It's Christmas Season!

Just a reminder that it's Christmas season! And since its Christmas time, Amped is going to be having another family get-together. Next Sunday (Dec 7th), bring your parents for a nice Christmas dinner. Come dressed up "Casual-Christmas." We've discussed what this means a lot lately, but to put it simply: wear your favorite Christmas sweater and you should be fine.

Dinner starts around 7pm and is free!

Let's see if this blog thing works!

Well good morning, afternoon, or evening depending on when you read this!
This is Chris ... the new Junior High leader :D
just testing out the blog

Well, a few things to note:

1.Elevate (the Junior High and High School snowboarding trip to Utah) is coming up quick, and honestly no boys have signed up ... simply ridiculous. I went last year, and it was amazing! Still, if you're nervous about snowboarding ... don't be! I hardly know how to snowboard, and I'm sure I'll have a blast. So what do you say? yeah, that's what I thought ... you're going on Elevate

2. Matt Bradley FAILED! Oh yes, you heard me correctly. On the Christmas Dinner handout, he forgot to put the day that we are meeting. Basically you have two options: show up everyday for the next few weeks whenever you feel 'dinner time' is OOOORRRRR .... you can show up December 7th at 7 o'clock to join us for some amazing food and fun :)

3. SPEC OPS! basically, not much to say here ... I'm new so i don't know too much about it, but GO!

Harvest Festival

Guess what!
Amped Hang Out night is cancelled this month!
BECAUSE..

We're going to be hanging out at the Harvest Festival!!

Be there or be square.

Elevate 2008

Mark your calendars! Set up those lemonade stands! Elevate 2008 is coming soon! December 26-31, we are going up to Ogden Utah for 3 days on the Slopes at Snow Basin - Home of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Powder Mountain - Home to America's Largest Ski Resort.

We will gather every night to hear a full band and hear a message from a LEGENDARY speaker. There will also be an awesome time of small groups and devotions.

With restaurant quality meals and luxury bus transportation, you'll be livin in style.

Sign up today, as spots are limited!

Amped Boomers Night

The last friday of this month, September 26th, Amped is meeting at Boomers in Irvine. Boomers has an arcade, mini golf, go carts, batting cages, and so much more.

We'll see you there from 6 to 9pm!

Movie Night

Amped Movie Night THIS FRIDAY (August 29th)

5pm to 9pm

Cost: $5

What are we doing???
Watching a movie: THE INCREDIBLES
Eating food: Pizza and Popcorn
Playing games: Smash Bros Tournament, Ultimate Frisbee!!


Invite a Friend!!

Summer Camp

Alright Summer Campers; sorry if you haven't been getting my emails. For some reason some of the email addresses aren't working.

Here's all of the details for tomorrow camp:

This is the camp's website
http://calvarychapelcamp.com/

Camp Photos
During the trip, we take a camp photo. Pictures are $5. If you want a photo please bring the $5 to me (Matthew) on Sunday so that I
can pay the camp.


What to Bring
Swim gear
outdoor clothing
Bedding (sleeping bag + pillow)
about $20 for snacks
sun screen
Bible

The Schedule
On Sunday we will have service as usual at 11am. Please be at Ocean Hills Church by 1:15pm. We will quickly make sure everyone is present, load up the cars, take care of any remaining balances, pray, and then leave for camp by 1:45pm.

Students should be back from camp on Saturday around 1:30pm.

Its around the corner!

Well, Summer Camp is this Sunday! Please be in prayer for us for the driving and the camp itself. God is really going to do an awesome thing in the lives of these students and just pray for his blessing.

As for the last friday of this month, we are gonna have to cancel it because of summer camp preparations. Fear not, however, next month's last friday will be quite the treat....

let's just say that we haven't had a "hunt" for a while...

I think they're worried about radiation.

That's right kids. Your talking-on-your-cell-phone-in-the-car days are OVER. You crazy kids that are all willy-nilly driving your cars and yapping away are going to be ticketed by the man! We've had it!

"The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount." -CA DMV Website

BUT! The new law does not prohibit dialing or text messaging.. so feel free keep text messaging your Grandma. Just do it.. safely.

I know you J-highers have a little while till you have to worry about this.. but hey... You're already learning Algebra, arent you? When are you ever going to use that, right?

CLICK HERE if you want to read more.

Summer Camp 08!!!

Hey everybody! Its that time of the year again! Its summer camp season!!! Fliers are out and sign ups are coming in. Be sure to sign up fast because we only have a limited amount of seats to go on up to Green Valley Lake!

There are now two ways to sign up! The old fashioned way: in person at any Amped meeting or... you can download the attached Word Document by clicking the green link right below this paragraph, fill it out, then email it to us at AmpedJhigh@gmail.com! We are really looking forward to summer camp this year. Its gonna be a blast!

SummerCampSignup.doc

Amped Revamped!!!

A M P E D R E V A M P E D! ! !

Wednesday Nights we are starting a new study - a walk through the Old Testament.

Sunday Mornings we are starting a new study on Sunday Mornings also! We are going to go through the gospel - according to Mark!

Come join us Wednesday nights at 7PM- we have a fun game, awesome study learning about God's Kingdom throughout the Old Testament, and Small Groups - where we come together to apply our faith to everyday life.

Sunday Mornings start at 11AM. Join us in getting deep in to the Gospel, through the eyes of Mark!

Before and after service, come hang out in our newly revamped rec room - video games, beanbags, couches, surf movies, a snack machine - even hot chocolate! Its a great way to get to know your friends here at Amped.

Questions? Concerns? Suggestions? Email us at ampedoc@gmail.com.

Its Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the 8th grade retreat! The boys will be heading on out to Joshua Tree and the girls are going up to Big Bear.

So, this is this schedule:
Friday, June 6th
4:15pm Students (boys and girls) arrive at Ocean Hills Church ready to go

4:15-4:45 Cars are loaded up (Leaders will be doing all of the driving; don't worry about having to pick up students from Joshua Tree/Big Bear)

4:45 Group prayer and then boys depart for Joshua Tree / girls depart for Big Bear

Saturday, June 8th
11am Students return from 8th grade retreat and arrive on time for the High School service!

What to bring:
Boys
Bible
Snacks for the road
Deodarant!!!
Tooth brush, tooth paste, etc.
clothes
flashlight
sleeping bag
Tent (optional)
Sunscreen / hat / sunglasses
***The boys will be sleeping in tents and/or under the stars

Girls
Bible
Clothes
Bathing Suit (for Kayaking!)
Towel
Toiletries
Pillow
Sleeping Bag
***The girls will be staying in a small house near "The Village"

8th Grade Retreat!!

Hey guys..
Get excited for 8th Grade retreat! It's the first weekend in June, so mark your calendars.
The boys will be going with Matthew and Ryan to experience the great outdoors, while the girls will be going with Lindy and Kira to spend a relaxing, fun weekend together.




If you have any questions about 8th grade retreat, contact us at ampedoc@gmail.com.

Bonfire

Join us tomorrow for our monthly Amped Hang out Night.

Tomorrow we are going on over to Capo Beach for some fun! We are going to have a bonfire, smores, and games.

It all starts at 5pm and ends at 9:30.

We are going to be south of the walkway that goes over PCH, next to the basketball courts. Look for our Amped Banner!

Hope to see you there!

This town ain't big enough for the both of us.

Heya! I'm writing from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I came to tag along with my Dad on his business trip. I was able to go hang out at the coffee shop in Calvary Chapel Albuquerque and sip some coffee while catching up with my reading. That church is truly amazing! They have a skate park and all! I'll be going to the service tomorrow morning, so I won't be able to hang out with my favorite Jr Highers. Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit with Skip because he is in Israel, but we were able to meet with some people that used to attend Ocean Hills.

New Mexico is... weird. "Weird cool" is I guess how I would put it. There are pueblos everywhere! I kept waiting for a gun fight or some crazy cowboy to come after me. It's very different here, but beautiful in it's own way.

We took the "Tram" today up to a big mountain where we were able to overlook all of the desert. The.. New Mexicans? .. boast proudly that it is the longest tram in the Nation. Picture a giant ski lift that fits about 50 people in each car. The ride was absolutely breath taking. I was surprised to find snow at the very top. (I don't know why.. maybe because it is the desert?) I was taken aback by the beauty of God's creation. I felt like I was able to see just a glimpse of what God sees there on the top of that mountain and I was reminded at how remarkable God is. He's done so much for us... we look around and take for granted what God handmade just for us.

I hope that you all have a beautiful week. Try, just for a little while, to look around and remember how amazing creation is.

Email Address

Have any questions, comments, concerns, or prayer requests for the Amped leaders? Email us at AmpedJhigh@gmail.com !!

I am going to create a permanent link to this email address to the right under the links section.

Romans 9

Basically, Wednesday nighth was deep. We studied through Romans chapter 9 and talked about God's Sovereignty. Sovereignty is a word that means to have complete authority over something. And so when we say that God is sovereign, we are saying that God has complete authority over creation. His will will always be done in the end. The issue at hand is however, what about our free will? Since God wills things to be does he will certain people to be saved?

In the boys small groups we talked about Arminianism and Calvinism. Arminianism is the extreme belief that it is 100% our choice to be saved where as (on the other side of the spectrum) calvinism is the extreme belief that God elects certain people to be saved.

Here is a funny picture of a shirt that illustrates the differences between Arminianism and Calvinism.

The Weekend Night 1

The Weekend has officially started and it is going so well. The teams are amazing this year and are by far our most extreme. We have the radical ravers in JHigh who are all wearing matching white spray painted shirts. There are the Super Secret Service, who all dressed in suits make sure that everyone has "their identification" and they make sure to also do security detail for their leaders. Table Tennis is the senior theme, all of them are dressed as world classed Table Tennis players, I do warn you though, it is not called Ping Pong. Finally there is the Legends of Rock. Each team member is dressed as the literal interpretation of a band. Bryan is dressed all in Pink and his shirt proudly promotes his name as Floyd. Zach has a radio taped to his head, quite a creative team. The first night game went very well, the teams all found almost the exact number of glowsticks with only a margin of +/- 1. Legends of Rock located two of the leaders, but I was able to elude all the teams and not be located the entire time. The band Sons of Day are amazing and are doing a wonderful job. It is so amazing to see a room of students worshiping the Lord. And our Speaker Nathan Falangas did a spectacular job with the message. God is present here at the Weekend and is doing amazing things.

The Musical Stylings of Amped Jr High!

We have an amazing new worship band!
The Lord has blessed us with some amazing talent!

Ty - Worship Leader (guitar/vocals

Alex - Guitar

Isaac - Bass

David - Drums

Madison - Vocals

We've also got the awesome talents of Josh, Aaron, Ryan and Matthew that grace our stage with their awesome beats. :)

We are so excited about our new band! If you are interested in joining or helping out with the band, feel free to contact Ty, or any other of the Amped staff.

Boomer's Night... This Friday!!

Boomer's Night this Friday, February 29th at 6pm!

Our monthly Amped Leisure Night is coming up this Friday!

We will be going to Boomer's in Irvine off of the 405 Freeway. We will all be meeting up at Boomer's at 6pm for a night of fun!
You don't have to bring money, but if you'd like to play arcade games, bat in the cages, or do any other activities, bring as much money as you'd like to spend.

Boomer's Website

Directions

If you have any questions about this Friday's good times, please contact:
Matthew Bradley
Amped Jr. High Ministry Director
(949) 633-4755
MatthewBradley1@gmail.com

BRING A FRIEND! :)

Hope to see you there!!

Boomer

Happy Valentine's Day!

Amped Jr. High reminds you to tell those you love that you love them!

Amped loves you!

School's Up and Running yet again

So, I'm sure you already know this but, school is back in business again. I had a 6 week long break and now I'm back to the grind again. I'm really excited to see what God is going to teach me this semester. Last semester I learned quite alot about the Word and myself, which I was then able to communicate out in my sermons at Amped.

Its a new semester and a new year and God is still at work. My prayer for this new semester is that God will continue to do his work in my life, shaping and molding me into the man that He wants me to be. But more than that, my prayer for Amped Junior High is that God will continue to pour His spirit onto each of our gatherings and really do an awesome work in and through every studen that joins us on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

Whats Coming up?

Running low on Meat and Potatoes? I think not.

Weird. My first post on the Amped Blog!

Last night Matthew reviewed Romans up to the first half of chapter 5. It's been a while since we've had a Wednesday night service (we were SO running low on Meat and Potatoes), so it was a great refresher to get back into things.

Matthew reminded us that the first 3 chapters of Romans were written to reveal to us that we are all sinners. Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Then we talked about how important it is to keep reading! We are all sinners, but Romans 5:8 says "But God demostrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We have hope in Christ's sacrifice. We are saved!

These concepts may seem so elementary to our Christian faith, but it's so important that we remind ourselves of who we are in Christ and who He is to us.

As Amped Jr. High starts off this new year, we came together under the purpose of uplifting one another and bringing others into the knowledge of Christ. We sat down the last night of Elevate and brainstormed our vision for this year. As a group, we decided that we want Amped to continue to grow. We came up with some new and exciting plans for 2008.

I encourage you all to pour your heart into Amped Ministries, just as all of us crazy leaders strive to do. Together, we can accomplish great things for Christ.