Improv, Movember, and CYWC

Hey everyone,

This past Friday night we hosted 'Improv Mustachio Night' at youth. We encouraged our kids to bring donations for Movember (Sheldon and Simon are raising money for the cause, check out the website to learn more or donate: http://ca.movember.com/mospace/2514658/) and in turn they could get stick-on or facepainted moustaches for the night. The evening went well! We played a lot of Improv games - some old, some new. It was nice to see some new faces out! My favourite game of the night was Human Props - one skit featured Matt and Megan going on a camping trip, with Harlen and Kellen as their props for whatever item was needed. Unfortunatly it wasn't filmed! We do have some video clips that I'll try and get on Facebook (if it cooperates...). Overall it was a great night.

This week is our last Alive of 2011! Paul will be leading worship which is cool because he was my worship leader when I was in youth! Sue will be our speaker and I know she has some great stuff to say. As usual, we'll be playing some games to get to know each other, there will be lots of snacks, and we'll probably be spending some time in small groups to discuss Sue's message. Alive nights are designed for new or non-Christian students so be sure to invite friends! Once again, we'll be selling stick-on moustaches (no facepaint this week) as it's the last week of November. Be sure to bring a minimum $3 donation if you want a 'stache!

Finally, while everyone had a week off for Remembrance Day, I was downtown for the Canadian Youth Workers Convention. The weekend featured several 'chapel' sessions with worship and various speakers, plus lots of workshops and seminars about youth ministry. There were plenty of booths to visit as well as a bookstore with youth ministry resources. I came home with lots of great resources, ideas, motivations, new challenges, and some new friends. I learned about leadrship development, taking care of volunteer leaders, visioning for ministry, working with teens growing up in a culture of narcissism (this was one of my favourites), remembering that God's timing isn't always ours, early adolescent ministry, taking care of myself, and a lot more. I'm looking forward to the Christmas break in our programs so I can sit down and process through a lot of the books I bought as I look towards January and the rest of the school year. I think the biggest concept I came away with is that we can never settle for a 'good enough' ministry, and that it's not a 9-5 job, but a 24/7 calling. Good stuff.

From the desk of
Amanda