Snow Days

Hey everyone,

This is just an update for tomorrow's youth and for the record. Tomorrow we are anticipating some bad winter weather, so here is the gameplan on how things work.

If Carroll County Public Schools are closed or have an early dismissal, we will NOT be having Ignite/Outbreak Youth wednesday night.

If Carroll County Public Schools are 2 hours late or open- we will play it by ear and let students know by 12:00pm.

If you have any questions, feel free to call any of the youth leader's numbers, but mine specifically if you don't have one- it's 410-244-7004. Or email me at Scott.robertson.2@gmail.com.

Thanks so much! Hope to see you at our super bowl bash on sunday!

Super Bowl Bash
Where: GFC Basement
When: we'll be there all day, we could use help with setup and such! But show up around 5 for most. We will also have video games and snacks available as if we were having a regular youth night in case you're not interested in the game.

~Scott

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

Dear Parents of Grace Fellowship Chapel,

The Bible is clear that our lives have seasons. I have only been through a few seasons in my short life, but one of the best is coming to an end. I recently accepted a full-time Youth and Young Adult Pastor position at another church in Frederick. I can honestly say that this was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. I did not make it lightly. It was only after a lot of prayer and thought did I move in this new direction. I know God is calling me to this new congregation for a reason, and I want to obey that call on my life.

Just to make a few things clear. This decision did not have anything to do with Grace Fellowship Chapel. I love this church, and I love the people here. Deeply. That does not change. In fact, my love for you is what made this so difficult. I am sure Paul loved the churches he helped build, but still understood God was calling him to other ministries. One thing God has taught me in this is that he does not call us to make easy decisions. Instead, he calls us to make the right decisions—the decisions that fulfill His will on earth as it is in heaven. And sometimes they are tough. It has been my prayer that despite the difficulty of this decision God will use it build up the Church.

Let’s all pray the students continue to follow Him passionately, and pray we can do the same in our lives.

With much love,

Kevin Syes

Power Lab!

Last week was a lot of fun. It was pretty hard to miss at GFC, but if you somehow weren't around, this past week was Vacation Bible School. The theme this year was Power Lab. I had the honor of leading a group of eight 5th and 6th graders all week--the oldest students at camp. It was a blast! Not only did I get to connect with some students that are coming into the youth ministry this year that I hadn't met yet, but I also was able to be with a ton of high school students who were giving their time to help out all week long. The support from the high schoolers was really great--you all always blow me away! Thanks to everyone that helped!

~ Kevin Syes

Summmmer update

Its been a fun summer, and its a little crazy to think we are already well into July! But the summer isn't over yet. First, we have one more block party coming up early next month. The last one was a blast. We had hotdogs, played football, and just enjoyed a beautiful day. Don't miss the next one coming up!



Also, Student Life camp is just around the corner!

Contagious Worship

God moved in a powerful way this weekend at Journey. Lives were changed and we worshiped like we had never worshiped before. It was fantastic. The students involved in that weekend put together the pictured worship time themselves. It was their idea. They called the shots on most of the night. And it gets me so excited I can't contain myself.

I invited some close friends, Ben and Amy, to come and experience the worship with the students this past week, and they sent me an email the next day. It was such an encouragement to me that I asked if they minded me putting it on the blog. Check it out...
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Kevin,

We were blown away by the youth group tonight. We had never seen so many students so passionately on fire for the Lord. It's evident to us all the leaders have a passion they shared with the youth. Worship was amazing. We have never seen these same students worship like they did tonight in church. It felt safe. The students were comfortable and were not troubled with what was going on around them (outside of worship). We enjoyed hearing stories of how God moved everyone on Saturday night. We were talking about how these students, in the not to distant future, are going to become our leaders. If they can keep the same passion we saw tonight: KAPOW! Awesomeness will happen.

Thanks for inviting us,
Ben & Amy
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Huge thanks to all the students that put their passion to work for an awesome night. Matt, you are amazing. Thanks for all your help with this and your hunger for the Lord. Also: Luke, Josh--it was so cool to see you put this together.

~Kevin Syes

Our one year journey

I still have a lot of prayer and reflection to do before I write an entire entry on Journey08. God moved in a really powerful way at Journey this year and it deeply impacted me. As I have taken some time to reflect on this weekend, I have also taken some time to reflect on how far God has taken us this past year. To show this, I have put two photos below. One from Journey07 and one from this year, Journey 08. Wow.

Journey 2007

Just one year later...this year at Journey08. Praise God!

Journey 08

In one year God has doubled the number of high school students in this ministry. In one year.

Even more exciting than the number of students that came was the amount of passion on the weekend. Not only has God doubled the number of students involved, but has doubled the passion of those students as well. That was the most exciting thing for me. HUGE thanks to everyone that made God's work possible this weekend. Thank each one of you for being there for me this weekend and supporting me.

Wed Night: four twenty three

Last Wednesday we began something new. We are giving a camera to one TruthAction student leader every week and allowing them to be the official photographer for that night. Last week Morgan did a fantastic job and took some really great shots, including the one above. Every Wednesday we are going to choose one photo to be the "Photo of the Week." The above picture is the first one! I love this picture because it shows a leader spending time with some students.

This past Wednesday was another big week for us! We had a lot of fun. Here are some other random shots from this past Wednesday--can you find me in the mass of people below?:~Kevin