Well, I am indeed still settling in here at COS. There are still so many people to meet, I’m trying to take it a little bit at a time (mainly so once I meet someone I actually remember having met them, otherwise what’s the point, right?). Youth group is in full swing with regular meetings, activities, and service projects, while still leaving room for change and flexibility.

Every other Sunday night the high school youth group meets, while the other every other Sunday night, the junior high group (Team 78) meets. These meetings have been going well overall. One high school meeting entertained a group discussion of the importance of knowing Jesus as our Lord and what this has to do with calling oneself a Christian. It was also after this meeting, however, that Darwin Glassford and I agreed it’s harshly evident the youth at COS have no knowledge of the Heidelberg Catechism. [Anywhere from 10-15 students show up for either youth group time; sometimes different students come altogether, but the numbers hover around the 10-15 range].

Team 78 splits on the first three Wednesday nights into boys and girls small groups. Joel Westmaas is leading the boys small group and has enough creative ideas to keep the boys active, learning, and discussing deep issues all at the same time. I am leading the girls small group, which is indeed small with only 3 girls attending. This time together is proving effective though, as I have already seen a difference in the way the girls interact with each other and with me. The girls group has chosen to keep an ‘open forum’ feel to our small group so we can feel free to discuss what’s on the girls’ hearts each week.

The recent activities the youth groups have been involved in were paintballing (14 high school students came) and the Switchfoot and Relient K concert (11 students came with our group but we met up with at least 4 more from our youth group plus their friends). Both activities were a smashing success (like the paintball that smashed into my ribs).

Students from both youth groups helped out with the ACCESS food drive this month. It was a great time walking a few neighborhoods and collecting bags of food. It was especially enjoyable to watch the 3 junior high boys who came interact with the 3 high school boys who came.

Here are some of my goals for the next few months:

1. Continue meeting with youth group students (at least 2 students per week), especially with those who don’t come to the Sunday night youth group meetings.

2. Instigate the pairing of adult mentors (especially council members) with those youth who either lack involvement in either church or youth group, or who might benefit from a mentoring relationship.

3. Initiate catechism classes to be held weekly (possibly in place of the curriculum already in use for Sunday morning church school).

4. Visit each school at least once per month (at lunchtime, just to say “hi”). These are the schools COS 7^th-12^th graders attend: (I may have missed 1 or 2!)

Ada Christian Middle GR Christian Middle GR Christian High

City Middle City High East Kentwood High

East GR High Forest Hills Central Forest Hills Northern

Northview High School