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The summer has been full of change for Grace Youth. We are currently going through a transistion and undergoing change. However, change is also growth. All of this we believe is in God’s Plan for our Youth, our Church, and our Community.

Junior High Camp is July 22 through July 25, and Senior High will go to camp the next week from July 29 through August 2. Parents are welcome to come and help with the camp. See Marilyn if you are interested.

All students attending activities away from the church must have a current 2009 Medical Release Form on file.If you are going on any of these trips, make sure to let Marilyn know. If you cannot go, we will miss you and hope you will pray for all those who will be traveling.

We want to update everything on this site: pictures, calendar, resources, etc. If you have any pictures or videos of our GCO youth, please put them on a drive or CD and give them to Marilyn or me. We really need some new stuff!!! This includes pictures from the Venezuela trip and all the activities that we have had until now. If you have run across great web sites with information to help you in your growth, share them with us. For now, here are some things happening that you need to know about:

• If you haven’t joined the Grace Youth Facebook, send us a request to join. We send information on trips, retreats, activities and other stuff using FB. If you don’t have an account, make sure we have an email address for you and we can get you information that way.
• Payments are due for the mission trips to Tanzania and SEMP. If you aren’t sure of the dates and how much is due, check the bulletin board or the Grace Youth FB.
• There are several missions training sessions scheduled: May 3, May 17, May 31, and June 7, all at 4:30 pm.
• We will not have SDA or SOS from May 18 until June 7 to allow everyone time to concentrate on finishing the school year strong. We will have SDA on June 7 and welcome the newest members of Grace Youth.
• Senior Sunday is May 17. We are so proud of our graduating seniors!!!!
• Promotion Sunday is June 7!!!

Hopefully we can get the calendar updated as well as all of the other information before the end of May.

I know its been awhile, but we’re still super busy here at Grace Youth!

Our next major upcoming event is the Worldwide Missions Sharing Service! This is on October 25th in the evening. We’ll be talking not only about the trip the youth and church took this summer to Venezuela, but ALL of our missionaries will be presenting about their trips and campaigns! Come join us and see how God is working throughout the entire world!!

Also, something else we want to start focusing on is making Disciples! As students, our current mission field is our schools, and many times we will share our faith, present the Gospel to a friend or classmate, and rejoice with him/her when they join us in having a relationship with Christ! Yet so often, that’s all we do. We just ‘get them saved’ and then move on. But that’s not how its supposed to work! Christ said, (Matt 28:19-20) “19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” So you see, we’re only doing half of what Jesus commanded us to do! The next step is to teach them how Christ lived, so they too can glorify Him with their life. Not only that, but we are to help them grow into ‘disciple making disciples’.

Think about this. If there was only 1 Christian on earth, and everyday, he led 1,000 people to the Lord, then every month we would have somewhere between 29,000 and 31,000 new Christians! In a year…365,000 brothers and sisters in Christ!! The sad part though…is that even at that AMAZING rate, we would STILL NEVER REACH the entire world with the Good News. Why? Because everyday, there are more than 1,000 people born into this world. In fact, in 2007, it was estimated that there was 134 MILLION babies born!

Now, what if there was only 1 Christian Disciple, and for 6 months, he/she poured their life into 1 other person, leading them to the Lord, seeing them come to a saving knowledge, and then training them to make disciples, just as the first one did. So after 6 months, we have 2 Christian Disciples! But… after 6 months with the other guy, we had over 180,000 Christians…

But we’re not done yet. Those 2 Disciples spend the next 6 months finding someone in their spheres of influence, loving them to the Lord, and training them to love others to Him as well. So after a year, we have 4! Disciples…again, compared to 365,000, it really doesn’t seem as effective (or does it?)

Here is where we see addition versus multiplication.

Those 4 spend 6 more months, and we have 8. Half a year later, 16. Next year, 64. See the pattern? The numbers keep doubling every 6 months!! 128… 256… 512… 1,024… 2,048… 4,096… 8,192… 16,384… 32,768… 65,536… 131,072… 262,144… 524,288….and so on. I just listed 8 years…and we’re up to over half a million Disciples! So then 6 months later….1,048,576! A Million!

At that rate, in 17 years, the ENTIRE WORLD could be reached.

Did you just catch that….

In 17 years, the length of time most of yall have been alive…

The
Entire
WORLD

So the question is….what are we waiting for?

Summer is in full swing now, and there’s alot going on in the GCO Youth!

We’ve recently returned from Venezuela, and it was an AMAZING trip! We saw 2450 people profess faith in Jesus Christ! Praise God! Gloria de Dios!!!

Our next major event is the SUMMER LAKE RETREAT at Marilyn’s lake house. It’s July 15th-20th, and costs $125 for all 5 days. If you’re interested, call DJ Walsted (972-765-1818). We will be leaving the church around 10AM on Tuesday, and returning sometime around 2PM the following Sunday. Dave Sterrett will be teaching on 2 awesome topics - “Apologetics” and “Why Jesus?” This is a retreat you don’t want to miss! Not only that, but we will be having Sunday Morning Baptism in the lake - how cool is that!! If you’ve never been baptized, or if you want to be dunked again as a sign of re-commitment, then this is the perfect time for that! Throw in some water activities, great food, worship, awesome friends, and some more food, and you have the best retreat of the summer!
Please note: we need a medical release on file before we leave the church on Tuesday. The 2008 files can be downloaded from the Resources page.

Right after the Lake Camp, we have VBS from July 20th-25th. Everyone is encouraged to help out in some way!

GCO is putting on a show! We are proud to present “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”!
For three nights only: July 31st, August 1st & 2nd. Tickets are $5, and can be purchased in advance or at the door.

Keep an eye in the bulletin, because there’s gonna be something different every week!

Our Annual Garage Sale is coming up!
March 14th and 15th. Friday and Saturday.

We have a storage shed this year, instead of trying to keep everything at the church. Contact Dana Maners or Marilyn Reed for more information.

So, whats coming up next:
–Missions Meeting this upcoming Sunday. $400 deposit DUE.
–Garage Sale.  March. Check back.
–Camping. March. Weekend. Interested?
–Missions Training. Soon. Equip!

Thats all I got for now, be sure you check back for updates on days and times.

So, we have to practice our tails off to get ready. The practice schedule is as follows:
-Monday: Backalley Guys  7-9pm
-Wednesday: Everyone 7-9pm
-Friday: Everyone 7-9pm
-Saturday: Be there at 3pm.

These are the current time, subject to change.

So, our next MAJOR event is the VALENTINES BANQUET! We have Kendra’s Play this Wednesday, but once thats over, she and Heather will be leading the Youth in skits and plays and songs and all sorts of merriment. February 9th is fast approaching, so get ready!

Just some stuff to watch out for during the next couple weeks.

1. Venezuela Missions Meeting. January 13th. Lunch will be provided, immediately after the service. **IMPORTANT** $200 deposit and sign up today. Bring your Passport if you have one!

2. BROOMBALL! January 20th. See post below for more info.

3. Superbowl Party! February 3rd. Who’s it gonna be? I keep hearing noise about the Cowboys…. Check back later for more info.

4. Valentines Banquet!! February 9th. Get ready to start working on it now, its only a few short weeks away! Check back for more info, and contact Kendra or Heather to see where you can help.

I’m going to start being more diligent with the website, so make sure you check it often for info! I’d like to see this great communication tool used!

LEAVE COMMENTS!

God Bless yall, and have an impactful and amazing week!!