Redlands Church of Christ » Jeff

Redlands Church of Christ is going to City of Children

Jeff — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:13:55 +0000

More than twenty adults and teens from the Redlands Church of Christ in Redlands, California are teaming up to travel for a weeklong mission trip this summer. Our mission is to travel to the City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico. City of Children is a home for abandoned children. They currently provide good housing, good food and a good education for over 100 children. By traveling to Mexico in July, we will be following the example of Christ, and caring for “the least of these.” We are trying to bring love and happiness back into the lives of hurting children. The purpose of our visit is to be a friend and an example of Jesus to a child. Our hugs and attention may be the love that helps heal a broken heart. During our week, we may be serving the Lord by building church facilities, homes for the poor, providing medical, dental and optometry clinics, classes, Vacation Bible Schools, Gospel meetings, food relief for the poor, barbering, meals and visits.

While we are excited and blessed with this opportunity, we cannot do it on our own. We need prayer and financial support to help cover costs like dorms, transportation, food and service projects while in Mexico. Please visit our website for more information on our upcoming mission trip and to see how you can help at www.redlandscoc.org. Every dollar counts and makes a difference for “the least of these”. You can also check out the City of Children’s website at www.cityofchildren.com.

Donate $50 or more and receive a one pound bag of the official coffee of City of Children!

“God’s Plan for Sex” - This Sunday!

Jeff — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:49:00 +0000

After some thought, I have decided to have this Sunday’s lunch & Bible study at the church building. We’ll have lunch after our regular Bible class ($3 per teen) and then we’ll kick off our new monthly Bible study, “God’s Plan for Sex.” Pick up time will be at 2:30 at the building.

I want to communicate a few things to you parents about this study. I am excited and a little nervous to start this study. Nervous because I truly want it to be a powerful and important experience for your teens. I have been studying and collecting material on the topic of sex and continue to be convincted about God’s plan for sex. I think this will probably be one of THE most important studies I’ve done with the kids while I have been youth minister. It’s looking like this is going to be a 4-part study (so we’ll have 1 lesson per month). And for one lesson in particular (probably the 3rd one) I’m looking to split the boys and girls into separate groups with separate locations.

The resources I have been studying and will be drawing from for this study are:
“The Power of Sex: Helping Students Understand God’s Plan for Sex” by Doug Fields
“Sex & Dating: A Bible Study for Youth Groups” by Michael and Hayley Dimarco
“Good Sex: A Whole-Person Approach to Teenage Sexuality and God” by Jim Hancock & Kara Eckmann Powell

I wanted to share this with you because this is not a subject I am treating lightly. I hope you will strongly encourage your teen to attend and will discuss with your teen what is talked about and presented. When I was growing up I felt like I had a great relationship with my parents and remember talking very openly with my father about sex. That being said - there were still certain questions that I had that for whatever reason I felt uncomfortable about going to my own father with first. I thank God for my youth minister (Steve Smith!) and that I had a Godly mentor with whom I could ask those questions.

Soles4Souls Fundraiser

Jeff — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:19:00 +0000

Last Sunday during our worship time we announced that Brooke McGee was our winner for bringing in the most donations for the Soles4Souls fundraiser (her brother Brett) was a close second. Check out the 90 pair of shoes that were donated - including 25 brand new pairs of Vans courtesy of Rebel Skate & Surf (owned by Mary Morrison’s grand-daughter and grand-son-in-law)! God is good!

End of September Activities

Jeff — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:03:00 +0000

I need to let you all know about the activities coming up for the rest of this month. There have been some changes so please read and take note.

The activity for this weekend will be a dinner and movie night Saturday night at 5:00 at the church building. There was talk of a potential trip to Magic Mountain scheduled for this Saturday, but to be honest, I don’t think we quite have the money in the youth fund to pull it off at this time. And after being gone for so long, I think it would be good to just hang out with the teens and have fun together. I’m looking forward to it!

On Sunday, September 25th, we will have a fundraiser LUNCH. Yup, you read that correct. Carol Parks and I are organizing a spaghetti lunch for the entire church. Because of this we will NOT be starting our Bible study on ‘God’s Plan for Sex’ that Sunday. We will begin that Bible study on Sunday, October 4th. I will let you know how you parents and teens can help for our spaghetti lunch.

Hello!

Jeff — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:12:00 +0000

In case you’re wondering where we’ve been - well, actually we’ve been quite a few places! But the reason the blog has been dormant has been because we had a very bad virus on our computer and could not access our blogs! But everything is now fixed! So expect future updates sooner rather than later. To kick the blog back into action, here is a fairly provocative picture taken on the street.

Back to School Souls4Souls Fundraiser

Jeff — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:27:00 +0000

I’m very excited to announce that for our teen fundraiser we are partnering with Souls4Souls Inc., the shoe charity, August 9-30, 2009 in an effort to “Change the World One Pair at a Time”.

Every 23 seconds, Soles4Souls Inc. gives away another pair of shoes to someone in need.The shoe charity has earned glowing endorsements from Hollywood stars and professional athletes, but the people who truly make the non-profit organization effective are those who partner with Soles4Souls in its mission of Changing the World One Pair at a Time ™.

That’s where our youth is getting involved – by becoming the hands and feet of Soles4Souls in Redlands.In addition to helping Soles4Souls reach needy people around the world, Redlands Church of Christ youth group is also raising critical funds for their own programs.

“At this time of year, when we are buying back to school items for our kids, we thought this fundraiser would be a good way to raise awareness about those in need of the most basic living essentials. Not only does it help a great cause, but it is a unique way to fundraise for our youth group. We are looking forward to this service project. We’re hoping that while people shop for back to school clothes and supplies they can donate five to ten dollars to help a child somewhere who cannot afford shoes,” explains Jeff Partain, Youth Minister, Redlands Church of Christ.

Like many other schools and organizations, Redlands Church of Christ often utilizes fundraising programs to generate critical revenue for its operations and goals. The Soles4Souls program provides an innovative alternative to traditional fundraisers, so students are able to raise money while making a significant difference in the lives of others. Here’s how the program works:
Students collect monetary donations from family, friends, teachers and neighbors for the purchase of new Soles4Souls clogs or flip-flops.

Soles4Souls ships the shoes directly to people in need, domestically and internationally.
For every pair of $5 flip-flops or $10 clogs sponsored, the school organization receives 40% of the proceeds in the form of a check from Soles4Souls, along with unique incentives for students and the programs they are representing.

LIFE Group BBQ

Jeff — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:19:00 +0000

We interrupt this regular youth group blog with some pictures from our awesome Life group. Yesterday, we had a special Life group gathering at the Kay house where some great food was served up. Steve did a great job manning the BBQ and supplied plenty of burgers and hot dogs. There was lots of great sides and some awesom desserts too. And the kids had a blast too - some orderly water games turned into a gigantic splash fest.

FishFest

Jeff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:52:00 +0000

I’m a little late getting these up, but thanks to everyone who came out for FishFest last Saturday at Verizon Wireless Ampitheater in Irvine. Yes, it was hot, but the shade come on our seats farily quickly and it turned into a great afternoon and evening. Jars of Clay was awesome as always, but Phil Wickham and Hawk Nelson also put on some great sets.

Our row of seats in the terrace section.

Finally smiling in the shade!

This was the view from our seats - no zoom being used here…

Phil Wickham and his band putting on a great performance with the sun beaming down on them.

Sophie standing up and clapping along to Jars of Clay.

Yup, that’s Jars of Clay down there on the stage - the video screens on the sides helped.

Dan and Steve working the crowd.

City of Children Trip – Summer 2010

Jeff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:22:23 +0000

As you have heard from the announcements at church, we are planning a week long visit to the City of Children in the summer of 2010. We are trying to build a committment list (something a bit more than a simple interest list). We are hoping to have a group of around 40 people to go and serve the children at the City of Children. We would be putting on a VBS for the children during our stay as well as helping improve the facilities. We need to apply in August for a week next summer. We are going to request one of the following weeks in 2010 based on availability: July 19 - July 23; July 26 - July 30; and/or August 2 - August 6.

If we do not have enough numbers from our church we will reach out to other churches of Christ in the Inland Empire to join our group. If you are willing to commit to this endeavor, please e-mail or call Jeff Partain so we can add your name to our list. We are hoping that with almost a year notice, those who are interested can secure the free time to help with this service project. Obviously, there are always last minute emergencies and unforeseen circumstances that can preclude someone from coming, but if you are willing and able, please join us on this mission trip. We already have about a dozen people who have expressed a committment to this cause.

City of Children Videos

In His love,
Jeff Partain

August Activities and Help Needed!

Jeff — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:09:00 +0000

The blog has been updated on the left with our newest upcoming activities. There are two activities I need some immediate responses to so we can adequately plan them and pull them off!

The teens have been asking for a beach trip. We have an open weekend August 22-23. But this is one activity I’m going to need an adult/parent to take charge and plan and execute. So if you’re willing to help plan a beach trip, let me know!
We also have an Angels baseball game scheduled on Sunday, August 30th. This is another event that the teens themselves have asked we have. This is open to all family members and to all church members. If you want to go to this baseball game - let me know by August 9th how many tickets you would like. If we have enough people coming, we can qualify for a group rate. We will need the cash for tickets on August 9th as well.