FBC Youth In Ministry

One great thing about our youth is that they usually are ready at the drop of a hat to help someone out. You have to ask them to help, mind you, they might not notice you requiring assistance, but when asked, they're there.
And a great thing about Billy and Doug leading our youth is that they are teaching our men to be men. To jump in and do the dirty jobs. To rescue a damsel in distress. To work.... hard.... even in the rain.
Even on a football-esque Sunday afternoon.
So when a single female in our church had been without water a few days, wasn't sure what was wrong, wasn't sure what to do.....


... our guys jumped right in. Replaced her pump in the rain at no labor cost to her.
That's what a church family is all about.
And, of course, the guys found a little time for a quick game of Ugg Ball

in which they used an old tire for a ball.

FBC Youth.... at your service.
In His service.

Bonfire & Bible Study

It's the time of year when our youth group takes their Sunday Night Bible Studies on the road. Usually, they end up at Busbee's around a bonfire.
Last night was their second bonfire this season.
For the first hour, there were only two girls present.
They were outnumbered.
Overlooked.
Bored.
So B dug out the tractor and took Marj on an innocent little redneck hayride.


While the guys were enjoying a manly round of the Hokey Pokey.


The girls roared through their game, hair flying, screams bellowing.
Hokey Pokey interrupted.
Guys: "Oh no. We are not gonna stand idly by while they ruin our fun."


The Hokey Pokey Hayride became a game of redneck dodge ball.

Marj yelled "Retreat!" and B had the pedal down the whole way back to the shed.


And I'm sure once all that energy was expended, Billy could settle them down around the fire for Bible Study time.

Rivalry in the Youth Group

It was kind of like Ohio St. vs Michigan.
or Alabama vs Auburn
or Clemson/Carolina
But 'cept smaller.
Wagener vs Pelion.


It's a faceoff.
The oldest rivalry in FBC Youth Group history.


Raymond Middleswarth took on Garrett Sturkie.
The bets around here were on Garrett.
However....
Middleswarth led his team to a 38-18 victory favoring a steady rushing attack with Pelion capping the game with 375 yards rushing.
And Pelion's kicker?
Yeah. She's a girl.

Sure. We have the whole thing on tape.

And for the news.... A fire in the concession booth at Silver Bluff has resulted in new county laws requiring all deep fryers to be used out of doors only.
Thanks to these kind gents for keeping the fries on our menu.
click here for more on college rivalries

Look Up Lodge: The Games

Another major part of Look Up Lodge was the after-lunch games. Upon arrival at camp, campers are divided into teams and assigned a "color." Our color was black. Everything we did at camp, we did with our color group and made most of it a competition. Of course, Black team was the best.After lunch each day the teams would compete in crazy games. First, we'd have to put our war paint on - in our team color.--Sara and Doug (below) are showing you how fierce we looked in our black war paint.

Well... Doug doesn't look much different than a normal workday. But you get my drift.

Now, Mo, here is experiencing a transformation moment. You can see it in her eyes, she is being transformed into a machine.
A fighting machine.

Marj was born for the war paint. Brielle doesn't seem too sure, but Marj's into it all right:
For the water game, each team took a trash can in the lake and put some team members in the water and some team members back up on the docks.
The players on the docks were to throw balls into the trash cans. The ones in the water were to catch stray balls and toss them back to the dock teammates to re-try. Each team could post one "guard" around an opposing team's trashcan.


We didn't do so well....
With this next game, the object was to protect your "castle" (the alien looking silver ball object). Marj and Brielle are doing a great job guarding our castle while Chessa stands behind with our staffer, Chris.
So each team throws balls hard at the castles to knock them down.
(Not sure how Marj and B got this job)
We were hot with this game, baby, HOTT.


The best game, the one in which I threatened to leave camp if they involved me..... was the mud day.
They had an obstacle course to complete, most of which was covered in mud, covered in mesh to crawl under, and had staffers scattered about to trip you up or throw mud on the kids.
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Marj was in the lead for our team, or maybe second, I don't remember, but you can see Grayson rapidly approaching and when she jumped in the mud hole, a kid jumped right on her back and slowed her down & Grayson took the lead. I'm not sure which one completed it first. Before they got near the finish line, Connie and I had taken off at top speed so as not to get slimed by the kids post-run.
Here's Brittney (red) and Sara (blue).
"If we have not quiet in our minds,
outward comfort will do no more for us
than a golden slipper on a gouty foot. " - CS Lewis

Look Up Lodge: Skits & Activities

The youth are allowed a T-tiny bit of free time each day at Look Up Lodge.

During their free time, they can do the zip line, the high swing, trampolines, play basketball or tennis, do pedalboats or kayaks, go fishing and swimming, hike around the lake, visit the canteen.....etc.

Below are some of the photos from free time, take your time and browse through them.


We got Jon to agree to pedal our pedalboat while Morgan, Connie and I rode leisurely. Then we tied three kayaks to the back to see if he could pedal them, too. He did!
Yay Jon!
Paddle faster.... I hear banjos playing.






The Swing:

The Zip Line:


If they didn't want to do any of the above, there was one more thing a lot of the guys liked to do: Stand around and dazzle the ladies.

Each night in Funapalooza, the staffers would perform silly skits. There were one or two week-long skits, like a series, each night's skit building upon the previous night's.
In one of these serial skits, Jamal played a character who was a high-style Hollywood Talent Advisor who gave great advice to artists on how to improve their act. Not shown in this picture are the sunglasses he usually wore. Jamal was awesome.

More Funapalooza. . .

And here's our very own Laura Wise in a skit. She was awesome, too.


Here's Jamal in another skit of a family on a long car ride stopping for fast food. Jamal was in the back seat, all prim and proper and grownup with his baby sister and pesky kid brother who wouldn't sit still.

Thank you for viewing, please exit to your left.

Look Up Lodge: The Brothers

Hi!
I'm Larry and this is my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl.


For those of you too young to remember the Bob Newhart characters Larry, Darryl and Darryl, watch the following video clip, but fast forward to around 2:55 to see the brothers.

What Do You Need To Be Happy?


The one thing Jesus needed to be happy was a close relationship with God. Jesus found the sole source of life in his father. The delight of his life was to delight his father.
It was genuinely what made him happy.
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(everything I'm saying in this post comes from talks given by Greg Boone, Executive Director, Look Up Lodge,)
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What is the goal of the disciples of Jesus Christ? To be like Jesus. But we don't grasp the reality of that. While we can't fully attain this until Heaven, the goal is to get as close as possible. It is not religious activities, it is not something external. The people Jesus most rebuked were the devout people. He called them "white washed tombs" and "vipers."
Jesus doesn't speak this negatively about anyone else.
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"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
- Romans 12:2


The word "transformed" is translated from "metamorphia." It is not overly dramatic for God to use the word metamorphosis. Metamorphosis refers to an inside change that results in an outside change. The outside change does not precede the inside change.
What we genuinely need from Jesus is the capacity to love people. Loving people is the test of where you are in the metamorphosis process. Loving people is not the end goal, it is just a test of where you are in the process of transformation. The end goal is the close relationship with God as Jesus had, where God genuinely is our ultimate desire in life.


God wants to give us this capacity to love people unselfishly. Almost every relationship we have in life is based on selfishness. What God wants to do is to change that. How in the world can we do that? There's only one way and it's the same way Jesus did it.
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By finding our sole source of life and happiness in God alone.

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
- John 17:3
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If you want to get to know what's really important to someone, you spend time together, talk, be together. What they talk about is what they care about. And it's like that with God - the things He talks about most in the Bible are the things He cares about most. How do you get to know Him? Spend time with Him, learn who He is and what He cares about.
You probably aren't living the Christian life right if you think it's
1) complicated, or 2) easy.


What is the test of where you are in the metamorphosis process -- this process of getting closer to God, the process of finding Him as your main source of happiness?
It's the quality of your relationship with other human beings.
How you treat people. How you love people.

It's a lot easier to perform religious acts .
It's a lot harder to genuinely love people totally unselfishly.


"..that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ.."
Not "that they might be a good missionary" or "that they might be a good parent" or "that they might have a good church."
Just: "That they may know you, the only true God & Jesus Christ."
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"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
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Two sins? Really, just two sins? Amazing how important this is. Everything has its roots back in this.
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When we focus on God, sin begins to get squeezed out of our lives.
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If you're going to become this thing that God wants you to be, you are going to struggle in the metamorphosis process. Caterpillar to pupa to butterfly requires a serious struggle. Without the struggle, it just doesn't happen. This puts a different spin on pain and suffering, on teenage rebellion, marriage difficulties, and cancer and sickness, doesn't it?
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When you understand who God is and why He does what He does, you'll stop asking "Why?"
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The Answer: Trying to make you more like Jesus.
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