best pictures from thanksgivathon...

Elevate 2009

Winter is almost here!!! That means Elevate is just around the corner.  I am so excited this year.  Same great place of Ogden Utah, same great snowboarding, better than anything available in California!!  The food is absolutely amazing, its like eating at Claim Jumper every night, no joke.  The hotel is a blast, the bus ride may be long, but the movies on the bus are awesome.  It is going to be a great year no doubt.  To keep the cost of the trip down, we have to limit it to 30 students.  This means we will fill up, guaranteed.  Spots are filled at a first come first served basis.  When we hit 30 spots, we will begin a waiting list, but there is absolutely no gaurantee that those on the waiting list will have a spot on the bus.  So we start taking sign ups next Sunday (October 11th) so be prepared!!!! Oh and the trip is actually cheaper than last year, pretty sweet huh!

Movie Night Destruction ... Much More to Come

Well, my junior high friends ... Movie Night was a success!! I'm thinking maybe only two people watched the whole movie through (DeeDee and Marisol), but I'm sure we all still had a great time. Other than setting off the fire alarm, which "is hysterical" (quote Michelle Sharp) ... I think everything else was fantastic ... great food, great games, and lots of sugar.

Anyway, if you missed out, don't worry about it! There are a couple great events coming up very very soon ... one in November ... one in December. Are you ready? I don't think so ...

-Chris

amped....

ROCKS!!!!!!!!

BACK TO SCHOOL MOVIE NIGHT

Well, it never feels good to go back to school after a long, wonderful summer ... Soooo we thought it might be nice to have a movie night ASAP. Just like always, there will be food and drinks provided ... lots of it. Feel free to invite your friends ... they are more than welcome to come!

We'll tell you what movie later ... I think I might know what it is though. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!!

Hope to see you there!

-Chris

New Wednesdays, New Sundays, New Blog

Well the last one's kinda obvious ... I got sick of the last blog setup, so i changed it! I like it now ... It's much better.

For those of you who have been gone, we have just started a study in Luke for Sundays ... I'm excited, everyone except Bethany is excited, so you should be excited too. Luke is a very very interesting way of looking at the gospel message, and since I'm a very very interesting person, it fits quite perfectly! Be excited, be ready ...

And for those of you who don't go to Wednesdays, come!!!!! We just started a study in 1st Peter, and I'm looking forward to every single study. Up at camp, the boys did a study in 2nd Peter (we'll be getting there soon), but the crazy part is that every morning, at least two of the boys connected with the message very well. As Evan would say, Peter is a very underappreciated book, so it's time that we appreciate it! :)

The End

-Chris

JHigh Camp Return Time

Our beloved Jhigh students are leaving camp around 11:30am on Saturday, we expect them back at Ocean Hills around 2pm.

Contact at Camp

Want to get a hold of that special someone at camp?  Want to send them a note of encouragement, a letter of affirmation, or just a garble of randomness?  Well CLICK HERE and fill out the form.  Make sure to write your students name in BIG LETTERS so they know who to give it to during mail call!

Directions to CAMP

Click this!!!

For those of you who were asking for directions to the camp ... click the link above

I will have printed out directions tomorrow for those who want them as well.

-CHRIS

Camp Dress Code

Hey all,

I just wanted to put up a quick note about the camp's dress code.

Basically, if they had to place their ideal dress into one word it would be "modest." They use it in every sentence they send to me about dress.

Girls:

I know you are all good little Christian girls, but for some reason, girls your age don't tend to dress like it!!! Basically, if you would not wear it at church, don't bring it to camp.

- No bear mid shirts

- No shoulders can show ... that means only t-shirts (no tank tops or spaghetti straps)

- No ridiculously short shorts

(they want shorts to be no higher than the

tip of the fingers when you drop your arms down)

- One piece bathing suits or a two piece accompanied by a dark shirt

All you need to do is cover up. That's all the camp would ask of you guys ... I know you'll all do fine, but i just had to post this cause the camp asked me to. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NOTE the info in the parentheses. I know it sounds pretty intense, but you have to follow their code or you'll be asked to change!

Guys:

Guys, don't be stupid :)

- No sagging

- Wear a shirt everywhere (except in the pool)

- No inappropriate t-shirts

THANKS GUYS!!!!!

-Chris

Summer Camp Info

Hello everyone,

First,

If you were there on Sunday, you should have revieved a packet with a green release form. Those need to be filled out by next Sunday before we leave, but you can turn them into me whenever you see fit. If you need another one, just ask me for one ... I have plenty!!!

Secondly,

A few of you were wondering what you needed to pack for camp. Luckily we are going to a very nice facility, so packing is just like any other church trip pretty much.

- sleeping bag

- pillow

- bible

- notebook

- pen

- bathing suit (Ladies: you either need a one piece or a two piece with a dark shirt)

- Clothing (Hot during the day, cold at night)

- tennis shoes

- toiletries

- snacks to share (I will be bringing quite a bit too)

- money

Lastly,

Hopefully you are all very very excited. Summer Camp is HERE!!!! Anyway, please keep the trip in your prayers. God is going to do such amazing things through this camp!!! I can't wait :)

If you have any additional questions, feel free to email me!!

God Bless

-Chris

Summer Camp Here We Come!!!!!

Well hello all,

I just wanted to let you all know that Summer Camp is coming and it is coming ridiculously quick. We will be headed to Green Valley Lake though Calvary Costa Mesa's program, which makes it a bit easier for us. We do have limited spaces, so sign up quick!!! The camp is absolutely worth going to, and the facility is absolutely beautiful. I went to Calvary for 13 years, so I have been there a fair amount of times. Obviously there is a focus on growing closer to God and progressing in our faith, but there will be plenty of free time to go to the lake, ride go-karts, slide down the zip-line, and eat (which is my favorite). Hopefully all of you who want to go can make it!!! If there are any parents that would like to help carpool us all up there, please get a hold of me and let me know ASAP so i can plan accordingly.

the price (per camper): $250.00
the dates: July 26th - August 1st

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask! :)
OHHH!!! and pick up a flyer at the Amped room too

See you all very soon
God Bless
-Chris

End of the School Year - AMPED NIGHT

Well, it's been a long long looonnnggg year at school for all of us ... and now that its coming to a close, it's time to celebrate!!! 

So, as some of you may know, we are having a movie night on Saturday, June 13th. Just read the flyer below, or pick up one outside the Amped room for details! Any additional questions can be directed to myself!! Hopefully I can answer all of them!

8th Graders!!! You are more than welcome to come ... In fact, since it's your last Amped event ... I'd say its mandatory! Hope to see you all there ... it's going to be a great night of fun and games and all that other stuff ... 

Feel free to invite friends!! 

- Chris

Amped Update (Just Cause i wanted to)

Well Hello everyone, 

I just thought I'd take some time this beautiful Saturday afternoon and post an update for Amped. Well if you didn't know, we just finished James two weeks ago ... sooooo we are now studying the book of Philippians which looks like it's going to be a wonderful wonderful study for all of us to take what we've learned in James and apply it to spreading the Joy of the Lord wherever we go. Of course, we can all agree that its a wonderful thing to do. So that's Sundays ...

So the Weekend's over right? Yeah, it is ... bummer. Well the next big event issssss .... drum roll please .... SUMMER CAMP 09. We put in a reservation to Calvary Costa Mesa's amazing summer camp program. As far as we are concerned, the dates are July 26th-August 1st ... so mark it down in your calandars.  Of course there's much more info to come, so I'll be sure to keep you all posted :)

Lastly, I am now an Uncle ... Uncle Chris ... it's amazing. I got to see my little nephew yesterday which was absolutely breath taking. He's so little ... and he has tiny tiny fingernails which i thought were really funny.Unfortunately, Baby Chase isn't doing so hot. He's basically in ICU for babies for reasons that i really don't know the details to. But if there is something i do know, it's that you all know about the last message in James and the Power of Prayer. If you could just keep him in your prayers, that would be the most amazing thing.

As Luke (Little Chris) always says --- "God is good, God is Great" 

-Chris

TEAM CLEAN

What's team clean you might ask? Well ... if you went to the Weekend, you would know exaclty what i was talking about. For all of you who went, thank you so much for a wonderful time ... as you know, Evan likes to cheat, so in my book we won! For the first time in Weekend history, Junior High won a major event, so that was exciting too!!! And even better, I didn't break my ankle ... just a bruised bone ... sooo it still hurts..

HERE'S OUR TEAM CHEER/VIDEO ... ITS AWESOME

WELLLLL you might be wondering what might be next ... yeah? We have one more week in James and the weekend is done ... Life is confusing isn't it? ... you're full of questions, and I'm full of answers!!! For one, the next HUUUUUGE event is Summer Camp .... but that's really really far off. Other than that, every thing is a secret. If you really want to know, just ask me ... i'll make something up to confuse you even more!!! Don't worry though ... AMPED is just getting more and more exciting every moment ... do you feel that? That's right ... your heart is pounding cause you are just as excited as me :)

See you all very very soon!!!

God Bless

-Chris

AMPED UPDATE!!!

Well hello all! 

I know it's been a while so here we go:

1. Sundays have been going amazing! We're about half way through James now (which has been just an amazing blessing by the way) ... but i'm sure the second half will take a little more time than the first half! If you're a student, I hope you've learned a bunch ... If you're a parent, ask your wonderful student about our what they've been learning for the last 7 weeks ... and if you're neither of the previous two, why are you even reading this? 

2. Wednesday nights have been quite an adventure - From Obadiah, to Daniel, to Gideon and Samson, we've been studying various RIGHTEOUS men of the Old Testament as well as reading about the EPIC battles in which God so wonderfully demonstrates his power and pure "awesomeness." Anyway, we will continue to study throughout the Old Testament (probably focusing around the book of Joshua) ... sooo once again ... If you're a student, brace yourself ... If you're a parent and your children start gathering an army to fight the neighbor's kids, DO NOT worry - it's completely natural ... I did that all the time when I was a little boy! Just give it a few weeks!

3. Story Time: I was recently at the Maldonado's house where I was posed with a challenge - a pie eating contest against Mr. Zack Maldonado ... pecan pies of course. Well after my victory I decided that I like food. I will now be accepting any pie eating contest challenges! (Feel free to schedule one with me ... however, if you do so, you will be purchasing the pies and I will be winning ... it's just how it works in AMPED.)

4. THE WEEKEND!!!!! Well if there's one event I love more than anything at the church it would have to be the weekend. Just imagine shoving summer camp into three days instead of

 a week - It is simply a weekend packed with fun events. As seen on the right The Weekend's theme this year is recycling ... which is just great isn't it? I honestly have nothing to say about recycling  ... Obviously it's a good thing ... SOOOO if recycling is good, The Weekend will be that much better!!!! There are tons of games and just nonsense things that we do that are soooo fun ... you have no idea!!! Of course, we have church too - we will have a guest speaker and band of whom I do not know (or do i?) ... so that's exciting too!!! I have only been to one weekend event, but I have heard that they are all just as amazing as last year. The cool thing is that JUNIOR HIGH is invited ... which is probably a mistake by Evan because we are going to win this year ... OH WAIT! I forgot to mention that we break into teams and score points because The Weekend is a competition!!!  If you have any questions ... feel free to ask me anytime ... 

Here are some basics:

- It's April 2nd-5th

- Cost is $50

- Handouts are available at church! ... they look like the picture

THAT IS ALL!

God Bless

-Chris