SAY will be going to Denver Colorado to work at the Tennyson Center for Children with abused and neglected kids. Mark Anderson will be leading this trip

Chi Rho will go to St. Louis Missouri to work and stay and the Urban Mission Inn and help those living in the inner city of St. Louis. Linda Reynolds will be leading this trip.

We need you to make these trips happen!

Here is how you can be a part

* If you are a youth and want to go on the trip turn in a commitment form to the chuch by March 28th.  Forms can be found on the youth bulletin board.  You will also need to turn in payment for the trip which is $100.  Make out the check to Saint Andrew and in the memo write mission trip.

*If you are an adult and want to go on these trips please contact Allison, Mark, or Linda

* If you want to help but can’t go we still need financial support.  Make out a check to Saint Andrew, put youth mission trip in the memo, and turn it in during the offering.

*Need another way to get involved, we need your prayers before and during the trip!

Thanks for your support of the youth of Saint Andrew

The first week we talked about the war in Afghanistan and how our faith informs the questions we ask and the prayers we pray about war, soldiers, and the people of Afghanistan.

Last week we talked about the earthquake in Haiti.  Brandon Gilvin from Week of Compassion came and shared with us.  We discused the future for Haiti and how and where our faith calls us to respond and stand with the Haitians.

This week we are talking about dating.

I am sure we will ask the common dating questions….

           ….how do you know if your in love

           ….how do you break up with someone without breaking their heart

           ….what do you do if the person your dating wants to physically go further than you do

But I wonder if we will ask questions about dating violence?

       ….what do you do if your girlfriend is controlling and texts you every moment

       ….what do you do if your boyfriend hits you and then tells you he loves you and apologizes

       ….what if your friend is dating someone who puts her down all the time

       ….what about sexting

February is the month to ask these kinds of questions.  It is teen dating violence awareness month.  To learn more check out the website for breaking the cycle of dating violence. http://www.breakthecycle.org/ See what you can do if you find yourself in a situation like this or how you can help your friends.

Say a prayer that one day all people will be in loving relationships that are about real love…love with respect, kindness, and care.  The kind of forgiving, graceful, beautiful love that comes from God.

This summer SAY will be going to Denver Colorado to spend a week working with children who have been abused or neglected at the Tennyson Center for Children.  CHI RHO will spend a week serving the inner city of St. Louis at the Urban Mission Inn.

To get there we need your help!

We hope to see you at Applebees on 135th in Olathe on Saturday Jan. 30th for our fundraiser. 

Tickets are 7$.  You will recieve a fabulous pancake breakfast served to you by our own youth!  See you then

Last Sunday Chi Rho (our middle schoolers) spent the day delivering blankets they had made to Ronald McDonald House and then helping out at the house. 

Over 40,000 people come through the doors of Ronald McDonald House each year.  While children are paitients at Children’s Mercy Hospital their families can find a place to rest, shower, do laundry, and play at Ronald McDonald House.

We were amazed at all the incredible work done  by the house. 

You can find pictures of our day there on the blog.  You also can help out yourself.  Volunteer to bring dinner to the house, to help clean up around the facilities, give money at McDonalds Restaurants or drop you pop tabs in Ronald McDonald cardboard houses found all throughout the city.

Having a sick kid is scary.  Lets all do our part to make it a little eaiser on the families.

December 13th 7PM

Resist the Rush, Embrace the Hush, Celebrate Advent Peace

The youth have been working hard to prepare a meanigful and rich service.  Come rest for a while with us in the sanctuary as we search for God’s peace.

That morning was Youth Sunday and we had sang “Love Train” as our final song.

The youth had to make sure everyone knew about the train!

This is part of why I love the Saint Andrew Youth and Youth Ministry!

I recently wrote an article about this event to the adults of our church that will appear in this month’s newsletter. 

CELEBRATING OUR YOUTH

-Allison Lanza

My favorite video of the youth of Saint Andrew is them singing and dancing to the Love Train as they walk out of Target. Now, there are other videos of them (both recorded and that play over and over again in my head) that I could choose. There are the scenes of our middle schoolers knocking down that last wall of a house in the Appalachian Mountains making a space for a struggling family to build a home. There is the image of one of our high schoolers hugging a former prostitute and telling her she sees God in her. There are the countless images of our youth gathered in circles crying, laughing, and praying with each other. But the video that is my favorite is the one of them singing Love Train and dancing out of Target. It is my favorite because it reminds me how loving and God filled our youth are and how much we have to learn from them. They had gathered that Sunday night to celebrate the morning when they had led our congregation in worship. I had cancelled youth group that night to give us all some much needed rest, but they wanted to keep being together. They gathered for un-official youth group at Target. In their gathering they remind me of what it means to be Christian community. They made sure everyone was welcomed. In the video you watch them gather in a circle making sure to draw the circle wide enough to include everyone and they encourage the shyer ones to join in. And then, with smiles on their faces and laughter in their eyes they turn the ordinary mundane aisles of Target into a holy joyful place.

Our youth are a God-filled community. They support each other, laugh and cry together, ask questions, and work together for God’s peace, love and justice in our world. We, as their church home, are called to do the same for them. As adults who walk with them on the journey we are called celebrate with them, to draw the circle wide and welcome them in, to listen, guide and ask questions with them, to stand in awe of them and remind them regularly how the face of God shines through them, and to walk hand in hand with them working for God’s peace in our world.

I will be leaving Saint Andrew in May. As I begin to consider the next ministry God is calling me to, I can not guarantee the teenagers what the youth programming will look like. But I can promise them that they will be surrounded by a church family that loves and values them, listens to them, grows with them, and walks with them as we work together to create holy spaces of love and joy in the ordinary places of our lives and world.

So grab a teenager’s hand, jump on the love train with them, and help me to make sure that that promise holds true

A couple weeks ago in Holly’s sermon she talked about paying attention to what we pay attention to.  She said the things we pay attention to, grow.

As we think about our money, let take this week to try and pay attention to where we spend it.

The places we spend our money, grow.

Are we spending our money on things that will build God’s justice?

Are we spending our money on things that will share God’s shalom?

Are we spending our money on things that build up love, inclusion and compassion?

Are we spending our money on things that help nourish the earth and God’s good creation?

This week I challenge each of us to pay attention to where we are spending our money and what we are helping to grow.

Then I challenge us to make some new choices on where and how we spend money.

Its hard.  It will be hard for me.  But I think its worth it if it helps love, peace, and justice grow!

Below read a letter Emily Atteberry, one of our youth wrote, encouraging us to think about the ways we spend our money.

	Weekly Devotional by Emily Atteberry
	October 7, 2009
	Fellow Youth, Once again, it is everyone’s favorite time of the year: The Stewardship Campaign. Of course, you want to stop reading this right now. You’re thinking to yourself, “Oh, they’re just asking for money.” But stewardship is much more than money, it’s an entire opportunity to rethink your way of life and re-evaluate your priorities. The definition of a steward is one who “actively directs affairs.” What is more befitting of a Saint Andrew mindset than the idea of stewardship? By donating what you can to the stewardship campaign, you can affect change and directly help our church. Let’s be honest: with the current economic climate, the lack of jobs, and the rising gas prices, and, not to mention, the general poorness of most teenagers, it’s not easy to contribute to the stewardship campaign. As we tighten our budgets, we find ourselves unable, and unwilling, to spend money on things we don’t have to. We may even ask ourselves: what’s in it for me? Pledging whatever you can, whether the amount is substantial or not, helps sustain all of the programs and outreach to which our church is so committed. With your help, Saint Andrew can continue to do what it does best: love, help, and grow. Throughout your week, try to be thoughtful and meditative when considering your financial actions. Do you really need that drink at Starbucks? Could you see a matinee showing instead of seeing a Saturday night movie? Not only will you find yourself creating a more simple life, but you will also find it easier to give a little. Who knows; perhaps this intentional living will even put you closer to God. Emily Atteberry