Youth-Mart Augmentations

A New Beginning

2008-10-22T23:32:00.003-04:00

Sooooo, have any of you been thinking about the 30-Hour Famine for 2009? The dates are set for February 27th and 28th, 2009. Same place - North Warren Presbyterian Church. And sadly, there are still plenty of people in the world struggling with hunger each and every day.

I haven't decided on a theme for this year - actually I haven't gotten the materials from World Vision yet, but that doesn't stop me from reflecting on our own situations and where we might need to be going. Take a look at these verses from the first chapter of the book of James (my favorite book of the Bible) and see if they might apply to you in some way.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

One of the ideas I get from this scripture passage is that we need to get up off our chairs and do things. Don't just hear the word, live the word. By participating in the 30HF, you are doing things. Fewer are dying each day due to hunger and malnutrition now than just a few years ago. There is still much to do. God is depending on us doing it since we are Christ's hands and feet in the world today. When you are considering doing the famine this year, don't just do it because it might be fun (which we hope parts are fun - God loves to see us smile!), but do it as a show of your faith in God and the tasks He has set before us.

Also, post some ideas on what you'd like to do. Some of the comments I got from last year's famine dealt with some of the most somber times, and those meant the most for several of you. Like most things I get involved in, I try to keep a mix of both fun and serious things.

So feed back and tell me what you thing you'd like to do. You can either email me or better yet, post your thoughts here. If you need any help doing that, let me know and I can help you. When you post, then others can see it and that might start them thinking and we could end up with some really great ideas. Nothing is really totally out of the question - except sleeping in cardboard boxes in the front lawn. This ain't Alabama, you know.

And just in case you're lost on something to discuss here, let me know your thoughts on this question. Should we limit the number of participates? Say maybe 16 or 20 or something like that. Do you have another number in mind? Also, should there be a minimum contribution each participant is making? These points came up in comments fairly often last year.

So post away. I'll be doing some more myself over the next few months. February comes quickly!

It's Been a While

2008-04-03T22:51:00.002-04:00

The money is all turned in and the T shirts are here. This Sunday will be the official hand out day, so if you can possibly make it to Youth Group, do it. I've got a few things to discuss about next year's Famine as well.

I haven't seen it yet, but Oz looks like it must be a real blast. Everyone in this household (except me) is coming home all wound up about all sorts of things. It's really cool to be able to see people excell at something and really enjoy it. It sort of makes you understand this thing about finding the gifts God gave you and then using them.

The End of the Beginning

2008-02-26T21:36:00.004-05:00

Now that the famine is over, it is only just beginning.

Did you notice how so many people got involved? In so many different things? Did you feel the joy of helping others? Did you learn that serving is a very cool thing to do - and fun on top of it all? Do you now see how very rich you are, not just materially, but by knowing a loving God - and realizing it?

The team of young people did such a fabulous job raising money, but they also grew in their relationships with each other and with God. I got a chance to get to know some of you so much more and if you benefit half as much as I from the relationship, you are really blessed.

So, have you found new ways to serve in your daily life? Are you more appreciative of the "stuff" you have, even if it isn't the coolest? Are you growing in your relationship to God?

Let me know.

More coming later.

Spaghetti Dinner Update 2

2008-02-17T15:13:00.002-05:00

It's finished and successful. I haven't counted the money yet, but more importantly, lots of people came (I'm guessing 80 or so) and several of our famine participants saw the joy of serving.

The Famine's coming up this weekend. We've got some interesting twists in our schedule to take care of.

Stay tuned for more info.

Spaghetti Dinner Update

2008-02-13T22:17:00.002-05:00

We had 2 famine participants and 5 adults show up tonight. The tables are set, we have enough silverware wrapped to get a good start on it, the decorations are set, some of the food is prepared. Now we just need the customers.

Plan on coming at 4:00 or after to work. I know some of you are leaving early and some can't make it right at 4:00. Come when you can.

See you there.

Hockey

2008-02-12T22:35:00.002-05:00

Center Ice and in the balcony. That's where our seats for the hockey game are - IMHO, the best seats in the house. I got some pretty good deals on the block of seats, but I hope you're all out there getting sponsors. We want to have a good contribution to World Vision when this is all said and done.

The game will fill most of Friday evening, but there's lots of stuff to do on Saturday as well. Some of it will be hard physical work, some will require some thought on your part, and some will just be fun.

Looking forward to it.

Newspaper Brief of the Spaghetti Dinner

2008-02-12T22:30:00.002-05:00

Did you see the Warren newspaper today? Tuesday, February 12th, Section C, page 2. A pretty cool announcement about the dinner and the Famine.

Thanks to Mrs. Ward for that good job!

Are you ready to be hungry? It's coming in just a little more than a week!

Spaghetti Dinner Approaches

2008-02-10T14:12:00.001-05:00

Spaghetti dinner on Thursday is coming up. Let me know when you can work (if you haven't already). Our biggest need at the moment is cleanup on Thursday evening afterward.

How's the fund raising going? Remember that the reason for this is to help all those starving kids out there.

29,000 kids die every day and the funds we raise help save someone.

Super Bowl Party at the Wood's House

2008-02-03T20:24:00.001-05:00

Some of the gang getting ready to celebrate the Super Bowl - or at least all the food.

What's that? Oh, a football game.

I know this goes somehow.

Prepare yourselves!

An action filled game!

Our gracious hostesses

The boys are really excited!

So, is this where the "old people" hang out?

If you didn't make it to the party you missed something worthwhile. Everyone was having a good time when I got these photos.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Famine Sunday

2008-02-02T17:55:00.000-05:00

I'm going over things for the 30 hour famine. How many of you would be able to participate in Sunday Morning Worship on Feb 24th? I've talked with Pastor Buddy and he's up for as much as we would like to do.

Here's some possibilities:

Give testimonies, what the famine has meant to you, what you might do differently, what you have learned, etc. Not everyone needs to say something - just getting up to be seen is good.
Learn a song to sing. The Praise Band is willing to help. It can be something we already know.
Put together some sort of multi-media presentation - might be hard to get it all together

I'm planning on doing a slide show as part of Famine Sunday, anyway, but getting more people involved makes it much more tangible for the congregation.

Ideas? Thoughts?

Sweetheart Spaghetti Dinner

2008-02-01T02:15:00.000-05:00

Spaghetti! Everybody loves it. The youth participating in the 30hr at NWPC will be hosting a dinner on Thursday, Feb 14 (that's Valentine's Day for those of you who need to worry about that sort of thing). The proceeds will benefit the 30hr. For all the folks who are signed up for the 30hr and work, the profits will be distributed to each person based on the amount you worked. If you don't want to or cant' work, then you will not be able to share in the profits.

I have no idea how many folks are going to show up. We need to get the word out to friends and family. Even if you can't work, you can send folks who will be able to help our overall fund raising.

Besides raising funds for the 30hr, this is just a fun thing to do. You will get a chance to serve others and they will get a chance to meet you. For those of you who do not go to NWPC regularly, this may be the only chance you have to meet some of the congregation. They have always been big supporters of youth projects, and I imagine they will continue to be.

I'm thinking we may try to get together on Wed, the 13th to set up tables, bake the meatballs, generally prepare. Mrs. B will be there on Thur about 3:30 or so to get started on cooking the food. We'll have bread that needs to be cut, salad that needs to be prepared, coffee and drinks to prepare and serve, and tables to be bused and reset-up. We will need to have as many as possible there on Thursday by 4:00. Let me know when you can make it.

Those who can work on Wed will also get proportional credit towards their share of the profit. By the way, if we should fail and not make any money at all, the NWPC youth fund will take the hit. We'll be quite disappointed, but none of us are at finanacial risk, which is pretty comforting considering what the stock market has been doing lately. Well, that's probably something us guys close to retirement pay attention to, not you young folks.

Let me know when you are able to help at the dinner. I set up some work assignments as soon as I have a pretty good idea as to who can make it, so check back.

Oh yeah, if you can't work both nights or can only work part of the time, let me know and we'll work around that too.

Welcome

2008-02-01T01:36:00.000-05:00

First of all, welcome to the Youth-Mart-Augmentations blog. I'm hoping to keep you all up to date on what is going on with the stuff I'm involved in.

We'll start out with the 30-Hour Famine (30hr as I'll call it). The North Warren Presbyterian Church is sponsoring this years famine, and I'm sort of coordinating the whole thing. We have lots going on, so check here often for the latest updates. This may well be the best way I can communicate with all of you at once.

Please feel free to comment on my lame posts - if I don't like what you say, I can always edit it! :-) Anywho, make comments, suggestions, ask questions - even if they are a little off topic. We can make this a tool to help us all do better with the 30hr (I said I'd use this abbreviation).

Anyway, that's it for now - I'll have more soon.