Youth Trip to LCLC

Adopt-A-Project Work Day

April 25, 2015

"A special day devoted to groups and individuals for taking on a predetermined project."

 

 

Adam and I will be heading to LCLC on Saturday, April 25th to help with some projects on camp, and we'd like to bring any interested youth along, too!

 

We pitched the idea at one of our youth nights a couple of weeks ago, and several kids expressed interest in visiting LCLC and helping out. (We'll be trimming trails, filling pot holes, etc. Nothing too laborious and nothing dangerous!)

 

Any one interested, grades 7-12, please let me know. We will figure out rides and departing times from there!

 

Happy Spring. At last.

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Sunday School and Haven House

Tomorrow I will be explaining to our Sunday School students what Haven House is all about.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Haven House, it is a safe place that shelters women and children who have had to leave their homes due to dangerous domestic situations.

These women and children often leave their house with nothing, and Haven House relies on donations of brand new, unworn clothing to supply for them.

Sunday School students are asked to join us in collecting donations for Haven House; specifically, for children.

If you have a child in Sunday School and are able to join us in this effort, over the next couple Sundays, we will be collecting and contributing *Brand New* children's pajamas, underwear, and socks for Haven House.

The Social Committee at St. John will be collecting these same items for adults. We hope to generate a large contribution for these women and children in need!

Are you on Instagram? Find St. John @sjlcfaith for photos involving Youth Night, Sunday School, and our other events! Here are a couple recent photos from Spaghetti Dinner prep, Last Tuesday's Youth Night, and Sunday School (lesson: Jesus' Parade):

POSTPONED Winterfest and Youth Memo/Update

Hopefully you all received Pastor Scott's email regarding Winterfest and Chili Cook-Off being postponed.

New Winterfest Date: (pushed back one week) Sunday, February 22nd

Volleyball Marathon Registrations are due Monday, Feb 16th.

Open to kids grades 6-12.

Registration cost is $25 (Proceeds go to Lutheran Charities of WNY)

Myself, and youth from St. John will all be on a team, and compete with other teams of youth groups/congregations in the area! 

Let your child be assured, volleyball skills are not at all required for this event. I don't know that I can successfully throw a volleyball in the air and then catch it. This event is less competitive and much more social. Though, I'll admit, after you've been broken in the first few rounds, you get much better. (Not confident how that rule pertains to the fifth or sixth hour.)

The event goes from 8 pm Friday (Feb 19th) to 7 am Saturday (Feb 20th).

Buffalo Niagara Court Center, 425 Meyer Rd. in West Seneca

Yes- it's an all-nighter. 

Still, there is no way your kid won't extremely enjoy this experience. I've gone a couple years, (some years ago) as a volunteer, and it's always been a blast.

Visit this website for more details and photos. Learn about the service portion of this event!

After the success of last Tuesday's Youth Night, I have a feeling we'll have quite the fun and energetic team.

Youth Night had it's first run last Tuesday from 7-9 

This is for kids grades 7-12

We had pizza, played some serious hide and seek, and we had great discussion. 

This will be an every-other-week gathering led by myself, and Pastor Scott's intern, Adam Weber.

Contact me about your child joining us! They've got to be apart of the awesomeness unfolding; they won't regret it.

Winterfest, Chili Cook-Off, Facebook Debut

Friends and members of St. John,

I hope you'll join us after 10:30 service this Sunday, February 15th, for a good-time afternoon. 

While we hoped to get layered up and play in the snow, Sunday's forecast says it'll be a whopping TWO DEGREE day. Should this be the case, we'll be having an 

indoor-field-day-olympics upstairs in the youth room/ Sunday School area. 

And should you be so brave, enter the chili cook-off contest! Contestants are awfully confident this year, but I think we can all agree, so long as Pastor Scott doesn't take the gold, we've all won. 

Let us celebrate the winter traditions that don't involve shoveling!

We're also trying to grow our Facebook page!

Check it out, and give us a 'like'!

Spaghetti Dinner

Sunday, March 8th

Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser at St. John Lutheran

ELCA Rise Up Together National Gathering, Detroit, MI

Dinner 5-6:30 pm

Theme basket Auction

50/50 Raffle

Adults $10.00    

Children $5.00

Save the date, folks! 

We will begin selling tickets for this event on Sunday, February 15th (between services).

Plenty of volunteer positions to be filled in order to make this event a success.

We need youth volunteers to help prepare and serve dinner. 

Please email me if you would like to get involved!

Last Weekend

The confirmation retreat at LCLC this past weekend was a huge success!  We coupled our bible study with the snowy adventure course, and it was a great experience. We enjoyed the winter weather with a fireside worship, lots of sledding and games in the great outdoors. Here are some photos I took from this weekend. I'm hoping we can get some even better photos onto the TV to share with all of you this Sunday!

Confirmation Weekend Retreat 1/15-1/17

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year!

This has been my first time working at a church during the holidays. It was certainly busy, sometimes hectic; but I have never felt so apart of such a special community than I have at St. John. It was awesome being part of the worship team that held the Advent services on Saturday evenings. I was blown away watching our youth's outstanding performance in the Christmas Play. It was incredible to witness the ways each one of those kids brought their individual strengths and energies to make that come together so beautifully.

It has truly been a blessing to worship with fellow members in such intimate and unique ways throughout December. I feel so fortunate to have gotten to know people better through the experience.

But the fun isn't over! I am SO excited to go with four of our confirmands to Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center for the confirmation retreat this weekend. I volunteered for the same retreat last year, and we all had a blast. I'm ecstatic to see a lot of the kids from last year returning for the retreat this year. LCLC is a remarkable place, the way it creates immediate community and holds an atmosphere where everyone in it can enjoy and be themselves. 

The theme for this weekend is "Promises"; what a promise means, what God's promises are, broken promises, and making promises. We've got a creative and enthusiastic team who are sure to deliver the theme in an impacting, powerful way!

To parents of confirmation students who were unsure last Sunday if their schedules permitted the retreat, it's not too late for your child to attend! Always, the more kids the merrier. There will be plenty of fun this weekend for both those highly active and those who prefer to check out nature, play cards, etc.

Please email me if you'd like to get your child aboard the retreat. We're departing from St. John on Friday (about 4 pm), and we're departing from LCLC about noon. Or shoot me a call (515-5964). I'm happy to answer any questions and do whatever I can to get your child there with us.