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ARCHIVE
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Issue 6, Volume 5, March 2007
March 28, 2007
Vol. 5
Issue 6
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Issue 5, Volume 5, February 2007
February 20, 2007
Vol. 5
Issue 5
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Volume 5, Issue 4, January 2007
January 23, 2007
Vol. 5
Issue 4
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Issue 3, Volume 5, December 2006
December 6, 2006
Vol. 5
Issue 3
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Issue 2, Volume 5, November 2006
November 27, 2006
Vol. 5
Issue 2
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Issue 1, Volume 5, October 2006
October 25, 2006
Vol. 5
Issue 1
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[MORE]
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EDGE! 2007 in Kansas City, MO
Stay Tuned for More Info
Stephanie Gunderson
You all have been hearing
a lot the last year or so about EDGE! 2006
in Nashville; now we want to switch gears and let you start thinking about
EDGE! 2007 in Kansas City, Missouri! Whether you are already joining us in
Nashville or if your church wasn’t able to come this year, mark your calendars
for July 20-24, 2007 and plan to join us for a five-day National Event jam-packed
with great speakers, musicians, drama, service projects, and fun! The purpose
of EDGE! is to train high school students to intentionally live out their faith
in Jesus Christ! We hope you’ll join us in 2007!
Check back next month to
hear more about our new summer middle school ministry called Rock
the Campus. It’s a four-day National Event focused on introducing
middle school students to the wild ride of faith in Jesus Christ!
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RENOVATUS: Renew, Rebuild, Restore, Revive
Mission Team, Ocean Springs, MS, Summer 2006
Susie Anderson
Youth
Encounter is recruiting a mission team, Renovatus,
to work with our partner in disaster relief, Christus Victor Lutheran Church.
Some of the areas they will serve in include working with Youth Encounter-sponsored groups and leading
Bible study, devotions, and evening debriefings. The ministry of presence at
morning devotions, prayer, evening prayer, and meal times will also be an
important component to the team's time in Ocean Springs. The team will consist
of 4-6 members who are 18 or older. There are opportunities to raise your
support through Youth Encounter's Development department and a short training
time provided by Youth Encounter before the team heads to Mississippi. If you
are interested or know of someone who would benefit from this experience,
please contact Susie Anderson at 651-287-8481 or susie@youthencounter.org.
Summer 2006: May 30–August 12
May
30-31--Training in Minneapolis/St. Paul area,
June
1-3--Travel to Ocean Springs, MS
June
4--Greet the first Youth Encounter Team Katrina crew
Aug.
12--Arrive back in Minneapolis/St. Paul area
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A New Model, a New Direction
How God is Shaping the Future of Team Ministry
Jeff Rowdon
A few months ago a church in
Brookings, South Dakota, contacted us at Youth Encounter and asked if they
could host one of our teams—FOR A WHOLE YEAR! After talking with them, we
found out that they would like to use one of our ministry teams to do youth and
music ministry in their congregation. As we
have explored the opportunity, we have become more and more excited about the
ministry that this new team will do and what it may mean for the future of
Youth Encounter’s Team Ministry.
Imagine that instead of
having a single youth director or music leader, you had an entire team of young
adults that would love your congregation for a year. Not only could they
help with your youth ministry, but they could also be used as a worship team to
invite your congregation into God’s Presence week after week.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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The Effects of Events
Why We Do What We Do
Kelly Dotson
It’s hard to believe Events
season has come and is nearly gone! We are getting ready to host our last eight
Quakes before the end of April, and the Zones are done for the season. Amidst
the craziness of traveling every weekend, packing for the next Event in between,
and losing sleep from hanging out with staff until all hours of the morning, it
has been easy to go into auto-pilot mode over the past couple months and lose
sight of the purpose behind our ministry. Yet, in the midst of this transition
to post-Events season, I have been reminded by youth twice in the past week to
stop and consider why we offer these Events in the first place.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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It Was Just What I Needed
Read Excerpts from Captive Free Gulf Coast's Online Journal
Captive Free Gulf Coast
We are in beautiful and warm
Dallas, TX at the Dallas Quake! The youth here are so energetic! They are so
fun and friendly! I got to experience some good food from Jason's Deli for
dinner with a super fun church. Shout out to Christ Lutheran! The past two days
I have learned so much from the kids here. Christ really shines through these
kids. I had the wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the youth over the
past two days, and I am so excited for what these youth are going to do when
they go home and in the future. God definitely teaches us lessons in different
ways, and I have been shown Christ's love through the youth we have met the
past few weeks. Tonight I was invited to a family time, and the kids there
really surprised me. We did the normal Saturday night family time that Youth
Encounter provides, but then we went around and did affirmations. It was a
little awkward for me at first because I only really had met two people there
before I came to the family time. It took over an hour to affirm everyone, but
it did not matter to anyone. They all loved each other so much. These kids did
not really know me, but they all affirmed me, too, and I left feeling loved. It
was just what I needed, and God knew that!
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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I Am Thankful Every Day
Read Excerpts from Captive Free North East's Online Journal
Captive Free North East
When you are on a Captive
Free team, you never know what each day is going to bring. You get a new place
every night with a new bed and new people to get to know. Traveling in the
North East region, we have a tendency to stay in some very wealthy homes. Some
homes are so big that you almost get lost in them. This week however, I got to
experience the other end of the spectrum. We got our second opportunity to play
in the Bronx. This time however, we got to stay in host homes rather than in
church like last time.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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Grace Like Rain
Read Excerpts from New Dawn's Online Journal
New Dawn
When I was young I used to
think about rain and what it was in relation to God. Maybe it was God's tears,
and something on this earth had made Him very sad. I used to think about rain
as the earth's shower...humans immerse the body in water to get clean. Maybe it
is the same way for the earth.
There are so many stories in
the Bible that talk about water-–God's presence in it and the power that people
thought it had. Moses parting the Red Sea, Jesus turning the water into wine,
the pool of Bethesda, Jesus talking about Living Water and being the Wellspring
of life, and of course the flood in Genesis. Water is seen as healing, as
powerful, as cleansing. It is what is used in baptism to represent new birth
into a life of following Christ.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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Fuller Still: Color And Feeling
New Album Drops on June 5
Kate Tripoli
From
humble beginnings as four Youth Encounter team members, Fuller Still (Josh
Brecht, Gail Brecht, Graham Peterson, and Justin Rimbo) are on the verge of
becoming your new favorite band. Their new full-length album, Color and Feeling, will be officially
released on June 5. There will be a
CD release party concert open to the public on June 9 at Club 3 Degrees in
Minneapolis.
What was the recording process like?
Josh: Our
producers were dreamy.
Justin: I think
the word that sticks out to me to describe the recording process is “long.”
Because this is our first real, full-length album, so we were sort of naïve
about a lot of things going into it, what it would take, and we’ve never worked
with a producer before outside of, us, I guess, and so when we went for this,
we thought, “Well, maybe we’ll go in and we’ll throw down all the tracks in a
week and then maybe it’ll go to press and we’ll have it by Christmas time!”
Also unexpectedly, and in a good way, our producers were really intentional
about getting the best recording that we could give them, and they’re busy
guys, which sort of speaks to their abilities.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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Out of the Huddle
Changing the Way We Think About Youth Ministry
Tiger McCluen
I’m a 50-something father
of four. Is there any greater signal to teenagers that I’m out of touch with
their world? When I was young and relevant, I never really thought about it. But
now that I’m older and my youngest child is in college, I think about being
relevant all the time.
Staying relevant in
ministry is a lot like discipline in exercise and weight control.
Everyone wants to do it, but few find the time.
We can talk about it, but the hard work is doing
it.
We buy things to help us, but actually using them
is the challenge.
“Experts” abound, but the average person feels
trapped.
They say we’ll be better afterwards, but we aren’t
so sure it’s worth it.
It may take a heart attack to get us to change our
habits.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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A Real Friend to All
A Tribute to Robin Bragge
Cathy Pino, Cross Fire 1990-1991
It was with heavy hearts that
staff, alumni and friends of Youth Encounter bade farewell several weeks ago to
Robin Bragge, a beloved team and staff alumnus. Robin was diagnosed with
ulcerative colitis at the beginning of 2006, and spent most of the new year in
the hospital as the disease was being treated. Following surgery in early
February, she experienced complications which led to her death on February 22.
She was 44 years old. She is survived by her parents, her brother and sister
and their families, lifelong friends Bob, Karrie, Kristen and Michael Letich
(yes, that Bob of the prom date legend!), and a large community of friends and
colleagues from every corner of her life.
Robin was a Youth Encounter
staff member for most of her professional career, serving from 1988 until 2002
as an Event Administrator, the Director of International Team Ministries, a
Quake and Congress speaker, and the Team Ministry Division Head. (Not all at
once, of course. Although, if anyone could have done so, it would have been
Robin!) During the 1989-90 team year, she took time off to volunteer as a
member of Kindred, which ministered in churches throughout the U.S., Ecuador,
Peru and Bolivia. After leaving Youth Encounter, Robin served as the K-12
Education Program Manager for the Minnesota International Center (MIC), where
she continued to promote intercultural interest and understanding through the
connection of speakers and classrooms in schools all across Minnesota. Earlier
this year, her program was recognized by the World Counsil of America with the
Carol Marquis Award for School Program Excellence in 2005.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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Great Deals for Spring!
All CDs and T-Shirts $10 or Less
Ryan Veil
As
Vacation Bible School approaches, don’t forget to pick our very popular
Sing-Along CDs, Songbooks, and instrumental tracks. They are great resources
for VBS programming. We’ve also got baseball caps and all kinds of t-shirts. And
right now, all CDs and t-shirts are only
$10 or less! Check it out at store.youthencounter.org!
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Youth Encounter Qualifies for Thrivent GivingPlus
More Than $55,000 in Matching Gifts Received in 2005!
Brett Koopman
We at Youth Encounter continue to be grateful to
qualify as a Thrivent GivingPlus®
recipient. That means that gifts to Youth Encounter up to $600 are eligible
for a 50% match by Thrivent if you are a Thrivent member. We are so
thankful to be included in this fantastic program.
The GivingPlus ® Member Gift Form must
be completed and sent to Youth Encounter with your gift for us to receive those
matching dollars. Please click
here to download that form. Also, if you are not a member of Thrivent, you
may apply to be an Associate member for $10, which will allow you to
participate in the GivingPlus program. You may click here to learn more
about the requirements for becoming an Associate Member of Thrivent.
[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY]
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Donate Online!
Youth Encounter is now
accepting online donations. To make your donation online, please click
here!
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