Youth Group on Wednesday

Alright, it's been too long since we had "regular" youth group. But it's back. Come out on Wednesday night for good old fashioned youth group! We will start at 6pm with a free dinner for anyone and everyone. Then at 6:30 we will break into our groups. AMP for 5th and 6th graders, JR. HIGH for 7th and 8th graders, and SR. HIGH for 9th through 12th graders.

Also, we have a big announcement for JR. and SR. HIGH.

So come out for a great night. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!

-PT

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that you all have a great holiday and a really long weekend. I am thankful for God's love, my awesome family, and the best youth group in the world.

Take a moment to let us know what you are thankful for this season. Just make a comment on this post.

-PT

No youth group this week

Just a reminder that we will not be having youth group this Wednesday, November 24. This is due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving with your family and have a nice time off school.

We will be meeting again for youth group on Wednesday, December 1. Plan to be there. We have a BIG announcement!!!

-PT

Operation Christmas Child

We were excited to announce today that we collected 101 shoeboxes filled with toys, clothes, and other items for children all over the world. Several of our youth were involved in putting together shoeboxes with their families. And our AMP group spent one of their nights of youth group shopping for the shoeboxes. The picture above is from AMP a couple weeks ago when they went to Target and picked up items for two shoeboxes.

Thanks to everyone who participated in some way in helping Bayside reach our goal of 100 shoeboxes - and more importantly to have a huge impact on children all across the globe!

-PT

Harvest Home is Wednesday night!

I just wanted to let everyone know what is happening this Wednesday for youth group. We are having our annual Harvest Home event at the church. The youth group (grades 7-12) will be serving a meal to the entire church family and friends. If you can remember please try to wear black pants and a white shirt - or something nice. Come ready to serve. We will have students running the drink carts, running plates from the kitchen out into the fellowship hall, and cutting the pies and prepping them to be served. There will be plenty of work so come out for a fun time of serving. Above are some pictures from last year and it seems that every year we have a lot of fun. Also, after we serve you will be able to eat a meal yourself - and typically we have plenty of pie left for the students to eat up.

There will be no AMP (5-6 grade) meeting, but everyone else is welcome to come out for a fun night! See you there!

-PT

Good weekend!

Just wanted to let everyone know what a good weekend it was with our youth group. There are three specific things that made it such a good one:

1) On Saturday morning we had our Campus Missionary Connect event at Central Assembly of God. It was a great time and a lot of fun. There were about 40 students there and I would say 10-15 were from Bayside. We had food, games, worship, testimonies and some encouragement.

2) On Saturday afternoon we had a dodge ball fiesta at Christian Missionary Alliance. It was a blast! There were about 30 students there and again about 10-15 from Bayside. We played several games of dodge ball and were able to scout out the other youth groups for our upcoming dodge ball tournament.

3) On Sunday morning we had our weekly Digging Deeper Sunday School class. This is always a good time. We typically start with a time to just hang out in the youth room. Then we talked for a bit about the sermon from church which was about John chapter 3 when Nicodemus visited Jesus. We also had some one on one time to discuss and an opportunity to write out John 3:16 in our own words. Remember that this class meets every week and is open to anyone in grades 5-12. We usually break up into different age groups.

To those of you who participated in these events, thanks for a great weekend. And if you didn't - we missed you and hope you come next time!

-PT

Campus Missionary Connect is Saturday

This Saturday, November 13 - we are having Campus Missionary Connect from 10:00am until noon. It will be held at Central Assembly of God. We will have homemade donuts (no joke) and fruit, there will be games, worship, testimonies, and an opportunity to check in on your plan of action.

So if you are a campus missionary or you are considering becoming a campus missionary - make sure to stop by and check it out.

ALSO, on Saturday from 1:00pm - 3:00pm we are having a dodge ball fiesta at Christian Missionary Alliance. Come out for a fun afternoon of dodge ball.

See you guys tomorrow!

-PT

The total is in...

Alex, Tommy, and Ryan at a local school in Belize

Over the last four weeks we were able to raise $374.42 to go towards the Christmas Children's party at Hattieville Baptist Church in Belize. With this money the church will buy meals and gifts to give to the children in their village. Our original goal was $200 and we easily surpassed that! Our new and updated goal was $400, and our youth group account can easily contribute the remaining $25.58. I plan on sending $400 to Pastor Mark Sommerville and the church in Belize! And to remind you that in Belize the US dollar is actually worth 2 Belize dollars. So they really are receiving $800 in their money!!!! This will go a long way to help make Christmas a reality for the children in their town, and to spread the gospel and love of Jesus Christ this season. Thank you Bayside Youth Group for doing your part! PRAISE GOD for providing through you!

-PT

Fasting, Wineskins, and Old Shoes

Tonight we looked at a difficult passage of scripture. We certainly didn't have enough time to really cover the details. So I wanted to give you another chance to think about what this passage means for you. Here it is, from Matthew 9:14-17:

Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is still with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

So take a moment and comment on here with any questions or thoughts that you may have about this verse. Also look up 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 4:22-24 because they might help shed some light on this particular scripture.

Let us know what you think!

-PT

A New Goal

VBS gathering at Hattieville Baptist Church

I'm excited to announce that we have surpassed our goal of raising $200 to send to Belize for their Children's Christmas Party! We received two large donations in addition to the continual donations and collections that we've been making. So far we have collected $311.28!!!!! Praise God and thank you to everyone who has given. Now that we have surpassed our goal, it's time to make a new goal. We still have one more collection on Wednesday night at youth group. I think it could be our biggest one. So I am setting our new goal at $400! Let's just see if we can get there. So remember to bring your extra change and coins, and continue to pray and consider making a donation out of your own regular money. Maybe you could sacrifice something that you have been saving for or something you normally buy - give it to this cause for the children in Belize and see how God will bless you.

I look forward to seeing you guys on Wednesday night!

-PT

Student Profile - Cody Casper

Today's student profile is all about Cody Casper. Cody is a senior at Superior High School and a part of the class of 2011. Cody has been a part of the football team and is an avid wrestling fan. His dad, Tom (Big Daddy), is a youth leader and all three of his older brothers have graduated from our youth group.

What is your favorite part of youth group?
Small group time because we can break down what we just learned.

What is your favorite memory from youth group?
When I gave up my bad attitude at the retreat and then having to live that out during the basketball tournament.

What is the best part about being a senior?
It's my last year and I'm the one people can look up to.

What are your plans for after graduation?
Business college, culinary arts college, and photography college.

What is the coolest place you have ever been?
New Jersey.

What is the one thing you wish you could do?
I wish I was 100% healthy because my goal has been to set a new squat record of 850 pounds. I believe I can do it but I need to be healthy.

Anything else you would like to tell our youth group?
Just live your life for Christ. Take it from me, it's the best thing you can do. To have that feeling to know that God is there for you and that no one can do what He can do.

Thanks Cody!

-PT

Bring your coins/cash on Wednesday

Pastor Mark juggling the basketballs and soccer balls we donated to their church

I wanted to let you all know that I received a call from Pastor Mark in Belize last week. He was excited to hear how well we (you) are doing and he said to say hello to Bayside for him. I also invited him to come to our retreat in 2011 - and he is now praying about that and figuring out if it will work. If you were not there I will tell you that at last year's retreat he was our featured speaker and did an amazing job.

Don't forget that we are continuing to collect loose change and cash for his church in Belize, Hattieville Baptist Church. We collected again on Sunday and we are now up to $77.71! This money will go towards their Christmas Party outreach to the children of their local community. Our goal is to raise $200 by November 10. We have 8 days to go. We will collect tomorrow night at youth group, on Sunday during digging deeper class, and next week at youth group will be the final collection. Continue to collect your change around the house, your school, your parents cars, your little sibling's piggy banks, the streets of Superior, etc! Also continue to pray about something that you normally buy or pay for that you could sacrifice and give the money towards this cause.

We'll see you on Wednesday night!

-PT