STARKIDS VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION GALA!

Last night we had a chance to show our children's ministry volunteers how much we appreciate them. We had a great time of food, singing, celebrating and fellowship. Thanks for a great year of hard work team. Let's keep on keeping on our P.A.T.H. (P = Passion, A = Attitude, T = Teamwork, H = Honour). It was amazing to hear how our group went from a handful of volunteers and a handful of children to over 80 kids every week and over 50 volunteers rotating throughout the year and summer. Wow!

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

Congratulations to Kay and Nate who were the winners of our year long contest! Among other things, they memorized the most verses and supported the class through attendance and participation.

It was our last class before the summer break. We get to be a part of the adult service in the summer time! We studied, "Bad Luck Boils" - Job, on when life is unfair.

We tried to remember times when life was unfair, gain perspective on hardship from God's point of view and we wrote prayers to God, expressing our feelings on hardship. Our key passage was Job 38:1-41

YOUTHQUEST BASKETBALL - 3 ON 3

We ended off an amazing year of basketball by having a 3 on 3 tournament at Rob (the professor's house). Congrats to George, Ahmad and Wilson (the big 3) for winning. Have a great summer guys and make sure to come out July 13 when we celebrate our year at Cornerstone church!

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

Hammerhead - the nap-time monitor

Today we looked at the difficult situations that Christian youth face as well as how to respond and made a commitment to choose a course of action for one difficult situation this week. Our main text was Judges 4:17-22 and our memory verse was Matthew 22:37-39.
We did another spontaneous melodrama and did an activity where we had to make a 10 foot high structure - out of feet!

A NOTE TO STARKIDS LEADERS

This month we are looking at honour. Obviously, we want to honour God and others, but here's some tools to help you to honour yourselves:

1. Spiritual growth goals
- set aside time for quietness (Bible reading), and prayer. Keep a journal
2. Family growth goals
- have date nights with your spouse and special family times (go to the zoo, park, etc).
3. Leadership growth goals
- try to read at least 12 books a year (1 per month)
4. Physical growth goals
- eat right, exercise, rest...
5. Professional growth goals
- continue to educate yourself, "we can't become what we need to be by remaining where we are."
6. Personal growth goals
- schedule vacation time, take a day off, find someone to build into and find someone to mentor you...

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves - Romans 12:10

* taken from: Craig Jutila, "Leadership Essentials For Children's Ministry" Group Publishing Inc. Loveland, CO. 2002.

See you guys next week at the Starkids Volunteer Appreciation Gala!

HOOP TOSS AT MARKHAM VILLAGE MUSIC FESTIVAL

Yesterday we had the chance to be involved in the Markham Village Music Festival. It was a great event and we had a free hoop toss where we gave away freezies (ended up being not so frozen) and free car wash coupons for our car wash on July 12th.

YOUTHQUEST JUNIOR HIGH

God is Like Bread

Today we looked at why Jesus is like bread, we tried to identify hunger in people and made a plan for being "bread-like" this week. We also played a crazy game of dodgeball with bread and baked fresh bread (thanks P-izzle!). Our main verse was John 6:48, "I am the bread of life."

MARKHAM VILLAGE MUSIC FESTIVAL

Check out the 30th annual Markham Village Music Festival

When: Friday June 20 (7-11pm), Saturday June 21 (10-5pm)
Where: Main St. Markham (north of Hwy 7)

Music and entertainment for all ages, arts and crafts (local and international), Markham Village art show and sale, silent auction and as always, entry is FREE! Cornerstone will also have a basketball hoop toss set up for the kids where everyone is a winner! http://www.markham-festival.org/

Yourfriendlyneighbourhoodyouthpastor is rapping at a show this Saturday!

It's true! My sister is doing a live band show with poets, singers and dancing. She's been doing it for one year now and this is the anniversary. It may be one of the few times you'll hear me rap.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Time: 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: Banbury Community Rec Centre
Street: 120 Banbury Rd
City/Town: Toronto, ON

Advance tickets: $12 At door: $15

JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

On Sunday we studied "Roof Club-The Extra Mile Friends" (Luke 5:18-26).

We talked about how to recognize our friends' needs, and tried to make a plan to meet one need this week. Our memory verse was Luke 5:20 "When Jesus saw their faith, he said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'"

Remember, this Friday we meet at TMC - for snack 'n' chat - God is Like Bread. Guess what we'll be making?

A NOTE TO STARKIDS VOLUNTEERS

Honour - Be accountable to One Another!

During World War II, a plant of parachute packers achieved extreme notoriety. The reason was that their parachutes only opened nineteen out of twenty times! That's an average of 95 percent, and that's a great percentage if you're taking a test in school, or shooting free throws in the NBA. But when you're jumping out of a plane, that's just not good enough. So the manager of the plant devised a strategy to increase reliability. He required the packers to first test the parachute themselves. It wasn't long before quality rose to 100 percent. That's the principle of accountability at work-taking personal responsibility for the successful functioning of the team.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves - Romans 12:10

* taken from: Craig Jutila, "Leadership Essentials For Children's Ministry" Group Publishing Inc. Loveland, CO. 2002.

YOUTHQUEST - SENIOR HIGH

Hey guys, hope you had fun at the end of the year BBQ! We played soccer, ate lots of food, sat on the deck and played guitar, video games, chilled and played basketball, got drenched in the rain and even got to watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air! Congrats to our graduates and remember our 2 minute sermon - You gotta go on on a limb if you want the fruit (2 Timothy 1:7).

Up next, we have the hoop toss at Markham Music Festival - Sat. June 21 - 9am -7pm (you can volunteer any 2-4 hours) and the retreat (July 4th-6th - Arkell's Cottage)

CORNERSTONE YOUTHQUEST BASKETBALL

And the winners are...

Yesterday was our end of the year event. We had a great time including a slideshow of the year's events, various awards, food and a message about love. Special thanks to Kevin Tsang for an amazing slideshow, Colin Ng and his brother for the trading cards (that's right - each of the boys got a picture of themselves on a trading card, DVD of the year's pictures/videos and thanks to a special donation from Angus Glen - baseball hats). Thanks also to Ariane Chong's small group for the food, Cornerstone church for their support, and many more people (too many to thank on a blog!)

Without further ado... Here are the winners:

Volunteer of year: Julian Porter (junior), Zachary Hum (senior)

Sixth Man: Preston Lam (junior), Vinorth Sithamparanathan (senior)

People's Champion: Andrew Yan (junior), Julian Porter (senior)

Ironman: CJ Dowdie (junior), Kevin Mahaise/George Bessiris (senior)

Character Matters: (Sportsmanship) - Paul Watson (junior), Thibesan (Timbit) Sabesan (senior)

Most Improved Player: Matthew Franklyn (junior), Fethi Abdalla (senior)

Baller of the year: Damon Wong (junior), Julian Porter (senior)

A special thanks to our leaders: Colin Ng, Shaun Chong, Robert Hum, Calvin and Chloe Poon - student volunteers: Lawrence, Norman, Zachary, Fabian and Julian.

Thanks for a great year!

YOUTHQUEST JUNIOR HIGH

Richie Rich - the material boy - The rich young ruler, on materialism

Today we tried to "add up" all our wealth by thinking about how much we have. Next we tried to think about the different results of materialism and finally we tried to see where we stand with regards to materialism.

Our key passage was Luke 18:18-27

LISTENING TO THE VOICE OF GOD

Today, yourfriendlyneighbourhoodyouthpastor had a chance to preach! We looked at 1 Samuel 3 and the topic was Listening to the voice of God. The points were:

1. Listening to the voice of God requires an attentive ear.

2. Listening to the voice of God requires an obedient heart

We also talked about how God speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church to reveal himself, his purposes and his ways (Henry Blackaby).

A NOTE TO STARKIDS VOLUNTEERS

We are finishing our journey on a P.A.T.H. (Passion, Attitude, Teamwork and Honour) by looking at honour this month.

Can You Start Valuing--the Way God Does?

1. Our worth is decided by God in His Word.
- our calling is to see ourselves through God's eyes, not how other people see us, not based on what we've accomplished in life, but based on how God sees us (read Psalm 139:14).

2. We need to see others as God sees us.
- When we see others as God sees them, we start to treat others as God treats them too (read Philippians 2:3)

3. If we perceive something as valuable, we'll do anything to find it.
- when we value something, we find it and heal it and begin to show it honour (read Luke 15:3-7)

* taken from: Craig Jutila, "Leadership Essentials For Children's Ministry" Group Publishing Inc. Loveland, CO. 2002.

YOUTHQUEST - JUNIOR HIGHS

God is Like a Dad

Tonight we talked about how God is like a dad because he shows unconditional love. We did a "spontaneous melodrama" about the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32). We played a game about famous dads, and discussed how we can show unconditional love to others. Our main verse was 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!"

CORNERSTONE YOUTHQUEST BASKETBALL

Tonight was our final night of basketball :(

We had a great turnout and both groups played some solid basketball. Congratulations to Osei and Ajay who won MVP for showing the most optimism, on and off the court. Make sure you come out next week Wednesday for our end of the year program at Greensborough - Juniors from 6:30-7:30 (juniors) and 8:00-9:00 (seniors). Who will be the baller of the year? 6th man? Sportmanship? Ironman? Come out and see!

YOUTHQUEST - JUNIOR HIGH SUNDAY SCHOOL

Hard-Knocks Pablo and Andy/Sophie, the King and Queen of Lies

Yesterday we explored the motives and pressures behind lying, whether by ourselves or by our friends, as well as the consequences of lying and finally we tried to see if there were any areas in our lives where we could improve on honesty. Our Memory verse was Acts 5:4b - based on the story of Ananias and Sapphira

Last week, we looked at what it would mean to suffer for our faith as well as talked about Christians who suffer all over the world. We looked at the story of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27.

A NOTE TO STARKIDS VOLUNTEERS

This month, we are finishing our P.A.T.H. studies by looking at, "Honour."

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves" (Romans 12:10).

The original root word for honour is tumei. It carries the idea of a "price tag." How can we view others as having higher price tags, value them. We can honour them by seeing the price tags on their souls. We are not valuable because of what we are, but because of who we are. We are valuable, because we were uniquely made by God.

* taken from: Craig Jutila, "Leadership Essentials For Children's Ministry" Group Publishing Inc. Loveland, CO. 2002.