Our schedule has been a-changin,' and so far...I LIKE it!
VERB (our youth group) has moved to Sunday nights. It hasn't been on Sunday nights in YEARS! In fact I remember the all the Sundays quite well.
Back in the day, we would attend church in the morning, usually being there from 9am to 12:30 pm. Then we would head out to lunch, run home and change and be back at church for Praise and Worship practice at 3:30 pm. I wasn't on the praise team, but both my parents were (being the youth pastors at the time) and my boyfriend (at the time) was the sound engineer. So I hung out up in the balcony and hung out till people started showing up at 5 pm. I hung out with my friends. Some days we had drama practices, other days we just hung out in the game room...then service started at 7 pm. We were finally done by 9 pm and usually out the door by 9:30 pm. We usually headed over to Pizza Hut afterwards with everyone. Those were the days.
Then we got the Community Center. What a COOL place. It was this little warehouse type building, with an office setting in the front section. We decked it out with all our posters, TVs and game consoles, pool tables and stage and lighting. This is where we held our Sunday youth services for about two years I think. It was awesome. During church time we had a massive red curtain that we would pull to block the front doors/office/sitting area from our church area. We had drama practice in this tiny office, but it was all ours!
Then came the time our new community center was added to our existing church...and it was time to sell the community center down the road. Totally sad. (It is not a tanning salon...weird) We now had this HUGE church community center with a HUGE gym...that was quickly dubbed the "Grand Hall" not a gym...(even though it had gym floors haha!) We also had a HUGE game room...all to ourselves. I don't have many pics of the old game room (before the recent transition) with me here at work...but it was quickly painted in all sorts of neon colors...teal, green and purple I think. This is was our church!
I am pretty sure on the timing of this, but when we moved back to having services at the church we moved back to Wednesday nights. Our first month or two we were running close to 100+ students every Wednesday for game/free time and service. It was awesome and you can imagine my Dad was in hog heaven!
Eventually the attendance died down and we were running a steady 50-85 depending on the season. Also, Jason and Brittany stepped into the Youth Pastors position and we have been having church on Wednesday ever since! An easy schedule...No ALL day Sundays anymore. Just church at 6 pm on Wednesdays and Small Groups (for those involved) at 7 pm on Sundays. Easy Peasy.
Well...we just shook things up again, but I am PUMPED. Over a year ago, we re-named the youth ministry from Alternative Student Ministries to VERB Student Ministries. With a tag line like "It's what we do" we are challenging the students to take part in the 5 purposes...Impact, Encounter, Get Grounded, Connect and Link. It's about ACTION and doing something!! Since our change, we have been gearing up for another big change. Moving BACK to Sunday nights! It's been about 5 years since we had services on Sunday nights...possibly longer. Along with moving the services we did a complete game room re-design. Here are some shots of the new room, that was revealed this past Sunday evening for our first ever VERB Sunday night service!
Right: Pool Table and Air Hockey area.
(Pay no attention to the window coverings, that was to keep curious minds in the dark. The room was locked up for a month during the re-design.
Right: Still unfinished, the Snack & Sales Bar. Eventually (within the month possibly) we will have a rounded bar area with corrugated medal on the front. Think 'Chipotle" style.
So as you can see...it's a GREAT spot to hang out, and the students LOVED it. Especially the chalk-board support beam, the sac chairs and the ability to buy MONSTER and Starbucks drinks at the Snack and Sales Bar! :) Each week we will be adding more exciting things...like more pictures, more tables and chairs, repainting the ping-pong and air hockey tables to match the decor, tee-shirts and books to sell, and so much more!
Along with our new Game Room, which has been named...
It's went very well on first night...and I am eager to settle into this new schedule, especially seeing how on Wednesday nights, we are free. (since Cory and I aren't involved in youth small groups) We will eventually get hooked up in a Bible Study on Wednesday, but we are enjoying the freedom for now.
What makes Sundays even better....? Chipotle after church. That's WAAYY better than Pizza Hut!
So it's all just really exciting!!! The kids seem to like the idea and their new space!!! With all that said, I will leave you with one of my favorite things in The Lounge...our "Acceptable PDA diagram."
1 comment:
That PDA sign is the funniest thing I've seen in a while!
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