Dear Mom & Dad

This month in Velocity we’ve been going through a series called LIFE.  We’re talking about some of the major parts of life and this week, both on Sunday and tonight at V-Groups, we talked about parents.  We gave kids a chance to write anonymous notes to their mom & dad and we wanted to share some of their comments with you.  They’re pretty powerful!

Dear Mom & Dad,

• Thank you for loving me and giving me the opportunity to have a relationship with God. I am sorry if I don’t understand where you are coming from at times. I love you guys.
• I wish that we talked about God more in everyday life.
• I wish my mom and stepdad would listen to me more after they get home from work instead of watching TV.
• I wish we could go out and do more things.
• I like it when you spend individual time with me, like playing basketball or going to lunch with me.
• It seems like you are never home.
• I wish that you would not yell.
• I just wish I could get you to sit down and actually listen to me instead of just saying “I’m the adult, you’re the child.” It makes me feel like you think I’m stupid.
• I wish you would spend time with me.
• Help me. Listen more often.
• I do not think that I say sorry enough.
• I wish you knew how much I really appreciate you.
• Make more rules.
• I am so happy that you give me so many rules. It helps me.
• I wish you knew how much I appreciate you and what you do for me.
• I love you. Thank you for being kind. I wish you could know that I want to spend more time with you.
• I can’t say how much I love you.
• I love you so much! You mean so much to me. I am so proud to be your child.

 Love,

Your Child

Luis Daniel Yac Ticuru

Looking for a way for your family to give back?  Consider sponsoring Luis Daniel Yac Ticuru.

In 2005 a group of students on our Jr. High mission team helped us begin sponsoring Luis (who we’ve affectionately referred to as Yac) through Compassion International.  He was 5 when we first began sponsoring him but now he’s almost 12.  He’s living in Guatemala and going to one of the Compassion International schools there thanks to the offering our students give each week.

Over the last year or two many of our students have made Elevate commitments along with the rest of our church body and have increased their level of giving.  It’s exciting to see so many of our students with offering envelopes each week just like the adults in our congregation.  However, as we’ve partnered with the church body in our Elevate emphasis, it has been more difficult to keep up both of our child sponsorships (we also sponsor a girl named MaryAnn from Kenya).

At this point I don’t think it’ll be possible for our ministry to continue to sponsor Luis.  That is where you come in.  I’d love to avoid dropping the sponsorship completely and instead to pass his sponsorship on to a caring student or family who’d like to help send him to school.  His monthly $38 sponsorship sends him to school and provides some meals and clothing that he wouldn’t otherwise have.  If your family would be interested in investing in the life of Luis and taking over his sponsorship, please let me know.  I can show you some of the letters he’s written us and get you more info so you can make a decision.

UPDATE: A sponsor has been found!  A great family from West Side is going to take over Luis’ sponsorship.  Please continue to pray from Luis as he grows into a great young man who loves God!

Ski Trip Recap

Just over 40 of us headed down to Hidden Valley Ski Resort this past weekend for an awesome trip.  It was fun to see some new faces and make some new friends.  Pictures are up now on Facebook so check them out and make sure you don’t miss it next year!

Upward Concessions

The biggest trip for our High School ministry every year is the CIY MOVE Conference.  Each year our graduating 8th graders are invited to join the H.S. ministry on this great trip.  It’s the best way we know to help students meet new people and begin in a new ministry right so I highly encourage our graduating students to attend.

To help cover the cost of the trip, many students volunteer to work Upward Concessions and other volunteer roles on Friday evenings and Saturdays in February and March.  Funds raised are divided among the volunteers and it can be a great way to significantly reduce the cost of your trip.  Signups for volunteer time slots are now open.  They fill up quickly though so if you’re interested, contact Josh Ryder or signup this Sunday after 2nd or 3rd service.

Ski/Believe Deadline

Don’t forget to signup by the end of the day Wednesday for our two big spring trips:

• Ski Trip – January 21 – $75 – click to register or for more info
• Believe – Februay 17-18 – $110 – click to register or for more info

We can take some registrations later for Believe but our cost goes up ($120 after 1/11) and we can’t necessarily guarantee spots after that.  Get your spot reserved now to make sure you don’t miss our biggest trip of the year!

As always, if cost is keeping you from going, contact Chris and we’ll help find a way for you to go.

Meet Drew!

Last week our new intern, Drew Kanzler joined the student ministry team.  We’re excited to have him and we wanted to give you a chance to get to know him so you can get as excited as we are.

1. What were you doing before coming to WSCC?

I was (and still am) a student in the Undergrad program at Lincoln Christian University. I will graduate in May and continue as an intern here. I also worked with at risk youth in Lincoln for the past 3+ years.

2. What are 3 things most people don’t know about you?

I collect a peculiar and strange assortment of hats (I have over 70), I have had two knee surgeries and I have traveled to England, Italy, Germany, Austria, South Korea, Mexico, and Canada.

3. What was your very first paid job?

My first paid job was landscaping. I worked for a company called Earth and Turf for three summers. ‘We take Pride in your Outside!”

4. What do you love?

My girlfriend Alexis, family, state fair corn dogs, White Sox, making people smile, the Lord, Youth Ministry, playing basketball, brain games.

5. What makes you laugh?

TV shows without a laugh track, watching the Illini lose, Bill Cosby, puns, wittiness, cheesy jokes.

6. Greatest fear?

Falling down the stairs.

7. Secret Ambition?

To be a Division 1 Men’s Basketball Head Coach.

9. Favorite Quote?

Do not let the things you can’t do, keep you from doing the things you can do. -John Wooden

Success is having something, Excellence is being something. -Brad Stevens

9. Describe one of your proudest moments.

This past summer when I was working on Camp Teams for LCU, I baptized a young high school girl. She was the first person that I have baptized. That is one of my proudest moments.

10. What is the best way to contact you?

 Telepathically, but if you can’t do that, e-mail me at DrewK@wschurch.org.

 Please help us welcome Drew to the student ministry team!

Believe 2012

That’s right. Believe is coming! On Friday, February 17 we head down to St. Louis for a weekend that could change your life. We’ll meet after school and drive down to the Family Arena where we’ll meet several thousand other Jr. High students for an awesome time of worship, teaching and fun! This is our tenth trip to Believe and every year we see students come back that Saturday evening excited and even more committed to Christ than ever before. Hopefully you’ll be able to join us this year!

If you want to come we need you to register and pay ($110) by Wendesday, January 11th for the early bird rate.  We’ll also need everyone to fill out the Believe Release Form and turn it in to the church office.

You can register and pay online. If you’re not able to pay online you can still register. Then bring a check to the church office and write “Believe” in the memo.

Registration is currently closed.  However, we may have space open up.  If you’d still like to sign up, contact Chris and let him know so we can try to get you in.

If you have additional questions you can ChrisS@wschurch.org and we’ll be happy to help!

Ski Trip 2012

Signups are now open for our annual Velocity Ski Trip to Hidden Valley (www.hiddenvalleyski.com) just outside of St. Louis. We’ll be heading down for a great day of skiing on Saturday, January 21 from 7:45am-8:00pm. It’s a great chance to invite friends so be sure you signup and pay your $75 by the deadline on January 11. The cost includes transportion, lift ticket and ski/snowboard rental. You can also pre-purchase ski lessons for $5 or snowboard lessons for $15.

You can now register for the trip online.

Mission ImPASTAble Count

Final counts are in.  Over the last few weeks we collected:

GUYS      187 boxes of noodles       230 cans of sauce
GIRLS      206 boxes of noodles      311 cans of sauce

That means we have a winner.  This Sunday in Velocity we’ll have cake and punch just for the girls.  Well done!

After talking with the Hope for the Holidays team about how they’d like to divide things, we are still in need of some noodles and some sauce to make sure there is enough for everyone to have the full amount.  If you’re able to collect any more between now and Wednesday night, bring it on up to E205 and put it in the bins marked for new donations (or leave them by the front door if you’re not sure).

Thanks going all in everyone and helping us collect a TON of pasta for families in need this Christmas!

Mission ImPASTAble Update

It’s been a great week for our Mission ImPASTAble project. We collected over 700 items on Wednesday night to bring our total to 833 items collected!

Our last day to collect is tomorrow. We’ve got all the spaghetti noodles we need (we’ll donate any extra to local food pantries) but we still need 139 cans of spaghetti sauce by the end of the day tomorrow.

For those of you concerned with our competition between the boys and girls, both have brought the same number of noodles but the girls have an edge in terms of the number of cans of sauce. Neither has reached their goal though so it’s still anyone’s to win. Whoever has the most will get fun food before Velocity next Sunday (12/18) so make sure you bring some cans for one final push tomorrow!

Thanks for helping make this a great, and well fed, Christmas for all of our friends at Harvard Park!