Middle School Group
(grades 7-8)
Sara Cegelski
More Information

Youth Group
(grades 9-12)
Chris Evans
More Information

MIDDLE SCHOOL GROUP

This year, the Middle School Discussion Group has been focusing on being of service as Christians to their church, their community and to the world. They began by identifying issues that were important to them personally – a greener earth, world hunger, helping others, ending violence and contributing to economically disadvantaged communities, both close to home and faraway.

The group then brainstormed a series of service projects they would like to complete in order to address these issues. They began by generating a list of seven ideas to make our church a greener place and are hoping that many of these ideas will be implemented.

The next project they took on was titled The Free Rice Challenge. Members of the congregation were asked to visit www.freerice.com. This website enabled visitors to donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for each correct answer they gave to questions in categories such as art, chemistry, grammar, vocabulary, geography, languages and math. Ten grains of rice is a tiny amount, but with a combined effort, we can make quite a difference!

The middle school students distributed tracking slips to the church school classes and to the congregation and have been keeping track each week of how much rice we have donated.

Stay posted for more service projects, and thank you for your support of their efforts!

YOUTH GROUP

Our Youth Group will continue to review and discuss the reallife lessons outlined in our "Success for Teens" book this year. Last year we talked at length about the various lessons including: Little Things Matter: Knowing What to Do Isn't the Same As Doing It; Make the Right Choice at the Right Moment; The Ripple Effect; What Does Success Mean to You? Attitude is Everything: Your Philosophy Is the Key; How You View Yourself Creates Your Life. Use The Moment: Your Circumstances Aren't You; You Can't Control What Happens to You, Only Your Reactions; When You Stop Blaming, You Take Back Your Power; "Someday" Never Comes.

This year we hope to delve further into the lessons exploring the points outlined in the next chapters, including: Everything Starts with Small Steps, There's No Such Thing As Failure, Habits Are Powerful, You're Always Learning, and Make Your Dreams Come True.

We were grateful to have Vicki join our group and bring our meetings into focus with a thoughtgathering moment of silence as well as an opening and closing prayer. She also encourages each member of our group to speak freely about the concerns they face in everyday life. I truly believe we walk away from our meetings feeling somehow relieved and refreshed in knowing that we can all relate to the ongoing challenges life presents us.