E.P.I.C. Student Ministry Update- Aug 2011

IMAG0851.jpg, a photo by gkhamilton on Flickr.

Summer is in full swing, and our student ministry has shifted gears to demonstrate an even greater emphasis on the importance of serving those around us.

Our E.P.I.C. Wednesday night teaching series, “Made to Make a Difference,” has inspired our middle and high schoolers with stories of young people who have made an impact in their world through their acts of service.

After a few brainstorming sessions, our students have decided that our time and resources would be best used to create and distribute care packages for the needy in downtown Portland. Other ideas for future student-led service projects are also being kicked around, focusing specifically on our local community.

Our fun summer activities so far include:
Garth and Ben climbing Washington State’s steep Dog Mountain, pounding out 2800 feet in less than 1 ½ hours




Holding a special E.P.I.C. session at Garth and Kathy’s house to plan for our upcoming urban service project

Sending in the “hands team” to assist our hands-less diners, to illustrate the importance of food distribution to the hungry




Working at Skyline Memorial Gardens for three days over Memorial Day Weekend as a student fundraiser/ministry opportunity; The “Gate 1” portion of our group is featured in this last photo

Our wildly successful Dessert Auction, featuring Jeff Buckles’ second appearance as auctioneer

Graduation parties for Kenny Degman and others (our church’s own Michaela Cochran is pictured with her older sister, former AChoG student/graduate Bethany Bird)




Celebrating the last day of school with a round of Musical Pies the following week

Going ahead with our anticipated water balloon toss, just as a surprise torrential downpour in July (!) was starting to taper off

In Christ,
Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

Here are a few bonus photos for this month:

Kez, Kenny, and Derek battle it out on the PS3: Playstation 3 Move "Sharp Shooter" motion controller vs. the regular Move motion controller

Students work together to build competing human pyramids.



Wow, this pie went EVERYWHERE!

Our younger students get their first driving experience at Skyline Memorial Gardens.

Sorry, but neither the terrifying student driver video clip nor the infamous “ear discharge” photo will be posted here on BlogSpot. For the love of all things decent, please hit me up for those privately.