SJH Small group EGG-splosion!!

Sorry…I couldn’t resist the ‘egg-cellent’ pun.

1) Put egg in Microwave

2) set microwave to 4 minutes and wait

3) BOOM!

4) “This egg is like the secret sins we keep in our lives…you may see no change on the outside, but sooner or later it will all make a BIG MESS!”

5) Clean up.

Just another SJH Boys small group meeting.

MISSION: impossible

SYN Presents:

MISSION: impossible

Where: Willow Springs Camp

When: (Sr.High – grade 9-12) Fri. Oct. 16th

(Jr.High – grade 7-8) Sat. Oct. 17th

7pm – 10pm

Cost: $10

What is it:  This is our biggest, favourite annual event and EVERYONE in Stouffville is invited!  All the youth groups in town are joining in on this and it should be HUGE!

Bring dirty, dark clothes.  Meet at Willow Springs Camp (Bethesda & McCowan rds) Be ready to run through the woods trying to complete your team’s mission and DON’T GET CAUGHT!

HUGE PRIZE FOR THE Most Valuable Player!!!

Sr. High – October

A picture is a representation of something real. It is an artist’s attempt to portray what they see in the real life event. Some pictures reflect that event well, others not so much. No matter how great of a representation it is, it remains only a picture, not the real thing.

This month in Sr. High, we’re going to look through pictures of Jesus. How we see him, how the world sees him, how history has seen him. Everybody has a picture of Jesus, what’s yours?

PICS of the WEEK

Here’s our SpringvaleYouth pictures of the week!

Jr.High

Playing a game outside, how could we resist taking a picture with that kind of sunset behind Tyler!? And by the way, it's not sweat, it's water on his shirt.

Sr.High

Thanks for the memories.  More to come next week!

Sr. High Update

WOW!

After much anticipation we finally kicked things off last night; and what a night it was. We packed that place out and things went a little wild. I have to say that I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced a youth night quite like it. Balloons, lights, Jonas Brothers, Caleb and Andrew’s video, popsicle sticks flying everywhere… The whole thing was like a blur. I’m not even totally sure what happened. I’ve got a couple photos for your enjoyment.

So now what?

Well, Sr. High Thursday Nights will go on each week and hopefully we can continue with that kind of ridiculous intensity. Keep coming out and bringing your friends and things will just keep getting better. If you want to be involved in any way (music, tech, planning, games, other ideas…) please let us know and we will get you plugged in somewhere.

Saturday Night Alive - September 19th. You don’t want to miss this one! Trev and the Alive band are going to blow your socks off with another night full of praise and music and just all out energy. Be there!

Fall Retreat – Sept 25-27. Get your permission forms and get them in! It’s gonna be awesome.

Small Groups - Get into one now. Talk to myself (Ben) or Melissa Armstrong to find the right group for you.

Thanks for making Sr. High what it is! Keep it up.

Book It Now!

 

IMPORTANT: In order to go, you need to have a parent/guardian fill out the permission form. It has all the necessary information including cost and contact info. You can download it, print it off, and get it to your parents and then get it back to us ASAP to qualify for the early bird special (before Sept. 13).

We’ll be at the church Tues-Fri or you can bring it on a Sunday morning if you want to get it out of the way before youth starts.

ARE YOU READY?  

DOWNLOAD THE Retreat Permission Form HERE! 

Also, pop by the facebook event page listing and confirm there.

a SON!

Hey check it out!!!

Add this to the list of what I’ve been upto this summer.  Born on Tuesday, Aug. 18th…my son, Garrett!

Tonight, the Spotlight is On…

It’s 9PM on a Tuesday night and I’m sitting in my (slightly) air-conditioned apartment listening to the new Mute Math album Armistice. I’m four songs in and I decided to write my impressions so far. 

It’s been four years since we at Springvale Youth saw them at Youth Quake (and were amazed) and I bought their first CD. Four years is a lot longer than you might think, especially when you’re waiting for a band to do something. A whole high school career has passed for some of you since they last put out new music.

And when you put together an album as brilliant as their last one was, time is often not on your side.  (I’m into the fifth song now) With their last album came a considerable amount of attention within the music community and some extensive touring. Billeted on some of the more respectable festivals (Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Warped, CMJ, etc) Mute Math has had the world watching and then waiting ever since. 

So if you, like me, have been silently waiting for a new Mute Math album, today is your day (but you probably already knew that if you’ve truly been waiting).  While Alex had his own little wait for something special end today, so too my four year countdown is at an end. Armistice is here. (I’m on track 7 now)

Now I know what you’re thinking, “shut up and write something about the album before I just go out and buy it.” But I can’t wait that long for something without giving it the proper introduction. 

It’s important to note that anything with this kind of build up attempting to follow something as great as their first album is bound to have expectations much higher than is actually fair. So, for that reason I’m really going to have to listen to it several times before I can really give it a fair summary. 

But, this is about my initial impressions and I have to say that so far, they’re pretty good. It’s mellow, probably more mellow than their last work. Or at least more mellow than Typical and Chaos which were the obvious standout tracks on their last album. But don’t let that disappoint you. There is energy here. And there is certainly the Mute Math creativity we all want. I’m listening to Odds right now (track 8 ) and it’s a very, very cooL song. 

Vocals are as expected, as are the drum beats. Both exceptional. The synth and all kinds of other musical treats are very well placed. I’m still going to need a second or third listen to find any standout hits like the last one had. But so far (up to track 9) the album is proving well worth the 10-15$ you’ll probably pay for it. If you don’t care about the physical CD, it is on itunes for 9.99. (Okay there’s horns on track 10 and that’s just lovely) 

I won’t bore you anymore with the details. I’m three tracks from the end though and so far I’m thoroughly enjoying this album. Actually I would say I’m becoming more impressed as the the CD goes on which is normally the opposite of what happens when I listen to something new. Armistice seems to keep getting better with age. 

Anyways, initial impressions of the first twelve (of 13) tracks gets 4.5 stars. I’m gonna say you should probably just go out and buy it as soon as you finish reading this review (which is almost over). 

The only song I haven’t heard yet is number 13, Architecture. I would wait but track 12 (Burden) is 9 minutes long (that’s bordering on Hillsong length) and Architecture is also the top downloaded song off this album on itunes so I’m gonna guess that it’s probably a pretty good one. 

I just read that the lead singer, Paul Meany, had this to say about the new album,

“Our goal is to embarrass the first record, that’s what we’re trying to do here, and I think we’re on point to pull it off.”

Let me know if you agree with him. I think I may. Check it out, you probably won’t be disappointed. I definitely am not. 

Armistice hit stores today, Tuesday August 18 2009.

Dead for the summer?

If you have been checking this website daily for an update (like most of you probably have) then more than likely you are thinking to yourself, “are Ben and Alex dead?  Sleeping?  Watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy?  or worst of all…just not interested in blogging anymore?!!”

Well, I’m happy to say, it’s none of the above situations.  The truth is, we’ve been busy!  So, to help you understand what that word ‘busy’ means in the life of a Youth Pastor in the summertime in southern Ontario…here’s what we’ve been upto:

• Summer officially starts
• Alex, Ben and 8 other Christ-loving servants fly to Poland for two weeks to run an English Camp for Polish teens…we have a great time, learn a lot about the basics of having a passionate ministry, return home to find 25 new Facebook friend requests from hip Polish teens!  AWESOME!
• Took that week off, yeah, we’re allowed vacation time too ya know!  Brushed up on some North American TV shows, researched Michael Jackson’s death all over the internet, loved our families.
• Came into the office for a week.  Working on all kinds of plans for the future.  I can’t speak so much for what Ben was doing, but I’m working on a whole new plan for Jr.High volunteer leaders to be more strategic in what we do.  Also, the plan for SJH this year was also formed out of the dust of the ground…or at least my filing cabinet.
• Then I spent a week preparing for speaking at two camps in the following weeks…Ben, sat in front of his computer, pretending to type important documents.  I checked his History folder later and found hours and hours spent on the Jonas Brothers’ fan club sites.  Tisk tisk.
• End of July – I went up north to Huntsville to speak at Camp Widjitiwin!  Had an incredible time!  Ate a TON of ribs on Wed. night, met some amazing people, and actually hit up the beach too!  Ben…now is a member of the JBFC (Jonas Brothers Fan Club)
• Last week, I spent speaking at the camp just around the corner, Willow Springs.  Again, just amazing!  Great response from the campers and counsellors, met some more amazing people and had a riot while I was there!  You camp-workers are absolute heroes in my books!  As of Friday last week my co-worker has been promoted to Co-Chair of the JBFC, Canada branch. Well done buddy!
• This week…I’m waiting for my VERY pregnant wife to give birth to our second wee one (due date is tomorrow, 13th), and Ben has sadly had to put aside his fan club duties for the week to focus on speaking at Willow Springs…it’s a great week to be there, tons of SpringvaleYouth kids as campers!

So, that’s been our jam-packed summer…as for what the future holds, only God knows!  But we are getting VERY excited for our programs to start up again in that second week of September!

SJH kick off  - Sept. 18-19 LOCK-IN at the church!

Sr.High kick off RETREAT – Sept. 25-27, Details coming oh so soon!

Hopefully your summer has been as good as ours…and if you haven’t yet, take some time to STOP!  and think about how much God is loving you even right now.

-Alex

A Bittersweet Return

We’re back and neither Poland nor us will ever be the same.

More updates will come…