End of another year

Here we are, another year has passed us by and we ponder, reflect and absorb the realities of what the year has given us.

If I look at my own life, Monique and I celebrated 25 years of wedded bliss. Okay, they weren't always perfect but God worked us in the moments of imperfection and left us something very cool. Thank you God!

In ministry for me, I really sense a coming together for our churches. Many of us were part of the 100 year celebration of First CRC in Edmonton, many of us joined together in Radium Hot Springs for a retreat, a reconnection with our creation. And for many of us, we saw youth and young adults come together for communal worship and fellowship. Praise God!

As we now enter a new year, celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, I have to wonder, what God has in store for us entering 2011. I know plans are in the works for another Youth leader retreat, that services are being planned for community building and that relationships, new and old are being refined. In all this, in all that you do and all that you are, I give God the glory. Thank you for the gifts, the time, and the love you extend to your youth and your churches and I pray that God gives you the strength to lead well for Him in this kingdom ministry.

Blessings to you and your families this Christmas season.

Ron and Monique deVries

Curriculum

As a new season approaches, I have been getting requests for Youth Ministry curriculum suggestions. There are some cool resources out there and I have used some great ones. The "HC and me" works well and a video series like "Quest" has had some great results. I would love to hear from you what have been successful with your churches youth ministry programs. Could be Junior or Senior high, Young adults or children's ministry.

Please post your success stories.

Ron

Monday morning and everyone was aroused out of their "comfy" beds at 7:00 a.m. Breakfast was served at 7:30 a.m. and afterwards each person spent some time looking at God's Word and reflecting on what stories might come out of the day. And then we were off.....
...to various places including Mosaic Ministries, Salvation Army Thrift store, Mustard Seed, and individual people's homes within the Leduc community.
Teens and adults worked together, played and laughed........
Volunteers came and cleaned the "new home"....
Drivers, drove around making sure everyone had what they needed.....
Two people drove around, taking pictures of every site......
Kitchen volunteers continued to prepare for the upcoming meals...
Prayer partners continued to pray and encourage through their notes and goodies...

Tuesday came with rain and more rain..
Sites had to be changed
Wet suits replaced t-shirts......
and the meditation of the day was the truth that God is with us, even during and in the storms.
We thank God for that visual :)

What a great beginning!

Skor Team (Day 2)

All the teams left bright and early in order to make it to their work sites in other locations like Edmonton and Wetaskawin. We were told not to show up to ours in Leduc until after 9 am. So the day started with waiting. When we arrived to the house, the teens were raring to go but we had to wait for Lynda (person we worked for) to come from her house which took a while. She has a hard time moving in the morning due to her MS.

It started to drizzle and Lynda said we should leave and return another day. Joanne (a friend of Lynda) was there to talk her into putting us to work. We started on organizing her garage and had to ask what to do with each item we came across. (She feeds the neighbourhood cats and their were "presents" of mice and birds that were several stages of decay in with the items we were sorting.) Then the rain started to come down heavier.

Joanne asked if two people could come inside and pack dishes. They came back out 5 minutes later saying Lynda did not want that done. So we decided to wait in the garage and have lunch early.

An hour or so later, Joanne came out and Lynda had provided money for hot chocolate and donuts. We also figured out our plan for the afternoon.

By the end of the day, her garage was cleaned and tidied, shed tidied, 4 boxes of dishes wrapped and packed, loads taken to recycling and stuff set aside for the dump.

We also talked to Lynda and discovered her passion for horses. She showed us pictures of past horses and told us plans to get another one after she moved.

I felt like only made a small dent in what could be done for Lynda but to her , this effort, those little things we did was a huge amount.

Skor Team (Christina, Erwin, Krisa, Ali, Mike and Brent)

Cindy (Host Team Coordinator thoughts)

The Serve Project has begun. Saturday a variety of servants both teens and adults were picked up at the Edmonton International airport. There were a few with orange t-shirts on, anticipating I think, a victory for Holland.
We started the evening with a time of getting to know each other and than headed off to the Leduc Recreation Center for a refreshing swim and showers.
Sunday was a day of celebration as we came together to worship with the bride of Christ in Ebenezer CRC. The servants and adults were commissioned in the service and the Jill Hagen band along with her band members, Kurt and Nathan led us before the throne of God with music.
Sunday afternoon we all enjoyed a lunch with the prayer partners . Now since the Netherlands and Spain were dueling it out in a soccer game, the game was put on the large screens for anyone or everyone to enjoy. After the sad game ended we spent a beautiful summer afternoon at “The Leder’s” barn, where we participated in, swimming, volleyball, other activities and supper.

The theme for the week is “Who Cares?” Our speaker, the devotions and small group sessions center around this sometimes difficult question.
There is so much evidence of God at work here!

the teens and leaders jelled very quickly and became a big Serve team
the chef for the week is amazing! We thank God for the talents He has given Tammy!
Everyone on the Serve Host team are relaxed and speak of evidence of God’s peace in their lives
Stories of servants encouraging each other and going the extra mile
Servants are covered by God’s grace and we thank God that they will grow deeper in their relationship with Him.
And rain, more rain,,,more rain……..(Someone from Saskatchewan admitted to bringing the rain)

Cindy

Leduc/Edmonton Alberta YU SERVE

God is amazing!

It has been a year and 4 months since the idea of a mission site located in the shared communities of Leduc and Edmonton Alberta, a YU SERVE experience, was birthed. Since that time, a valiant team who embraced, pondered and fleshed out a vision for what this could look like are now seeing it happen.

We are seeing God beginning and continuing some very cool stories right now!

Over the next week, participants will be posting notes, stories, photos and reflections of this particular event which is taking place from July 10-July17.

Keep posted.

Holidays

Happy Canada Day everyone!

You may find yourself travelling this summer for vacation and/or mission trips this summer. Or maybe God has called you to a new place where your adventures bring on new experiences. (I personally know a few who are doing this and I am excited for them.) Where ever you find yourself this weekend, this week or this summer, may God bless you and keep you safe.

I look forward to hearing your stories.

Blessings,

Ron

Jasper

Just came back from a weekend with about 70 Young Adults where we spent time listening for God in the moments. 70+ passionate children of God who saw His glory in the mountains, the hot springs, the wind, the rain and the Word. Praise God.

Lost

Okay, who watched the "Lost" finale last evening and did it answer the questions you had about the show?

I personally liked the last 20 minutes.

Fundraising

In speaking with many of you, the models of fundraising seem to come up often in the conversations whether it is a story from a successful event or just searching ideas for a future cause.

There are some of you who are talented fundraising planners and have a real gift for creative events. It occurred to me that perhaps those of you who have had success stories when it comes to fundraising would like to share them and pass on the blessing to other churches.

Lets hear the stories.

Over the last little while, a relevant topic for youth leaders/pastors and churches has been discussed with more passion of late. It is this;

Should parents be involved in your week-to-week youth ministry? Should they be a small group leader? Should they come along on ministry trips? What role should they take? If any at all?

Love to hear the thoughts around Alberta on this.

Ron