Forest Grove Community Church's Jr. High

On Friday, November 6th we’re going to be making Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, and initiative run by Samaritan’s Purse. Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children living in desperate situations around the world through the distribution of gift-filled shoe boxes and the message of God’s unconditional love.

As DIVE groups, we will be filling these shoe boxes with articles that a child some where around the world may have never had before. Though we will be playing games to help us win things to put into our shoeboxes, we are encouraging each DIVE group to gather things of their own to put into them.

Fill your shoe box with a well-balanced variety of items from the following categories:

• School Supplies – Items such as pencils, pens, pencil crayons, note pads, and picture books
• Toys & Other Gifts – Items such as stuffed animals, small musical instruments, hair clips, toy jewelry, t-shirts, socks, and candy (loose, individually wrapped hard candy in a sealable bag)
• Hygiene Items - Please place soap in a sealable bag

DO NOT INCLUDE:

• Toothpaste (due to customs regulations)
• Food and any chewy, crumbly, or soft candy: Including gum (due to customs regulations)
• Used items (due to customs regulations)
• Playing cards
• Liquids or items that could leak, melt, freeze, or break – Shampoo, creams, lip balm, bath gels, mirrors, or glass, etc. (these can damage other items in the shoe box).
• Items that can scare or harm a child – War-related toys, knives, and toy guns, etc.

For more information about OCC, go to the Samaritan’s Purse website or join the Facebook Group: Operation Christmas Child Canada.

We are also asking each youth to bring a toonie to help cover the cost of sending them.

After our shoeboxes are packed we will be sending them off with love and prayer during our Sunday morning service at 11 a.m. on November 22nd.

Please feel free to email me, Pastor Chan, at chandra@forestgrovecc.com if you have any further questions or would like to know more about how your family can get involved in this project.

We had a really SPOOKY time at Jr. High on Friday as we ventured into some HALLOWEEN OLYMPICS! There was all of the ordinary olympic events, with a little twist. Skills were tested, coordination was ensured, accuracy and presentation was judged, and creativity was always observed. It was tons of fun running around the gym and conquering each event as a team.

Before we broke into our DIVE groups we watched a video called NOOMA about the 12 disciples, the very men that were asked BY JESUS to follow Him. We discovered they weren’t the best of the best or the most qualified…they were the ones that other “Rabbis” had thought weren’t good enough. They were the ones who hadn’t made the cut, but yet Jesus said that he chose them.

We learned that each of us has the ability to affect history with our actions, our words, and our love. As we broke into our DIVE groups, we talked more about how was can do that in the world around us and what that means we need to do.

All you gotta do to pick a prize from the Red Box on Friday night is be the first to know the answer and email it in with your FULL NAME in the email. Good luck! Remember, you gotta be there to get your prize.

THIS WEEK’S WEB QUESTION IS: What are 3 things you CANNOT pack inside of an Operation Christmas Child shoebox?

Send your answer to jrhighweb@gmail.com (remember to include your full name, so we know who to give the prize to!)

On Friday, November 6th we’re going to be making Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes through Samaritan’s Purse. Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children living in desperate situations around the world through the distribution of gift-filled shoe boxes and the message of God’s unconditional love.

As DIVE groups, we will be filling these shoe boxes. Though we will be playing games to help us win things to put into our shoeboxes, we are encouraging each DIVE group to gather things of their own to put into them. For a list of what you can put inside your shoebox and more information about OCC, go to the Samaritan’s Purse website or join the Facebook Group: Operation Christmas Child Canada. We are also asking each youth to bring a toonie to help cover the cost of sending them.

After our shoeboxes are packed we will be sending them off with love and prayer during our Sunday morning service at 11 a.m. on November 22nd.

Please feel free to email me, Pastor Chan, at chandra@forestgrovecc.com if you have any further questions or would like to know more about how your family can get involved in this project.

This past weekend we had the opportunity to head to Redberry Bible camp for the entire weekend on our Jr. High fall retreat. The weather was perfect for a weekend to hang out in nature, learn about God, and spend time developing new friendships and strengthening old ones.

The weekend was FULL of fun times. We played some great wide games…like sardines, Mission Impossible, and, of course, our Weekend Team Challenge. Everything we did all weekend long was a competition for your team to get points to win the entire weekend challenge. On Saturday night we had our SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE skit show with undoubtedly some of the funniest skits that have ever been put on by Jr. Highs.

We had four chapels times together throughout the weekend. Our focus for the weekend was “EYE CONTACT”. We talked about why its important and how it can change us, how we can understand more of how God sees us through making eye contact with Him, the perspective He has designed us with to make eye contact with the world, and how we can stay in eye contact with Him together. We had time after each chapel time to break off into our cabin groups and chat about the things we were learning and the ways that it made sense in our lives.

One passage from the weekend that really stood out was Philipians 3:12-21. If you want to take at look at it, click here: (more…)