We need your help! We are currently looking at clothing options for the store this summer. Instead of just choosing what we think looks good, we want to hear your thoughts. So, we have a 5 question survey for you. Please help us out by clicking on the following link to see some designs and choose what you like best!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LTHX6X5
A special “Thanks” goes to Caroline Knowles for modeling these items!
Think about what it means to be your parents’ child. How are you like your mom or dad? How are you different? How much of your identity is tied up in whose child you are? Why?
Read 1 John 3:1-3 twice, stopping to think about verse 1.
What is the promise found in this passage?
What does it mean to be called a child of God?
Why is it so important that Christians know God loves them unconditionally?
According to these verses, what should your motivation be for becoming pure? Why?
How does being God’s child change the way you look at and treat others?
Nothing beats being God’s child! If you’re a Christian, that’s your identity. Let’s face it, where else can you go to find unconditional love and acceptance but in His arms? He is the Holy God who knows and has made everything. Yet He is willing to take us for His own!
And it doesn’t stop there. In today’s passage, John assured us not only of our identity in God but also of the future that lies waiting for us. And although he doesn’t tell us exactly what it’ll be like, one thing’s for sure: we’re going to be with our Father! That alone should convince you it’s going to be more awesome than anything you can ever imagine!
“The Crestridge campership program funded by gifts from friends, parents, staffers, and campers makes it possible for girls to attend camp who might not be able to otherwise. This program was established in 1970 by a family who gives a camper’s fee each year in memory of their daughter. Twelve to fifteen girls have attended camp each summer since the Fill-O-Pillow program was started. Our dream is that this fund will grow, and that many more girls will benefit from it.” This insert is found in the 1973 yearbook from Crestridge. We have continued the scholarship program through the years. For the summer of 2012, more than 30 girls will attend Crestridge on scholarship! It is amazing to see how God has continued to bless Crestridge! Scholarship funds are still given by friends, parents, staffers, campers, and Camp Crestridge Alumnae and Friends. During each session, we give the campers an opportunity to give to Fill-O-Pillow at our Sunday morning worship service. If you would like to learn more about and give to the scholarship fund, please click here.
align with God; avoid the harmful; adopt the beneficial: godly choices/improved service to God
Conversation Starters
How can you keep this conversation going at home? Try bouncing some of these questions around at the dinner table, as you’re driving your kids to school or an activity, or even while you’re shopping together:
For Preschoolers
• After giving a snack or a dessert at some point during the week, play a game mentioning different sweets that your child likes. Point out the fact that too much of something, even though we may like it, can make us sick. Tell her that we must always remember when to stop.
For School-Age
• Ask your child to remember a time when he ate too much and felt sick. Ask him to imagine being old and feeling too big and too tired to do the things he loves. Remind him that by not taking care of our bodies, over time we will grow overweight and unhealthy.
For Students
• Discuss the results of people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs. Find current stories of celebrities whose lives are in ruin due to excess.
We all make mistakes. You can’t argue with that; it’s a given. I have to confess, however, that I hate owning up to mine. And since I specialize in making mistakes, I have to keep owning up to them over and over again! Sometimes I think I should just hang a sign around my neck, “Yes, I did it. I’m sorry.” Then I won’t have to speak up anymore!
Maybe you know what I’m talking about.
Read 1 John 1:8-10. Read verse 9 out loud.
According to the passage, how do we deceive ourselves?
What did John mean when he wrote that the truth is not in us?
What does this passage tell you about God’s forgiveness?
Why is it important that you recognize your sin and confess it?
What sins do you need to confess to God today? Seek His forgiveness; He’s willing to give it!
Last week we were reminded that we’re liars. In today’s passage, we’re forced to admit that we make a lot of mistakes. Being honest about ourselves can be difficult. All these confessions get us down and make us feel like failures.
Yet we don’t have to stop there. Defeat isn’t for God’s children. Jesus has overcome, and through Him, forgiveness and fresh starts become ours to claim. The point of these verses is that you are a sinner. If you claimed otherwise, you’d be a liar. But God is a God of forgiveness. And if you sincerely ask for forgiveness, He will forgive you. No doubt about that—He promised, and He always keeps His word. It’s what happens afterward that’s up to you. Changing for the better is the mark of true repentance. It’s one of the best ways you can ever thank Him for all He’s done for you.
During session 2A last summer, five girls were tapped out for the Belle challenge. Blake Bitle, Avery Rasmussen, Ginny Stevens, and Ansley Thomas achieved the rank of Trekker and Addi Baker achieved the rank of Belle.
Can you guess what is missing in this picture? For many years, the space between the Gym and the Chapel was used for campfire. That changed in 1999 when the Pavilion made its appearance thanks to CCAF (Camp Crestridge Alumnae and Friends). We now use the Pavilion for skills, Village Activities, and Campfire when it rains. The current campfire area is located between the gym and the lake. The Pavilion was a great addition!
by Polly House on Monday, December 19, 2011
If parents and student leaders think their precious teens aren’t sending naked pictures of themselves to their boyfriends and girlfriends, they need to think again. It’s happening.
Students (teens age 12-17) are using their mobile phones as portable pornography devices.
There’s a name for this: sexting. It’s defined as sending sexually suggestive messages or photos via text messaging on mobile phones.
Sexting went mainstream in June 2011 when the national news outlets reported New York Representative Anthony D. Weiner sent suggestive photographs of himself to women he met over the Internet. Some of them returned the “favor,” setting off a firestorm of controversy. Calls for his resignation from Congress came from both Democrats and Republicans.
While Weiner was adamant that he would not resign his seat, claiming he had broken no laws, pressure from his Democratic colleagues led to his June 16 resignation.
This was an adult who certainly should use better judgment, but teens need a good dose of judgment as well. They are old enough to know better, but sadly, studies show they aren’t doing better.
A survey conducted by The Pew Internet and American Life Project in 2009 including only minors (age 12-17) said 4 percent of mobile phone-owning teens say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images or videos of themselves to someone else via text message, and 15 percent have received such messages.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy* and CosmoGirl.com* commissioned a survey of teenagers age 13-19 to explore electronic activity in 2008. (Note this study was more than three years ago.)
This survey said that 22 percent of girls and 18 percent of boys have sent nude or seminude pictures or videos of themselves via mobile phone. The survey also said that 37 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys said they had sent sexually suggestive messages to someone.
Mandy Crow, editor of EC, a student devotional magazine published by LifeWay, said church kids are not immune.
“We talk with teens and student leaders often,” she said. “We hear this everywhere. It’s happening with church kids just like unchurched kids.
“They seem to think it’s flirty or funny,” Crow said. “They just don’t see the long-term consequences.”
A panel of girls’ ministry leaders talked about sexting during a large group session at the 2011 Girls’ Ministry Forum. LifeWay’s Girls Ministry Director Pam Gibbs acknowledged it’s a conversation church leaders must be involved in.
“These young girls are sometimes naïve,” Gibbs said. “Often, they are good kids and just want to be popular. They don’t get it that this is something that can follow them for the rest of their lives.”
The panel agreed that sexting is happening with church kids. It often comes out of peer pressure or boyfriend/girlfriend insistence.
According to the NCPTUP study (relating to those who admitted to having sent or posted sexually suggestive content):
MTV,* a television network known for programming related to youth culture, aired “Sexting In America: When Privates Go Public.”
Two young adults were profiled. At the time of the program, one was a 19-year-old girl who, at age 16, sent a nude photograph of herself to an ex-boyfriend who said he would get back together with her if she would send it. The boy instead sent the photo to everybody in his contact list and soon her photo was all over the school.
She said she not only felt betrayed but experienced “brutal and terrible harassment” from classmates that included vulgar name-calling.
A young man,** 20 when the program was made, received naked pictures from his girlfriend when he was 17. They had a fight and he retaliated by calling up the picture on his cell phone and hitting the “send all” on his contact list. The girl’s picture went out to more than 70 people, including friends, teachers, parents and grandparents.
But by that time, he’d had his 18th birthday — still in high school but legally an adult.
He was arrested for distributing child pornography — she was still 17 — and put on five years’ probation. In addition, he was required to register on the public sex offender list.
He said he was kicked out of college, can’t find a job and can’t live with his dad because his dad’s house is near a school. He is required to attend a class for sex offenders, where, as he said, he’s sitting in a room with “perverts and rapists.”
Unless his attorney is successful in getting him taken off the list, he could remain on the sex offender list until he is in his 40s.
Depending on state laws, being on a sex offender list places limits on where a person can live and with whom they can associate. It also can limit the activities they can legally do.
These two young adults profiled on the MTV program didn’t claim to be Christians or profess involvement in a church, but “good church kids” are not immune to the pressure of sexting.
Crow said it’s important that student leaders and parents be proactive in dealing with sexting.
“Bottom line, it’s child pornography,” she said.
“Student leaders need to help parents know what to do and how to talk to their teenagers about sexting,” she said. “Parents need to be empowered to speak out. The issue isn’t going away.”
While laws vary from state to state, the person creating and sending the image is possibly looking at charges of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a minor. Being convicted of those charges can carry up to 20 years in prison.
While almost two dozen states are considering changes to laws that would separate sexting from the same category as child pornography, that hasn’t happened yet.
Crow said, “Helping students understand that once they hit ‘send’ they have lost all control of where that photo or video goes is a place to begin the conversation.”
Mandy Crow, editor of LifeWay’s EC magazine, and Pam Gibbs, girls ministry director, suggested parents and youth ministry leaders ask questions such as these to get the conversation started on sexting:
*Reader/Viewer discretion is highly recommended ** ABC News Nightline article on the same young man
Everybody knows this group of people lie all the time—because they generally get caught in their lies. Who are they?
Here’s a clue: their name begins with a “C.” Celebrities? Yes, but that’s not the group I have in mind. Give up? Try Christians. Yup, we’re guilty, too.
Read 1 John 1:5-7. Concentrate on verse 6.
What was John’s main point in this passage?
What does it mean to walk in the light?
How are you walking in the light? Explain.
Based on John’s description of liars, would you consider yourself one? Explain.
What does walking in darkness look like? Give examples.
In what ways have you lied to yourself and to God?
John wrote that if what we do doesn’t reflect what we say, then we’re liars. If we say we love Christ and obey Him, but our lives say otherwise, we’re lying. Hits close to home, doesn’t it?
See, it’s through your actions that you prove you are God’s child. When your words match what you do, when what you say you believe affects how you live—people have less reason to doubt you and more reason to give God a chance.
It’s tough but true: because we bear His name, everything we do reflects on Him. So if you truly love God, your life will reflect Him. And people will listen when you talk about your faith because they see it in action in your life.
If you came to camp after 1998, you missed out on an activity called “Camper Day”. Camper Day was a day during the session when the majority of the staff took off and the campers were in charge. Campers became counselors, skill directors, and even the Summer Director! Each cabin would vote on who they wanted as their counselor. The staff would elect campers to take the Director positions. Now I don’t want you to think that there was no supervision in camp. There were some staff who stayed like Johnnie or Marva, the Horseback, Waterfront and the Crafts Directors. If I were a camper on that day, it sounds like it would be pretty fun! But I’m not sure that it was as fun for the Directors who stayed in camp. Camper Day was an activity from 1955-1998. If any of you have Camper Day stories, we’d love to hear them!
