Pioneer Girls Junior Guides - Cake Decorating

Once a month the Pioneer Girls Junior Guides get together to do a special project, learn a new skill or sharpen their leadership skills. For the month of November the girls had a night of cake decorating. Each girl was given a small cake and materials to decorate the cake and express their creativity. The group was given instruction on tips and tricks to make their cake look not only beautiful, but appetizing!

YAM-Monster's Hockey Night at the Q

The Young Adult Ministry recently attended a Monster's Hockey night at the Q. For many it was their first time to a hockey game and for some their first time at the Q. Even though the team didn't win we all still had a fun time getting into the action of the game! Afterward, we hung around for a short concert by a local Christian band and the kick-off to a local youth all-nighter. Whether attending the ABF, eating lunch or supporting one of our local sports teams the Young Adult Ministry is focused on Helping Young Adults Find and Follow Jesus Christ!

Becoming One ABF Christmas Social

Becoming One ABF had a great time at our Christmas social, Sunday evening. Lincoln and Glenda opened up their home to host this special occasion. We enjoyed wonderful food and relaxing time with one another. The kids played together while they anxiously awaited their gifts. After the children opened their goodies, the grown-ups really had fun playing a game where each couple took turns choosing a gift, and then the next one could "steal" that gift, until every couple had a gift that they could finally open! We all listened as one of the children read Luke chapter two for all of us, he did a great job!

Integrity Live Worship Conference - What We Learned

We want to share what we learned at worship:

WHAT CAN WORSHIP BE?

- Dynamic - Transformational - Inspired - Free

HOW CAN PEOPLE LEAD WORSHIP?

- Invite people into a sense of community

- Facilitate a Vertical Conversation

- Show people a journey of scripture, prayer and song

- Minister to the Lord

- Minister to people's Hearts

- Have an UNperformance

- Be transparent, so that people see God, not you

- Practice Worship in private

HOW CAN WE WORSHIP

- Show up; give God the offering of your attention

- Be authentic

- Be open to a visit from the Holy Spirit

 OTHER WEE SNIPPETS:

(Kathryn being from Ireland used all kinds of cute colloquialisms
like this throughout the course of the few days)

- You don't need to change to come and worship, worship will change you if you come

- God may not give you a new song, but He may give you a seed that you will need to cultivate and grow
- How we live our lives is an act of worship. We can not put on our "Worship Man" costume every Sunday morning and expect to make worship happen
-Sunday morning service is not the pinnacle towards which we aspire
-Tip: Don't focus on grumpy faces from the congregation during worship
-Tip: Don't guilt or try to force worship. Be respectful of your congregation and meet them where they are

Integrity Live Worship Conference

Several of the Worship Team members attended the Integrity Live Worship Conference on November 2nd and 3rd. Hundreds of worship leaders and their teams attended; they came from as far as New Guinea to gather at Cuyahoga Valley Church to experience real worship and learn from each other and great worship leaders. The conference was a full two days led by amazingly gifted worship leaders and song writers: Paul Baloche, Brian Doerksen and Kathryn Scott. Paul has written hundreds of songs that have been featured on a variety of albums. He has written many popular songs including "Open the Eyes of my Heart", "Above All", "Offering". Brian's songs include “Come, now is the time to worship”, “Hope of the nations”, “Faithful One”, “Refiner’s Fire”, and “Hallelujah (Your love is amazing)”. Kathryn Scott, all the way from Ireland, shared her popular songs “At The Foot Of The Cross,” “Search Me, Know Me” and the evergreen “Hungry” among others. We we're blessed to be able to sing the songs with their original creators and sing them straight to our Creator!

We were so blessed not only to indulge in a rich time of worship, but also to hear what these folks had to share about the worship experience. Our hope was to better minister to our church by learning and bringing back what we learn.

Left to Right - Ross Parsley, Brian Doerksen, Kathryn Scott and Paul Baloche

Annual Fall Family Festival

This year’s Fall Family Festival on October 31 was the best yet! God sent us more workers than ever before. Our facility was transformed into our annual Fall Family Festival within one hour. After a time of prayer and feeding our workers (pizza of course), our doors opened at 12:15 p.m. Hundreds of children dressed in their costumes along with moms and dads came ready to play some old fashioned games and collect some sugary treats. Hayrides, popcorn and a movie “To Share or Nut to Share” were also enjoyed by many. Of course, it was hard to resist a trip to the face-painting table, the craft room, and a stop for cider and donuts. We went through over 600 bags of candy, thanks to the generosity of all the donations. Thanks to all who came and we’ll see you next year at our annual Fall Family Festival on October 30, 2010.