Raising Funds and Studying Hard

I haven't posted in a week; but what a week it's been! Off the back of my last post, our Crave service was a fantastic evening, with the Youth really shining in their service (pun intended). The highlight of the night though, without question, was our very own "village idiot" - Jimmy Young.

As you can see in the video above, Jimmy preached up a storm, doing the Youth Ministry proud once again.

Our Friday night event was a (relatively) easy one; a Study Night. The idea of which was that those Youths with exams could come and get some "expert" advice from our "expert" leaders. Or something. Unfortunately, our planning was about a week out of sync with the school year, and most people had actually finished exams.

Regardless, we pushed on, and set up 4 stations for the youth to pick from. They could study (whether they still had exams or not), play games, cook, or do cool crafty stuff.

With the whole evening open to playing games, we tried some new ones, and made some up as we went. My personal favorite was a new take on the classic Four Square game. Rather than squares though, each player had to defend a skittle, which, if was knocked over, the player would be ELIMINATED, and remaining players move up - with a new player joining at the end of the chain.

Throw in two balls for extra hecticness, and make it soccer rules for a bigger challenge. Once we had more people, we added more cones, and then let those who were out join in a bit. In essence, we lined them up at one end, and if the balls came near them, they could pick them up and hurl them back into play, potentially getting those still in, out. Following? No, neither was I. 

The entire evening was a really good night, with plenty of good conversations happening. However, above all that, was the call to the Youth to help out at our Fundraiser for our annual Camp Crave. We hosted a 3 course dinner for around 60 people, with live music and a silent auction. The greatest part of the evening, though, was the 20 odd youth we had, willing and raring to go. These young people acted as servers for the night, as well as cleaners and general helpers. 

The night went off without major incidence, thanks to God's grace, and these amazing youth. All in all, we raised around $4,500, all going towards getting Youth to Camp, and supporting our continued work with these fantastic kids. 

Thanks to all who attended, those who donated (service, goods, food, and money), to my fellow youth leaders, and, last but not least, to the Youth who helped.