@ Youth Encounter

LOST AND FOUND's purpose and goal behind their annual Christmas show is to provide congregations with an intergenerational event during Advent. In their travels they often hear the complaint that families want to be able to experience things together, but too often must sacrifice their own satisfaction in order to make it work. Either the kids feel they're being forced to attend something they don't really care about for the sake of their parents, or the parents attend something for the sake of their children and enjoy it only because their kids did. The Christmas show is specifically written with these issues in mind. In the previous four years, they have succeeded in providing a program that families enjoyed on their own account but experienced together.
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The 2003-04 Event Season Global Offering
by Jennifer Noyes

Every year, Youth Encounter receives an offering at Events that goes to help an overseas ministry. Last year we were able to give $47,840.24 USD to build the Children’s Village for AIDS orphans in Tanzania. This year we, in partnership with the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) and Wheat Ridge Ministries, will be buying cows for women who are widowed in India. The milk from the cows will be sold to earn enough money for them and their families to survive. Each cow costs $300 USD and will be used for years to come to generate money for the family, and for several families after that. To learn more about this amazing opportunity, click here .

We also invite you to sponsor a cow as a congregation! This is a great way for you to involve your entire congregation in the Event. Or perhaps you’d like to go to India on Youth Encounter’s Side by Side crew to meet and serve the widows there. For more information on Side by Side, click here .

On the Road with Captive Free West Lakes
Catch a Glimpse of the Team's Online Journal!
by Captive Free West Lakes

October 8, 2003

"And yet another week and a half of amazing host home experiences, programs, and van rides! Thank you everyone who was a part of all of this.

I have two things I would like to share this evening that have especially touched me:

Longville, Minnesota. (God likes to surprise us when we are least expecting it; usually in big ways too). After a yummy potluck, the most fun sing-a-long and well-received puppet show (can you ever be too old for either of those things?), I wanted to talk with a few of the people that seemed to have really enjoyed the program."
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A Day in the Life of Captive Free South East
Check Out the Team's Online Journal
by Captive Free South East

September 27, 2003

“I have a confession to make here in my first journal entry of the year. I was scared to be the Sound Technician for the South East team. I did not know a thing about sound except for when it was too loud or too soft. I had never even stood behind a soundboard before I left for Training in August. I did not think that I would be able to do a good job for the entire year at something that can be as confusing as the soundboard. Even the first day of training for the Sound Techs was scary with all of the new vocabulary words and equipment that we had to remember and understand. I was overwhelmed right beside all the other Sound Techs on teams this year."
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Meet Kindred
Read Excerpts from the Team's Online Journal
by Kindred

October 9, 2003

“Today we are in Odessa, Texas, the middle of the third largest oil field in the world. The homes of President Bush and Dick Cheney, as well as many oil barons, are only minutes away. The horizon is lined with oil pumps that, to the untrained eye, look like horses on dry, sparse terrain. Tumbleweed is blowing across the front lawn as I write. How surreal for me! We are passing through this part of West Texas on our way to El Paso and then Las Cruces, New Mexico, spending our time rehearsing and preparing for an approaching busy schedule of bilingual (Spanish-English) programs."
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Recruitment Has Some New Faces
Meet the New Recruitment Department!
by Jeff Rowdon

Hello friends of Youth Encounter! I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. My name is Jeff Rowdon and I recently joined forces with Sarah Liggett to form the new recruitment department here at Youth Encounter. We’ve spent much of the fall learning about recruiting with Youth Encounter and have already connected with lots of folks who might be interested in our team ministry. It’s been such a gift to spend time helping people discern a possible call to serve with our ministry--we’re having a blast! And this spurs me on to ask you a question: is God calling you to be involved in the lives of people through relationship and music? Maybe you know someone who is feeling that call in their life. If so, we would love to talk with you or that friend you know about the possibility of being a part of a year of team ministry with us.
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Check It Out: Spoke Folk!
A Life-Changing Ministry
by Eric Arundel

“Spoke Folk has changed my life in so many ways. The twelve days spent with new friends were by far the most eventful twelve days of my summer. Immediately I had a new group of friends that loved me for who I am. The coolest part was being able to share our ministry with the people we met. We shared our faith and welcomed everybody to join Spoke Folk in the future. Going on Spoke Folk opened me up to a new ministry that I never thought I could do. Now I have the confidence and the support to do whatever God calls me to do.”

~Julia Perkins, Spoke Folk Illinois 2003

Hey there all! My name is Eric Arundel and I’m the National Spoke Folk Director here at Youth Encounter. You may be asking yourself, "What is Spoke Folk?"
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Warm Up This Winter
The Latest from Resource Ministries
by Ryan Veil

Winter is here and so is the cold! Visit our Store at www.youthencounter.org to get Youth Encounter’s latest cold-weather apparel. We have Captive Free Beanies (stocking caps) and two different Captive Free Long Sleeve T-shirts.

If that’s not enough to get you in the mood for this Winter, check out the Lost & Found Christmas CD on our webstore. It features eleven great Christmas songs you and your family are sure to love.

While you’re listening to your Lost & Found Christmas CD by the fire, you can throw on our new Captive Free Hooded Sweatshirt to help keep you warm. This very warm and comfortable sweatshirt is great for everything from snowball fights to huddling around the Christmas fire. The hooded sweatshirt is navy blue with “Captive Free” down the left sleeve and “CF” inside of an ichthys fish. This product, however, can only be ordered through our office, so call 1-800-65-YOUTH today! Ask for Ryan. And, from now until Christmas, get 10% off all orders when you order by phone and mention this article!

Faith Stepping Stones
A Cradle-to-Graduation Confirmation System
www.faithsteppingstones.com
by Rev. Rich Melheim

A decade ago, when we set out to revise the adolescent confirmation process within the church, we had no idea that the ministry model we were targeting would lead us well beyond adolescent faith development into a whole family “every night in every home” faith incubation approach.

We knew that adolescence was perhaps the worst moment possible on the developmental timeline to attempt to dump doctrine into a child’s head. We knew that lecture was perhaps the least effective and least brain-friendly method of dumping it. We also knew that the academic “sit still while I instill” confirmation classroom model led by a single seminary-trained sage on the stage wouldn’t die easily.
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