When I Say Keep It, You Say Real

 A week ago, I was sitting on the beach in 30 degree weather, soaking up the last bit of sun with a bunch of youth before we left Florida for another year. We had a fantastic week. SouthBound is a highlight of the year for many of our youth and staff, and this year did not let us down.


This year our youth were challenged to "Keep It Real" by our speaker, Laura Bronson, of Keep It Real Ministries. This was not just the theme for the week, but quickly became the overall attitude and lifestyle around the camp. Youth connected in a way that we hadn't seen in a while. If a youth was hanging around the fringes, there were always one or two peers who brought them into the group, breaking down many of the cliques and boundaries that often exist in the teen world. There were so many deep discussions this year, and the focus around keeping it real and sharing our stories certainly helped youth think about important things in their lives. We talked to youth who wanted to know if they had a story to tell, youth whose stories involved trauma and tragedy, and youth who had deep questions about life, God, and how the two mix. Youth prayed for each other, a treasure we hold on to when we work with teens who are all over the place in their journey with Christ. Youth read Scripture to their peers, and shared about their faith journey in small groups. It was an amazing year. 


Of course, as with any Youth for Christ event, we were up to our usual camp shenanigans. More than one dinner was interrupted by hilarious melodramas featuring superheroes with wacky hair or Harry Potter superfans. A mysterious green rubber snake made its way into a few bunkbeds (mine included). And, we spent crazy amounts of time on the beach, wakeboarding and tubing, doing our best Baywatch impressions, and getting thrown in the water.

This trip is amazing, and it seems to get better every year. As a staff, it leaves me fired up as we return to our usual programs this week, and I'm excited for what the weekend will bring. Many youth were profoundly inspired by our week in Florida, and we look forward to growing in our relationships with them. Here's some pictures:

Tubing with our cow friends.

The wacky hair superheroes.

Minute To Win It YFC style

A dramatic presentation of the Prodigal Son.

YMCA forever!

Typgoon Lagoon

St. Patrick's day with some of the female leaders

St. Pete's Beach

Our speaker, Laura, tagged shirts for all of us.

Evening session

Friday's relay led to some swamped kayaks

The whole group

Dessert & Auction - Tickets Still Available!

SATURDAY MARCH 5, 7PM
DESSERT AUCTION BENEFITING THE DOOR YOUTH CENTRE
TICKETS $5.00

Come and support The Door Youth Centre, and join us for dessert, and then bid on some amazing pies, cheesecakes and cakes in our live dessert auction! Proceeds from the auction and free will offering go directly to support The Door!

THERE ARE STILL TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR THIS EVENT, BUT THEY ARE LIMITED!


For more information, please call the youth centre at 705-445-5445!

Lattes, Cher, and Toilet Paper Elastic Wars

Recently, we started a new program. We seem to be a very music oriented centre these days, and we wanted to feed the creativity of many of our youth. We've also had a number of youth who are becoming more and more leadership oriented at the youth centre, and were looking for something to do. Pairing that with the love that youth have for hanging out at The Door, and soon we had a coffee house brewing (oh, pun fully intended).

Our aim is to have a youth-led program, where we can facilitate and step into the background to help make it happen. In the bitter cold last night we hosted our first one, and with a dozen youth in attendance, we had success. We had three youth interested in leading, so we had them sort out the music, the games, and the overall feel of the centre. We created ambient lighting, had music by Dj Hutch (one of our youth), and even had karaoke, when Aaron coerced a bunch of the guys to join him for The Village People, Celine Dion, and, um, Cher. We served lattes, cake and cookies, had Valentines candy on the tables, and chess boards and card games. The latest trend in our circles is Minute To Win It, and there were ongoing games of ping pong tic tac toe, followed by a race to see who could break a string of toilet paper with an elastic band torpedo (if you think that it is ridiculously easy, I challenge you to go into your bathroom and office supplies, and hang a roll of t.p. off of a broom handle, letting the paper trail to the ground. Shoot away, and let me know your findings). 

Overall, we were happy with the first event, and thrilled that we had a chance to talk to our youth in an environment more calm than drop-in, but cooler than Tim Horton's. Next month, we hope to feature some youth performers, and continue the karaoke trend, which can only get better from here. And, here are some very fuzzy pics from my cell phone, enjoy!

The set-up, with DJ Hutch in the back.

The coffee and hot chocolate bar (I loved playing barista!)

Our drink menu... not bad!