Youth Ministry Film Festival

This week was our annual Film Festival at Salem Alliance. Wednesday was the middle school one. Because Kynzi is a 7th grader I was recruited to film and edit. The theme was prequels and sequels. We came up with the idea of a prequel to High School Musical. Thus we did Middle School Musical. This set up the reason why they always sing and dance in HSM. I loved the concept and we had several award winners from our video.


Friday night it was the high schoolers' turn. I lead a "d" group (discipleship/small group) of senior guys. We wanted to do a Hunger Games parody and do the Hungry Games, but when it came time to film we realized it was going to take a lot more time and work than we were prepared for. So we took a concept from my friends Josh Griffin and expanded on it. It is from one scene in the Hunger Games where Katniss is trying to shoot the bag of apples to blow up all of the stuff the group of tributes were protecting. It gets a little ridiculous...that's the fun of it.

There is something about getting together with a group of people and making a video that brings you together. The shared experience of it all is so worth the time and effort of actually making the video. We laughed a lot and it was a beautiful day. I have a pretty great group of guys I get to serve along with Duane Ditchen. Several of our guys, including Duane, could not be there. Anyhow, here is the video.

After Brian, Ashley and I viewed the videos, we made our own video highlighting each of the student videos and picking on them all. We did a fun parody to the Lazy Song. I will see if I can get the other videos up online so you can get a better understanding for this video. Enjoy.

Handerpants

Tonight we had out high school ministry film festival. It was a blast. Several of our small groups did a video and we showed them all tonight. One of them was a rap video Brian, Whit and I did to try to get rid of our announcement song that has been around for about 8 years. It was a lot of fun to do. I will try to get that video up later.

The one here is a "commercial" or our version of an "infomercial" for handerpants. Here is that commercial. Enjoy.

REACH

This morning at church we had an event called "Reach." This is a one day event for middle school, high school and college aged people to hear about missions and be challenged to listen to what God is saying to their hearts.

Near 400 were there and heard from students who did monologues they wrote based on different missionaries that all tie to Kathy Fairly (our church receptionist) and her missionary experiences; Logan Martin lead worship; Scott Erickson painted and shared some of his Africa experiences; Josh challenged us all strongly on where we are and where we could be. We also got to skype video Patrick & Maria Kelly in South Korea and Clarke Leland in Jordan! How cool is that!!!

There were a ton of more elements to this 2 hour event. I am not sure how many students went forward making a commitment to doing missions in their future, but I know it was a lot. You can actually watch it if you want right here.

Here are a few pics from our morning together.

The Africa Team above.

Flipside Costume Party

Here is a little qik video from our costume contest last night. It is not great quality because it was taken from my phone, but you get the idea. And you can stream it live from qik.com/erikwithak how cool is that?!

School is done...Camps, here I come!

October is camp month for me. High school fall retreat and our 2 middle school camps. That means I lean heavier on the work side of things. That can be a bit stressful, but November is much more chill. I love these camps. I love camp. I was raised going to camp and it became part of my life and blood. I have seen so many amazing things happen as a result of people stepping out of their regular routine and being open to what God has for them. So cool.

So if I am quiet this month, you know why. Of course, I could be even more "talkative" because I get in a frenzy when I start working on this stuff. I am like a caged king cobra. Unpredictable!!! haha. Don't get too close, or I may bite. Of course, I love hugs (I know, I know) so don't stay too fa away either. :P

The Price is Right Bob

Tonight we finally had our big outreach event of the spring. The Price is Right. It was soooo cool! I got to play the host, Bob Barker. Drew Carey is not very popular with people it seems. So I bleached my hair so it would look white and got a mystic tan. that was weird.

Each game we replaced the whole contestant row with another 4 people. Everyone who made it there got a PIR tshirt and got a chance to win and play a game. We played cliff hanger, one away and Plinko to name just a few. Then we had an awesome Showcase. One of the winners took home 4 tickets to a Beavers game, Timbers game, a Limo ride and several other things. Someone also got a sweet digital camera with the rest of the showcase. It was so much fun!!

Here are a few pics to enjoy from the night.

Oh, round 2 is on Wednesday from 7-9 for the middle schoolers. You can catch it on www.ustream.tv/channel/erikwithak

Wanna read some more? Check out Michelle's blog or Becca's blog.

I am going to change the world!

Tonight I went to our high school ministry's Grounded time. A place for high schoolers to connect and go deeper in God's Word and share their personal thoughts on different topics. This time around it was time for Paula, girl from Simpson University who is considering the 2nd high school pastor position at our church, to share with us. She talked about calling.

Paula shared a bit of her story and her interaction with this topic and then had us go through some questions in smaller groups. We had some great interaction on these questions and only got through 1...maybe 2ish. It was cool to hear one student share his journey and how his friend has been bringing him back to church. He is excited to explore calling in his life.

We got back together and Paula shared some more. It was cool. At the end she had us take 5 minutes to respond bye writing our own response out. I wanted to share with you what I wrote. I was inspired.


I am going to change the world.
Jesus came into this world. He changed it...radically.
He said we would do even greater things than him. (wow)
Do I have faith in that reality?
Do I trust him enough to say that is truth?
I am going to change the world.
One moment at a time.
One conversation at a time.
One act at a time.
I choose to bring heaven to earth by living like Jesus "called" me to.
...by loving...
...giving...
...accepting...
...caring...
I am going to change the world.

Reach. It is a way of life...

I realize it has been a bit over a week since I last "spoke" to you. Sorry for my silence. No excuses, just an apology.

This weekend the youth ministries at Salem Alliance did something different. It was a first actually. Middle School, high school and college ministries all got together for one 2 hour event. It was Sunday morning and it was called "Reach."

The design was to get students a glimpse of being missions minded. Outward focused if you will. Mark Lynch, from the national office doing candidate development, was there. A great friend of mine since we were kids. He works with people (specifically at Simpson University or those thinking of possibly going there) who are thinking about going into full time ministry.

Several students wrote monologues and recited them as if they were the actually missionaries who lived years ago. That was awesome. They shared "their" stories and how each person before them had influenced them into doing missions work. Their stories were amazing and inspiring.

John Stumbo, our senior pastor, did a great job sharing some stories of him being lost and getting help and incorporating that into how we need others to help us find the way, others to send us, others to go, etc. from John 10.

There were a ton of pieces that made the whole thing awesome!!!

Josh challenged students to make a decision and a whole bunch of students stood up saying that they sense God possibly calling them into some kind of ministry.

Living a life of going to where God calls us to go needs to be a life style. Not just a one time thing. That is what we are called to do.

Are you ready to serve?