Long Time, No Blog

Hey all, it has been a while since my last blog, which seems to be the habit I've formed.  But I'm hoping that with the return to a regular schedule, updates will be regular.  

Speaking of regular schedule, it's time to get things going for Pepper and Sr. High.  And that's what we're doing.  Hopefully you got your mailer by now and know all of the start dates and times, but hey, let's repeat it all to make sure we're all on the same page.

Sr. High: WEDNESDAYS 7:00-9:00.  Day change, concept change, an amazing change for our group. Starts September 24th. 

Pepper: FRIDAYS 5:30 - 7:00. Same Day, Same time, More awesome! (Yes, that is possible) Join us for the First Pepper where we'll stick around till 9:30 for The Pepper Amazing Race.

Of course all of the info is available on the Pepper and Sr. High pages.  I've been doing some updates to the youth site. the Leader pages have been updated, some new pictures through the site and have gotten rid of some clutter.  let me know if you have any other suggestions.  

Well I know it's not the most thorough blog I've ever done, but it got the basic points across.  I hope to see you all at our kick offs.  Bring some friends.  See you later!

The whirlwind of Summer

So it's been an insanely long time since I've had any sort of update on here.  That is the way this summer is going this year.  It's too busy to stop and catch a breath. But alas, I have found some time to stop and and say hi to the 3 of you that look at this blog.  Let's get down to business. (ha, I know so many of you just sang "to defeat the Huns!" in your head. And now that song is stuck in your head! It's never coming out!)

Fun in the Son was outstanding.  It was so great to be back in Ocean City, NJ and just to be back at Fun In The Son. So the crew that went was just great, and there's a bunch of pics of us up on the pics page. Most of them are from the scavenger hunt on the boardwalk. Yes, David George is proposing to the airplane.  Sadly, he was turned down. The guy drawing the chalk painting was Ben Glenn (www.chalkguy.com). He is outstanding. And yes, he did the gigantic Chalk art piece in the youth room. The band was great (whoo Fluffy Elephants!). And yes, that is a giant Awkward Turtle. And yes, we won first place for our work.  So FITS was a great trip.  There we experienced great fun, community, and a great time with God.  I'm already pumped for next year.

This past Sunday we got back from the mission trip to Cranks, KY.  There we did a ton of great work on the local homes and with the people in the area.  It is an area stricken by poverty due to the closing of coal mines and serious damages from floods that raged years ago. The couple that runs the Cranks Creek Survival Center that we worked with have been married for 52 years and have been ministering in the area for the last 32 years.  A flood came in and flooded out most of the homes in the area, including theirs.  It was then they decided to jump in and lend a hand. So for over 3 decades they have given of themselves sacrificially and have gone to amazing lengths to help those in need.  Their faithfulness is just awe-inspiring. 

The trip wasn't all work though. I haven't laughed so hard in I don't remember how long.  The crew and I had a blast hanging out, working together, bathing in the lake and watching Sesame Street. oh and we saw the Wiener-Mobile. All in all it was a great trip that impacted our lives and faith in great ways.

So VBS is this week, and it's insanely busy. David  George and I are doing the videos this year.  More accurately, David's doing them and I'm causing a distracting ruckus. But its a fun week. 

Let's see. Summer youth group is happening, and we're heading to Hershey Park on Tuesday, which will be a blast. And Friends Camp at Conrad Weiser is right around the corner. Sign up soon.  It'll be here before you know it. 

Hopefully now that I'm back in the state for duration of the summer, updates will be coming more regularly.  I'm working on getting the youth site more up to date and getting caught up on our picture and video uploading. 

So how about you guys?  I've filled you in on my past few weeks, anything fun happening on your end? Let me know.  

God Bless,

-Geo (currently defeating the huns)

Ahh.. the beginning of summer.

Ahh June, my favorite month that starts with J.

Pepper wrapped up last Friday with a blast of a time, burger grillin', kick ballin', sundae eatin', gum sculptin',  loud singin', God lovin', leader findin', good times. You can check out all of the pictures here.  It was an awesome way to wrap up an awesome year.  The question remains: what are you doing with your newly free Friday nights?  

Summer trips are coming up.  Sr. Highers, its time to sign up for trips.  Like now.  Ready and GO. Don't let money get in the way. Go to our trips page and get signed up. 

So I thought I'd have more time to finish this post, but I need to get running. See ya later.

picture albums

I finally put the pics up from Tel Hai and Black Rock this year.  Check them out.  I'm realizing that we've missed a lot of photo albums over the past few years, I'm going to try to fill in the gaps where I can.  Enjoy the pics.

Time flies when you're not writing blogs

Let's see.  Been about 3 weeks since I've updated this. Way to go Geo!

Sr. High small groups have begun.  Good times are being had, as well as pizza and angel food cake. It's not to late to get involved if you want to. 

This friday (5/23) we're having a Sr. High Wiings night from 7:30 to 10:00. That is spelled correctly. We'll be playing the Wii, and eating wings.   We'll throw down on some Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Wario Ware, and more.  We should have 2 or 3 Wii's running for maximum playing potential. And we'll eat tasty, tasty wings.  

Please sign up for trips.  Please. The deadlines are way past, but you can still sign up. So sign up soon.  I can't handle the suspense!

Speaking of trips, the last mailer that came out about summer youth group and trips for the Sr. High (and 8th graders ) had the FITS dates wrong.  the correct dates are June 29th - July 4th, 2008.  You can get all the updated info on our Trips page.

For you Pepper peoples, we've got two more Peppers left.  Last Pepper is May 30th and goes till 9:30.  Lots of stuff planned.  but Gutter Sundae and Find the leader definitely stand out.  Don't miss it.

So Lately I've been getting woken up by my dogs in the morning responding to the slightest noise out side the house.  for them it's time to get up.  for my non morning person self.  6:24 is way to early for me to be opening my eyes.  But it's not the end of the world.  It does bring me to a question: What is the absolutely worst way you've been woken up? Comment and let me know.  

Back to the Future

What a great movie...

So my laptop is back up and running, new screen, fingerprint free. Wohoo. Things on this end have been good, how about for you guys?  We're gearing up for the summer here and things are looking busy.  Summer youth Group, Fun In the Son, Son Servants, Conrad Weiser, It's gonna be a busy summer.  

We're heading back to FITS after a year off, and I'm really excited.  Fun In The Son is the place where my faith really came alive, where I figured out that my life was rather useless without Jesus.  FITS also is something that I really look back on as an amazing time with my friends.  Some of the best fun that i've had was down at FITS hanging out on the boardwalk, playing games with everyone. Some amazing conversations and the hardest laughs i've ever had were on that trip.  I'm really looking forward to getting back there.

All of this reminiscing has gotten me to thinking about favorite memories of youth group, trips and other hanging outs that have occurred over the years.  Use the comments to share some of your favorite OPC youth ministry memories.  Even if you have long since graduated out of our program and just found your way here through the site or my Facebook, take a moment and tell me your greatest memories.  It's always fun to take a look back.

As we look back, we're moving forward. Sr. High small groups are nearing their start (We're hoping to have everything up and running by next week; you can still get involved).  We're heading to KY for the first time in 8 years.  We've got new Churches joining us at Conrad.  And summer Youth group is going to have a whole new spin.  As we move forward in what God is doing in this ministry, let us continue to remember how faithful He has been to get us here. 

Broken Laptop and what's a blog for anyway?

So the screen on my lappy is not being so cooperative these days.  So after a couple phone calls to Dell, I should be back up and running within a few days.  So for now, my faithful and reliable Mac is getting the job done and getting it done well. 

So far, I'm not sure anyone has really even looked at this blog.  But I'm sure it takes time for a massive rise to blogosphere fame.  Eh, who needs fame. Anyway, if you are out there, leave a comment to say hello.

The Famine was pretty incredible.  I had an excellent time and was thrilled with the work that was done.  You guys are amazing and really did some great work A ton of money was raised through sponsorships and the car washes that will all go to help those in need. Excellent work to all.  I had promised Pics of the event, but my camera never made it out of my bag, so does anyone have  any from the weekend? I'd love to add them to the website.

I just had a meeting this morning with the churches that put together Conrad Weiser. It's April and I'm already pumped as anything for that trip and what's going to be happening there.  I finally got a price from everyone so head over to our trips page to get more information on that.  FITS and Son Servants are rapidly approaching. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get your sign ups in early this year. Current eighth grades, this means you too. Don't worry about the cost, we can help out with the car wash and other things we have planned. 

For those of you in high school, get your info in if you want to get into a small group. 

That's about all for the youth min announcement type stuff.  On another note, if you've known me for any period of time you know that I'm a video gameaholic.  I'm currently pretty big on Smash Bros Brawl on the Wii.  If you have a Wii and want to play online, email me your friend code and I'll send you mine and then I'll take you down.  If you don't have Smash Bros., but you have a Wii, I'm always looking for other Wii friends.  Hey, If I can't have friends in real life, why not have them in the form of little animated characters? right?