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June Parent Newsletter

Hey Parents!
How's it going? So sorry for the delay in getting the Newsletter out this month! We have so many moving pieces and I wanted to make sure you had all of the accurate information!

May Recap

It is so hard to believe that the school year is almost over! May was jam packed with a lot of incredible times full of memory making and celebration. Here are a few of the highlights

Our Senior Celebration was a fun night of honoring our Seniors, presenting them with gifts, and charging them as they continue their journey after High School. I want to encourage each of you - whether you have a Senior or not, to remember each of these students in your prayers and even write them notes and cards of encouragement as you think of it. This event is always bittersweet, but we know God has amazing things in store for our grads!

The gsYouth family picnic was a blast! If you didn't make it, don't worry - there will be more opportunities for this type of fellowship. We laid out our summer plans, which you will find below. We also had a ton of great food and fun playing family games and even racing some kayaks. Be looking in the coming months for more opportunities for great times as a family.

June Updates

Our summer programming is about to kick off! We have tailored this summer to make sure your students are connecting, learning about Jesus, and just plain having fun. Every single Monday this summer (starting on the 19th) we will be meeting at Liz's Parkview Cafe from 10 am to 11:30 am to study the Book of Ephesians. This is open to all students in middle and high school. We have heard so many testimonies of growth and excitement from our students about this Bible study over the last several summers and the staff of Liz's love having us every Monday. Please encourage your students to make this a priority. We will be starting a ride-sharing post in the Parent Facebook group. If you are unable to drive your student during work, or on the other hand, maybe you have a mini van and can shove extra students in your vehicle as you bring your student, we want to connect you so that we can get as many students there as possible!

Our Wednesday nights this summer will be changing a little bit. We felt like the WAR events went extremely well, but as school activities started back towards the end of summer and also as missions trips were going on, we saw drops in attendance. With this in mind, we wanted to be strategic about our Wednesday nights. We will kick off our Wednesday night programming with a Water War on June 21st. Then, we will move to a specific schedule of Wednesday night events. You can see all of the dates in the calendar section of this e-mail. Each of these will go from 7-8:30 PM and we will meet in The Venue before the night gets kicked off.

Another of our favorite Summer events are our weekend bonfires and lake days. Our Summer Kick-Off Party will be Friday, June 16th at Lake Doster Beach. We will have volleyball, games, swimming, and roasting marshmallows and hotdogs. It's going to be a blast. Each month we will provide an opportunity for students to just come and hang out with their friends. This is also an awesome opportunity for your students to bring friends who don't have a church home! In July you will notice that we will have specific events for Middle School and High School, but the June event is open to all students.

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I would also like to share with you that Katie Cook, who has served so faithfully in our ministry for the last 2 1/2 years has felt the Lord calling her away from being on staff with gsYouth. Her last day will be June 15th. She is exploring opportunities that God is putting in her path and we commend her for her obedience to the Holy Spirit as she walks in His footsteps. She has been an invaluable asset to this ministry for the last several years and she will be dearly missed, but we are so excited to see what Jesus continues to do through her servant heart and passionate following of Him. Please pray for her and for the Youth Ministry as we look to find the perfect person to continue the work of loving students to life.

Communication Opportunities

One last tidbit: you may have read this on our Parents Facebook page or through our notes from the Parent Meeting, but if you are not receiving our update texts, please take a moment to text '@gsyparents' to the number 81010 and you will start receiving text updates from us. If you are reading this and aren't a part of the Parent Facebook, please connect with me on Facebook and I'll get you added!

We have also put together a brief 10 question survey to ask some questions about gsYouth and how we are doing. It is anonymous and every single response will be read and considered as we look to partner with you well and disciple your student together. Thank you! Here is that link for you.

We love having the opportunity to serve you and your families. If there is any way that we can serve you better, please let me know. We would always love to connect with you over the phone or coffee! Never hesitate to reach out!

-Pastor Kenneth
Calendar of Events
Summer Kick-Off Party
June 16 - June 167 pm - 9 pmLOCATION: Lake Doster Beach
This event is open to all students 6th-12th grade! We will be playing volleyball, swimming, kayaking, roasting smores and hotdogs over the fire, and having an all around blast! We hope your students can join us as we kick off the summer right!
The Breakfast Club
June 19 - June 1910 am - 11:30 amLOCATION: Liz's Parkview Cafe
Our summer Bible study will kick off on June 19th at Liz's from 10 am to 11:30 am. We will be digging in to the truth in Paul's letter to the church of Ephesus.
Water War!
June 21 - June 217 pm - 8:30 pmLOCATION: The Venue
We will be kicking off the first of our Summer Wednesday Nights with a massive Water War. This event is open to middle school and high school students and will be an absolute blast.

Our other Wednesday Nights during the summer will be:

July 5

July 19

August 9
Nicaragua Missions Trip
June 22 - June 29LOCATION: Nicaragua
Our Missions team to Nicaragua will be gone June 22-June 29. The Congregation will be praying over this missions Team on Sunday, June 18th during service.
The Breakfast Club
June 26 - June 2610 am - 11:30 amLOCATION: Liz's Parkview Cafe
Join us at Liz's from 10 am to 11:30 am. We will be digging in to the truth in Paul's letter to the church of Ephesus.
Resources
Pass a Legacy of Faith to Your Kids
Jim Burns -President of HomeWord and Executive Director of the HomeWord Center for Youth and Family at Azusa Pacific University
The thought of passing on a legacy of faith from generation to generation sounds great, but where does a parent begin? As a starting point, try thinking about the spiritual, relational, physical, emotional, and mental characteristics of your life. Then, ask yourself what kind of legacy do you want to leave with your children in these five areas of life? Following, you'll find some goals you might want to pursue. As you review them, feel free to add more specific practical ideas of your own.

- Spiritual: To love and obey God, teach integrity, value involvement in a church, grow in faith, learn and live by the Bible, develop a biblical worldview, be a disciple of Christ, serve others.

- Relational: Times of fun and laughter, family bonding vacation times, recreation times together, ability to resolve conflict with family member, listening skills, how to treat the opposite sex, developing lasting friendships, investing in the lives of others.

- Physical: Eat healthy foods, manage stress, exercise, financial integrity and stewardship, cleanliness and health issues, how to work hard, how to budget your financial resources.

- Emotional: Build healthy friendships, find times of rest and replenishment, build confidence and a healthy self-image, build trust and unconditional love, develop character traits such as discipline, perseverance, courage, and purity.

- Mental: Read good books, learn new skills, write and discuss ideas, discover how to think critically, become skilled at planning, learn decision-making skills.

These are good starting points for identifying what you want to teach your children. However, try hard not to overwhelm them or be overwhelmed yourself. Something is better than nothing, and those who don't aim at anything won't find their way.

Remember that your words are important, but they can only go so far. So much of the work of passing on a legacy of faith takes place when we model it ourselves and believe in our children. To do that, we must make sure that we as parents are working on these same issues within our own lives. It will take a plan, intentionality, and help from above. But I believe you can lead the way for your children and make a generation difference for lifetimes to come.
Social Media 101: Teens and Information Sharing
HomeWord.com -HomeWord.com
The Changing Landscape
Back in the days when social media was in its embryonic stage, the public's fear of online predators---where perverts stalked children and teenagers in chat rooms---gave rise to a set of safety guidelines that included the nearly universal warning that kids should be taught to not share any personal information online. While that guideline still exists, as social media platforms have advanced, today it is advice largely ignored.

Social DNA
Today's social media is based upon the premise of sharing personal information: who you are, your interests, what you think, who you are with, where you are, and what you are doing. Social media technology and platforms are constructed with this in mind. It's part of social media's DNA. To avoid sharing any personal information literally means not using social media.

Teens Growing Comfortable
As the social media landscape has changed, teens have grown more comfortable in sharing personal information. According to Pew Internet & American Life Project's "Report on Teens, Social Media, and Privacy," released in May 2013, since 2006, teens are more likely to share photos of themselves, school name, the city where they live, email address, and cell phone number via social media. While not measured in 2006, Pew found in 2012 that 92% of teens post their real name, 84% post their interests, 82% post their birth date, and 16% have their social media profile set to automatically include their location in posts.

Risk in Perspective
Stalkers and predators do exist (whether online or offline.) Identifying personal information is part of the predator's DNA too. As such, social media use does include a measure of risk. But the notion that a stalker lurks behind every new friend or follow request has been sufficiently debunked. So the risk is fairly minimal and can be adequately managed.

Use Privacy Settings
Risk management means helping kids set adequate privacy settings on all social media platforms. Each social media provider will have a different method for privacy settings. The key is to guard against all profiles/posts being made accessible to the public. Kids should maintain a closed circle of friends/followers who cannot opt into their profile and posts without approval.

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June Parent Newsletter

Hey Parents!

Calendar of Events

Summer Kick-Off Party

The Breakfast Club

Water War!

Nicaragua Missions Trip

The Breakfast Club

Resources

Pass a Legacy of Faith to Your Kids

Social Media 101: Teens and Information Sharing