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Just an update to let you know that our blog has been moved to http://www.mwchurch.org.au/blog. Be sure to update your feed readers to use this url instead.

Our website has also undergone a revamp, check it out: http://www.mwchurch.org.au

There will be no new posts made to this blog so please go to the new blog above.

Alliance Night

We went over to Plenty Valley COC tonight and joined several other youth groups, The FACT and Fuse, for a combined youth night.

There were the usual crazy games, of which SALT won all of them, woot!, and auditions were held for the upcoming VIP Talent Show. There was some really good talent and I’m really looking forward to the show.

Several things that really impressed me on the night. Firstly was the junior youth band, they rocked! They were fronted by a girl who would have been in year 9 and she led fantastically. Along with the other backup singers and the solid band they did a great job of leading us into the presence of God.

Then there was a drama play and it was incredibly powerful. The young people had been practicing it for 3 weeks and you could see their heart was really in it. It created a powerful platform for AJ to share from and there were numberous responses for the call to follow Jesus.

Couple of shout outs to the SALT gang. Chad you are legend for cooking all of those suasages! Dion, George, Abdullah and Michael for making sure we won all the competitions! And everyone else for just being there

I’m thinking we might head over to The FACT more often, so stay tuned.

Kestrel

Fuse Camp 2008!

Wow, Fuse Summer Camp 2008 is on this weekend! It is going to be sooooo awesome!

Our church will be joining the other Christian Outreach Centre churches throughout Victoria for a wicked Youth camp of having fun and seeking God.

Now traditionally Salt Youth have a huge reputation to uphold as top 3 finishes in any form of competition that is held. This year we are going to keep that tradition going!

There should be roughly between 15-20 of us going to Camp so we’ll be in touch to organise transport to and from Camp. I hope your amped!!

Gonna be Great!

Hey gang just letting you guys know that tomorrow night at SALT is going to absolutely rock!

For starters Liberty youth are joining us so that will be exciting. We might have to have some Salt vs Liberty challenges

Also we are going to watch the Preliminary Final between Collingwood and Geelong on the Big Screen. During the breaks we’ll play some footy related games (like handballs through the hole etc) and like usual, we’ll have the Foozball/Hockey tables setup.

I’ve also got some SALT logo designs for you guys to check out, so we’ll pick one and print a whole heap off that we can put up around the school on Friday nights.

Anyway I’m pumped about tomorrow night. We’re going to do a full setup also so make sure you get along!!

Kestrel

Switched On

We visited Gospel House Church last Friday night. It was a good night and was great to spend time with another church and support them.

Anyway we were back at Caroline Springs College tonight and once again I left the iPod at home! argh! Thankfully Zo had hers but she doesn’t have the rockin’ music that the youth iPod has.

We had a fairly easy night. Basically hung out, played some soccer and I shared from Matt 21:21-22. We then broke up into our tribes and discussed anything plans/dreams we had for the future or perhaps plans/dreams that we have had and have let go for whatever reason. The discussion time was a little bit difficult but I think the more we talk about things the easier and more beneficial it will become.

Towards the end of the night we had 3 young guys rock up, never seen them before, and play some 3 on 4 soccer with us. They were great young guys and behaved themselves, told them we are back next week so we hope to see them again.

Next week we are going to be watching the AFL preliminary final so get along!

Kestrel

SALT Regroup

Well we were back at Caroline Springs College tonight after being away for quite awhile. It’s been a weird month or so for SALT so it’ll be good to get back into some routine.

Anyway just getting setup last night was a bit of a laugh. I had left my 3.5mm to RCA lead at an engagement party last week, go Zo and Dave, so I had to jerry together an alternative. Here’s what I did: iPod -> 3.5mm lead with a 6.5mm stereo plug -> D.I. box -> mic lead -> P.A. speaker. Now firstly I forgot the iPod, thankfully Zo had hers. Secondly the D.I. box wasn’t working! I figured the battery was flat so Skye went and bought a new one. Then it still wouldn’t work! So I unpressed the “Ground Lift” button and bingo! It was working.

During this time about 8 new youth had come in and we had started to play indoor soccer. It was so exciting to see these young guys come in, be polite and hang out with us. It makes it all worthwhile and was extremely encouraging to all of us. After about 20 minutes they had to head off but we’re hoping to see them again soon.

We broke up into our tribes and had a short discussion about things, where we are at, what we get out of SALT etc. It was good to openly discuss things instead of myself just talking.

Well next Friday night we are joining Gospel House as they have a guest speaker, it should be rockin! Then the week after we are back at Gospel House.

Highlights: Syd kicking the soccer ball full pelt into Bec’s face as she was sitting down eating some food!!! 8 new youth rocking up!

Kestrel

SALT wins again!

Hey there! Have missed quite a few posts lately of what SALT has been up to. Whilst I’m not going to catch you up I will tell you what we did tonight.

We had Refuel tonight which is when the Metropolitan COC youth groups get together. Well tonight was “Gladiator Showdown” with a big inflatable gladiator style ring.

There were two platforms, which could spin around, placed several feet away from each other. Then each contestant had a padded battle stick/club/staff whatever you want to call it! The aim was to beat and push your opponent off their platform, best of 3.

Well the evening progressed and SALT’s great hope made it all the way through to the final. And like usual, he remained undefeated and vanquished all of those before him! Yes, Chad obliterated the opposition once again!! Chad can’t seem to lose! Every contestant he enters he practically wins, and through that so does SALT!

Anyway this Friday, 31st of August, we are back at Caroline Springs College at 7pm. Cya there!

Kestrel

Soccer and Pizza

We had a pretty quiet night at SALT last night with quite a few people away. I wasn’t heaps prepared to be honest and that wasn’t acceptable.

We ended up playing a game of indoor soccer, which my team won!, and packing up early to go get some pizza. We ordered 2 of the hugest pizza’s I’ve seen! I ended up taking pretty much 1 of them home in a doggy bag and had it this morning for lunch.

Anyway Skye and I are setting aside every Monday night to seek God and prepare for SALT each week. I got grilled for not preparing and this is how we have decided to help each other be the best we can be for the work we are doing for God. Anything less is not acceptable.

Kestrel

Senses: Hearing

Had Salt again last night. We’ve missed a couple of weeks due to my being sick but it’s all systems go again!

We’re doing a series at the moment that shows us how we can engage God with our different senses, being: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. We looked at hearing tonight.

Our scripture passage was from Deuteronomy 6:1-6 and is Moses reminding the Israelites to keep the commandments of the Lord. He implores them to “Hear, O Israel..” and “these words I command you shall be on your heart.”

You see hearing is not enough, you have to be listening as well. For example, how many times has this occured: you are sitting there whilst your mum/partner/wife is talking to you about something and you are nodding your head, then they ask you “Are you listening to me?!” It’s then that you realise you’ve heard a lot of words and stuff but you can’t remember a coherent thought from the talking. That’s because you weren’t listening!

Listening to God is about taking what you are listening to and placing it deep within your heart. Then allowing it to work in your life and change you. As Christians today we need to allow the truth about God to come through our ears and penetrate deep into our hearts.

Then we take whats in our hearts and share it with others. You see we get God inside of us, so that we can eventually get God outside of us. Christianity is not about me, but about bringing glory to God.

We wrapped up the night with some newspaper hockey which quickly turned into a mass indoor soccer match! Bec’s team ended up winning 1-0 and I’m amazed that only 1 goal was scored! I had written this little computer program to help us keep the scores but it turns out it was hardly needed! Seems I’m a bit optimistic about our ability to score goals, perhaps that had something to do with me playing defense most of the night??

Kestrel

Some Assembly Required II

Salt looked at the second part of our “Some Assembly Required” series tonight.

Started the night off with a bit of footy outside then we headed inside for God time. Tonight we determined that we need the power of God if we are going to be able to achieve the mammoth task of assembling our Christian walk into something God can use.

Phillipians 2:12-13 tells us to be energetic in our life of Salvation and that God will be the energy, that is required, deep within us. Now I’m not talking about some hocus-pocus mystical power. I’m talking about the power of God that comes from having a true relationship with God and where time is spent nurturing this relationship.

We did a quick “Temptation/Sale of the Century” Who Am I quiz with some of the clues being:

• Born: St. Louis, Missouri, 1989
• Favorite city: New York, the city that never sleeps
• Favorite song: “I got the power”
• Acting experience: Has been in more than 107 television commercials. Has co-starred with celebrities including Wile E. Coyote, Darth Vader, the Wicked Witch and Elvis. Has made special guest appearances with Ted Danson on Cheers, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, the Emmy awards, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the Late Show with David Letterman.
• Favorite movies: Loves the sequels that keep going, like Rocky, Lethal Weapon, Spider-Man, and Police Academy
• Couldn’t live without: Portable battery-operated devices and drums
• Two words that best describe him: “Keep going”

Of course this famous ‘person’ was the energizer bunny! Now the reason the energizer bunny can “Keep going” is because of his continually being plugged into his power source: the energizer battery.

Similarily if we are plugged into our power source, God, we can keep on going with the task of assembling our Christian life.

An a lighter note I downloaded a ton of clips off youtube.com of people either doing amazing sporting feats or knacking themselves! After our God time I looped the clip for the rest of the night, great stuff!

Also we caught up with some other young people who hire the room on Sundays for their church. Got to talking with them and we might see if we can hook both of our youth groups up on occasions! There’s a huge harvest so teaming up with other workers is better for the Kingdom!

Kestrel