Ringing in the New Year...

I apologize that this has been the first post in a while. I'll try to keep more up to date information posted in the future.
We've begun a new year and have been given a fresh start to begin our ministry in Tioga County. Here are the highlights of the past few weeks:
Top 10:
10) Christmas Caroling December 19th: We shared a message of hope and our love of song with the people in our community. We had many comments about how our music blessed people and it was great to see their faces light up as we sang.
9) Concert Planning: More details to follow as soon as they are known, but get ready for an AMAZING concert coming your way in late April. It's gonna be great!
8) Mall Scavenger Hunt: About 20 of us went to the mall December 15th to do some last minute Christmas shopping and compete in a scavenger hunt. The competition was fierce, and it was a great time.
7) Spiritual Giftings Evaluation: All the youth took a spiritual giftings evaluation to discover what God had gifted them with and to find out ways to put those gifts into action. We'll be doing a lot of work next year to exercise these specific giftings and to strengthen our individual and corporate ministries to our churches, schools, families, friends and community.
6) GenerationNext Christmas Service: Reckless Abandon Youth, partnering with the Powerkidz and SuperChurch presented a Christmas Program here at the church on December 16th. We were in charge of the entire service including the ushering, greeting, announcements and worship, as well as our skits and human video. The congregation was blessed to see all the students so actively involved in the presentation of the Christmas story and how everyone demonstrated their personal abilities to make it all possible.
5) Our first Youth Group Light took place the last week in November and will become a trend during the coming year. The last week of every month will be a fun time of playing games and hanging out together. We took care of redecorating the youth office with some great wall decoration and learned "The Song Game" which has become a favorite of the youth group and basketball teams everywhere ;)
4) Christmas Card Distribution. Our youth group raised almost $50 that will be put toward our "Speed the Light" missions which are going to help build a water well in Africa. Our total 2008 contribution pledge is $1000. Keep checking back to see other ways we are trying to raise money for this great cause.
3) Recycling Drive: For those of you who have walked into the youth office anytime in past 2 months, you know what this is about. The closets are filling up with soda cans and plastic bottles which will be recycled and the money also given to "Speed the Light" This will be an ongoing fundraiser, so you can bring in your recyclables at any time. Soon, Pastor Mara won't even have a place to sit!
2) Tagging Baby Bottles for the Pregnancy Care Center: Our youth group has begun to foster a relationship with the Pregnancy Care Center in Canton, PA. This ministry is funded completely by the local communities and is doing an amazing work caring for mothers and their children. Every year, they do a "Baby Bottle Campaign" to fill old bottles with change to support their ministry. Our youth tagged over 600 baby bottles for distribution to local businesses and churches who will help with this drive. If you would like more information about how you can help, you can contact Pastor Mara at the church.
1) NEW'S YEAR'S LOCK-IN!! Absolutely crazy and awesome! We had over 40 students celebrate the New Year at the church playing games, watching movies and NOT sleeping.
So there you have it. 2007 was a year of lots of changes and new faces, and the God of 2007 will continue what he's doing in 2008.