fair warning about the kind of conversation we're going to be having, and the media they'll be watching. You can see a full rundown of the movie, and it's themes at http://www.pluggedin.ca/videos/2008/Q1/Juno.aspx

We'll get started at 6:30 tomorrow night! Because of the weather, please check your e-mail or the blog before you come to youth. I will post a final update on whether youth will be happening. We'll make a call based off of the weather before then!

I hope that 2012 has been off to a good start for you. I know that 2011 led to some tough choices for many of you, and many unexpected things came your way as well. I wanted to start off the e-mail by letting you know that I pray for each of you (at least) weekly. Your job with the youth is so vital, the day in and day out parenting and love that you shower on the kids makes a huge difference.

Secondly, I wanted to apologize for the lack of parent meetings up until this point. I have been rushing to catch up since the wedding, and the Christmas break finally gave me a chance to do that. If you ever have any concern or comment that you want to pass along my way, bad or (my favourite) good, then you can always call or send me an e-mail!

That leads me into why I'm sending the e-mail. January 23rd will be our first parents meeting of the 2011-2012 youth year. We'll plan to have one more towards the end. I'd like to get together with you to review the past few months, get your feedback on how youth is going, touch base with you about the Berlin missions trip, and give you a quick overview of how the next few months is going.

We'll plan to meet at 7 PM, and wrap up around 8 PM. I'll provide the donuts (dessert) and coffee (lifeblood... for some of you!).

Look forward to see you early next week,

Pastor Stephen