sticky faith and halloween

recently, the student ministry team and I (Rob) have been very interested in some research and resources that have come out of Fuller Seminary called Sticky Faith. Sticky Faith addresses the question, “why do so many youth group students fall away from the faith and from the church in their late teen/ early college years?” or “why doesn’t their faith stick?”

the following statements stood out to me about what the research said regarding students who stick:

·         participation in all-church worship during high school is linked to sticky faith more than any other form of church or youth group participation alone

·         the number one way that churches made the students feel welcomed and valued was when adults in the congregation showed an interest in them.

·         contact from at least one adult outside the youth ministry during the first semester of college is significantly correlated with sticky faith.

·         students who stay in church indicate that they had five or more adults in the church who made a significant investment in them personally and spiritually between the ages of 15 and 18. In other words, the more adults in a church that know a student’s name and use it in their conversation with them, the more likely that those students are to stick.

·         the authors suggest that instead of using one adult for every five students, we should have five adults investing in every student- adults from different age groups and from different areas of the church.

after reading this material, I began looking for ways to connect students with adults who could invest in them, learn their names, and eventually become mentors that hold them close to the faith, even into their adult years.

last year, we had a trunk or treat style Halloween party. We invited parents to dress up, bring candy, and decorate their cars. Not many signed up. So I called up my friends in the Koinonia Sunday School class- made up mostly of seniors. I was surprised that they were absolutely thrilled at the idea. I went to their class and cast some vision of the idea. After I spoke, their leader got on the microphone and said, “everyone, we just need to do this. I’m passing around a sign up sheet.”

on the night of the party, the Koinonia class showed up early and ready to go. They were a delight to the students, and to our college aged leaders. I think that the middle schoolers were a delight to them too.

Now, after attending the sticky faith conference, we’re looking for more and more ways to get seniors and students involved in some intergenerational mixers that will eventually turn into relationships that last a lifetime. Lord Willing, this will become the future of our church- every student mentored- not just by a college aged volunteer, but by friends of moms and dads, by seniors and people all over the church. Lord willing, faith at our youth group will become very sticky over the next few years!

If you’re reading this and you’re a ministry leader, pick up the sticky faith book for church leaders- its one of the best books on student ministry out right now. If you’re a parent, there is a book, an audio-book and a dvd resource for parents. and if you have an idea for an intergenerational, sticky faith mixer, please let me know!

-rob

elevation 2011!

earlier this month the middle school ministry went on our first camp of the summer, elevation 2011! and it was the best trip ever!

there were so many different aspects of this trip that made it so amazing. we partnered up with middle school dad and boy scout leader roger ross to learn a new survival skill each time we met for chapel. roger taught the students how to build a shelter, how to make a fire, how to dress a wound, how to use a compass and several other skills.

our chapel meetings were all outside. our resident worship leader brett knight led the students in worship under the canopy of the redwoods and under the stars. as we opened the scriptures, we looked at r12 according to the life of king david. the students learned about being after God's heart by surrendering to Him. we all discovered how God has shaped us by creating our own set of 5 smooth stones each representing our spiritual gifts and talents. we learned about serving one another in love by finding and becoming what we called a "jonathan friend." one of the highlight of our chapel times was when we symbolized being separate from the world by burning pieces of wood that represented all that holds us back from God. in the photo on the left, the students are surrending their bitternesses at the cross and supernaturally responding to the evil aimed at them. we ended our week by creating our own psalm of praise to God. in the photo on the right, a student is sharing her psalm with the rest of the camp.

each day we had free time at pinecrest lake and and each night we watched movies together under the stars at pinecrest theater.

one of the highlights of the trip was a night hike where we all hiked to the top of a mountain at sunset and poured our hearts out to God in prayer and worship.

everything about our camp was just perfect. our campground, camp chinquapin was ideal, our volunteer staff led the students with skill and tenderness; and each student came in with an incredible all week long. stay tuned for an upcoming video with stories and student testimonies!

summer program 2011

tonight we begin our summer program for 2011!
on weekends we will be studying the psalms with our series summer psalms.
each week we'll hear from a different speaker and about a different psalm.
our challlenge is to read through the book of psalms together over the whole summer by using our summer psalms journal. every student that read and journals their way through the book of psalms by next september will get a new bible from the 678 staff.

on tuesday nights we will be studying the beatitudes from matthew 5 with our series called "the way of the master." each tuesday night we will have crazy games, outdoor worship, and then a short talk on one of the beatitudes. every student that memorizes the beaitudes and quotes them perfectly will get their name in a drawing for a new green 678 iPod!

this summer we are also launching a new after party called "9." 9 starts at 9pm on tuesday nights (after 678) and will have food, the game room, games, and movies. 9 ends at 10:15.

oh yeah- and we're going to 2 camps too! hume lake and elevation!

see you soon!

welcome new 6th graders 2011!

we had over 40 come out to our welcome party for our new 6th graders at pump it up on friday! a whole new class of middle schoolers is starting their journey with 678!

678::2011

last week I had my annual review and it got me thinking about what an amazing year we have had at 678 over the last 12 months. God has shown up in so many incredible ways- here are some highlights- (at venture, we have used the acronym BIO to explain and organize much of what we do, and I have used that acronym to organize these thoughts as well.)

over the last 12 months, God has shown up in our BEFORE GOD meetings, or our weekend services-

about this time last year, we went from one service at 11am on Sundays to a second service or Saturday nights at 5pm, and recently we started a third weekend service at 9am on Sundays. This has allowed us to create some room to grow and to be more flexible with the groups that we see at our weekend services. now that we have the added services, we get to do fun things like: jump in the church bus and go to McDonald’s during services (or starbucks, or baskin-robbins), play outdoor games like kajabe can-can and kickball during services. The added services also allowed us to get creative in the teaching, and this year we put 2 different sermon series on dvd- BIO and kingdom come. (I think that the students prefer listening to TV-rob more than they like listening to real-life-rob!) we’ve also had some great times adding different musicians and singers to our worship band thanks to Brett and his enthusiasm for leading worship. Over the last 12 months Brett has evolved into quite the worship leader- and now he is writing and recording all kinds of music that is getting used at 678 meetings and events.

over the last 12 months, our IN COMMUNITY meetings on Tuesday nights have been above and beyond anything that I ever expected! our Tuesday night attendance has blown up. Our pirates vs. ninjas journey program has been nothing short of epic. Not only that, we know how to throw a party at 678. this year, we had three dress up parties: nerdy-Christmas, post-halloween, and our red-carpet viewing party for Team Bishop’s appearance on Minute to Win It. but Tuesday night wouldn’t be Tuesday night without our faithful staff team of small group leaders. This year Niki celebrated 10 years as a faithful volunteer. We added at least 10 new volunteers to the team including: Danielle, Arielle, Nicole, Sarah, Mike, Jan, Wendy, Melissa, Stevan, Lauren, Matt, and Danny. At the end of or small group season, we closed out with one 8th grade guys group, two 8th grade girls’ groups, two 7th grade boys’ groups, two 7th grade girls, two 6th grade boys, and three 6th grade girls’ groups. amazing.

over the last 12 months, we have had some incredible ON MISSION events as well. we kicked off the fall with our zany fun-fest, sabado gigante! I have already written about our recent missions trip- and in addition to that, 678 hosted FOUR CAMPS in the last 12 months: Hume Lake, Elevation, and Burly and Girly- our separate camps for boys and girls only. over the last 12 months, 678 partnered with 2 other youth ministries to OPEN OUR OWN STORE in Princeton Plaza for an outreach event called AM FUEL. Brett, Missy Berlund and I also teamed up to lead chapel services each week for Los Gatos Christian School on Monday mornings.

In the last 12 months we re-did the game room and even installed a mirror ball on the ceiling. the most amazing part of the year has been meeting all of the new students, parents, and volunteers that God has brought our way. what an amazing year- I feel so grateful to God for the team of dedicated leaders- and I’m so grateful to God for letting me be a part of it all. and I can’t wait to see what next year brings!

-rob

letter from dave molchan to parents of 8th graders:

April 25, 2011

Dear Parents,


In the coming weeks your middle school student will be transitioning to high school. They’ll have the graduation, maybe a party, a dinner, a dance, and then they’ll be on to high school. I know this transition can be awkward and intimidating for students, and also cause some apprehension for parents. As the pastor of the high school ministry (the Uprising) at Venture Christian Church, I desire to make the transition into the Uprising smooth and comfortable for students and parents alike.


To that end, I invite you to attend our incoming freshmen parent meeting on Sunday, May 22 at 12:45pm in Room 231 (the Ranch House Den). The purpose of this meeting is to give you the opportunity to get to know me, ask questions, and share any concerns you may have. I will also be sharing with you the Uprising’s vision and program, as well as explaining how to help your student get plugged into the Uprising.


We will also be having three events to help your students get acclimated to the high school ministry:


• Friday, May 27 we will partner with middle school ministry in the 8th grade goodbye event. The students will go to the Boardwalk with their middle school leaders, and will come back with their new Uprising leaders. Students can sign up for this event with the middle school ministry.


• Sunday, June 5 after the Uprising ends we will be having a free BBQ to welcome our new freshmen to the ministry.


• Friday, July 1 we will be having a freshmen welcome event where we’ll spend the evening with our new freshmen, further introduce them to our volunteer and student leader teams, and take them to Lazer Quest. We’ve found shooting each other with lasers is a great way to get to know each other. Sign-ups for this event will begin in June and the cost will be $20.


One of the things we look to do as a high school ministry is help equip with resources and information as you seek to disciple your children. To that end, on Sunday, May 15 from 5-6:30pm (room 300) we will be hosting a seminar on the joys and dangers social networking and texting hosted by Randy Duke. This seminar will provide you with some valuable information and resources on an ever-expanding area of influence in your student’s life.


The Uprising volunteer team and I anticipate an awesome summer and we are very excited about this new freshman class, the fourth of Venture Christian Church! If you have any questions please call me at 408.997.4600 or email at DMolchan@VentureChristian.org.


In His Service
Dave Molchan
High School Pastor-the Uprising
16845 Hicks Road – Los Gatos – CA 95032

laugh club tour 2011

the middle school students went on their annual spring break missions trip last week- this year called "the laugh club tour." the laugh club is a traveling vacation bible school for children in needy neighborhoods. this year our students chose roles to play in the laugh club and used their leadership abilities to guide children in each day's activities. our students led the children through dramas, music, crafts, face-painting, ballon animals games, and by playing with them.

the first site we went to was sacred heart community service here in san jose. sacred heart literally gives out tons of food a day to hungry people and thousands of articles of clothes. we presented our program and play-stations to the children and then volunteered in sacred heart's warehouse.

the second site we visited was san francisco city academy in the tenderloin district of san francisco. this is a ministry of city impact and is a private school for the children of the tenderloin. it was a joy to serve this school.

we spent our last 2 days working with elm street mission, and their wonderful pastor, mike crane. each morning, mike went with us to the beach flats community in santa cruz where we picked up the children in the neighborhood and brought them back to the mission for VBS. I am always inspired when I watch pastor mike work. he knows everyone in the beach flats by name and they know him- he went from door to door gathering up the children who were thrilled to see him. as we drove up to elm street mission with vans full of children, the laugh club students stood there waiting for us with bright colored signs that said, "welcome to laugh club!" our students cheered for the children as the vans rolled up. the children in the vans were awestuck; and I have never been prouder to be their pastor. we were delighted to spend two days with those children and to learn their names and stories- and many of them were excited to see our students who they remembered from last year's trip.

in the evenings at elm street we prepared meals for the gospel mission, listened to pastor mike's preaching, participated in the service, and then served dinner. after dinner our students sat with the hungry and the homeless, learning their stories and serving them in love.

we ended our laugh club tour at our home church, venture on easter sunday by supporting the volunteers and leaders of our church's children's ministry. our students just kept on serving with enthusiasm- and many of the children's ministry volunteers asked if they could serve downstairs every week.

our home base for the trip was camp maymac, a ministry of cityteam- this site allowed us to rest comfortably, debrief, share, eat together and strengthen our team.

honestly, a week ago I was conviced that this was the last missions trip for awhile. things have become pretty busy around the middle school ministry, and this seemed like a trip that could be cut. I told myself that something pretty amazing would have to happen for me to consider doing this in 2012- and something did. our students were incredible. they served selflessly in even the the most menial tasks. at each site that we served, one of our students asked a child while playing with them, "so- what other churches come out and play with you?" and at each site the answer was the same, "no one- you're the only ones." several children told our students, "when laugh club comes to our neighborhood, its the highlight of our year."

we saw that God was using us as we served, even if we were just sitting at a table, putting together a puzzle with a child and listening to them talk. and today the conversation kept returning to not just doing another trip in the spring, but an additional trip at Christmastime.

this was the best missions trip we've had- the students were amazing, our 678 volunteers we incredible (as usual) and God blessed us in ways that we'll be talking about for months to come. if you would like to support any of the ministries that the laugh club worked with this week, please click on the links where they are mentioned- they are all doing wonderful works for the Lord.

here are some more photos from our trip: