Nation Spring Break '08

This past week we had close to 40 youth (6th-12th grade) attend The Nation Spring Break '08. During the 3 days' activities, we ate together, served together (beach clean up and on-campus projects), bounced around at Sky High Sports together, conquered coasters together at California's Great America, and rounded out the week together with a ridiculously fun night of games and live music on Friday night.

One of our goals for Spring Break was to reach out to youth who do not attend our church. I'm excited and grateful to God (and to our youth who invited friends!) for the 8 youth who signed up for the main program, as well as another 9-ish who attended "Rock 'n' The Nation" that Friday night. 15+ guests with us during the week is a huge success.

Friday night was the highlight of the week... What a great way to round out our time together! This event, the brainchild of one of the dads in our church, was complete with Xbox and Nintendo Wii game systems, DDR, pool, foosball, ping pong, air hockey, AND the live 8-bit music of our very own Mas! Mas! Mas! and Hello Geno. The night, according to one of our guests, was "more fun than Great America!" (That about says it all!) The recurring comment about the night from both youth and adults: "This was really, really fun!!!"

Indeed it was fun... And a big reason for that fun was the heart, vision, and preparation that went into making it happening, as well as all of the adults who made it a well-covered, safe, and welcoming environment. The youth had a great time because they were able to "let their hair down" in appropriate ways... As a result, I believe they learned/experienced more of who God has made them to be. We might just be on to something with "Rock 'n' The Nation." I think we'll be doing events like it again...