Harlingen’s STUFFYouth Ministry
Seeking To Understand Forgiveness Forever

Our Purpose:

To Expose teens to God’s Love, Equip them to constantly Praise God, Cultivate relationships with other teens, and to instill in them a Passion for ministry.

Expose: Introducing those who don’t know Jesus to his saving grace and nurturing those who do
Equip: Teaching our teens knowledge about God and how to be His disciples
Praise: Worshiping our God
Cultivate: Building lasting friendships with others
Passion: Becoming so passionate about God that we desire to do his work on Earth

Our Programming:

 Games and Activities: All of our youth group meetings begin with some sort of game or activity. These may range from the fun and silly (water fight night, duct-tape night, etc.) to games with a purpose, such as Bible Smugglers (which teaches evangelism). We also attempt to have one night devoted strictly to fellowship each month. The point of this time is to provide a time of fun and fellowship.

Lessons: Every meeting also features a lesson, normally taught by Andrew. Lessons usually feature a presentation with visual aids (i.e. video clips, props, skits) and generally last no longer then 10-15 minutes. We examine a variety of topics, but special attention is being paid this year to defending the faith (evangelism) and passionate Christianity. We try to balance theological issues with social issues, looking at both throughout the year. Lessons try to teach lessons that will make our students better Disciples of Christ.

Small Groups: New this year will be 15-20mins each week for discussion in organized small groups. Each group is facilitated by one of our great youth leaders, Dom Benz, Jenni Newbury, Betsy Randolph and Steve Allen. Some week’s discussion will focus on the week’s lesson, while other weeks it may not. Group discussions are aimed at both relevant life situations and going deeper into the mysteries and intricacies if our Christian faith. The goal of the small groups is to further promote both fellowship and discipleship.

Worship: Another new addition this year will be two praise and worship nights, one during Advent and another during Lent. These nights will feature the latest contemporary Christian music by a local praise band, a relevant lesson, drama, and more. They will be for the youth and, at least in part, by the youth. They will also be open to the entire congregation to attend. We are so thrilled that 100 people attend the inaugural praise night and are looking forward to our second one on Sunday March 15th at 6pm, featuring the Chris Nunez Band. We also sponsor trips to Christian concert events such as Winterfest in Virginia, Youth Explosion at Six Flags Great Adventure, and Autumn Blaze at the Meadowlands. The idea behind these events are to give our students and powerful worship experience.

Service Projects: Over the past year we have had service day opportunities with Habitat for Humanity and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. We also try to host several events for seniors, including Christmas caroling and hosting Social Security Night. This is an event in which we invite all of the congregation’s senior members for a night of fun, food, and fellowship. We have also sponsored mission trips through Group Workcamps the past two years, and this year will be sending students to West Virginia and upstate New York. These events all serve to instill in our students a since of Christian service.

If you could not tell the aim of our ministry is five-fold: evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, worship, service. These are five biblically derived purposes for ministry and also represent five important areas for teens to develop in so that they may leave our program as passionate disciples of Christ, which is are ultimate goal.

If you have questions or simply want to get “plugged in” please contact Andrew Baker, Director of High School Youth Ministry, at Andrew.baker@ptsem.edu.
                                                                                                     
Good Links
www.libertywinterfest.com: An amazing youth event we attend annually
www.star991fm.com: The area’s leading Christian music station with streaming and tons of Christian concert info.
www.unipanthers.com: Yep, the nation’s best college basketball team! Go panthers!!!
www.rca.org: Find out more info about our denomination, the Reformed Church in America.
www.thesource4ym.com: Ever wonder where Andrew gets all those crazy game ideas from? Well, they are not all here, but there are a lot of great games, small group and lesson ideas, and all sorts of good stuff here. The best free site for youth ministry IMHO.
www.imdb.com: Want to hone up for our next movie trivia night? Check out this site, the greatest movie site ever.
www.cpyu.org: This is a great site for parents and teens on contemporary issues, especially the media.
www.espn.com: Andrew’s most visited website, by far J
www.steelroots.com: For all who love skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing, with a Christian twist. A great site.
www.yfc.net: Youth for Christ puts on the best Christian youth event ever, DC/LA, but they also have great resources on this site. The daily devos are great, and they’ll even email them for free. I read them daily throughout HS and college and they really charged me up every day.
www.myspace.com/chrisnunezmusic: Site of the Chris Nunez Band, who played our December 10th praise night and will be returning March 25th. They are amazing, so check them out!