PARKCREST YOUTH GROUP: September 2006

Happy Prayer

A friend of mine recently told me of his favorite 'prayer activity'. Running in a field with his eyes closed telling God whats on his heart with a big smile on his face.
Today I was starting a prayer journal (something that comes highly recommended to me from several people) and decided to read some verses about prayer, one thing I noticed is that being joyful and prayer seem to go hand in hand often times in the Bible.
1 Thesselonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"
Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God"
In Acts 16 Paul and Silas were praying and singing while in jail.
Derek and I talked about how we're often not joyful enough in our prayers. We find it easy to put out prayer requests up to God, but I know in my life I'm often not thankful as I do it.

One other thing...if you read this, pick someone from the youth group and right now pray for them and thank God for them.

Cheers for now

One of the greatest

Friday September 22nd will go down as one of the all-time great youth events. The night began with the unveiling of the new Parkcrest Youth Group song book. After a wonderful time of praise and worship it was time for a devotion from Steve...but what's this?!?! As Steve stepped up he started playing 'Shine' by the Newsboys a dance party broke out!!!!!

Well once that amazing good time was done with Steve continued with his devotion sharing a few pearls of wisdom on how if we don't live this year for God, we will waste our year, indeed we need to Shine for Jesus as Matthew 5:16 says "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven'
To demostrate this Steve blew up a balloon (representing a good work). Well 1,000 good works later we had a room filled with balloons and one crazy good time of balloons up to our heads, jumping around, banging, popping and playing in balloons.

So finally the night was done and sweaty and sticky we headed home a bit banged up but full of joy.

A deeper thought of sorts

What makes a person a missionary? I'm not sure, but here's one thing I do know
"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" - 2 Corinthians 5:20

I was at my friend's house tonight to hear him share as he 'becomes a missionary'. The funny thing is, he already was a missionary (or ambassador for Christ) in his everyday life, he was just changing jobs from working secular to a Christian organization.
"Three years ago I joined a missions trip to Japan. During those six weeks I began to see how God worked in my life to impact others. As I came back from this trip I knew that God had called me to be a missionary. This meant that I was His witness no matter where I went. So I started being a missionary by working in a shipping and logistics company." -Tim Chan

So I guess the points of this blog is that where you are now (School, work, working on Personal Development) you are a missionary to the people in your life, YOU ARE CHRIST'S AMBASSADOR TO THESE PEOPLE. More than that, you can take part in the greatest most important thing possible, working with God in reconciling the world to Him through Jesus.

This Saturday Sept. 23rd there is a breakfast at Parkcrest on personal evangalism, should prove useful in equiping you for your missionary work.

Express Season Opener

The Parkcrest Youth Group once again brought enthusiasm, noise, youth and wins to the Bill Copeland Arena. Coming in during the 1st intermission as usual we inspired the Express from a drab 1 - 1 first period tie to take the game 5 - 2.
"You guys came at the right time to cheer these guys on. The first period sucked but that was a great second period." Said Mike "The Hulk", a former co-worker of yours truly and an Express Season ticket holder.

Here are some pics of the great night.

Cheering on our Express

They're so fast they're blurry.

Tim and his youth were also there.

Go Express Go

Going crazy after a goal scored by the Express, assisted by our cheering.

Wilderness campground adventure

Amid the wilderness of North Burnaby, the 2006-2007 Parkcrest Young People's Youth Group (affectionately known as the PYPYG) kicked off with an overnight camping adventure. Among raveneous dogs, fierce tempests and Steve's singing we survived to have a Pancake breakfast in the morning. All in all it was a great time had by great people.

Derek starting off our campfire song session with some Kumbaya