Redeemer Youth Ministry

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Being Challenged

on March 9th, 2009 | No Comments »

At the conclusion of his sermon on Sunday, Pastor Charlie placed a challenge in front of everyone, including us as youth. He challenged us to be bold by being different from the world. He challenged us not to be hypocrites–saying we believe one thing and doing another or pretending to be one thing with certain people and being another thing among others. God doesn’t like people who are two-faced. He wants people who call themselves ‘Christians’ to be the same all the time: boldly loving God and other people. That may mean that you are different from other people, maybe even a lot different. I know that this can be hard, but in the end, being different is much better than being like everyone else. It honors God, and he will reward us by saying “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

It’s tough being different in middle school and high school. Your reputation rests on whether or not people think that you’re cool. If you don’t do the things that the ‘cool kids’ are doing, you’ll never make it with that crowd. Being ‘uncool’ might seem like the worst thing that could possibly happen to you, but it is not social suicide to be different. You will still have friends, and the good thing is that these friends will want to do the same things that you do. They will respect you for who you are rather than ditch you when you are no longer ‘cool enough’ for them. Those are the kind of friendships that you want. Those are the kind of people that you want to hang out with.

So take up the challenge that Pastor Charlie placed in front of us. Dare to be different. Dare to say no in situations where it is usually so easy to say yes. Say no to sex before you get married. Say no to drinking before you’re 21. Say no to smoking and drugs. Say no to picking on people. Say no to movies that you know you shouldn’t be watching. Say no to music that might sound cool but fills your mind with things that aren’t good. Say no to talking about people behind their backs. Say no. Its not easy to do.

If you want to say no, tell me about it. I’d love to pray for you and help you! God gave us a community so that we can help each other out!

Popularity: 16% [?]

Happy New Year!

on December 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

Let me be the first to wish all of you a Happy New Year! There are some exciting changes coming to RYM (nothing major, don’t worry!) in 2009. We are going to start off the year of Wednesday night RYM on January 7th talking about why RYM exists. On Sunday mornings, we be looking deeply into the life of Jesus. If you thought you knew who Jesus was before, you’re going to get to know him on a much deeper level.
Note: Since the adult Sunday School classes are not meeting this week (January 4th), we will be off as well. We will start Sunday School back up again on January 11th at 9:15 sharp!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Retreat Reflections

on November 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »

A week has passed since the retreat, and as someone said in Sunday School yesterday, it seems like it all happened a long time ago. It seems hard to believe that a little over a week ago, we were hanging from wires 40 feet above the ground! Time sure flies. First of all, thank you to all of you who were able to come on the retreat and to those of you who were chaperones. The people who came made the retreat a huge success! We got along well as a large group, and the chaperones were amazing (especially those of you who made our great food!)!!!
For those of you who weren’t able to go, this is a brief summary of what you missed:
On Friday night, we met at church, had pizza, packed the 15 passenger vans, and headed out to Camp Westminster in Conyers, GA. When we arrived, we settled into Swann Dorm. Each room had 2 sets of bunk beds and a private bathroom! It was really nice! After we got settled, we headed to our meeting room to play some “get-to-know-you” games, some of which got a little vicious! Little Elliot actually got hit on top of the head with a pool noodle, and from his very own mother no less! Worship followed the games, and we were led by Hunter and Taylor Smith on guitars and Elizabeth Lamberts on vocals.
The theme of Friday evening was overcoming the expectations that are placed on teenagers. We talked about the view that most adults have of teenagers and looked at some statistics that prove that the expectations that adults have of teenagers ring true more often than we would like to admit. We realized that teenagers are in a vicious cycle of expectations. Teenagers are prone (just like everyone else) to rise only to the level of expectations that are placed on them. Therefore, they do the things that are expected. When they do these things, that is what people expect of them. And the cycle goes on and on.
We looked at a couple of passages in the Bible that call teenagers to rise above the expectations that are placed on them. The first was 1 Timothy 4:12 where the Apostle Paul encourages the Timothy to “not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set and example for the believers.” Then we turned to the Old Testament and saw that God also called Jeremiah to do great things even though he was young (Jeremiah 1:4-10). As Christians, we are given the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us that makes it possible to rise above the low expectations that are placed on teenagers!
Saturday brought a new day filled with fun activities. Students had the choice of paintball or horseback riding in the morning. As expected, most girls chose horseback riding and most boys chose paintballing. However, there were a few brave girls who challenged the boys to paintball! Thankfully, no one was too seriously hurt in either activity, and a good time was had by all.
After lunch, we gathered as a group at the high ropes course. The course was set 40 feet above the ground. It doesn’t seem very high from the ground, but when you are up there, it seems like a mile to the ground! Four obstacles stood in the way of the beginning of the course and the zip line at the end. Once you made it through the course you could take the plunge and enjoy the ride down the zip line. Almost everyone attempted the course, and I was so proud of everyone as the faced their fears on the course.
Saturday evening brought more games, worship, and learning. We continued our talk from the previous night, picking up with how the Holy Spirit has gifted us to overcome the expectations that are placed on teenagers. We found out that the Holy Spirit has given gifts to each person in a unique way! We took a test to see what those gifts are. Even though the test was kind of long, it was really cool to see how each person is gifted and how we can use those gifts right now as teenagers.
Saturday culminated with a huge bonfire by the lake, complete with delicious s’mores, campfire songs, and scary ghost stories! The walk back to the cabin was scary, and we all stayed together in a big group!
Finally, Sunday morning rolled around, and it was time to break camp and start cleaning up. We got all of our stuff together and joined for our final time of worship, once again led by our amazing musicians and other volunteers. We were reminded once again of our call as teenagers to set the example for other people, even though we are young, and to use our gifts for God and for others.
All in all, it was a great retreat. We had a lot of fun, we learned a lot, had great food (thanks to Sandy O’Neal, Donnetta Herold, and Rhonda Cook), and built some good relationships with each other. I am looking forward to our next retreat in the Spring! I hope that those of you who couldn’t make it this Fall can make it in the Spring!