The last post of 2010...

Well the year has come to a close. This will be my final post of 2010 (125 posts in all!!!) We had a great year in our youth group. It has been fun to see you all grow throughout the year and we've had many spiritual highlights! My favorite is always the annual retreat at Storybook Lodge, and this year was no different. RISE UP!

As the year closes it is exciting to think about what God has in store for our youth group. The junior highers are having a new year's eve lock-in tonight (which will be tons of fun) and I know they will kick off the year right for our youth group.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year's celebration, and look for the first post of 2011 early on next year!

-PT

Youth Group tonight - Junior Highers bring your money for the lock-in

Just a reminder that we DO have youth group tonight! And if you are in 7th or 8th grade you need to bring your money for the lock-in this Friday.

I look forward to seeing you tonight. Have a great day!

-PT

Pray for Curt

I just wanted to ask you guys to join me in praying for my friend, Curt Vanderstelt. Curt is the lead pastor at North Bay Church here in Superior. He also works with the youth group there. Many of you in our youth group know him for several reasons. He has been at and even hosted several of our combined youth group rallies - and even was the speaker at a few of them. He also was one of the leaders for our campus missionaries events including the retreat and the recent Connect event. And he was with us last summer on our road trip down to the Twin Cities to go to Valleyfair and Mall of America.

To give you some background he has had 3 major brain traumas in his lifetime, including getting hit in the head with a softball during a church softball game against Bayside of all teams. That happened 3 years ago and it left him without memory for a few weeks. His brain is very fragile because of all these past injuries. Well last Tuesday he had to have a routine knee surgery for an injury he had last year. But when he woke up from the surgery (which went fine by the way) he could not remember anything. He is currently suffering from retrograde amnesia and the doctors believe it is a result of the anesthesia they used for his surgery - that it somehow traumatized his brain and his memory was lost.

The first few days were pretty bad but he is getting better. I actually went and visited him today, which was really nice. It was scary because there were moments when his memory was good and then times when it was bad. But he was Curt and it was fun to joke with him. We read some scripture, prayed, and even watched some baseball. His wife and two daughters are doing good considering what they are going through. The doctors say that only rest and time can help at this point.

Please pray for Curt and his family when you read this and anytime you think of him. I thank you for joining me in this and I will keep you all posted as I hear more. I believe that God will completely restore his memory some day and am praying that God will give their family comfort, peace, and joy until that day arrives.

Thanks.

-PT

What you missed

If you didn't hear or know, we DID have youth group last night. It was a blast. Here's what you missed:

-for starters, Ryan Paulson (above) was there - enough said

-we played Team Pictionary Crazy Drawing Movie Guessing Running Game. You know you wished you had been there for that (even if you don't even know what it is)

-we saw the return of the quiz - won by Luke Tunell in dominating fashion

-we gave away some sweet prizes

-we read the story of Jesus Christ's birth

-oh, and we had some snacks at the end.

It was a great night and we will be having youth group again next Wednesday, December 29th. Hope to see you then!

-PT

Youth Group tonight!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we WILL be having youth group tonight (JR. and SR. High.) There will be NO dinner provided like normal, and AMP (5th and 6th grade) will NOT meet. But for those of you in 7-12 grade come out for a great night!

I look forward to seeing you all there.

Have a great day!

-PT

Back from vacation

Hey everybody. Just wanted to let you know that I haven't posted on here all week because we were on vacation. The first half of the week I just stayed home and played with Garrison and Josiah. It was a much needed time for our entire family, and I truly enjoyed every minute of it. Then the last half of the week we drove down to the Twin Cities. We visited some of my siblings, Sarah's dad, and also did some Christmas shopping. Then we drove to St. Cloud to have our Christmas with Sarah's mom. We just got home tonight and I am glad to be home!

So what did I miss on Wednesday night? Let me know if you attended youth group and how it went. I will be back for next Wednesday, and YES we WILL be having JR. and SR. high. (Wednesday, December 22). There won't be dinner, so just come at 6:30pm. Hope to see you then and catch up!

-PT

Questions for Amos

Well we had another great Sunday School class today with Amos Tarfa. He mostly answered questions from last week which were rolled into 4 main parts:

1)Questions about our origin

2)Questions about our meaning

3)Questions about morality

4)Questions about destiny

I hope you enjoyed having him share with us and want you to know how you can continue to connect with him. The first place is to check out his website for Going Deeper International Ministries. You can click the link on the left hand side of this blog - "Growing Deeper" Or you can also email Amos, his email is tarfababi@gmail.com

AND - if you would like a copy of his book for $10 just check with me, I still have some copies. Or you can get it on Amazon.com

If you have any further questions, please post them as a comment on this blog post and I will get them to Amos.

Have a great week everyone!

-PT

p.s. - don't you love this picture of him? I had to put it up here since he mentioned how much he loved tennis during our class today...

Cancelled - Night at the White House

Sorry everyone, but due to the weather conditions getting continually worse, we are going to cancel Senior High Night at the White House. As much as I'd love to have you come over and hang out, I really don't want you or your parents to have to get out on the roads. There is a severe weather warning out there for our area and it is saying to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.

Also, over by our house it is SUPER windy and the snow drifts are really starting to develop. So we are going to cancel.

I'll keep you posted as to when we will make it up and have one again. Hope to see you at church tomorrow or youth group Wednesday.

-Tom

Senior High Night at the White House

The original White House - circa 2006

The color of the house is now Castlestone

While our house is no longer white - we will continue the tradition of Night at the White House. This is actually the fifth year that we are having this event. Basically all senior highers are invited to our house to come and hang out from 6-9pm. We will have food, games, wii, videos, and even movies if you really want.

So come out tomorrow (Saturday, December 11) night from 6-9pm. Email, facebook or text me if you need directions.

See you tomorrow night!

-PT

Weeds, wheat and the end of the world

See what you miss if you don't come to youth group? Last night was a lot of fun and turned out to produce some very good discussions. We read and studied the parable of the weeds. Check out Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. It led our discussion to talk about two main things:

1) Putting your trust and faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing you can do.
2) Sharing your faith in Christ with those who don't know him is next most important.

It also led to some really good questions and discussion on what the end times will be like. If you have any thoughts or further questions, just make a comment on here. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. You can share a question, concern about the end times, opinion about the end times, or general thoughts and reaction to this section of scripture.

-PT

Amos Tarfa

Yesterday during our Digging Deeper class for Sunday School we had a special guest speaker, Amos Tarfa. Amos has been our guest a handful of times and always does a great job sharing his heart for defending the truth about God and our faith. He shared some key points to his new book, Christianity 201 (pictured above). And he provoked some really good questions that you guys came up with afterward.

He will be coming back to our class next Sunday, December 12, from 11am-noon. He will be answering the questions from yesterday as well as any other questions you may have. Please join us and be ready to soak it all in.

Also, we have copies of his book for $10. If you would like to support him and his ministry as well as get a really good book on Christianity and how live your life of faith - let me know. I will have them on Wednesday night as well as Sunday morning. The books are also available on Amazon.com

-PT

2011 Retreat

Last night at youth group we officially announced the date of our 2011 Retreat. Next year's retreat will be Thursday, March 24 through Saturday, March 26. This is during the week of spring break for both Superior public schools as well as UWS. We will be having the retreat at Storybook Lodge in Gilbert, MN. We have booked James Alan Hall and Collective Element as the worship band. We also have confirmed that Pastor Mark from Belize will be coming back to be our main featured speaker. We are very excited about this event and can't wait to tell you more about it in the coming weeks.

The cost will be $60 and you will need a (new) 2011 permission slip on file (they will be available after the new year). You can start registering beginning Wednesday, January 5. We will be announcing more info over the next several Wednesdays.

The retreat is 16 weeks away. That means we will be leaving 112 days from today!

I can't wait. If you have any questions just let me know.

-PT