Student Ministry Newsletter- July 2009

[May 8, 2010] I know, I know... Everyone's waiting for me to post photos of our new house (Diana, my realtor, handed me the keys at work this past Wednesday!). I hope to get those pics up soon, but first I decided to raid my archives for a student ministry newsletter from last summer. I'll be posting the rest of last year's ministry newsletters as time allows, and check back SOON for photos of our new house!

Aloha ChoG Student Ministry Newsletter- July 2009

The Class of 2009 has made it! We had several seniors graduate from high school this year, and four were core members of our student ministry at Aloha ChoG. From Aloha High: Kevin Gade, Alissa Degman, and Sam Fleig. From Merlo Station: Emmaleigh Mallery.



Aloha High's graduation ceremony was well attended and highly emotional, and we heard that Emmaleigh gave a wonderful speech at her own graduation. The last time we checked, Alissa, Sam, and Emmaleigh were planning to attend PCC and Kevin was heading for Warner Pacific. We are so proud of them and pray God's blessings on them in their future.

Our graduates, as well other young people who are hopeful of a brighter future, can relate to our new teaching series, "Leaving the Old Place." We've been following the story of God using such an unlikely leader as Moses (and Aaron, to support his leadership) to deliver the Israelites from slavery… not that high school is slavery!

Two of our biggest fundraisers for International Youth Convention 2010 helped us pick up steam for the big event next summer.

The first, our annual rummage sale, was held here at the church on Saturday, May 30. The students worked hard on Friday night sorting the donations and setting up the displays. Then they stayed all day Saturday to assist the "rummagers" and ring up purchases. The sale was well attended and, thanks to the abundance of donations, is tentatively scheduled to make a second run this fall.

Our other fundraiser, the June 14 dessert auction, brought in more cash for IYC. There was quite a variety of treats to bid on, from cheesecake to freshly baked cookies. We got a kick out of watching the King's Kids "bidding" on items, too. To top it all off, Tom Peterson made his sophomore (no, not sophomoric) appearance as our energetic auctioneer.






The next Friday, a few of us took a campus tour of Warner Pacific College...

...Followed the next day by a beach trip for a couple carloads of our students on July 20th.

To our surprise, Seaside was featuring a "Father's Day Cruise-In."



After gawking at the classic cars on display, we toured the shops and wasted some pocket change at the arcade. The sun eventually drew us to the beach, although the air remained a bit chilly.



Some of us were even bold enough to brave the icy cold water!

Our upcoming car wash at the Burger King on TV Highway is scheduled for Saturday, July 25 [2009... This is a past event]. All of the proceeds will go to our IYC 2010 fund. We could use volunteers to help us out for any amount of time during the day. Please let Garth, Kathy or Wendy know if you are willing and able. If nothing else, we would love to wash your car!

In His Grip,

Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

And for those of you can't get enough of our student ministry, here are some bonus photos:


Our graduates eat pizza, receive gifts, and get prayed for (students are laying hands on Alissa in this second photo) at our School's Out Party.



Derek takes a tumble during a Wednesday night game of soccer at church.




Mickey D's



Ben directs traffic towards our rummage sale fundraiser, all while trying to find his way out of a plastic bag.

Student Ministry Newsletter- June 2009

Note: I have a few recent student ministry posts that still need photos. As soon as I upload the photos to Flickr, I will add these posts here to Blogspot in the order that I originally completed them. Check back soon!

Aloha ChoG Youth Newsletter- June 2009

    Our Aloha Church of God student ministry has concluded our teaching series on "Responding to God," and we pray that the students' responses have indicated life change. We've been inspired by the confrontation of sin by Nathan, the confession of King David, the bravery of Esther, and the obedience of the prophet Isaiah. These last few months, students have been challenged to respond to God's call as Isaiah did by answering, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).

Here are some highlights of this past month's activities:

• The nail-biting suspense of playing Easter Egg Roulette
  
  
  
  
  
• Cheering on Juan (in the green jersey) as he won a decisive soccer victory over a tough team
  
  
  
  
  
• Judging the performances of our talented theater students as they compete by acting out various vignettes (Alissa and Tiffany are featured in the photo)
  
  
• Enjoying some of the latest "summer popcorn flicks" at the movie theater together
  

It is a blessing that Alex Bates (Class of '07) and her boyfriend Ryan are still actively involved at Aloha Church of God, leading children's church. We also caught up with a couple of other Aloha ChoG youth graduates whom we don't see very often. In this month's special "Where Are They Now?" segment:

• Martha Carr (Class of '02) was spotted climbing Saddle Mountain with her mom, Peggy, on Memorial Day. She is currently working hard for her parents as they prepare their newly purchased home.
  
  
  
  
  
• Lindsay Adams (Class of '05), daughter of Rick and Marva, graduated in May from Warner Pacific College with a B.A. in Elementary Education. She will be marrying her fiancé, Lance Chamberlain, in September!
  
  

We are proud of all of our students. They have a well deserved summer vacation just around the corner. Thank you for remembering each of them in your prayers.

In Christ,

Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy

Here are a some bonus pictures for this month:


Floor hockey





Easter Egg Roulette aftermath




Weight lifting

A Week of Jeep Smash-Ups

Ever had one of those weeks? Last month, my Jeep was rear-ended twice (both times while stopped at an intersection) within 72 hours. There were no major injuries, but the damage ranged from a totaled Ford Taurus to a full-on seven car pileup!

My Jeep got hit the first time as I was stopped with a car in front of me at a busy intersection, within a block or so from my home. Even with my Jeep's soft top down, I never heard the Taurus approach my rear bumper. Rather than hit her brakes, the driver was most likely speeding up to make a yellow light. She must have been going at least 35 MPH when she slammed into my rear bumper, spraying antifreeze and small pieces of her Taurus all over the intersection.
The picture above was taken at a later time, after the biggest shards of her car were removed from the intersection. Her Taurus had just enough life left in the engine to sputter around the corner and roll onto a side street to find its final resting place (in truth, she had it towed away the next week).

I thanked the Lord that the lady's small daughter was unharmed, and also that my Jeep only had a couple of scratches and tiny perforation on the rear bumper. Not wanting to leave the nice woman stranded in her slowly flowing river of antifreeze, I waited with her until her sister showed up to drive them both to her child daycare workplace.

The steam eventually stopped billowing out of her Taurus' engine, causing the outside of her car to look slightly less trashed. And although we were unable to pry her hood open, we could both peek inside to see her mangled radiator, hoses, etc. I later made a follow-up phone call to check up on her, and she had already planned to total out her Taurus. I felt so bad for her!
 
Two days later, a few blocks away from the Nike World Campus, a U-Haul driver lost control of his moving van and rear-ended a Ford Mustang. The chain reaction that ensued involved the Mustang, which rear-ended the U-Haul driver's girlfriend, who finally hit a string of three more cars (with my Jeep trapped in the middle). I braced for impact as the succession of crashing sounds drew closer to the rear of my Jeep. The car behind me inevitably hit my bumper and pushed my Jeep from a stopped, braked position into the van stopped in front of me.

For the climax, the van in front of me appeared to knock the leading car up to the edge of the crosswalk. Rather than waiting to collect myself, I uncharacteristically screamed (my apologies to Kathy's sensitive eardrums) into my hands-free cell device, "I gotta call you back. Someone just rear-ended my Jeep AGAIN!!"

As a police officer took our statements, most of the drivers surveyed the string of our seven cars, most of which were now smashed together, and just had to laugh. There was no major damage, and only the U-Haul driver's girlfriend had minor injuries. My Jeep being rear-ended a couple days earlier only made this accident seem more hilarious.

My conversations with the other drivers led me to conclude that none of them were followers of Christ just yet. But we all shared a thankfulness that everyone was okay… and we all agreed that Someone must have been watching over us.

Student Ministry Newsletter- May '09

Our student ministry group is proud of all seven people who made the decision to be baptized in April. Pastor Tim baptized Shannon, Andrew, Melissa, and Aloha youth graduate Tiffany.


Garth and Kathy had the honor of baptizing students Victoria and Jackie. Each of these believers publically demonstrated their faith in Christ, while obediently identifying with His death and resurrection.

The collaboration with our very own Aloha Christian School for the spaghetti fundraiser dinner was an overwhelming success. We're still waiting for the final numbers, but the gym was packed with families who stopped by to fill up on the tasty pasta, garlic bread, salad, and lemon squares. This year's raffle, consisting of 58 different gift baskets, was also a big draw.



Our students received several compliments on how well they served. Those kids worked hard that night!

On Sundays and Wednesdays, we are continuing a teaching series on "Responding to God." Recently we have dealt with themes of taking risks for the one true God (as Rahab did), battling in God's strength (like Joshua), and staying focused on the Lord in spite of distractions (identifying with the struggles of Sampson's mother, Solomon, Martha, and others).

Other ministry highlights include:


We were impressed (as always) at our students' performances and behind-the-scenes efforts for Aloha High School's presentation of "Cabaret."





Students helped out our church's King's Kids ministry by filling Easter baskets...





...And what an amazing turnout we had for the breakfast and service on Easter Sunday! Praise God that both "big church" and youth group attendance continues to grow!

In Christ,

Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

Here are a few extra pictures from our student ministry:

A small but dedicated group of Sunday School students work together on a project.





Believers "stand firm" against resistance.



"Honey, if you love me, please give me a smile..."






Freeze!





Eleanor writes down the group's answers to prayer.

Video: Spring Skiing with Bo & Photos from Jake's Homecoming

I am in the middle of filming a potentially 12-14 hour shoot on a movie set here in downtown Portland. To pass the time in between takes, I decided to post a couple of short videos that my dad shot of me skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows last month.





The weather was beautiful. Later in the day, however, the snow started to melt and wreak havoc on my form. If you look closely, you can see me crash at the end of both clips.





I didn't build up much speed for this clip, but the camera was still rolling when I ate snow at the end.
*****

It seems that there is no end in sight for today's film shoot, so I also have time for a post-Memorial day tribute to my cousin, Jake Davis. During his 15 day leave from Iraq, we were able to celebrate his temporary homecoming on his actual birthday.


He took time out for this bad boy pose with his brand new Springfield 45 XD handgun. Who would ever think to put that on a birthday list?





We'll be counting down the next six months with you, Jake. You'll be back in the States before you know it. Thanks for bravely serving our country. We are all so proud of you!