I hope you enjoyed a great weekend (and some of you an extra day off too)! Last night we were able to talk about developing an appetite for God’s Word. Each student that attended should have come home with the book, One Minute Bible For Students by Doug Fields. I hope the students enjoy these and dig into God’s Word- whether it’s for 1 genuine minute or many more! One parent decided it would be a great devotion to discuss each night together with their student- I thought this was a great idea to share!

Our first Confirmation session will be THIS Sunday, February 26th during the 9:39 Sunday School hour! If you need a registration form or Confirmation calendar you can find one on this website under the forms section.

This week at CrossRoads, we will have the 9:39 band leading worship for us in-between dinner and youth! All youth will receive cd’s with the worship music we have been singing for the Youth Sunday Service. The students will continue learning and worshipping with these songs for the next few weeks at CrossRoads! The awesome part is… it’s not only for students attending the retreat! We have been given the opportunity for the youth to lead these songs on Youth Sunday, March 11th at the 9:39 service. ALL YOUTH will be singing these songs together with the 9:39 band! All students will have a chance to participate in the service (whether they attended the retreat or not) and will receive Due West Youth 2012 t-shirt to wear on that day with jeans! The students that have not attended the retreat will know the songs from our youth worship times each Sunday before CrossRoads! We would love for all youth to come and be a part of this!

We hope to see you this week! The full events calendar for this week and other upcoming events is attached here: Middle School Youth Events February 20-26, 2012!

 In Him,

 Kimmie

Hope your week has been a wonderful one! Last Sunday at Night of Worship the Josh Davis Band kicked off the night with 4 songs that will be part of our worship during the Spiritual Life Retreat at Glisson. We will be singing these songs again and some new ones this week during worship time at CrossRoads (after dinner @ 6)! We will have Dean and Mandy from our 9:39 worship band come and lead us as well as some of our regular volunteers like Wes, Andrea and me. The students will be learning and worshipping with these songs for the next few weeks at CrossRoads! Next week the full 9:39 band will be coming to lead these songs for our youth worship! The awesome part is… it’s not only for students attending the retreat! We have been given the opportunity for the youth to lead these songs on Youth Sunday, March 11th at the 9:39 service. ALL YOUTH will be singing these songs together with the 9:39 band! All students will have a chance to participate in the service (whether they attended the retreat or not) and will receive Due West Youth 2012 t-shirt to wear on that day with jeans! The students that have not attended the retreat will know the songs from our youth worship times each Sunday before CrossRoads! We would love for all youth to come and be a part of this!

This week at CrossRoads we will be talking about developing an appetite for God’s Word. Each student at CrossRoads this Sunday Night will be receiving a new daily devotion called One Minute Bible for Students by Doug Fields. Through Sunday night’s devotion and small group session we hope kick start their desire (rather than “have to” or “feel obligated to”) and hunger for God’s Word! I will be reading this book right along with them!

We will have our Spring Confirmation Orientation meeting this Sunday, February 19th in the South Campus Sanctuary at 1:30. Our first Confirmation session will be next Sunday, February 26th during the 9:39 Sunday School hour! If you need a registration form or a Confirmation calendar you can find one on this website under the forms section.

We hope to see you this week! The full events calendar for this week and other upcoming events is attached here: Middle School Youth Events February 13-19, 2012!

 In Him,

Kimmie

Hi Middle School Youth and Parents,

This Sunday Night we will be having our Night of Worship dedicated to God’s Unfailing Love. This is an event that the youth sponsors but welcomes everyone to come out and worship together! It’s a night for all to come- parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors- anyone welcome! Youth will be sharing scripture readings and testimonies with a night full of worship to praise God for His unfailing love! The message this year will be given by Chris Moss and focused on our response to God’s Love-“Loving God”. Worship will be led by the Josh Davis, Shane Cole, Bubba Green, Ike Thurston and Kimmie Tinney.

Here is the schedule for the night:

• 5:30-6:00 Youth Dinner ($3) (Youth)
• 6:15-7:30 Worship Service (All)

7:30-8:00 Refreshments& Fellowship (All)

 Make it a family event and have all come out to worship together! We hope to see you there!

 Attached here: Middle School Youth Events February 6-12, 2012 you will find the weekly and upcoming events! Print them out and hang them on your fridge or share them with a friend!

Night of Worship

Have a blessed week!

 In Him,

Kimmie

Daily Bible Readings

Monday – John 16:23-24
Tuesday – Philippians 4:6-7
Wednesday – Proverbs 15:29
Thursday – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Friday – James 5:16-18
Saturday – Matthew 6:5-13

Memory Verse
Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Reflections
Reflect on this question during this week: What would help me feel more comfortable talking to God?

Helping Mary Dowty – 10am-12pm Mary Dowty has been a long time leader and volunteer with the youth ministry; specifically with the Sunday night dinners for the youth program. Mary is relocating to a smaller home and needs the help of some middle school students, high school students, or adults to help clean out an attic and maybe a few rooms. If you could help please contact Chris Moss at 770-427-3835 or cmoss@duewest.org. We will have a team meet at the Youth Center at 10am and return by 12pm.

Ross Memorial Mission – 10:30am – 2:30pm The Middle school and High school will be taking their annual trip to Ross Memorial to help decorate for Valentine’s Day and to visit the residents there. It is a fantastic outreach that lets the residents know their community cares. We will meet at the Youth Center at 10:30 am to make Valentine’s Day cards and hand make decorations. We will leave at 11:45 to have lunch at Zaxby’s near Ross Memorial so make sure you bring money for lunch. We will stay at Ross for about an hour and a half before returning to Due West UMC at 2:30pm.

 We had a great CrossRoads last night! We were able to dig deeper into our series on spiritual growth by talking about being “spiritually empty” vs. “spiritually full”. The students were able to examine how their own lives look when they are spiritually empty vs. spiritually full (Take a look at this pdf: MS Refuel to get a visual idea of what we discussed last night). We were able to talk about what being spiritually full will feel like compared to being spiritually empty. We talked about how they will be different. That there would be more joy in their lives. Peace would descend on them. Their relationships would be more significant. They’d be happier. Their conversation with others would be more meaningful. The Spirit of God would be alive in their lives and evident in impacting decisions and the way they treat people. We also spent time focused on how to get “refueled” by spending quality time (vs. quantity where it become meaningless and a ritual) with God. Refueling is not what you think. It’s not an invitation to do more. It’s an invitation to be connected. To be connected to the one who loves you, who knows you, and wants to fill you. In small groups, we looked at the story of Martha and Mary to have a biblical example of what this looks like in Luke 10:38-42 . Students were able to discuss their thoughts and feelings about the night’s topic and how it relates to their lives personally. We ended the night with scripture from Ephesians 3:14-19, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

This coming Sunday we will be having a SuperBowl Party for the Middle School Youth in the South Campus Youth Center (from 5:30-halftime or 8:00pm- whichever comes first!). The Youth Ministries will be providing pizza and drinks but we ask that the girls attending bring an appetizer to share and the guys bring a dessert to share. We will be watching the game, playing our own games, eating and spending time hanging out together! Bring on the football jerseys and black face paint!

Serving Opportunities this week:

We have been given a great opportunity to serve this Saturday at Ross Memorial for a ReAct mission. We will be gathering at the youth center at 10:30am to make cards and decorations, eating lunch at Zaxby’s at noon (bring $ for lunch) and then heading to Ross Memorial to decorate for Valentine’s Day and deliver hand made Valentine’s Day cards. We will arrive back at the church at 2:30pm. Both High School and Middle School students are welcome to attend this event! Parents can attend as well! Please shoot me an email ktinney@duewest.org this week to let me know if you or your kiddos are coming so that I can make sure we have enough room for rides! Thanks!

“SOUP”er Sunday- we are collecting donations for the homeless this coming Sunday morning at all services. Donations we are requesting churchwide are hats, gloves, scarves and Campbell’s Chunky Classic Chicken Noodle and Campbell’s Chunky Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef.

We look forward to seeing you and your youth sometime this week! Check out our weekly events here: Middle School Youth Events January 30 – February 5, 2012 to see where your youth can jump in and get involved!

 In Him,

Kimmie

 Hope your week is starting out great! Last night at CrossRoads we were able to continue our series on “Spiritual Growth” by talking about being lead by the Holy Spirit and other spiritual mentors that God places in your life. In devotion we discussed and tried to get a basic/better understanding about what the Holy Spirit is and how God can work through us using His Holy Spirit. In their small group time, the students were able to ask questions and discuss the Holy Spirit, how it has or is working in their lives and the fruits of the Spirit that we see or hope to see flourish. They also discussed existing and potential spiritual mentors that they have in their lives that can help them grow even more in their relationship with God. It was a great night!

We will continue this series on growth for the next several weeks and lead into the series, “Go” (Just like our church’s theme of Gather, Grow, Go). The “Go” series will talk more about serving locally and internationally and how we can serve in our everyday lives. I will be dedicating one Sunday Night CrossRoads in the international missions portion to talking about my trips to Kenya and Costa Rica. This will be a night for both youth and their parents (many of you have asked about the trip and it’ll be a great time to share pictures and stories with all of you!). The “Go” series will also help prepare our hearts for our week of local missions during Spring Break!

Our 9:39 Sunday School students will be attending the Disciple Life Celebration Sunday School hour in the South Campus Sanctuary. This will be a great event for our students to learn more about international missions. This Sunday School hour will be lead by Dan Dunn and Edwin & Sonia Brenes from the “Love in the Streets Ministry” of Costa Rica! Adults Sunday School classes will be attending as well!

On a different note, I have attached the permission form for SLR for you again this week here: SLR Registration Form.  Spaces for this retreat are limited, so please register as soon as possible. We already have 14 students registered in the first week! This retreat is held at Camp Glisson in Dahlonega, GA. Spiritual Life Retreat is sponsored by the North Georgia Conference Youth Ministries for grades 6-12. “B-On Fire,” the theme of the weekend, will be our torch as we explore how to keep the smoldering coals of the Holy Spirit burning within us, based on Luke 24: 32 – “And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened us to the Scriptures?” The weekend is stocked full of spiritual kindling that will help spark a scorching passion in our youth group’s faith journeys. Worship, small groups, fun and games, experiential activities and much more will get our youth “fired up” as we join in building a lasting “B-On Fire” with other youth groups from across the conference. I have also attached the SLR information packet here: SLR Information Packet 2012. If you student is registered, print this out and fill out the last 3 pages. Turn these into Kimmie to be given to Camp Glisson. If your students is debating about whether or not to attend, take a look to check out what SLR is all about! (Both of these attachments are also available on  this website under the forms and MS Trips sections!)

Looking forward to seeing your youth this week- where? Check out the weekly events attachment and find out where they can jump in here: Middle School Youth Events January 23-29, 2012!

 God bless,

 Kimmie

CrossRoads- Spiritual Growth
Join us this Sunday for CrossRoads. Dinner is at 5:30 in the Youth Diner($3).  We will then meet in the South Campus Sanctuary from 6-8pm for music, games and group time.  This week we are talking about “The Spirit in Spiritual Growth”.

HS Senior Experience 2012
This Sunday we begin our new program for seniors in high school called Senior Experience.  We will meet at the regular CrossRoads time of 5:30 for dinner before moving upstairs with the entire high school group for worship and/or game time.  When they begin their regular devotion and small group time, we will break away to another room for the Senior Experience. 

REfuel
We will have our Youth Connection time in the Youth Center from 5:30-6:30pm.  This is a great time to grab some food and hang out with friends.  Following the Youth Connection we meet together for our REfuel Bible Study at the NEW TIME from 6:30-7:30pm. This Wednesday we will be writing students who are now enlisted in the Military.  Please come early to help encourage these students.

Super Bowl Party – February 5
The High School Youth will be meeting at a local home from 5pm until halftime. We will have all the comforts of home and football in on a big screen. Guys are to bring a 2 liter drink and girls bring a snack (chips, crackers, etc…). Pizza will be provided. 

Night of Worship—February 12th
On Sunday, February 12th, we will have a night of praise and worship for all youth and adults. This Night of Worship will focus on God’s Unfailing Love leading into Valentine’s Day. Worship will be from 6:15-7:15 including the return of Kimmie Tinney, The Josh Davis Band and our own praise band. Afterward the worship we will have time to fellowship and discuss the nights topic. Feel free to bring family and friends for this special night! Official end time will be 8:00pm.

Spiritual Life Retreat
Before you know it, the Spiritual Life Retreat, March 2-4 @ Camp Glisson will be here! This year is going to be amazing! We’re going to “Be On Fire” for God! We will be learning the worship music for this retreat during CrossRoads Worship before we even arrive @ Glisson and coming back to share the music and message with our congregation on March 11th at the 9:39 service. Student can start registration today and continue to sign up until February 19th- spaces will be limited so sign up as soon as possible to hold your spot. Students are welcome to invite and bring friends!

Join Us In Prayer
Beginning Sunday, January 12^th, we will be praying for our church and everything associated with it.  We will have teams of two or more meet in the prayer room located off the gathering room to pray for each service.  Times are 8:30, 9:39/9:45 and 11:05.  Prayer time will last approximately 1 hour. If you aren’t comfortable praying aloud, you don’t have to.  God doesn’t ask for fancy words or lengthy prayers.  Prayer is about time spent with him  and a sincere heart.
This is a great opportunity for families to pray together and to pray for the church. A great time to commune with your Father while meeting the needs of the church. Sign-up sheets are available outside the main sanctuary and the Family Life Center each Sunday.  Sign up for as many Sundays as you like.  A reminder will be sent to the email you provide. If you have questions, please contact Pam McLerran at mclerranp@comcast.net.

 I was so glad to have a normal CrossRoads on Sunday Night! I have missed our youth so much! It was great to fellowship together and start our new series on growing spiritually! We have a lot of great opportunities for outreach and other activities coming up. Take a look at our weekly events and other upcoming future events here: Middle School Youth Events January 16-22, 2012!

 I have also attached the registration form for Spiritual Life Retreat (March 2-4 @ Camp Glisson) here: SLR Registration Form! This year is going to be amazing! We’re going to “Be On Fire” for God! We will be learning the worship music for this retreat during CrossRoads Worship before we even arrive @ Glisson and coming back to share the music and message with our congregation on March 11th at the 9:39 service. Student can start registration today and continue to sign up until February 19th- spaces will be limited so sign up as soon as possible to hold your spot. Students are welcome to invite and bring friends!

 Hope you have a wonderful week! Praying for all of you and our youth daily!

 In Him,

 Kimmie

Marta Futral is a wonderful volunteer that runs our youth suppers and she is in need of parent volunteers! She has set up this new website (see below) to contact her, sign up and see the calendar. Please consider signing up and helping serve dinner one night with our youth! Thanks so much for your help!

 Have a blessed day,

 Kimmie

 Hello!

You have been invited by Martha Futral to sign up for “Youth Supper Volunteers.” Please click on the link below to view the online sign up sheet.

To sign up, go to:

 www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0B45AFAF23A46-youth/2683358