Drive-In Movie Night

Coming up this Wednesday, August 4th from 6-8:30PM we’ll be hosting our final Velocity Fun Night of the summer.  We’ll meet in E205 and break into groups to create our “cars” for the drive in.  Every group will be provided with one big appliance box but you’re welcome to bring extra boxes for your group or even work on parts ahead of time.  The group with the best/most creative vehicle will win a fun prize!  After we finish building our cars we’ll all settle down with snacks and a fun movie.  I hope we’ll see you there and don’t forget to invite your friends!

Velocity Pictures – July

A little over a month ago Velocity transitioned out of our old room (E200) into a new room down the hall (E205).  We’ve had a blast transitioning into such great new space.  Here are just a few pictures of what we’ve been up to on Sunday mornings over the last month or so in E205.

Boys Water Party – Recap

Last Wednesday our boys and girls split up to have their own Wet & Wild pool parties.  A big thank you goes out to the Johnson’s and Hohm’s for hosting!  Here are a few fun pics from the boys event.

Money for Mattresses

This summer we are raising money for Inner City Mission.  Inner City Mission is a safe environment that teaches the love of the Lord to all the families there.  All of the families there are in need of a bed to sleep in and a place to call home.  Inner City Mission has asked us if we could help fund new mattresses.  There is a competition between the boys and girls in Junior High to see who can raise the most money for Inner City Mission.  The winner of this competition will be awarded with a dessert buffet and drinks on a Sunday morning in August.  We hope that you will give not only for the dessert buffet but also to make a difference in other people’s lives!

It’s on,

From your missions team!

LSCA Summer Camp Recap

We had a great time out at Jr. High 1 at LSCA on July 11-16.  We had just under 100 kids, nearly 30 of whom were from West Side.  Here are a couple fun videos from the week.

Wet and Wild Parties

Coming up THIS WEDNESDAY (7/21) from 6-8PM we’ve got pool parties planned for our students.  We’re going to meet in two different locations:

     Boys – The Hohm’s House – 3904 Vanderbilt Circle, Springfield

     Girls – The Johnson’s House – 467 S. Farmingdale Rd, New Berlin

Be sure you bring your swimsuit, a towel and, if you can, a snack to share (we’ll provide drinks).  Then just come ready to have some fun!  And don’t forget, invite your friends!

WEATHER: In the event of bad weather, check back here to find out about any cancellations or changes to our plans.

On Location: Eiffel Tower

Our theme this summer is On Location.  Each week we’re taking a look at different locations from around the world to see what God may want to teach us.

This week Ben spoke about lessons from the Eiffel Tower.  If we want to build something great with our lives we need to make sure we have the strong connections that come from great friendships.  Jesus gave us some valuable instructions about choosing friends in John 15:10-17.  We need to look for friends who are 1) Obedient to God’s Word, 2) Loving and 3) Fruitful.

This week step back and examine the friends that you have and ask yourself if they’re going to help build you up or tear you down.  Are they the kind of people you want your life to reflect?

Beyond just thinking about the kind of friends other are to you, also consider the kind of friend you’re being to others.  Is there someone around you that could use your help as a good friend?

CU Mission Trip Recap

This week a group of us went to Champaign-Urbana to serve for a few days.  It was a great time and we were able to help a number of different places (Axiom Campus Ministry, Salt & Light, etc).  Check out some of our projects below and make sure you don’t miss it next year!

UPDATE: Check out one student’s thoughts on the trip as featured on our Missions blog.

From Jealous to Content

This weekend in Velocity we concluded our series called eMotion.  Each week we’ve been discussing how we can move from one negative emotion toward a more positive one.

This week we talked about how we can move from Jealousy to Contentment.  We live in a society that pushes us to want more and need more all of the time.  Being content goes against everything society tells us.  But  in Philippians 4:11-13 Paul tells us that with God’s help we can learn to be content in every situation.  We can do that because we know that God has a plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11-14) and he wants to give us good things (James 1:17).

We watched a video about a father whose son really wanted a little ball from a mall kiosk.   But the father had something so much better in store for his son, if only he would trust him.  This week, “when you find yourself standing at the kiosk, asking, ‘Why can’t I have what I want?’ may you believe that God is good, and that across the street he has something better.”

On Location Photo Hunt Recap

We had a great time last night at our first big event of the summer, our On Location Photo Scavenger Hunt.  We sent groups out with lists of strange and hard to get pictures to take and in the end Dawn & Melissa’s group of 8th grade girls pulled out the win.  Thanks to everyone who came out and made it a great night!