Summer Youth Activities

Tuesday nights this summer are "Ultimate Nights." We play some ultimate Frisbee, swim in Greg and Millie Mitchell's super-refreshing salt-water pool, and talk to the Ultimate One (i.e., we pray). We have also had some team-building and Bible study meetings with our Youth Leadership Team. (The Youth Leadership Team is comprised of 6 youth and 4 adults who have the responsibility of shaping the overall programming and curriculum of the CPC Youth ministries.)

The glorious pool!

Some team members try to assist an unconscious victim in the team-building activity called "Nuclear Holocaust."

A competitor prepares to hit the water for the "Biggest Splash" contest.

The Youth Leadership Team is reading through the book of Proverbs this summer.

Meeting at the home of Tom and Jennifer Pimmler.

Mission Trip to Appalachia

On May 27-31, 2009, an intergenerational team of us headed out from Lafayette to Hazard, KY, six hours away. We partnered with the Housing Development Alliance to help construct a new home for a family in need of better housing. This hilly region in southeastern Kentucky is one of the poorest areas in the USA. But we found the people of Kentucky to be rich in spirit, as they kept us laughing, thinking, working, and learning.

The 2009 Mission to Appalachia Team: Brad Parker, Gabe Parker, Annette Brehm, Aaron Brehm, Emma Brehm, Paul Spurgeon, and Wes Tillett.

This is what building site looked like when we showed up.

Here's what we were able to accomplish in our 2.5 days of work

We pounded hundreds of nails as we put down the floor joists and subfloor, built exterior and interior walls, and constructed the porches. It was hard work but we enjoyed it. We also enjoyed getting to know one another, exploring a bit of what the Hazard area had to offer, and gathering for times of Scripture reading, discussion, and prayer.

All in all, it was an extremely positive experience—one we all feel blessed to have been a part of.

Youth Year-End Fiesta

We celebrated the end of the school year by having a "fiesta" at Youth Group. Perhaps the most important lesson learned that evening was this: if you are going to have a jalepeno-pepper-eating contest, be sure to have lots of milk on hand to help douse the flames afterwards.

"Water U Doing?" VBS Kick-Off Party

Our theme for Vacation Bible School this year is "Water U Doing?" We will focus on Jesus as the Living Water and on providing clean drinking water to children in Malawi (Africa). We are partnering with Trinity United Methodist Church, another church in downtown Lafayette. On April 19th we had a party to get recruitment and registration rolling for our June 14-19 VBS. We had Purdue students from the Engineers for World Health teaching the children about water conservation and purification. We had an African drum group--Cirque Afrique--entertaining us. We had free food. We had water-themed games. We had prizes. It was a blast! Our "Water U Doing?" VBS is going to be great!

Easter 2009

We celebrated Resurrection Day with all sorts of special additions--double bass, timpanis, trombone, trumpet, flute, saxophone, dancers, and streamers. Psalm 150 says basically to praise God with all that we've got. We attempted to do that on Easter morning. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! So we have to celebrate!

The photos below are courtesy of Katie Pimmler.

Seder Meal

On Palm Sunday (April 5th, 2009), we held a symbolic Passover Meal. We learned about the basic rituals of this ancient Jewish feast and gave specific attention to how we reinterpret this meal in light of Jesus Christ. It was really educational and really a lot of fun.

30 Hour Famine 2009

From 7:00a March 7th to 1:00p March 8th the CPC Youth went without solid food. This "30 Hour Famine" is an international youth event geared both to help educate youth about the realities of hunger in our world and to help raise funds for malnourished children throughout the world. The CPC Youth participated with an amazing amount of enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and effectiveness. Below are a few highlights.

We played a series of educational games to learn about the realities of life for poverty-stricken children. This year our games focused on the Amazon region of the world. We divided into various "tribes" and competed for various resources. Pictured above, Kate Wier crosses "the river"--a game simulating the difficulties many children face just getting to and from school every day.

We constructed two "Roadside Memorials"--one along Columbia Street and one along South Street. Our aim was to raise awareness and support for children caught in the jaws of hunger. At each memorial we planted 1,100 forks in the ground. Each fork represented a child's life snuffed out by hunger each hour. We also constructed five signs that were interspersed with the forks. The signs read: "Every Day On Earth" "26,000 Children Die" "From Hunger" "Do Something" "www.30hourfamine.org." While we were working on the memorials we had people stopping and asking what we were doing...we were already meeting our goal of raising awareness!

The band "Red Umbrella" put on a spectacular concert in our gym on March 7th. This Christian band played a bunch of catchy, dance-able tunes that had our youth bustin' a groove (even though they hadn't eaten in more than 12 waking hours). The songs, the lights, the demeanor, the talent, the focus--Red Umbrella puts on a great show! We won't be surprised if they make it big in the coming years.

Crab Soccer Tournament. Another one of our "tribe" games.

A few more donations trickled in and brought our grand totol to $2,107.00! Our goal was $1500. Thank you, CPC Youth, for your faithfulness, hard work, and generosity! Thank you, Central Presbyterian Church, for your support and encouragement! Together we are helping to make a difference for our younger brothers and sisters who need food.