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!

Pac Nite XIV!

It's back! Our annual Fall youth group kick-off is coming, are you ready? Who are you inviting?

For the last 13 years we've started our Middle School youth group by packing students into things!

How many students can fit into a hula hoop? In a fridge box? In a Worship Search Committee meeting? On a couch? And of course our infamous Maytag Relay (and much more!).

Come for a ridiculous amount of fun and don't forget to bring your friends!

Our youth groups are every Wednesday from 5:43-7:15pm for current 6-8th graders.

Visit www.bit.ly/fuelfall2011 for a link to our Fall Newsletter/Calendar!

Junebalation! Wednesday 6-8PM!

It's here! The last school year youth group night!

Come join us as we combine our Middle School and High School Youth Groups for a Hawaiian themed party!

Ugly Hawaiian shirts are encouraged as well as bringing a friend.

And please note the time change: We'll be meeting from 6-8pm!

TRIKE RACE!!!

It's here! This Wednesday is our 13th Annual Trike Race - and by the looks of it...rain is more likely than shine (so dress accordingly!).

Make sure you bring a friend and know what theme your group is going for.

Don't be late, especially if your team still needs to put its finishing touches on your trike!

For those of you new to the Trike Race, each of the 4 teams pick a theme, build a trike and race them around the church property completing different activities at stations all around the course.

Much fun will be had and then we'll finish off the school year next week with a combined (middle school and high school) youth group from 6-8pm.

Trike Building Small Groups!

This Wednesday we will continue meeting with at the church but in our Small Groups:

6&7 Grade Girls w/Lauren and Ashley

8 Grade Girls w/Rachel and Julie

6 Grade Guys w/Jen, John, Blake and Jacob

7&8 grade Guys w/Richard, Brad and Spencer

Your goal will be to have you and all your friends try to start/finish building your trike for the Trike Race the following week (6/1)! Come ready to build and finishing the details of your theme.

We will also be having a Parent Night for Incoming 6th Graders from 5:30-7:30pm. This will be a time for parents to hear about the upcoming summer hangouts and camps as well as what youth group will look like in the Fall. We'll also talk about trying to understand what Middle School students are going through and how they can help. For more information, please contact Jen Easton. And remember, this is a time for the Parents, not the incoming 6th grader (your time will be this summer!).

Trikegate Party!

That's right, our annual Trike Race is only a few weeks away! This Wednesday we will be breaking up into our 4 teams and deciding what theme you'll be going for and what you will make it out of.

For those of you new to the Trike Race, it'll be the 14th one we've done here at HCC! At the end of every year, our small groups build a trike to race around a course at church. It's a ton of fun so get your friends involved! The groups this year will be 6th grade guys, 7-8th grade guys, 6-7th grade girls and 8th grade girls.

Wednesday will be mostly a brainstorming night but if you have props for themes or something to build off of, bring them! In previous years we've had trikes built out of trash cans, lawn mowers, shopping carts, boogie boards, baby strollers, wheel chairs...even trikes! Get creative and get down here this Wednesday!

Our summer camp forms for Camp Spalding our out! Spots are limited so get them in!

We're also having a parent night for those parents with incoming 6th graders. Don't miss it! If you have any questions please get a hold of Jen or Mike at the church.

Switcharoo!

Just like last year, tomorrow we're doing a Switcharoo!

Mike and Heather will be coming over from leading the High School Youth Group and run the Middle School instead! And I'll be teaching High School during their Youth Group time of 7:30-9pm.

So if you want a little taste of what it's like to be in High School, we'll see you tomorrow!

Remember that Camp Spalding registration is out and spots are limited!

And those going on the mission trip to Gleanings, we'll be having a team meeting THIS Sunday from 1-2:30pm. Pick up your replacement car wash tickets and get selling!

IIT316!

Hey everyone! Tomorrow will be a IIT316 night so bring a friend and bring your Bible!

Camp Spalding registration will also be available so be sure to grab one or two!

And for those of you going on our mission trip to Gleanings this Summer, our replacement Car Wash tickets have arrived so be sure to pick them up. Also our next Team Meeting will be on Sunday May 15th from 1-2:30pm.

Movie Night 7-9pm

Don't forget that because of Spring Break we're watching a movie tonight from 7-9pm instead of our normal Youth Group time of 5:43.

Bring a friend, bring a snack to share, bring something cushy to sit on!

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!...And Wednesday.

Just a reminder that tomorrow is Easter so there will be no Sunday School class (or 959 as we call them). Instead there will be three Worship Opportunities at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00am.

Don't forget about neighbors and friends that would love to be invited to go to church with you!

Also as this is Spring Break for the Public Schools, we won't have our regular Youth Group on Wednesday. Instead we will be having a movie night that Wedensday from 7-9pm! Bring a friend, bring some snacks to share and something comfy to sit on!

Easter Reality

This Wednesday we'll be playing some games and talking about what Easter really means to us.

Next week is Spring Break for public schools so INSTEAD of our normal youth group time, we will have a movie night at the church from 7-9pm! So bring some friends, snacks and something comfy to sit on!

Pizza & Praise! Bring $3

This Wednesday we'll have a pizza dinner together and finish the night in worship!

Our very own Chris Herron will be leading us in song as well!

Don't forget to bring $3!

IIT316, Friday Chill, Calendar and more!

This Wednesday is another IIT316 Night (Stands for 2 Timothy 3:16). We'll kick off the night with games and finish by going through a passage in the Bible.

And remember to come out to the all area CHill hangout THIS Friday from 7-9:30pm!

Here's also a link to our new Calendar/Newsletter that we call The Station:

www.bit.ly/HCCspring2011Calendar

We mail one out quarterly if you are on our mailing list. Let me know if you'd like to be on it and you can pick up a copy at youth group or right outside The Youth Pod in the Ed. Building.

Those of you on our Summer Mission Trip to Gleanings, we have our 3rd Training Meeting this Sunday from 1-2:30pm!

World Record Night!

It's that time again!

Come and bring your friends as we try to smash some Guinness World Records!

How close to beating some of these records can we get? This will lead us to the question, "How close to Heaven can we get on our own?"

Come geared for fun and good conversations!

No 959!

No Sunday School this Sunday due to the High School L.O.G. Retreat at the Church this weekend.

Sunday School is cancelled for all ages except children's (up to Grade 5).

Our Station Newsletter (and 3 Month Calendar) is being mailed out this week! If you don't get one in the mail by Youth Group Wednesday, please grab a copy at Youth Group and sign up for our mailing list!

IIT316

Tomorrow is IIT316 so bring a friend and bring your Bible!

IIT316 stands for 2 Timothy 3:16 and we'll get together for some games and then we will dig into a Bible passage!

Also there will be NO Sunday School (959) THIS Sunday due to the High School L.O.G. Retreat at the church this weekend.

Our Monthly Gleanings meeting will also be pushed back to April 10th!

Fort Wars!

That's right! THIS Wednesday we finally go back to our regular time of 5:43-7:15pm after 3 weeks of School Break, Winter Dessert and Ash Wednesday Service we're kicking off this March with Fort Wars!

This will be our 3rd annual Fort War so bring your friends, bring some materials for fort building (blankets, pillows, rope, etc) and leave the angry babies behind!

Don't be late, we'll spend the first half of Youth Group in our grades building a fort to defend your group with (we'll have some furniture available for you) and the second half will be everyone shooting each other with foam finger rockets. You and your friends can't miss it!

Ash Wednesday!

There will be NO Youth Group for either Middle School or High School THIS Wednesday because...

Our church will be having an Ash Wednesday Service from 7-8pm and we want all our students (and their family/friends) to come to this instead!

Ash Wednesday starts off the 40 days of Lent that lead up to Easter. It will be a very reflective time and a great way to start preparing ourselves for Easter.

Slideshow and next week

Here's The Winter Dessert Slideshow!

2011 Monopoly Weekend Winter Retreat from Jen Easton on Vimeo.

As the last post said, the link to our photo site where you can download any picture you saw in the slideshow is located here: www.hcc.smugmug.com/Middle-School/Winter-Retreat/Monopoly-2011

Remember to hover over any pictures you like and give them a thumbs up to have them show up on the front page of the site!

The link to the High School Slideshow of Beach Freeze is here: http://vimeo.com/20088159

Remember that next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday so instead of having youth group, we encourage our students to bring their friends and families to the Church-wide Ash Wednesday Service from 7-8pm. It's a great way to prepare for the Lent season leading up to Easter.

Youth Group for Middle School will then go back to it's original time of 5:43-7:15pm on March 16th with Fort Wars! (Stay tuned!)

Winter Retreat Pictures!

The Winter Dessert was so much fun, thank you all for coming!

Here is a link to all the Photos from our Monopoly Weekend: Winter Edition Retreat!

http://hcc.smugmug.com/Middle-School/Winter-Retreat/Monopoly-2011

If you saw a picture you liked from the slideshow, you can download it from here. And don't forget to thumb up ones you like!

The slideshow will be posted tomorrow on Vimeo.com so stay tuned!

And remember, next week is Ash Wednesday Service. There will be NO YOUTH GROUP but come and bring your family and friends to the 7-8pm Service. If you've never been to a Ash Wednesday Service, check it out because it's a great way to start preparing for Easter next month.