YVF Youth Worship Band on youtube

You can watch this video of the youth worship team for Christmas program if you want to:

Let's write a story together...

You know how this works...you write a sentence, another person writes a sentence. Write a story together. One guideline: You can't write two sentences in a row. Here it goes!!!


On a hot, dry Reno afternoon, two boys ventured upstream alongside the Truckee River with an inner tube tucked under each of their arms.

Summer 09 Happenings

I just sent out a newsletter via email. If you didn't get it, let me know!

Summary of the events for the summer...
June 3. Summer Slam '09. BBQ and game/movie event in Comstock Park as a collaborative event with other youth groups in S. Reno.
June 7. Graduated 6th graders are now a part of Redemption Youth!
June 13. Community Service and Hangout day in Yerington
June 20. Potential BBQ with Las Vegas youth group in Reno.
July. Take the month off of scheduled in advance youth group events.
August 5-10. Cultivation Youth Conference in Vancouver, WA. http://www.nwcultivation.com/

Hang Time with God

Since we kicked off our new series, HABITS, on Tuesday with Drew starting off teaching on Hanging out with God, I wanted to see what ya'll thought. How are you doing on hanging out with God? Is it weird? Does it feel normal? Do you feel like he's there? Can you hear him talking to you? I encourage you to keep going! Post any questions, thoughts, comments so we can encourage each other and give more of our own personal examples. BTW, so you know what to look forward to in this series, the acronym for HABITS is:

Hang time with God

Accountability with another believer

Bible Memorization

Involvement with the church body

Tithing commitment

Study Scripture

Dana knows everybody

Dana knows everybody in the whole world. Why do I say this? I was cruising around the contributors to this blog (of which Dana is one) and looking at the blogs they look at (slow day at the office). I stumbled across a guy named daniel who lives in kenya. I thought, "hey, that's weird, Karen's best friend from college (who lives in TX) works in kenya with a guy named daniel". Same guy.

What's worse? One of my best college friends in Arkansas went to casa bernabe for a summer. While she was there, she told me about a girls she met from some town in nevada. It was dana.

The other day Dana was having an interview with the pope. I was watching with some friends, and they said hey, who's the guy with the pointy hat talking to dana?

It's official.

In God We Trust

Put your political views aside for a moment. Today was a great day for America. Today saw the first non white President sworn into the White House. That feat, 60...50...40...30..20 years ago would probably almost seem impossible. Today it was achieved. President Obama conducted himself with dignity and class today. I pray that the Lord just lead this new leader of our country in His ways.


Many have asked me where I think Obama stands in his Christian beliefs. I am asked how can we support a man who show's little respect for the unborn child, no value for it's life yet declares his Savior is our Lord Jesus Christ???? Is that what Jesus would do? That is a tough question. That is normally followed by some claim that he is Muslim, a Terrorist, a Communist.....This is tiring me! These are comments from Christians who are straight up judging a fellow man! So what if he was raised a Muslim! Jesus saves! George Bush was an alcoholic and you know what? Jesus saves. News Flash - You and I are both sinners and you know what? Jesus Saves. Obama is doing what he believes is right for this country and best for it's people just as Bush did. I applaud that. I really do. Do I disagree with him in some areas? Sure I do (I value the unborn child but I also value the innocent victim who was killed in areas of war that could have been avoided) But I also I agree with him in many areas.


Today we have seen one man take over the reigns of our country from another man. Both of these men claim Jesus as their Savior. I believe that. That doesn't mean they haven't and won't make mistakes. They are men! Sinful men like us all! That is why Jesus came! They have tried and will try their best. If they seek the Lord first in all they do...this country will be greater than any of us ever imagined. That is my prayer. Thank you George Bush for your efforts and here is to supporting Barack Obama and believing he will serve his term in Faith.

Accountability

Last night was such a great night to be back with all you guys for the first youth group gathering of the year. I missed you guys! We are that family that Ryan was talking about. :)

We discussed a lot of things about last year and what we would like to see for this year and how to make it happen. I was thinking more about this today and got excited because I know that everything God has for us this year will come to pass. You know how people make New Year's resolutions and end up not fulfilling them or staying on track? I felt like we made a lot of resolutions and had a lot of ideas of what we would like to do and see change starting in 2009. What I'm excited about is the fact that we are a family, and we all are excited about these ideas of loving on the people of Reno and each other and pursuing our own relationships with God more.

So is it ok that when one member of the family is not fulfilling their own dreams and goals for this year, we can all come around them and encourage and support them to get back on track? Can we show each other the truth in love and be like iron sharpening iron? I give you permission to help me stay on track. We need each other. We can do more together and we can help each other remember the good things when we are down, so we will have a higher success rate of fulfilling and even surpassing our dreams and goals for this year. Didn't last year surpass your expectations of what God did in our lives and as a youth group? I know this year He will do the same. Let's do our part to keep moving forward, and He'll take care of the rest. I love you guys!

U2 - I believe in Father Christmas

Enjoy the season!

Election Day....

Today is the day that this country elects it's new leader. Today is the day that peoples hopes will be crushed. Today is the day that people will be ecstatic for the winner. Today is the day that thousands pray to God to put the right leader into place. Today is the day that people pay for protection from their opposition. Today is the day where people make a judgment. Today is the day that families can become divided, sometimes to the point of tears. Today is the day that people place their hope in something that will not last....



Today should be a day where people realize God is in control. Today should be a day where people realize true hope can only be found in Him. Today should be a day where we are ecstatic for Christ and His love. Today should be a day that people pray to our Lord for what he did in Jesus, because He is who we should follow, He is our leader!! Today should be a day we thank God for His protection. Today is a day we should not judge unless we be judged. Today is a day to become united in Christ, sometimes with tears of Joy! Today should be the day that people realize they need to put their hope in the one that was, and is, and is to come....

Tomorrow will not not come by having the earth turned by McCain or Obama. Tomorrow will come by having the earth turned by our loving, never failing, glorious heavenly Father!!

The Lord is in control. Praise be to God!

Halloween

So, this weekend as a non-youth group thing, me, kels, harm, kass, ryan and kyle went to yerrington. the girls stayed at Jenna's house and the guys are Joe's. jenna planned a surprise party for joe since 11/1 is his 15th bday. ALL of the teens helped out with the Yerrington vineyard's Night Of Lights. It was cool, i am so spending halloween there next year. the people from y town that hung out with us were Jared, jenna, Daniel, Joe,Ryan (purple jacket guy), joey, megan, geoff, Nick, phil....etc. mostly everyone. After the night of lights we all walked to Joe's house and had a party from like 9- 12 it was amazing we had a sahving cream fight and we sang and danced and we played truth or dare and would you rather. lets just say that the Famous reno girls strike again and make a nice huge impression on the yerrington boys!!! After the party the girls went back to Jenna's house and that whole night I was texting Ryan (from y town) and Joey , Joe and Harm was txting Joe and Nick. Kels was txting joe and nick. Jenna... of course RYAN L.!!! haha we all stayed up pretty late laughing and what not..... Then it was saturday and none of us wanted to go home just yet, so we got the plans made so we all could hang in reno together at the Summit mall. When the girls go to the mall we went into Dillards and tried on soooo many dresses it was soo much fun... but then the boys showed up while we were in our dresses and we asked them to take a pic of us (lets just say kinda akward) After that we walked around and went to see eagle eye (not the greatest moive) it was really amazing to see everyone together. And we got to meet some new people who are like totally awsome and who let into 0ur little reno/yerrington group because they became miley cyrus fans!!! I cant wait for the next that we all get to hang out!!!!!

Get your groove on.....

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From the High to the Low

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain.....and He was transfigured before them, (that means He was an awesome sight)
Mark 9:2

Later the diciples see Elijah and Moses. What an awesome place to be. So awesome that Peter is totally up with this, he tells Jesus that this is like way cool let's stay here. Now have no doubt, like you and I would be, there was some healthy fear in Peter. Elijah and Moses go and Jesus eventually take them off the mountain ending that experience.

I quote from the book "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. Good stuff here.

"If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the people in the valley. We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life-those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time with Him."

I bring this up because 1, I read this and it really spoke to me 2, I hope it to be an encouragment to you.

I am a very experiential person but in the middle of the race, legs a hurting and tired, mountain top experiences won't carry you to the end. Rather a daily walk with Dad will.

You guy's are awesome,
Carl

Be thankful....

At a time when we face elections in the country, questions about where 'our' money goes (even though it's all God's we still claim it's ours!!) Watch and think...



Be thankful..The Lord is GOOD!!!!!!!!!

Cultivation Youth from reno vineyard on Vimeo.

Cultivation Video by Drew

Drew finished the video on our testimonies from Cultivation. Yay! Go check it out!
http://www.vimeo.com/1760622

Qualities of your future spouse

I read this today on an email devotional I get from Homeword for parents. It's a prayer for parents to pray for their kids regarding their future spouse. Since we're in the middle of our dating series and we just started our lists of qualities that you want in your future spouse, here's some more to consider...

Prayer for our Child’s Future Spouse:

“Lord, may he/she love you with all his/her heart, soul, mind, and strength, and Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. (Mark 12:29-30; Romans 10:9)

May he/she love his/her spouse (our child) with faithful, undying love for as long as they both live. (Matthew 19:5, 6)

May he/she recognize his/her body as a temple of the Holy Spirit and treat it wisely. (1 Corinthians 16:19, 20)

May he/she be healthy, able to work and support a family. (1 Timothy 6:8)

May he/she have an admirable goal in his life. (Matthew 6:33)

May he/she use his/her talents wisely and release his/her spouse (our child) to use her/his God-given talents, also. May their talents complement one another. May they enjoy doing things together. (Matthew 25:1, 14-30)

May he/she establish their home in accordance with God’s prescribed order as outlined in Ephesians 5:20-28. May he/she be strong in mind. May the two of them be compatible intellectually. (2 Corinthians 13:11; 1 Timothy 1:7)

May he/she be a good money manager. (1 Timothy 5:8; 6:10)

Lord, bring this partner into my child’s life in Your perfect timing. May they be so in love with each other and both of them in love with You, O God, that there will be no doubt that You created them for each other as long as they both shall live.In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

See You at the Pole

Have you guys heard of See You at the Pole? Students all over the world gather together at their school's flag pole on a designated day at the end of September every year to seek God together for their campus and friends. Not only are you coming before God and activating prayer in your life, but you are meeting other students on your campus that share your faith! I've been talking to a couple of you guys about getting together with a fellow follower of Jesus to pray and support each other while at school. This is a great opportunity to see some familiar faces that you didn't know shared your faith, and you can build friendships from there.

So this year, the designated See You at the Pole day is Wednesday, September 24th at 7am. Go to http://www.syatp.com/home/ for more info on this event. This website is great for resources about your rights as a student to have a faith-based event on your campus.

So who's gonna be at the pole?

Oh Yerington.......

.....I love Yerington!!!!!

Crazy kids