Fall Retreat and Group Nite III and Eli Easton

Here's our Fall Retreat Packing List:

And click here for a link to the packing list.

If you're going, please remember to bring a packed dinner! Also please note the updated extra activities you can sign up for (these are just the ones that cost extra - plenty of other stuff to do there!).

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As for today, we will be finishing our first Group Series with our third lesson on I-dentity. Previous group nites have been on "Who I Am" and "Who I'm Not" and tonight we'll talk about "What I've Been Created to do."

We'll start in the Sanctuary and after our welcome and a few games, we'll break into these groups: 6-7th grade girls, 8th grade girls and all guys.

For Parents -

If you'd like to discuss this lesson with your student, here are some questions to consider asking:

1. How can serving other people help you grow as a follower of Jesus?
2. Tell me about a time when you made a positive difference in someone else’s life. How did that experience affect you?
3. What do you think are some unique things that you contribute to your small group, youth group, or church?

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And some more pictures of Jen and Rachel's newborn son, Eli and his "I don't know if I like this car seat" look, are on the way!

Eli James was born last Thursday (13th) at 11:59pm. He has 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 proud parents and a pretty cute face!

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Registration for our summer mission trip to Yakima ("The Yak") available next month so please keep your eyes out for it! Our first fund raiser will be the first two weeks of November selling Poinsettias so start thinking about family, neighbors, and businesses that might buy them!

Group Nite I

Tonight we'll start off a new type of night for us called Group Nite. Every other week we'll meet at our regular time (5:43-7:15pm) but after playing some games we'll break into smaller groups and go through Bible Studies together!

We'll start by breaking into these groups: 6-7th grade girls, 8th grade girls and all guys. If groups get too large (we hope we have this "problem"!) we'll consider breaking them down even more.

Our first series is on Identity and tonight we'll cover who we are. We'll talk about the different pressures students feel to act a certain way to certain groups they are around and what it would look like if we simply were who God wants us to be to all of them instead.

For Parents -

If you'd like to discuss this lesson with your student, here are some questions to consider asking:

1. We talked about the different "hats" we wear in life. What are some hats they see themselves as wearing? What are some hats you as a parent/adult wear?
2. We encourage them to see that God wants us to wear one hat everywhere we go - a follower of Jesus. What might it mean to wear that "hat" every day? How would life look different?