What's a session like at Kalahari?

Well, I said we would get the video of one of our sessions posted for you, and I finally got around to doing it.  This video is from our first session at Kalahari, held Friday night, January 16th.  Each of our sessions throughout the weekend contained silly and serious videos, worship songs, lessons and much more.  This video has been chopped down a bit and does not include any of our videos or our final worship set.  I hope this gives you a good look at what we do while at Kalahari (outside from floating in the lazy river or getting flushed down the toilet bowl slide).

* Our omitted videos included the cartoon “Gummybear Song”, Weird Al’s “White & Nerdy”, a description of how middle schoolers engage in worship by Steve Davis, and scenes from The Iron Giant, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and John Q

And for those of you wondering who sings the songs that we sung while at Kalahari, here’s a complete list with the song, band and the album:

• Undignified by David Crowder Band (Can You Hear Us?)
• Mighty To Save by Hillsong (Mighty To Save)
• Holiness by Sonicflood (Sonicflood)
• O Praise Him by David Crowder Band (Remedy Club Tour Live)
• Wholly Yours by David Crowder Band (A Collision or (3+4=7))
• From the Inside Out by Hillsong (Mighty To Save)
• Unchganing by Chris Tomlin (Not To Us)
• My Savior My God by Aaron Shust (Anything Worth Saying)
• Jesus Paid It All by Kristian Stanfill (Passion: Everything Glorious)

And our theme song for our (RED) Idea videos was There Is Nothing Like by United Live (Look To You).

We're Live @ Kalahari

Well, we’re here at Kalahari and I wanted to get a video posted of our first session from Friday night.  Unfortunately I haven’t found the time to edit the video and post it onto the net… probably because I’ve been crazy busy hanging out in the waterpark with everyone!  We’re having a great time and everyone’s really enjoying the worship during our (RED) Idea sessions.  Hopefully next week we will have that video highlighting one of our sessions for you, but right now we’re off to dinner.

The Final Pre-Kalahari Post

Well, our Kalahari Winter Retreat is just a few days away and everything has come together for what should be an unforgettable weekend.  The band has been practicing hard, our lessons and videos are ready to go, and believe it or not the packing has already begun.  Here are a few fun facts about this weekend that you may not know:

• 324 slices of lunch meat will be eaten
• Over 13 songs have been learned by the band (they could record their own CD with that many songs!)
• There will be 33 different video clips shown throughout our sessions
• 18 rooms will be filled to the max to house us all
• There are 12 different slides that we can ride (15 total runs … if you count the 4 person racing slide), 2 Flo-Riders, a Wave Pool, an indoor-outdoor hot tub, 2 basketball pools, and much more!
• And there will be one message that everyone will hear from us … The (RED) Idea

For those of you that aren’t able to join us, we first and foremost wish you could be there with us!  But since you can’t, we’re going to try to post a video or two from this weekend’s (RED) Idea sessions.  So stop by this page on Saturday for a chance to see and hear what it is that we’ve been doing.

*** Also remember that there is no Ground Floor class this Sunday, January 18th.

A look into 2009

With 2008 behind us and a whole new year in front of us I thought it would be a great time to highlight some of the big things that are coming up for us throughout this year.

• Kalahari 2009 – With over 100 of us going this is sure to be a great retreat.  This year’s theme “The (RED) Idea” is looking to be a great choice as we focus in on the words that Jesus spoke.
• “God’s Big Story in 7 Mini-Chapters” – One of our all-new series for 2009 is shaping up to be one you won’t want to miss.  Starting on February 8th we will spend 7 weeks looking at the over-arching story found throughout the entire Bible.  We’ve got some great ideas to help every student walk away knowing more about God’s story.
• Mid-Winter Break Faith Style – In 2008 we did this during Spring Break.  In 2009 it’s moved up a few months and will bring us 3 great days of activities during everyone’s week off school.  We’ll have a Pajama, Pizza, Popcorn and Big Screen Movie night, a special 2nd Floor class with live worship by some of our Kalahari Band, and a night out at Joe Dumars Fieldhouse for Lasertag, Mini-golf, Rock-climbing and more.
• Blast 2009 @ Paramount’s Kings Island – During late June we will take 3 days and head down to King’s Island Amusement Park in Ohio for roller coasters, water slides, and a whole lot more.  This is one great trip that you won’t want to miss.
• The 3rd Floor – This summers 3rd Floor class will focus in on the Spiritual Disciplines that will help every student develop a healthy, vibrant relationship with Christ.  For 5 weeks during June and July you won’t want to miss 1 week of this great Wednesday night class.
• Sand Dunes 2009 – Our biggest trip of the summer will take us back up to Empire, MI for 4 days at the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes.  With a lot of swimming, hiking, and sand this trip is always a personal favorite.  Outdoor worship while the sun sets at one of the Dunes is always a great memory for us all.

Those are just a few of the great opportnities that we will have for every student in Middle School to connect to our ministry throughout 2009 (and that’s just leading up until the end of summer!).  Be sure to stop by our website often for more info about all of our activities and events.

the one about the Kalahari Parent Letter

January 16 - 18, 2009

With the holiday’s coming up quick I thought I had a bit more time to get the Kalahari Parent Letter together and mailed out.  Turned out that I thought wrong.  We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few days getting all the details lined up so that everyone can have the info that they have been waiting patiently for.  The letter has gone out in the mail but I wanted to make it available to you on our website as well.  You can click the link below and download a PDF copy of our Parent Letter or the Release Form (which needs to be completed and returned for every student to travel with us).

Kalahari Parent Letter
Kalahari Release Form

I also wanted to update you on our open spaces.  At the time of this post we still have 5 guy spaces available and 10 girl spaces available.  These spots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis.  After they have been filled we will create a waitlist in case student’s drop out.  To register your student complete the Kalahari Registration form and turn it in to Pat, drop it off at the Main Office at Faith, or mail it to Faith Lutheran Church (Attn: Pat Williams) at 37635 Dequindre Rd., Troy, MI 48083.

We will continue to accept registrations until Sunday, January 11th.

***Update: We currently have 4 guy spots and 2 girl spots remaining.

Christmas Blitz and Beyond

This Friday night marks the return of one of my all-time favorite parties, the Christmas Blitz.  This Middle School only night will be full of video games, Christmas movies, Christmas cartoons, dodgeball, Christmas cookies, and much more.  Be sure to stop by from 7pm – 9:30pm for a great night out!  We will be meeting in Room 16 where you can take a look at our schedule of events and find out where you want to go first.

Be sure to check out our “Upcoming Events” page with more info on the Christmas Blitz as well as a sneak peak at our next event coming up during your Mid-Winter Break in February.  You can even take a quick moment to vote for what activities you think we should do!

I know with Christmas coming up soon the last thing most of us are thinking about is the Kalahari Winter Retreat coming up in January but we’ve got some great news if you haven’t registered yet.  We’ve gone ahead and added a couple more rooms which opens up even more space for you and your friends to join us!  With only a few short weeks before the Middle School Ministry shuts down for Christmas now is the best time to get your registration form and deposit in to reserve your space.  After December 18th we will be dropping any unused hotel rooms and limiting the number of new registrations we accept, be sure to speak with Pat before that date if you plan on attending.  Be sure to check out Kalahari Winter Retreat webpage for up-to-date information, instructions, and much more.

A (RED) Sample

The (RED) Idea is spreading and we wanted to give you a glimpse of it. This is a brief sample of the thoughts we will be sharing at the Kalahari Winter Retreat in January.

What Is The (Red) Idea?

With the release of a our little teaser video for Kalahari the question is slowly popping up, “What is The (Red) Idea”?  Well, let me try to answer that for you.  The (Red) Idea is first and foremost our theme for the upcoming Kalahari Winter Retreat.  Throughout our retreat we will hold (Red) Sessions.  At each of these sessions we will uncover different (Red) Ideas that will help us to connect with God.

I know I’ve given you some of the “what” but not much.  So I’ll jump in a little farther.  The (Red) Idea is going to take you and I right into the Bible, and more specifically, right into the words that Jesus himself spoke.  In some of our Bible’s we find these “Red Letters” used anytime Jesus says anything at all.  Well, The (Red) Idea, is about you and I studying the words that Jesus spoke, the red letters, and seeing how those words can impact and change our lives forever.

At each of our (Red) Sessions we are going to study a different red letter section of the Bible.  We will look at what Jesus said, why he said it, and why it’s still so important today.  Our worship, videos and lessons will all be designed to help us Know (Red).  We’ve still got a while till Kalahari, but in the meantime go ahead and check your Bible.  Does it have red letters in it?  You would be able to find them in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the beginning of Acts, and a little bit in Revelation.  If it does take a look at a couple of the different statements Jesus makes.  If your Bible is like a few of mine and doesn’t have the red letters, take a look at Jesus statements in black instead.  Either way, these statements and conversations that Jesus has are so incredibly important and worth us spending some time studying together.

Red

And there it is. Our Kalahari Winter Retreat theme. We’ve been working really hard over the past several weeks to nail down what we’re going to be talking about each and every session at Kalahari. I am so excited about our theme this year and I know that January 16 – 18, 2009 will be an unforgettable weekend! Check back here often as we slowly continue to roll out more info, lesson plans, and maybe even a few short videos explaining what “The (RED) Idea” is all about.

No Half-Day and Kalahari

It’s come to our attention in the last few weeks that Troy School District (and a few of our farther out school districts) are not holding Final Exams on January 16th which means that they will not be having a half-day as we had anticipated. We understand that this may be a deterent for some of our students that wish to attend the Kalahari Winter Retreat.  We are hard at work at trying to find the best possible way to accomadate these students and have two solutions for those of you stuck in this sticky situation:

1.  Make January 16th A Half-Day
If you can get your work ahead of time and make the proper arrangements consider having your parents get you out of school early (say around 12pm) and meeting us for our 12:45pm departure.  We know that this can be a bit difficult but with all the time between now and Kalahari you should be able to make the arrangements.

2.  A Late Departure
We will have a limited number of spaces available for those that wish to leave later on in the afternoon.  Our plan is for this group to leave at 3:45pm from Faith.  You will arrive at Kalahari around 6:30pm, grab a quick dinner, and will have a few hours to explore the water park before it closes for the day at 9pm.  This option will be extremely limited (as we only have a few drivers available for the late drive), so we will need you to notify us ASAP if you would like to do this.  Students may not choose this option unless their parents have personally notified me in advance.  (This means that if you are running late the day we leave for Kalahari, you cannot just show up at 3:45pm and expect to have a spot in a car open to you.)

I think this is pretty clear, but if you have any questions let me know as soon as possible and I will discuss any issues with you.  Once again, consider pulling your student out of school early that day or speak with me about the possibility of your student joining us on the late crew.

Also, we still have a number of spaces available for the Kalahari Winter Retreat!  If your student or any of their friends in Grades 6 – 8 might be interested grab a flyer (or download one) and turn it in to reserve your space!