BFR 2007 was a huge success. 4 student ministries, 80 teens, and 26 adults spent the weekend at Camp Tahkodah exploring the idea that though we are weak vessels, God’s power and glory are demonstrated in our weakness. We challenged the teens to consider the ways they focus on the vessel rather than allowing God’s glory to shine through them. We then asked them to exchange the things in their lives that take away from the treasure of the gospel in their lives. It was a great weekend that included an ice cream fight, Guitar Hero, Capture the Flag, other games and great food. Pictures from the weekend should be available on the youth web site.

THIS WEEK (Sep 30-Oct. 6)

Refuge (Oct. 3) – Refuge begins at 6 PM with dinner. We hare having a variety of wraps, Rice Crispy treat and fruit for dinner. Please pick your teen up at 8:15 PM.

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday AM class (Oct. 7) - We will have a combined youth class this Sunday morning because some of us will be at Gateway. Sam Peters will lead the class.

RAMP Groups (Oct. 7) – RAMP groups will meet this Sunday night from 6-7:30 PM in the Nichols Ministry Building. Jimmy Poteat will begin taking over the 9-10th grade boys RAMP group. Please make this a priority. The purpose of RAMP groups is to challenge our teens to a deeper relationship with Christ and to journey with one another.

Understanding Your Teenager (Oct. 14) – It’s not too late to register for the 3-hr parenting seminar LRC is hosting. It’s going to be well worth your time. Contact me if you haven’t registered yet or have questions. We are providing child care for this if you need it. Information is available on the church web site as well.

Hay Daze (Oct. 21) – Hay Daze is fast approaching. IT will be Sunday afternoon, Oct. 21 from 4-7 PM at the home of Janet Williams. I’ll send out directions the week before. Thanks to Jill Dabbs and her mom for hosting this event. Cost is $15 per student to cover the food and square dance caller. Please pay by Wednesday, Oct. 17.

5th Quarter (Oct. 26) – We are hosting a late night concert on Friday, Oct. 26 in the Nichols Ministry Building. A Christian band that Jeff Medders knows well, Three Cord Wonder, will perform that night. We will open our doors from 10 PM-midnight. Cost is $6 and includes pizza and drinks. We could use 3-4 adults to help with the night. Let me know if you can help. I’ll start enlisting you if I don’t hear from you in the next week.

Girls Revolve Tour (Feb. 22-24) – I haven’t said much about the teen girls’ conference in the past few weeks. I’ll have a payment schedule and more details by Oct. 7. We will post them to the youth web site. This is a girls’ youth conference for teens in grades 7-12. It’s hosted by Women of Faith. We are making plans to travel to the conference in Houston, TX. Cost will be approximately $135 per teen to cover travel, lodging and the conference.

We had 27 students in RAMP groups last Sunday. I want to encourage you to affirm your teens for being there and help them see the positive aspects of moving RAMP groups to the building for the fall. While most seem open to the idea, they’re not sure about it.

Also, this year we’re trying to encourage the teens to take the next step in their spiritual journey and commit to spiritual disciplines during the week. It’s not homework. All of us, as followers of Christ, should be in the word and building deeper relationships with one another. We’re emphasizing these two things this year in RAMP group.

Just a reminder about why we’re trying RAMP groups at the building for the fall:
1) It makes transportation much easier for those who have more than one child to get to RAMP groups, expecially my RAMP leaders who have teens.

2) We’re all studying the same material, so being in one place allows us to do some basic teaching for a few minutes and then break the students up.

3) It makes RAMP leaders more accountable to me and allows RAMP leaders to get together each week to pray and discuss what’s going on to help improve the times.

4) The building is the most centrally located place since we have people coming from all over for those parents who have HC on Sunday nights.

We will provide snacks for the RAMP groups this week.

Youth weekly update (Sep. 9-15)

THIS WEEK

RAMP Groups (Sep. 9) – RAMP groups, our teen small group ministry, begin this Sunday night in the Nichols Ministry Building from 6:00-7:30 PM.

Refuge (Sep. 12) – The menu for Refuge this week is meatball subs, salad and S’mores. Dinner is served from 6:00-6:45 PM. Refuge will begin at 7 PM. Please pick your teen up at 8:15 PM.

Caving Expedition (Sep. 15) – Barry Napier wants to take any of the teens to explore Copperhead Cave on Saturday, Sep. 15. We will meet in the LRC parking lot at 7 AM and return around 7 PM. Students planning to go need to bring the following items: 2 head lamps (and extra batteries for the head lamps), 2 water bottles (filled and ready to go), sack lunch, clothes and shoes to change into when we finish. Students will get muddy and wet in this cave, so arrive at LRC wearing your caving clothes. Students need to wear tennis shoes or light weight boots for climbing over boulders, walking through water, etc. For those of you who are new or never have been caving, Barry has led many of these adventures over the years. He is a paramedic as well. Feel free to contact me or Barry if you have any questions or concerns.

LOOKING AHEAD

Best Friends Retreat (Sep. 28-30) – Please sign up and pay for Best Friends Retreat by Sunday, Sep. 16. Cost is $65. Transportation will be provided on Saturday morning, Sep. 29 for those students who play varsity football, are cheerleaders or are in band and cannot make it Friday night. All others need to plan to meet at LRC on Friday, Sep. 28 at 5 PM. An information sheet with the retreat schedule is available in the back of the auditorium.

Understanding Your Teenager seminar (Oct. 14) – Don’t miss our parenting seminar for UYT on Oct. 14 from 6-9 PM. Cost is $15 per adult if you register and pay by Sep. 23. See me for more details.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Walk (Sep. 22) – Come out to River Front Park on Saturday, Sep. 22 at 9 AM and support the research for juvenile diabetes. Our very own Anna Grace Chandler sells T-shirts and participates to help raise support. See Anna Grace or Nancy for more information.

I’m praying for all of you. Let me know how I can serve your families.
God is good
Love in Christ
Chad

THIS WEEK (Sep. 2-8)

Miniature Golf (Sep. 2)
Students in grades 7-12 are invited to meet at Gator Golf just off of I-30 near Baseline Rd. We’ll meet there at 6 PM and play miniature golf until 7:30 PM. Cost is $8 for the golf.

Refuge (Sep. 5)
Refuge is our mid-week youth worship time for students in grades 7-12. The purpose of this weekly time is to 1) exalt Christ as Lord; 2) encourage our teens to bring a friend for whom they’re praying; 3) create an atmosphere where students are loved and encouraged to live more like Christ. We provide dinner for students from 6-6:45 PM each week for just $3. Our worship time begins at 7 PM with games and activities. We conclude each week by 8:15 PM. Please pick your teen up no later than that.
Let me know if your child needs transportations. Parents are more than willing to carpool and bring teens. This week’s menu is chicken spaghetti, green beans and French bread. We will serve banana splits as well.

LOOKING AHEAD

RAMP Groups (Sep. 9)
RAMP is our small group ministry just for students in grades 7-12. Each Sunday night from 6:00-7:30 PM, we will meet in the Nichols Ministry Building. Students are divided into age/gender-appropriate groups. Each group is led by a spiritually mature adult who has agreed to mentor these teens for the school year. This is a time for our teens to be encouraged and challenged to grow in their relationship with Christ. Once a month RAMP leaders will pick an activity away from the building to do with their RAMP groups. They will communicate these to you in advance. We have the following groups this year (Adult leaders are in parentheses): 7/8th grade boys (Chad Nall); 7/8th grade girls (Erin Reed); 9/10th grade boys (Doug Campbell); 9/10th grade girls (Linda Murphy); 11/12th grade boys (Tom Walker); 11/12th grade girls (Schell Gower).

Caving Trip (Sep. 15)
Barry Napier and I would like to take the teens caving on Saturday, Sep. 15. We will leave LRC at 7 AM and return around 7 PM. Students need to wear clothes that can get really dirty, bring a change of clothes, head lamp, sack lunch, water bottle and a little money for dinner on the way home. We are planning to explore Copperhead Cave. Barry has been taking teens on trips like this for years and is a paramedic. Contact Barry or Chad if you’d like to know more details about the cave or what’s involved in exploring a cave.

Best Friends Retreat (Sep. 28-30)
Our annual Best Friends Retreat is approaching very quickly. This retreat is done with several different student ministries from the Little Rock area. It’s for all our teens in grades 7-12 and is at Camp Tahkodah. This year’s theme is “Crushed!” Several adults from LRC will provide transportation to the retreat where we’ll spend the weekend exploring how God uses the events and things that happen in our lives to bring about his glory. Please talk to your teen about this weekend. They are certainly welcome to bring a friend. That’s one of the purposes of this retreat. It’s great if they bring a friend who they bring with them to Refuge. Cost for the retreat is $65. Please sign up and pay for your teen by Sunday, Sep. 16.

Understanding Your Teenager seminar (Oct. 14)
Many of you have already registered for this important seminar. For others of you, it’s not too late. I can’t encourage you enough to sign up for this three hour seminar hosted by a youth and family ministry organization called Home Word. Home Word is dedicated to helping parents of teenagers raise their teens. Our seminar presenter is youth ministry veteran, Mark DeVries. He will do an amazing job. Please make plans to attend. Registration is $15 per person. Make checks payable to LRC. We’re even providing child care for those of you who have younger children.

Check out a previous blog entry explaining RAMP groups, but I want to remind you that RAMP groups will resume on Sunday, Sep. 9 rather than Sep. 2 (due to the Labor Day weekend). RAMP groups will meet at the building. However, students in town are invited to Gator Park to play miniature golf Sunday, Sep. 2. We’ll meet at Gator Park on I-30 at 6 PM.

REFUGE resumes this Wednesday, Aug. 29 beginning at 6 PM with dinner. This Wednesday’s menu includes tacos with all the fixn’s. Students need to bring $3. We also have punch cards if you’d like to pay in advance. See me, Tracie Vaughan or Wanda Walker if you’d like to purchase a punch card. If you pay by check, please make checks payable to LRC.

We will begin a new Sunday AM Bible class series on Sep. 9. Sam Peters will lead the 9-12th grade class in the teen worship room. I will lead the 7-8th grade class in the teen game room.

Best Friends Retreat is just around the corner, so please register your teen by paying the $65 registration fee by Sunday, Sep. 16. It’s going to be a great retreat! This year’s theme is “Crushed.”

Understanding Your Teenager seminar will be a great event just for you. It is Sunday, Oct. 14. Invite your friends and sign up if you have not already done so. Although the early bird registration deadline has come and gone, the cost is still only $15 per person. That will increase to $20 per person after Sep. 23 so register now!