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2009 California State Youth Conference

Announcing the 2009 California State Youth Conference to be held on
April 10th - 13th, 2009 in Mount Hermon, California.

The cost is $185. The application will be passed out at the Jan. 25th meeting.
This includes transportation and the registration to the event.

To be eligible to attend the event you must be an active member of the youth group:
1. Attendance to at least 2 Friday Night Live events before conference
2. Attendance to at least 2 citywide youth events
3. Attendance to at least one bible class per week
4. Attendance to the mandatory youth conference parent/attendee meeting on 1/25/2009
5. Composition of essay due by 9pm February 28,2009 (topic to be named later)

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these new rules please let me know.

Christmas Linebacker

Check out the Christmas Linebacker

He keeps the "Christ" in Christmas.

You can save your parents life - early signs of stroke

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) .

She said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.

It only takes a minute to read this...A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally.

He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE.....Remember the '3' steps, STR .

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster.The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S.... Ask the individual to SMILE.
T..... Ask the person to TALKand SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, e.g. It is sunny out today)
R ....Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other,that is also an indication of a stroke.

Do We Really Honor God?

Do We Really Honor God?
God makes an important and very specific promise in I Samuel 2:30. The Bible says, "But now the Lord declares: I promise that I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be considered insignificant." Eli was very old and he began to hear things that his sons were doing. They were having improper relationships with the women who served at the gate of the tent of meeting. Eli told his sons that the thing he was hearing about them was not good and the news was spreading fast. Eli's sons would not listen to him; they just ignored the warnings of their father and of God.

How are you doing with your attitudes and actions? I remember when I was a teen that I felt like my Christianity was fulfilled if I attended Sunday school and church and if I went on Wednesday nights I would get extra credit from God. Being a Christian teen is more than just showing by your actions it's showing by your action, your attitude and your heart.

Read I Samuel 2:22-36 and you will see the seriousness of God's promises.

November Friday Night Live

Everyone is invited to this months FNL on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 7pm. We will have a great time of food, fun, and fellowship. See you there!!!

Ventura Youth Rally trip cancelled

We are not going to attend the Ventura youth rally this year. I hope we will be able to attend the youth next year

School supply drive

We had a great time putting together the supplies we received. We have put together at least 25 complete school supply backpacks so far. We have even given away at least 6 backpacks to people who needed it.

It is going great so far. We will let our congregation know that the backpacks are ready to be given out starting Sunday morning after the worship services.

School Supply drive

We over 20 bags of school supplies received so far. I am going to buy some supplies this weekend with the donations we received from our congregation. I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday to start putting together the bags to give away to people who need them.

School Supply Drive Update

We have collected about 10 bags of "stuff" for the Drive. I expect to receive more school supplies in the next week. I have been contacted by a lot of people who want to donate money and supplies. I have faith in God that this event will be great. I ask for your prayers for this drive. I also ask for your help in asking people to donate supplies to this drive, so we can help as many people as possible..... Horace

New Baptisms at Friday Nite Live

At the last Friday Nite Live event, both Julian & Jamal were baptized. Here a couple of pictures from their baptisms. I am very excited to call them my newest "brothers in Christ".

Congratulations Jamal & Julian!!

Backpack school supply program

The Crenshaw Youth Group is seeking donations for its Backpack School Supply Program, which will provide needed school supplies for low-income children and teens. With the support of our congregation, our youth group hopes to provide a brand new backpack and the supplies needed to begin the school year. Parents of school-age children often anticipate spending hundreds of dollars preparing their children with back-to-school clothing and supplies, which many low-income families cannot afford.

How can you help?
The Backpack School Supply Program is in need of the following items:

Backpacks, pens, pencils, compasses, colored markers, colored pencils, pencil sharpeners with catchers, highlighters, scissors, rulers, glue stick, protractors, calculators, subject separators, scotch tape, binders (all sizes), college and wide ruled paper, pink erasers, book covers, white out, calculators, spiral notebooks, organizers.

All school supply or monetary donations need to be turned in no later than Wednesday, August 20. For more information about the Backpack School Supply Program, please contact Horace Johnson at horacejohnsonjr@yahoo.com.

Special Expectations

One thing almost everyone wonders about is what God wants us to do. When it comes to expectations of God I always think of the verse Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The first expectation is to act justly. One way you could rephrase this is to do just. Just is being honorable and fair in one’s dealings or actions. In Jeremiah 7:5-7 it says “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.” God calls us to be fair to other people, not to do wrong to them for any reason. This goes back to the Ten Commandments where it says not to bare false witness.

The next is to love mercy. The parable of the unmerciful servant shows a great description of what mercy is as well as what it is not. It says in Matthew 18:32-34 “32Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.” Jesus had mercy on us when he died for us. Even though we didn’t deserve it, he still did it.

The final thing is to walk humbly with your God. Being humble is putting someone before you. When I hear the word humble I think of kneeling. Matthew 18:4 says “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” We need to learn that God is always with us through the good and the bad. God always knows what he is doing and has a purpose for everything.

Run for the weak

Too many times selfishness rules among us. Use this devotional to awaken yourself to "Run for the Weak!"

click on link to access the video

http://www.youtube.come/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

1. Why did the father in this video do so much with his son?

2. Why did he choose to do something as difficult as a triathlons?

3. What difficult thing did The Father do for you? (John 3:16)

4. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

• What does the Father do for us when we are weak?

• What are we to do when others are weak?

5. Read John 8:1-11

• How did Jesus treat this weak woman?

• What does it teach us about the love we are to show to others?

6. Pray and ask the Lord to put someone "weak" in your path. Someone to run with. Someone to run for.

Some people as just here to annoy you

Don't let them...A word of encouragement from Ruby

Staying Strong

Staying Strong

Sam Evans--13 years old

Staying strong is one of the most important actions you can take in your spiritual walk with God. There are many ways you can stay strong: understanding your Bible, keep a daily prayer journal, going to church, and having good reliable, Christian friends.

I know you have heard ever since you were little that you need to read your Bible everyday, but you also need to understand what you are reading. In Revelation 1:3 is says “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” The word “heed” means to pay attention to or understand. This verse is praising the people who read and understand the Word.

One thing that I have done in the past is keep a prayer journal. I wrote down prayer requests for others as well as my self. One thing I found myself writing down many times is that I would be a light to others around me. Looking back on that journal now I realize that God has answered so many of my prayers and it has encouraged me even more. In Psalms 13:5 it says “I've thrown myself headlong into your arms— I'm celebrating your rescue. I'm singing at the top of my lungs, I'm so full of answered prayers.”

Going to church has been a huge impact on my everyday life. I find myself during the week looking forward to Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. My youth ministers have a wonderful gift on expressing their love for God everywhere they go. They have been and still are great mentors in my life. You might have someone like that at your church. Maybe your preacher, worship leader, elder, children’s minister, ect. My whole church keeps me at a spiritual high and helps through my daily life.

Friends are the people that you will find that have the biggest influence on your life. Job 31:21 says "If I've ever used my strength and influence to take advantage of the unfortunate, Go ahead, break both my arms, cut off all my fingers! The fear of God has kept me from these things— how else could I ever face him?” It is important that your friend and you have a good influence on each other. Start accountability groups with each other, these groups helped me a lot during this past year at school. One famous saying was that friends will either make you or brake you. My youth minister, Mr. Al, always says “in your life you will do 1 of 2 things, you will either take someone with you to heaven or you will take someone with you to hell.”

I cannot stress to you how important it is to stay strong in your spiritual walk. There are many more ways you can stay strong. Deuteronomy 31:6 says “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Handling Immodesty

Handling Immodesty

by Brooklyn Goodman, age 14 eighth grade

She was so excited; they were going to the movies tonight. She was at Megan’s house, one of her friends from school. Megan had invited her and Lacey over to get ready for the movies. When she put on her blue jeans and a cute top, Megan looked at her and snickered, "Are you seriously going to wear that?" Feeling embarrassed, she replied, "Well do you have anything else I can wear?" After several try-ons she finally decided on a low cut top with a short skirt. When she looked in the mirror she felt very uncomfortable but wanted to fit in.

As they waited in line for popcorn he spotted her. She was just one line over from him. With her long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes he couldn’t stop staring. He was thinking to himself how pretty she was, but why did she need to dress like that? Being a Christian guy, it’s sometimes hard for him to understand why girls think they have to dress a certain way to look good or to draw a guy’s attention. When she looked back at him he just dropped his head and looked at the floor. He was not interested.

She was going through a lot of peer pressure. Being a Christian girl, she knew what she wore was inappropriate, but because of the fact that her friends had made fun of what she was going to wear, it affected her decision. How does what you wear influence other teens? Do you pick out clothes that glorify God or yourself? Modest dressing allows others to see God in you. Immodest dress only allows others to see you.

In 1 Peter 3:3-5, Peter says that we (Christians) should be known for the beauty that comes within us. Also, the unfading quiet spirit is so precious to God and He wants us to be modest in our appearance and to not draw attention to ourselves by the way we dress (1 Timothy 2:9).

So when you pick out your clothes, make sure that your appearance is glorifying God and not yourself. Learn to overcome pressure from others and stand up for what you believe is right. Appearances are very important. Like the boy, whose first impression was, “Wow she’s pretty,” but immediately turned his attention away. Just remember, whatever you do, do it to the glory of God!

Friday Nite Live

The youth group met last night at our monthly event "Friday Nite Live". We talked about the new contest that we started last night. I hope everyone is excited as I am about it. The first part will last for 3 months to see if everyone wants to keep it up. I hope to put interesting ideas for the group to work on.

Last night we played bible trivia. I had a great time. It was great to see how much of the bible the group knows.

We have a busy June coming up! I hope we a good turnout for all of the events coming up. Part of the group is going to Cpress CoC for their Impact! event today. I hope everyone has a great time.

Some of our Youth Group

Leandra made a collage from some of the pictures she took at the 2006 California State Youth Conference

Friends Matter Devotion

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd."

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friend's tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.

As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks."

They really should get lives. "He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!"

There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge s tack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are going to really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday! "He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.

I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem.

He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd.

He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.

He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.Boy, sometimes I was jealous!

Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech.

So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!"

He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.

"Thanks," he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began

"Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.

Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach but mostly your friends.

I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.

I am going to tell you a story." I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met.

He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

"Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize its depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions.

With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.

God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.

Look for God in others.