Jr. and Sr. High School Youth Event at CBC

On Monday evening, we had the older kids in town to the church for a Christmas Youth Night. We had four arrive at 6 o'clock ready for pizza, Christmas gift shopping, and playing games. (Taboo and Apples to Apples seem to be the games of choice for these young folks.) Rob shared a short testimony and scripture about Christmas (why the news of Christ was "Good news of great joys" like the angels explained). Then, three others joined us at 7 o'clock. It was definitely quality of time that mattered rather than quantity of students that were here. God is good... We had a great time, good conversation, and we had such a blast playing games that we didn't call it quits until 9:30!

Elementary Christmas Youth Night at CBC

So, this week we had a great time with several preschoolers-6th graders at our church. Not as many students as we had hoped were able to attend, but looking back on the evening, it was just what it needed to be. The following pictures should outline the event pretty well.

It started out with pizza for dinner.

Then Rob sat the kids down and talked with them about Christmas, and how God gave us a gift in Jesus that was exactly what we need. He used an unopened birthday present as a prop. When asked what he thought the gift was, one boy was sure, "it's a box, and there's something else inside." Then when Rob removed the wrapping paper, sure enough, the boy exclaimed, "I was right! It is a box, and there's something in it!"

We also watched a VeggieTales movie, The Star of Christmas. One preschooler wanted to sit on Erin's lap almost the whole movie. There were a few frightening parts, but at the end she said, "That was so happy," with a huge smile on her face.

The main event was a "store" with items that were donated by the church (and some purchased), for the children to go shopping for gifts for their family members.

Then, we helped them wrap the presents.

Finally, the kids decorated sugar cookies until the end of the event.

Two fun Game Nights for Cantwell Youth

CBC hosted "Game Nights" for the youth in our town last weekend. They were very well attended, and the volunteers from our church had fun with the kids! Here are a few of the best pictures.

Snack Time - Decorating Cupcakes

Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

Preschoolers in the Bounce House

"Path Freeze Tag"

Posing in the Bounce House

Getting ready for "path freeze tag!"

Ninja Warrior with the Jr. and Sr. High kids

Taboo

Apples to Apples

Community Youth Event at CBC

A month ago, a group of us from Cantwell Bible Church met to discuss how we wanted to reach out to the youth of our community. We decided that rather than try to do a weekly "Good News Club" as the church has done in the past, we wanted to plan monthly events for both younger and high school aged kids. Last Saturday was our first event! The church hosted a pizza, movie and activity night including a bounce house owned by a member of the congregation and fun games and crafts for 3-6 yr-olds.

We were thrilled to have 30 kids attend the event! (To put that in perspective, the Cantwell School has 32 enrolled K-12.) We had two preschoolers and two out of high school. It's always great to see how the older children are happy to help and cooperate with the elementary students here. It's a part of the culture in this community. It was also encouraging to see that the parents were willing to entrust their children to us. The kids are already giving us ideas for what next month's event should look like! Please be praying for more opportunities to share the love of Christ, and that their hearts will be open to hearing about Him.