Consider this:  Consider spending the year after you graduate serving overseas or locally in the mission field.  Spend that year serving others.  Learning about the REAL needs in people.  Learning how the world really works.  Letting your heart be changed.  Letting your character be shaped and molded by God.

Before you come up with excuses, consider the answer to these questions:

·What better way to figure out what you want to do with your life?
·What better way to make yourself attractive to the college of your choice?
·What better time in your life to do something like that?
·What better way to give your life meaning?
·What better way to give your folks a year more to save for college for you?

Here are just a few of the thousands of relief and missions organizations that you could serve alondside for that year.  Why don't you check out a few of theme and see how you might plug in to them?

Serve in the states through Americorps: http://www.americorps.org

Serve overseas in the Peace Corps: http://www.peacecorps.org

Help with World Vision:  http://www.worldvision.org

Serve with City Team:  http://cityteam.org

San Francisco Rescue Mission:  http://www.sf911.com

Prepare people to serve overseas through AIM: http://www.adventures.org

Help free people from oppression by working with the International Justice Mission:  www.ijm.org

Just a wild idea, perhaps a good one.

Missions·Relief·Justice

 

Check out the August Calendars.  Those of you who just finished 8th Grade, your first official High School Event is the "Freshman Orientation Night" on August 28th and then go to LDYR.  You can download your own Junior High or High School Calendar at your leisure.  Just click on the different "Links" section in the right hand column and you will get your very own PDF format of the most recent calendar!  Whoo-Hooo!

John Denley · England  1555

One day, on the way to visit some friends, John Denley was stopped and searched by the authorities, who found his written confession of faith.  Denley believed the Church was built upon the apostles and prophets, with Christ as its head, and that the present state church, the Church of England, was not part of this true Church.  In his time, many of its teachings were not according to the Bible.

For this he was turned over to a local government official, who turned him over to the bishop for questioning.  Denley would not back down from his statement of faith, so he was condemned to die and turned over to the sheriff.

Within six weeks, he was sent to the stake to be burned.  When they lit the wood beneath him Denley showed no fear.  He cheerfully sang a psalm as the flamed rose around him.  One of his tormentors picked up a piece of wood and threw it at him, hitting him in the face.  He hoped to anger or silence Denley, but Denley only responded,  “Truly, you have spoiled a good old song.”  Then he spread his arms again and continued singing until he died.  Jesus said that when we are mocked and persecuted because we are His followers that we can be happy about it:

Be very glad!  For a great reward awaits you in heaven.

Jesus
(Matthew 5:12 NLT)

Taken from "Jesus Freaks" by DC Talk and Voice of the Martyrs, Bethany House Publishers, 1999.

http://www.jesusfreaks.net

WILDWOOD 2005 was AMAZING!

The only words I can use to describe Wildwood 2005 was amazing!  God did some tremendous things through the week.  From the very beginning to being dropped off at the side of the road to hike in to camp, we all knew that this was going to be a hard core camp. 

MISSIONS: IF YOU ARE NOT GOING YOU ARE SENDING
The first night we saw a video from Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) that challenged us to support missionaries overseas that are native to the countries they are called to minister to.  The idea that GFA puts forth is to think about spending$3000 to support 10 local missionaries for ten months instead of spending the same amount on a plane ticket to go overseas for a few weeks on a short term mission.  The basic idea here is stewardship.  So we began to support a missionary by the name of Babu, look for more information about Babu later.

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH
The next day we learned about the persecution that is happening all around the world and how Christians are being martyred more now than at any other time in history.  They put us through a simulated persecution that was intense and very realistic.  At the end of it, we were challenged in our faith as to whether or not we possessed the same level of dedication to our faith to endure such persecution.  Did we have the same type of hope that thing really are better in heaven?  Would we deny our faith to resist persecution or would we stand firm?  It was a really, really intense evening.  To find out more about what is happening worldwide go to http://www.persecution.com/ and learn what others are going through.  You will also begin to see “The Freak of the Week” here on the blog where you can read about a person who was martyred for their faith so that we can be encouraged by other who have gone before us.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN
Tuesday was Invisible Children night.  We watched a documentary that detailed the civil war that has been occurring in Uganda for the past 17 years.  You will learn much, much more about Invisible Children in the next few weeks.  You can go to www.invisiblechildren.com to get a sneak peek at what this is all about.

WORLD HUNGER
$1 a day.  That is what most of the world lives on.  Most don’t know where their next meal is coming from.  What is right about that?  Wednesday focused on World Hunger.  We had the opportunity to fast through lunch and have an extended quiet time (3 hours) to focus on Christ.  All of our meals were served family style.  That is, the food was brought out to you just like at home.  This meal was a world meal, where the tables were set according to the food statistics of the globe.  So two of the tables represented the US and was set with all sorts of food, while four tables had only rice and broth with water, while four more tables only had undrinkable water.  This object lesson hit us all very hard.  We had the opportunity to learn more about Word Vision, a relief organization that is helping to provide basic needs to the poorest parts of the globe.  Go to http://www.worldvision.org and check out how you can help.  Many of us chose to sponsor our own children and help with the global issue of poverty.

 BEING BOLD
Thursday’s focus was boldness with our faith.  We had the chance to focus on what we have been through during the week and decide what we were going to do about it all.  Were we going to leave all the lessons we had learned just at camp? Or were we going to actually do something about it?  We had the opportunity to just share about our faith and try to get in to faith conversations with students who were attending the regular camp at Hume Lake.  It was challenging, it was eye opening.

SO WHAT?
So what is different?  We all are to some point or another.  You will be reading some of my posts in the next few weeks, and I hope that you see a difference.  I don’t see the world the same way that I did before.  My heart aches for the persecuted, the poor and the oppressed of this world like is never has before.  I deeply desire to make a difference in this world.  To be a part of a church that is making a difference in this world.  To help send missionaries, provide relief to the needy, to fight to bring justice where there is no justice.  When this life is over, I don’t care about how many CDs I owned, but how many children I helped.  I don’t care how many square foot my house was, so much as how many homes I helped build for those who had none.  How many TV shows I watched as people that I have shared the good news with.  Those are the kind of things I want to be remembered for, those are the things we as a church ought to be involved in:

Missions·Relief·Justice

The Audio Update Returns with a SWEET selection of Mashups (You don't know what a mashup is?  Then listen away and prepare to have your ears assaulted with coolness!) and NEW Tragic Hero Music!

If you want to stream the show CLICK HERE. Get it by clicking on the Attachment link below:

Hey Guys and Gals!
 Jr. High Service Day is coming up quickly, so come on down and pick up your permission slip! They are in the church office, or you can download your very own from this here web-site.
 Also, attached is a list of donation items that we hope to take with us for the Mission itself- so feel free to bring a few with you next Thursday, or drop them by the office!
 Again, on Thursday the 28th, we will leave from the church building at 8:00a and return around 7:00p that evening. (Parents- we will call when we are heading back to give an exact time.) We will work with the Mission from 9:00a to 5:00p and then stop to grab dinner at some place truly yummy- then head back home. Ten dollars will cover the cost of the Mission and lunch, so for dinner you would want to bring a little extra spending money.
 This is going to be an awesome time of service, and I can't wait to spend the day with each of you!
 P.S. Come to Jr. High Service Day- You'll be just as happy as the dancing goat (with a t-shirt)!
 in Him,
 anna banana

Remember to pray for those of us who are at Wildwood beginning tonight and ending next Saturday morning.  Pray the God would meet us there at Hume Lake and infuse our souls with vision.  May this be a week where we are given skils to help further the Kingdom of God.  Pray that God guides us to use our different gifts for His Glory. I know this is going to be a challenging week for all of us and that we will all face walls that we may feel we cannot climb over, but pray that we can face those challenges head on.

Here is who you can pray for:  Cory Adkins, Mark Ruby, Christina Ruby, Katie Silva, Erin Oswald, Adam Walls, Dave Laubscher, Vanessa Long, Nathaniel Otten, Alina Sayre, Bethany Ink and Walter Surdacki.

JUNIOR HIGH BEACH DAY COMING!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2005 · 10:00-4:00PM
Students Grades 6-8 · Cost=FREE
REGISTER BY WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3

Let's go hang out on the beach!  Bring your boogie boards and let's kick it on the beach for a day, hanging out and enjoying God's creation.

WHAT TO BRING:  Sack Lunch, Sunscreen, Towel, Umbrella, Boogie Board, Frisbees, Sand castle building stuff, football, volleyball and all those other kinds of things you like to do on the beach.

DAY TRIP TO WATERWORLD!
FRIDAY, August 12, 2005  9:00-6:30PM
Grades 9-12 · Cost $17

DEADLINE TO REGISTER AND PAY AUGUST 1

Join us for an awesome time of water slides, lazy rivers, tanning and just plain hanging out with your friends.  Register in time to get the best, best price!

CLICK HERE for a blank permission slip.  Turn in permission slip and $17 to the church office by August 1st to go.

WHAT TO BRING:  Sack Lunch, Towel, Swimsuit, $$$ for dinner

You can now have the new version of iTunes AUTOMATICALLY download the latest edition of The Zone Audio Update for you!  Here is how you can do it:

Getting Started

You’ll want to download iTunes from Apple’s official downloads page, as well as the most recent iPod software updater. The new iPod software allows certain iPods to easily browse and scroll the long track names of podcasts.

Free Podcasts for All

When you fire up iTunes, you can’t miss the Podcasts icon in the Source list. (In fact, you can’t remove it, even if you’re not interested in podcasts.)

Clicking this icon takes you to an empty window at first; this is your podcast playlist, this is where you view and manage your podcasts.

To start getting podcasts, click the Podcast Directory link at the bottom of the window; this takes you to the Podcast page of the iTunes Music Store. (You can also get to this page from any of the iTunes Music Store’s main pages; there is a Podcasts link in the navigation column at the left of these pages.)

The Podcast Directory is like any other iTunes Music Store page; you can click graphics to access information about the programs, check out the Top Podcasts in a list at the right of the page, and browse podcasts by either clicking the Browse button at the top-right of the window, or by clicking one of the category links at the left of the page.

You can search for podcasts from the search field at the top of the window, or from the search field at the left; the latter lets you choose from Search All Podcasts, Search Podcast Titles, and Search Podcast Authors.

HOW TO GET TO THE ZONE AUDIO UPDATE SHOW:

Search for "The Zone Audio" in the search pane of the podcast page.

After you’ve found a podcast you want to hear, you have two options: you can click Get Episode in the Price column (podcasts are all - for now - listed as Free). This downloads just one episode of the podcast to your iTunes library, and stores it in a Podcasts folder in your iTunes Music folder. You can then listen to it on your computer from the Podcasts playlist, or sync it to your iPod, and listen to it by selecting Music > Podcasts, then selecting the show name and episode.

If you find a podcast you like, and that you’d like to automatically receive whenever it’s updated - daily, weekly, monthly or at irregular frequency - click the Subscribe button in the top part of the window, or click Subscribe in the Podcasts playlist next to the podcast’s name.

This tells iTunes to add a subscription to your Podcasts playlist. iTunes displays an alert, asking if you really want to subscribe to this podcast. Subscriptions download the most recent episode, but also tell iTunes to check and download future episodes when available.

If you click Subscribe, iTunes displays the Podcasts playlist window, then starts downloading the most recent episode of the podcast. You’ll see an orange icon to the left of the podcast as it downloads; this is the same icon you see when importing songs.

You can view more episodes of the podcast by clicking the disclosure triangle next to the show’s name. As you can see above, these episodes are dimmed, and have a GET button next to them. To download any previous episode, just click the GET button. To view show notes, click the “i” icon at the right of a show’s description.

After you download podcasts, a blue dot in the left-hand column of the Podcasts playlist indicates those you have not yet listened to.

When you start listening to a podcast, these dots go away, even if you have not finished listening. If you haven’t listened to an entire podcast, you might want to reset it to “unplayed”. You can do this by right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) a podcast’s name and selecting Mark as Unplayed. You’ll see later, in Podcast and iPod Settings, that this can help you choose which podcasts to sync to your iPod.

You can delete any podcasts from the Podcasts playlist by selecting a podcast or episode and pressing Delete. If you delete an episode, only that file gets deleted; if you delete a podcast, your subscription gets deleted as well.