Hey all,
I am so excited to get start with youth group this week! Hope all is well. Thanks to all the youth and parents who made it to our Fall Kick-Off Event. It was great. Those who weren’t there, look for me or someone else to be in touch with you about places where you can sign up to help in the near future!

This week at Bethlehem Youth:
Wednesday
4:45 PM Youth Praise Band
5:30 PM Youth Choir Rehearsal
6:30 PM Snack Supper. (Thanks to the McQuiddy family for this week’s snack supper!)
7 PM Youth Group

Sunday
8:15 and 11 AM Worship services
9:30 AM Middle School and High School Sunday School classes

Upcoming:
One weekend this fall is going to be amazing. It will be filled with great opportunities to hang out, be with friends and grow in faith. There will be high ropes, low ropes and a lit whiffle ball field. We will be able to worship, share, laugh and play together. It all adds up to a fantastic weekend. Harvest is coming. November 7-9, 2008. Cost is $140 with a $50 deposit before October 1st and $150 there after. Are you coming?

YS STUDENT NEWSLETTER #355
August 18, 2008
Contents
Something for Your Heart
Surf Report
Forgettable Fact
Potent Quotables
Uh, That’s Funny?
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IT’S THE GOSPEL OF JOHN…WITH A TWIST

A devotional like you’ve never seen (or heard) before, "The Script" will bring you into a spoken word version of the Gospel of John on CD-ROM and take you through creative and soul-searching activities to take God’s Word to heart.
Learn more about or purchase "The Script" here:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=426

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1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART
DAY 5–JOHN THE BAPTIST: FADE TO BLACK
MOOD: CALM
JOHN 3:23-36
23 John was up the river in Aenon holdin’ classes close to Salim where the water was high, baptizing the masses. Multitudes of souls took this passage despite the traffic ’cause it stayed congested…
24 (back before John got arrested).
25 And just at that time a controversy started to brew between John’s Taliban & certain established Jews on the practice of baptism–does it really make one pure? But this was just a contentious ploy for sure to lure John’s men into debate, and some of his disciples took the bait.
26 Agitated at these religious ingrates, they approached John and said, "Sensei, you recall the other day at the Jordan the one who came to you & you proclaimed him the Lord? Well, now he’s starting to draw numbers in abundance; it’s getting redundant. If he keeps blowin’ up like this, we’re headed for sunset, and we don’t feel we’re done yet."
27 John sensed panic & calmed their hysteria. "I’m tellin’ ya– there’s really no need to worry here; and if he’s blowing up like you say he is, then right in the middle of God’s will is where we are & besides, no man of his own clout stands superior. If he’s a cut above the rest, I suggest he’s heaven blessed.
28 "You all can attest that I never said I was all that! ‘Just the forerunner for the number-one Son o’ wonders.’
29 "The one who gets to vow out the nuptials: See, that’s the groom, but the best man is just happy to be in the same room & see true love bloom. In this my joy is full–just to see him jump that broom.
30 "His decibels have to be raised to the max, till volume is full blast. But I’ve got to fade to black.
31 "He who’s from the throne is in a league of his own; can’t compare the spiritual against the flesh & the bone. It’s phantasm deeper than I could imagine or fathom ’cause we descended from Adam, so there’s no crossing the chasm.
32 "But now then the holy Skywalker is talking, testifying what he’s seen and heard–but man objects his words, treatin’ his verbs like a tabloid plot.
33 "But he who sees his thesis and receives it has set his faith on lock that God is real–signed & sealed…is you feelin’ me?
34 "God’s emissary speaks his King’s tongue in fluency–fluently w/o truancy or impunity is the Spirit measured out on him w/ all gratuity.
35 "You must see its mad affinity in the Trinity; and the Father’s ordered all things to the Son–it’s the dynasty of divinity.
36 "No amenities to this absolute truth: Believeth on the Son & it’s done–death can’t touch you. But such of you fools who refute & refuse his rules won’t see the life of God, but the side that is cruel: You lose."
SAY WHAT?
John 3:25–The word "taliban"undoubtedly evokes many negative connotations, but did you know its original meaning in Arabic is "student" or "students"? This shouldn’t surprise you; many words in the English language first meant for good also have been twisted around for negative purposes–so make sure you take regular peeks into the dictionary so you know the history behind the words you speak! In this verse, the context is "students"–those followers of John the Baptist who’d soon be introduced to the greatest Teacher ever.
DEVOTIONAL
"It was never about you." All that you do is for his purpose. Good performers know how to make a memorable entrance onstage. The greatest performers, however, also know how to make a good exit. They can sense when it’s time to step off the stage, even if it’s while the crowd is crying out for more. John the Baptist recognizes his own curtain call is approaching after he introduces Jesus. The words he was no doubt born to shout–"Behold the Lamb of God!"–also mean, "It’s my time to go now." John captures it when says, "He [Jesus] must increase, and I must decrease." John’s able to let go of the spotlight because he’s made peace with the full picture, realizing it was never really about him–but we’re all here to do what we do and then move on. I’m sure John, at the end of his life, could look back and smile, saying, "I had only one chance–and I lived out loud with all of my heart, and I have no regrets."
FADE TO BLACK
- Can you identify anything in your life that might stop you from living with no regrets?
- When it’s your time to fade to black, what type of memories would you like to leave?
- In which areas in your life do you sense that you must decrease and God must increase?
BREATHE OUT: REMIX IT
Write out John 3:27-30 in your own words. Describe three different emotions you can imagine John experiencing as he comes to this conclusion that it’s his time to "fade to black." Then journal about a time when you’ve felt those same emotions.
**
Taken from "The Script" by Fred Lynch, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=426

2. SURF REPORT
~ DCLA2009: Check out this amazing event for students.
http://dcla2009.com/
~ Young Writers Society: Chat, Blog, Create, and Write!
http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/

3. FORGETTABLE FACT
The Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific Ocean.

4. POTENT QUOTABLES
"Faith is a living and unshakable confidence. a belief in God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake."
~ Martin Luther
"Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials. Hold on! hold fast! hold out! Patience is genius."
~ Georges L.L. de Buffon

5. UH, THAT’S FUNNY?
Teacher: Can someone give me a sentence using the word "archaic" in it?
Student: We can’t have "archaic" and eat it too.