Youth Club update

At the risk of upsetting Chris who is still on holiday and missing out on all this good stuff! :) Youth Club stepped up again last night. Got the band together gain for the first half of the evening and they continue to be really up for it. Had a great sing through "Blessed be Your Name", "Praise Him you heavens", "Wonderful, so Wonderful", "Shackles/Lord reign in me" plus a couple more. I'm still having to play keyboard until our keyboardists get a bit more confident (their choice) but it won't be long as they are taking music home to practice! Got endings really sewn up with our drummer - he really enjoys them! Whats more, these guys are really keen to provide music for Catch the Fire! Some of them are even plugging the evenings to other people and they haven't even been to one yet!!! They are all really excited about coming this Thursday (yes, catch the fire returns tomorrow night - see the CtF blog for more) and were making sure that other Youth Club members took a flyer home with them! I hope to get them going live with music at next months CtF.

So after this fab jam session, it was my turn for God Spot. Was really unprepared for this and offered apologies to the group. I've got a made up Bible for an illustration where you flick through it and its blank, then you do it again and it has black and white pictures, then finally you add colour. Its all a bit of slight of hand but effective. So I decided to use this. Told them about different versions of the Bible and showed a selection that i'd grabbed from around the hall. The point of the illustration is that you can have a Bible and not read it or just do it haphazardly - in that case it might as well be a blank book. But if you read it and especially read key sections (told them the Gospels were a good place to start) then it begins to come to life (the black and white drawings). The story kind of got interrupted at this point as, to my surprise, this group of toughened teenagers were blown away that the pictures appeared. As I quietened them down they were saying "you gonna colour it in? oh go on - colour it in, colour it in"! So I managed to return to the story telling them that if they continue to read the Bible, study it, speak to leaders and friends about it, it really comes to life. Pointed out that some group members would admit to being Christians - some weren't sure - some just weren't. But those that were would also admit to getting to grips with the Bible and that it actually meant something more than any other book. Thats when the pictures come to life and get coloured in.

They were blown away by the illustration and I think the point sunk in. Heard one guy talking with a staff member about Jesus later on. had to reveal the secret of the illustration to some of the group (a) because they asked - well, badgered - and (b) because I didn't want them thinking it was any kind of magic - it was just a trick. The real story comes from the reality of the Bible.
Think they got it.

So it was back to the music. The second half of club lets anyone have a play. Left a few of them playing at the piano then after a while they called me over to play for them so they could sing. Some of the band members had got their other friends there to sing the worship songs we'd been looking at. "One more please Dan" was heard so many times. Then, when I did managed to finish (because club was ending) one of the band members said "Worship songs are fun".

These guys are just blowing me away with their keen-ness. I just hope that they enjoy Catch the Fire tomorrow - suddenly I feel a bit of pressure which i guess is a good thing because it will make me rely on God even more. So, must get off and do some more prep!!

If you pray, please keep these young people in your prayers. I can't put their names on here for obvious reasons but God knows them. Pray also for the Youth Club and Church leaders/workers as we work alongside these excitable young people!