Concert:Sing Love Sing

Christ The Savior - December 27th

We hope that you come out and join us for the concert. The fellowship and message is from 7-8 and the concert is scheduled from 8-10 pm. the concert is at CTS and is in the ARC. Come on out and bring a friend. The event is free ------ bring some canned food goods for the food pantry.

The Gathering: 2009 Quick Highlight

We are headed to the National Gathering in July. Below is a quick highlight from the 2009 National Gathering just to give you a very small taste. In 2012, we will be going back to the city of New Orleans (July 16 - 23)

Mission Trip: Denver, Colorado

We are headed to Denver, Colorado for our Summer 2012 mission trip. All students who are in grades 7-12 during the 2011-2012 school year are invited to attend this mission trip. We are partnering with a church called The Refuge in northwest Denver. Kathy Escobar (one of the co-pastors) share a little about herself, the church and the ministry that we will be doing while we are out there. The trip is June 15-23. The deadline to register is Sunday, October 23, 2011.

down we go indy mission team adventure 9.6.11 from kathy escobar on Vimeo.

The Gathering: Practice Justice

What is the "Practice Justice" day?

Practice Justice is one of three days at the ELCA Youth Gathering (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) to which congregational groups will be assigned. On each of those days, a third of the community will practice discipleship, a third will practice peacemaking and a third will practice justice. In this month’s gNews we are focusing on the Practice Justice day. Subsequent issues of gNews will explain more thoroughly the Practice Peacemaking and Practice Discipleship days. All three of the days are designed to help young people make real the covenant God made with them in Holy Baptism to:

• Live among God’s faithful people,
• Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
• Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
• Serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
• Strive for justice and peace in all the earth (ELW pg. 236).

The ELCA Youth Gathering is a witness to Jesus' invitation to hit the streets, to follow one's convictions with actions, and to join in the work God is doing in the world. Even though we know such action isn't about us -- it is all about what God is up to -- many have asked what youth will do in New Orleans in 2012.

On the Practice Justice day, the clean and predictable lives of many of us will get messed up a bit by learning about the ongoing struggles in New Orleans. New Orleanians want us to know about their struggles, they want us to see the truth of their lives because after the initial rush of public interest following Katrina, people have steadily stopped paying attention. Now, six years after Katrina, New Orleans still needs our attention.

On the Practice Justice day, youth and adults will come together in the Superdome to learn about how we make the connection between God’s justice, God’s shalom, God’s intention for the world, and our desire to serve. We will be reminded about how God’s presence made a difference in the everyday lives of those living in New Orleans in 2009 through our service. Then, groups will walk justice as they enter into a multi-sensory experience to help them understand how the catastrophe of Katrina changed the course of history for New Orleanians. Next, groups depart by bus or by foot to practice justice in the midst of the fragile realities of recovery evident in the public education system, in housing and in the shrinking wetlands. At the end of the day, each group will reflect on their Practice Justice experience by debriefing with trained young adults who will help connect their experiences with their own sense of call to live out their baptismal identity in the communities to which they return.

The Gathering deadline is coming soon (September 1). We hope that you will join us in New Orleans July 16-23.

Fun Times at Pizza Hut

We had 24 students and 4 adults that came out to Pizza Hut on Sunday night. It was a great time of fellowship. We have not had many opportunities where we just get together and have "no agenda". After watching the fellowship and discussions last night; I believe that it is something that we need to do again. So, even though, we will be "off" some Sunday's soon for spring break and Easter; we will have a meal night at a restaurant in April. We are looking at April 17th. When details are finalized, we will announce.

Oasis: Meeting at Pizza Hut

First, I want to apologize for not updating the blog and sharing more on last months series: What If and on our current series Storm Watch. We had a great lesson last week.

We are NOT meeting at CTS this Sunday. There is a funeral and a funeral dinner in the ARC on Sunday at 6 pm, so we are going off-site. We will be meeting in the meeting room at Pizza Hut. We will be meeting at the Pizza Hut on Allisonville Road near 116th street. The exact location is 11722 Allisonville Road. We have the room reserved from 6:30 - 8:00, our normal time.

We will have fellowship time, eat pizza and have a lesson / discussion time. We may go ahead and do our series or since we are switching up the location, we may switch up our lesson as well. More information on that soon.

If you can, please bring $ 5 to help cover the cost of food and drinks.

Hope to see you there and feel free to bring a friend.

Help Needed: MMUTB

Hashbrown and Ham Casserole (We need at least 15 of these)

2 lbs. frozen hash browns, Southern style (thawed)
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pt. sour cream
1/2 c. chopped onions
10 oz. pkg. shredded cheddar cheese
2 packages of cubed (not diced) ham

Mix all ingredients. Pour into 9 X 13 disposable aluminum pan. DO NOT BAKE…we will bake at the church.

Please bring to kitchen on Sunday, February 20th prior to the beginning of the 10:45 am service.

Please email Stacey Greathouse @ thesogmom@yahoo.com, if you will be bringing one.

Food Items

Six HUGE cans of green beans
Six HUGE bags of corn
150 rolls
Two big tubs of country crock

If you can bring the items, please email Stacey @ thesogmom@yahoo.com

Last month, we served 130 individuals. Our event is now held in a garage. We do not go out to them, they now come to us. However, many of them do live under the bridges of Indianapolis.

If Only ....

What's your "if only"? Every one of us has one, two or a hundred different scenarios in which we would do or say something differently. That e-mail we wish we would not have sent, that relationship that we should have avoided - or never began. We all have regrets, things we would do differently if given the chance. So if life inevitably brings those "if only" moments, how do we handle the regrets that haunt us? How can we turn the "if only" from our past decisions into something more, something that will help both us and others?

Here is a breakdown of the weekly sessions:

February 13: Session 1: Rewind - Bottom Line: Yesterdays regrets affect today.

February 20: Session 2: Haunted - Bottom Line: Freedom begins when we name our regrets.

February 27: Session 3: Redeem - Bottom Line: The regrets of yesterday can be redeemed for tomorrow.

No Oasis Tonight

We do not have Oasis tonight. We will be back "in session" next Sunday, February 13th, as we begin a new series called "If Only".

Jan. 23: Discovery

We are in part three of our part four series on RHYTHM. This lesson will be the most difficult of the four in my opinion as we look at ourselves and realize that we must love ourselves and be rhythm with ourselves. The reason that it is difficult is because it is tough to be honest about our own self-perception.

We have changed things up just a bit on Sunday night. With the weather being colder, we are inside hanging out from 6:30 - 7:00 before we start at 7 pm. We have worship and then an interactive-game and then it is our message/lesson time. We are incorporating the message and questions (small group questions) all together. We have done this the past two weeks and do this in a attempt to bring "community" to all.

Summer Trips

Our Wisconsin mission trip is filled. However, there are plenty of spaces available for Big Stuf and for the Kentucky mission trip. Here are two videos to give you a "taste" of what you might experience.

Big Stuf Promo



Kentucky Heartland Outreach

This Thursday !!!

Sing Love Sing

Here is their Myspace Site ----- come on out to CTS and see them. Pass the Word around.

Can you See Me ?

Session One: Can You See Me?

Sometimes you can stand in a room or walk down a hallway or sit in a chair and no one notices you. It’s not that you have some type of special ability that makes you invisible—people just don’t see you. They know nothing about you—nor do they seem to want to know anything about you. It’s like you’re not even there, even when you are physically in the room. You’re invisible. The good news is Jesus sees invisible people—even those who never realized they were invisible.

ACTS

Here is the "philosophy" of ministry that we will be using within our student ministry at Christ The Savior. The philosophy of ministry is "our tool" to help us (as a student ministry) reach the mission of our church: Reaching people to know, love and serve Christ.



If you have a ministry thought or suggestion that we can do in each one of these areas, please let us know.

Meet Me Under The Bridge

This Sunday, we are going into Indianapolis and will be helping out with a ministry called Meet Me Under The Bridge. We (signed-up event) are meeting at the church at 1:45 and will go help serve the meal, hangout with those who are homeless and Sarah will lead us (them) in a few songs. We will be down there from 2:30 - 4:30. After our goodbyes and clean up and drive back to CTS, we should be back around 5:15.

This is a "send" event. We have plenty of "send" events planned and numerous of them will be with organizations/ministries that we will have an ongoing partnership with.

Meet Me Under the Bridge

Their Website

More information on this ministry and others will be available soon. Also, in the next week or two, we will have the next date for Meet Me Under The Bridge.

No Oasis Tonight

Reminder: We will not be having Oasis tonight due to it being Halloween. We will return to our normal day and time next Sunday as we begin to take a look at the series on Invisible. Check below for details on the series.

ACTS: What Does It Mean ?

In the future, you will be hearing about ACTS. We are not trying to be "sacrilegious" but we will be using it (ACTS) as an acronym to describe a philosophy of ministry. We recognize that each student is at a different spot in their Christian walk and we want to gear ministry to each one of them. Here is a brief summary:

Attract

We want to attract students to Christ and to the ministry of Christ The Savior.

Connect

We want to connect students to God to to fellow students already connected to Christ The Savior.

Transform

We want students lives to transform into the likeness of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Send

We want to send students out to be the hands and feet of Christ so we can influence our community and impact our world.

The Invisible Series

THE INVISIBLES:

Series Overview

We are surrounded by the invisibles. These are people who simply want to know someone cares, someone notices—people who want to know God cares. Some of us would even say we feel that way—invisible to an entire world, daily passing us by. Whether that feeling is a familiar one or not, the reality is that each one of us has felt invisible at one point or another. But we didn’t stay that way. God saw us. He sees the invisibles. And because God took notice of us, we are able to open our eyes to see those around us.

Session One: Can You See Me? (November 7)
Sometimes you can stand in a room or walk down a hallway or sit in a chair and no one notices you. It’s not that you have some type of special ability that makes you invisible—people just don’t see you. They know nothing about you—nor do they seem to want to know anything about you. It’s like you’re not even there, even when you are physically in the room. You’re invisible. The good news is Jesus sees invisible people—even those who never realized they were invisible.

Session Two: In Focus (November 14)

Some people go unnoticed. There are people in the background of our lives we never see. Maybe it’s the guy at the gas station or the girl at the coffee shop. Maybe it’s the girl sitting in the lunchroom, or the guy hanging out in the back of the youth room. There are people all around us who we treat as invisible. But because of how God has seen us, because of what we’ve experienced personally, our vision is changed. How can we begin to see the people in our lives every day that may normally go overlooked? How can we see the people halfway around the world that go unnoticed? What can we do to bring those around us in focus?

Session Three: Seeing Beyond the Seen (November 21)

Sometimes what we really want isn’t what we are asking for. Sometimes what we really need is invisible to us. Thankfully Jesus sees us, really sees us. He sees the obvious physical needs and the more subtle spiritual ones too. And not only does He see them, He cares enough to do something about them both. When it comes to reaching out to the invisibles, when we provide friendship, water, help—sometimes it just isn’t enough. There’s a deeper, spiritual need that can only be met through Jesus Christ. And because of that, we do both—we help with the physical need but point them to Jesus Christ for the spiritual one.

No Oasis: 24th & 31st

Remember, we will not have Oasis on the next two Sunday's. The 24th, we are off for Fall Break and the 31st, we are off for Halloween. We will come back on Sunday, November 7th when we start the series Invisible.