Youth Weekly Update – January 24, 2012

Wednesdays are back and going strong and now after a 6 week break, our Sunday programming is back! Our Sunday night youth group, called Wildside Youth Fellowship is a place of fun, food, faith, and friends for all students in high school and middle school. The students have been asking when it was going to resume and the time has come. I hope that you will help encourage your child and their friends to attend this great time of fellowship and outreach.

• Big Wednesday—January 25—Wednesday is “Church Day” at Point Washington Youth! Big Wednesday is Open House from 3:30 to 5:00, Church Dinner from 5:00 to 6:00, Small Groups at 6:00, and Hangtime until 8:00. Students can come for any or all of these great activities, with Small Groups being the most important. (This Wednesday is an early release. Please do not have your child ride the bus to church this week. You can drop them off at 3:00pm or later.)
• Middle School Small Groups—Wednesday, January 25—6:00pm to 7:00pm—The 3 Middle School Small Groups will continue their new 5-week study called “Bible Stuff 3”. Through this series students will begin to learn how to hear God’s call in their lives. This week students will discuss some of the best ways that they can begin to hear God’s specific plan in their lives. Things like praying and asking the Holy Spirit to guide them, surrounding themselves with other people that are following God, and tuning out the distractions that keep them from building a real relationship with God. They will use scripture from Psalm 37:4 and Proverbs 3:5-6.
• High School Small Groups—Wednesday, January 25—6:00pm to 7:30pm—Both high school groups will finish their series, “Let Story Guide You”. In this series we have been looking at the Bible as a great epic narrative and at our own lives as individual stories that we are telling. Students will examine their lives and the stories that they are telling and be challenged to live a life that matters…to tell a story that someone would want to read. Students will be challenged to give everything they have in their life and in their faith journey with the ultimate goal of telling an awesome story and hearing from God, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”
• Senior Bowl—Saturday, January 28—9:45am-10:30pm—If your child is signed up for the Senior Bowl day trip, please have them at the church by 9:45am this Saturday. They will need money for a fast food lunch and dinner, plus any money that they may want for souvenirs and snacks at the game. If your child is not signed up, there may still be a ticket or two available. Call Paul Barnett to see at 461-4213.
• Sunday School—Sunday, January 29—10:00am-11:00am—Beginning this year our Sunday School hour is going to be used as a time for our students to get plugged into ministries that serve the church. Currently we have students that work with the children’s ministry, students that work in the A/V booth, and students that play in the Praise Band. There are many more opportunities for our students to serve so if your child has any interest in doing so, bring them to church at 10:00am and we will get them plugged in.
• Sign Language Group—Sunday, January 29—5:00pm to 6:00pm—If your child is interested in learning ASL, bring them an hour early before Wildside so that they can participate in our Sign Language Group.
• Wildside Youth Fellowship is Back!!—Sunday, January 29—6:00pm to 8:00pm—Wildside Youth Fellowship is the place for fun, food, faith, and friends for high school and middle school students. At Wildside there is time for big games, freetime, fun videos, challenging videos, relevant teaching, hilarious icebreakers, free dinner, hanging out, and more. I am looking forward to a great semester at Wildside and hope that your child will join us as we get it all kicked off this week. For our teaching time this semester we will be closely examining the life of Jesus and His importance in the story of God and humanity. This week we will have a very brief overview of the Old Testament and will look at the birth and boyhood of Jesus as found in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

• High School Ski Trip—February 17-20—If your child is signed up for the Ski Trip, please make sure to pay the balance of their trip by February 15. Also, form packets will go out in early February, so be on the lookout. If you have any questions please call Paul Barnett at 461-4213.
• Middle School Believe Retreat—March 8-10— On the retreat we will spend 2 days at the Believe Conference and a day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure Theme Park. The Believe Conference is the best middle school intentional Christian conference there is. Be sure to check it out at www.ciy.com/believe.
  Believe Promo from Christ In Youth on Vimeo.Cost for the trip is $129 if you sign up by February 6 and $149 after that (if there is still room). Be sure to register your child soon! (Students will not have to miss any school for this trip—we will leave on Thursday after school gets out of its half day and there is no school on Friday.)
• New Youth Leadership Program Begins February 3
  Is your child a teenager who is…
  1.   Committed to a deepening relationship with Jesus
  2.   Committed to the youth ministry at Point Washington UMC
  3.   Wanting to be a leader in their school and community?

  If so, they will want to join us on February 3 from 7:00pm to 11:00pm for the first meeting of our new monthly Youth Leadership Program. This program will be a time where students are challenged to live their lives in such a way that others will see Christ in them and want to follow Him because of their example. At each meeting there will be time for Bible study, personal introspective reflection, service to others, worship through music, and deep fellowship. This program is for students in 8^thgrade and up. Please see or contact Paul Barnett if you have questions or your child is interested in participating.