Weekly Announcements for 9/24/2012

Good Morning Everyone!

Let me begin by saying I've been sick since last Saturday.  I am recovering, but the recovery is slower than I'd like it to be.  I'm not sure what I have, but I certainly don't want to pass it along to any of the kids.  (Symptoms are low grade fever 99.0 to 100.0, headache, dizzyness, nausea, fatigue, "head in the clouds" type of feeling, lack of ability to concentrate.)  I am planning on being at Youth Group this Sunday, as I think I'm getting better.  Prayers for my recovery/health are appreciated.

I've been very disconnected from the church and from Youth Group the past 10 days, so I apologize for the redundancy of the announcements.

On Saturday, September 29th, the Berlin Fall Festival will take place from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Broad Street in Berlin.  LGAC will have a table with Operation: Christmas Child on display, invitations to our church's Open House on October 28th, and a sand art craft for kids to do.  As the Youth Group, we should have a presence at the table, if nothing more than to help out and promote LGAC.

On Sunday, October 28th, the Church is having an Open House at the Hayes Mill Road location.  I've been asked by the Open House Committee to have a table set up to highlight and promote the Youth Group.  I would like to have a few of the Youth Group members hang out with me at the table to help me promote the Youth Group as new people come by.  Please see me, Ron, or Val if you are interested in promoting the Youth Group at the Open House.  

I admit that I haven't been very good at promoting the church community service projects.  I think this topic is well over due for action.  Fall is upon us, and soon we'll be socked in for winter.   Bring your ideas, because I guarantee you will not like my ideas...  

We're looking for a new woman Youth Group Leader to join the Youth Group Leader team.  Right now, Val Cromwell is the only woman on the Group Leader team, and she could use some support.  So, if you know anyone who would like to help out at the Youth Group, please have that person talk with Pastor Jim and Ron for consideration.

That's all for now.

-Michael

Weekly Announcements for 9/18/2012

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in the weekly announcements.  I've been sick the past couple of days.  I'm still not up to full strength, but I'm improving.  Anyway, onward to the weekly announcements!

I missed Sunday's Youth Group Meeting due to illness.  I haven't had a chance to talk with Ron or Val about  how everything went.  The next time I am at the Youth Group, I will be doing some lessons on apologetics.  I was asked to do a lesson or two on this topic before we broke for summer.  To be honest, I am not very strong on apologetics, yet this is a very important topic for Christians to know and understand.  I'm taking this opportunity to learn apologetics and relay what I find to the Youth Group.  I am interested at the thought of what I might find.  

On Saturday, September 29th, the Berlin Fall Festival will take place from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Broad Street in Berlin.  LGAC will have a table with Operation: Christmas Child on display, invitations to our church's Open House on October 28th, and a sand art craft for kids to do.  As the Youth Group, we should have a presence at the table, if nothing more than to help out and promote LGAC.  

I admit that I haven't been very good at promoting the church community service projects.  I think this topic is well over due for action.  Fall is upon us, and soon we'll be socked in for winter.   Bring your ideas, because I guarantee you will not like my ideas...  

We're looking for a new woman Youth Group Leader to join the Youth Group Leader team.  Right now, Val Cromwell is the only woman on the Group Leader team, and she could use some support.  So, if you know anyone who would like to help out at the Youth Group, please have that person talk with Pastor Jim and Ron for consideration.  

I did some house keeping on the website.  I changed some things around, and I think I made some improvements.  Thoughts and comments are appreciated.

That's all for now.

-Michael

Weekly Announcements for 9/10/2012

Hi Everyone,

Let's dive right into the announcements.

Yesterday we had our Youth Group Mixer party.  We had a solid turn out, and everyone had a fun time.  We played lots of games, and we all ran around crazy for 4 hours.  We played flag football, marshmallow war, marshmallow run (for lack of a better name), and Flag tag.  We had pizza and soda, and at the end, we played Bible Jeopardy with the game board projected onto the big screens.  Good times.  I really hope that we get a great turn out like this for every party.  

Starting next week, we will have our Youth Group meetings on Sunday evening from 5:00 to 7:00 at the church.  This coincides with the new Ed Webster House Church, so that'll work out nicely.  It is my plan to have an on-going series based upon Christian Apologetic's.  I plan on having self-contained messages that do not build on on-another, but instead all follow the same topic of Apologetic's.  I'll do my best to update the topics on the Weekly Schedule, so that everyone knows what I'm talking about.     

On Saturday, September 29th, the Berlin Fall Festival will take place from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Broad Street in Berlin.  LGAC will have a table with Operation: Christmas Child on display, invitations to our church's Open House on October 28th, and a sand art craft for kids to do.  As the Youth Group, we should have a presence at the table, if nothing more than to help out and promote LGAC.  I'll bring this event up at the next Youth Group meeting for discussion.  

Also for next week, we will need to discuss church community service projects.  I've been bringing this topic up for a few months now, and the time to act is now.  Bring your ideas, because I guarantee you will not like my ideas...  

We're looking for a new woman Youth Group Leader to join the Youth Group Leader team.  Right now, Val Cromwell is the only woman on the Group Leader team, and she could use some support.  So, if you know anyone who would like to help out at the Youth Group, please have that person talk with Pastor Jim and Ron for consideration.  

I need to do some house keeping on the website.  I need to clean up some of the pages, and update the Verse of the Month.  Don't be surprised if there are lots of updates in short order.  

That's all for now.  

-Michael

From the Mind of Michael: Opening Thoughts

Hi Everyone,

This is an experiment with the Youth Group Blog.  It's called "From the Mind of Michael".  I sometimes feel compelled to draft up a few thoughts and tid bits about various topics.  The thoughts aren't always very long, so I usually don't post them.  The Weekly Lessons that I post are more developed, and I try to have strong scripture backing and Biblical references.  However, perhaps short snippets are in order from time to time.  So, without further ado, here is the first edition of "From the Mind of Michael".

From the Mind of Michael: Opening Thoughts
I love football.  The American version, mind you, not the international football known as soccer in the USA.  As this is the start of the NFL season, it seems like everyone has an opinion of who will win the Super Bowl and how every team will do this coming year.

I would like to point out that although the Bible believes in the gift of prophecy, predicting sports outcomes is not the intent of this gift.  Be wary of anyone who tries to tell you otherwise.

I do have some favorite players.  I like Tim Tebow (NY Jets) and Troy Polamalu (Pittsburgh Steelers).  Both of those players profess their faith in Christianity, and both are good role models.  They use their fame as an Evangelical platform, and I have no problem with it.

I am still a Buffalo Bills fan, and I probably will be for life.  I can't think of any Bills players that openly profess their faith at every opportunity, but doesn't mean there aren't any out there.  (The Bills get very little coverage compared to other NFL teams and other teams in Buffalo in general...).

As I now live in the shadow of Philadelphia, PA, I'm surrounded by Eagles fans.  To an extent, I see some similarities between the Eagles and the Bills.  Both teams have rabid fans.  Neither team has won a Championship since the NFL-AFL merger.  Both areas have a lot of pride in their local cuisine.  (Wings in Buffalo and Cheesesteaks in Philly).  Both teams hate the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and New York Giants.  Also, a trip to the playoffs would be considered a successful season.

I think there is a lot of praying during football games.  I know that I find myself irrationally praying to God for the outcome of a football game.  I wish I could say that the prayers are infrequent, but I think it's in my nature to lift everything up to God now, so as a lame excuse, I'm going to say I can't help it.  I do wonder if a sporting event has ever changed someone's life because of an answered "prayer."  I can't think of any, but I would be very interested  to see a testimonial on such an event.   

Anyway, as a final thought, here are my predictions for everyone to look at and laugh at in the upcoming months.

AFC Playoffs:
1: Patriots
2: Broncos
3: Steelers
4: Texans
5: Bills
6: Ravens

NFC Playoffs
1: Packers
2: Giants
3: Cardinals
4: Panthers
5: Seahawks
6: Eagles

Super Bowl Prediction:
I'd really like to see Bills over Seahawks, but I don't think either team will make it past the Wild Card round, so I'll go with Broncos over Giants in the Manning Bowl.  I'll even guess the score.  38 to 20, this one isn't even close.  

Weekly Announcements for 9/4/2012: Post-Labor Day Special

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone enjoyed Labor Day!  It's time for the weekly announcements.

This coming Wednesday is the last Wednesday meeting for the Youth Group.  No more Wednesday meetings for the near future.  One day, we might change again, but right now, Wednesdays are out and Sundays are in.

Speaking of this Wednesday, I will be speaking that night.  This is the follow up to the question asked last week, "Should Christians have non-Christian Friends?"  Also, we had a question about the letters IHS on a Catholic handout.  I have researched that question, and I have an answer (Thank you, God, for making the google search engine.)

Sept 9th is the Youth Group Mixer Party!  All Youth Group aged people are invited.  This party is to welcome any new people who are now old enough to come to Youth Group and to welcome any people who can now make the usual Sunday evening meeting time.  Party will be from 4:00pm to 8:00pm at the church.  Please bring $3, as we are going to try to get pizza, soda, and popcorn.  Please let Ron, Val, Walt, or Mike know if you can make it, so we can get a feel for who is coming.  Please note that the normal Sunday Evening Meeting time is from 5:00 to 7:00.  These are extended hours for the party.

Lastly, the Youth Group is looking for a second woman Youth Group Leader.  Right now, Val is the only woman Youth Group Leader, and we don't want her to burn out.  So, if you know of someone who you think would be a good Youth Group Leader, ask them to contact Ron, Val, Walt, and Mike.

That's all for now.

Michael