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March 2017 - Parent Update

Parents,

This Sunday at ROCC Youth, Pastor Corey is wrapping up a series on helping students cope with stress, called "Rest." Over the next three weeks, I will be leading a series called, "Bro, Do You Even" as we study listening, learning, and leaning on God from Samson's life found in the book of Judges.

Today is Ash Wednesday which serves as the first day of Lent. We challenged students this past Sunday to find something to give up over the next 40 days leading up Easter Sunday. Piggybacking off Corey's message from Sunday, there are many things that begin to take priority over our daily pursuit of God and the call to grow in our faith. You might ask your student if they have decided to give anything up (or add something like living out the Beatitudes on a daily basis) in observance of Lent and hold them accountable to try helping them grow in their walk with the Lord! We pray that when Easter rolls around, we will see lots of spiritual fruit overflowing from practices observed throughout the Lenten season.

Last month we challenged our students to see which small group could raise the most money for Salem Pregnancy Care Center. We raised $172.36 total; the seventh-grade girls will be receiving a pizza party this Sunday for the most money raised within their group!

Brian Edmonds - Youth Pastor
SAVE THE DATE
- March 18 – Blacklight Dodgeball Tournament Fundraiser. Details and registration at roccyouth.org
- April 2 – Cookout Fundraiser following second service
- April 16 – No Youth – Easter Sunday
- April 21-23 – D:Now Weekend. Details and registration at roccyouth.org
- May 12 – Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser
- May 14 – No Youth – Mother’s Day
- May 28 – No Youth – Memorial Day
- June 4 – Graduate Sunday
- June 18-23 – BigStuf High School Camp in Panama City, FL (Five of our sixty-five student spots are left)
- July 22-29 - Middle School Mission Trip to Salt Lick, KY
- July 30 – Recap Sunday – Parents are invited to ROCC youth from 4-6pm as students share about their summer trips
- August 13 – Youth Sunday - Students will lead in worship/messages for both morning services
- August 27 – Promotion Sunday
Blacklight Dodgeball Tournament
March 18 - March 186pm - 9:30pmLOCATION: River Oaks Community Church - Gym
Students in grades 6-12 are encouraged to join us for a Blacklight Dodgeball tournament to help support our high school students going on a summer trip. Teams can be made of 6 people only (not 5 and not 7). The cost is $40 for a team or $10 to register as an individual for us to place you on a team. Register your team online on or before March 12. Friends and family are invited to join as spectators for a suggested donation of $2 or more! No one over the age of 18 can play unless they are still a senior in high school.

Middle School brackets will be played from 6-7:30 pm. High School brackets will be played from 7:30-9:30pm.

Register your team, or as an individual, BEFORE MARCH 12 at roccyouth.org!
https://www.youtube.com/watch/zOCBTvr7TCE
D:Now Weekend
April 21 - April 235pm - 12pmLOCATION: River Oaks Community Church
This April we will be hosting our first ever D:Now weekend. During the weekend we will have worship services in the evenings and during the day on Saturday. Students will also experience some fun activities during the day on Saturday to foster on environment of connection and spiritual growth in a bigger context. The cost of the weekend is $50 per student.

Please register at roccyouth.org by Sunday, March 19.
Here are two great resources to help you understand the teen generation as you parent! You can check out their websites and sign up for email communications when new content is generated.

https://cpyu.org/ and https://axis.org/ct/
SUMMER TRIPS
BigStuf High School Camp - ONLY 3 SPOTS LEFT
June 18 - June 236:30am - 11:30pmLOCATION: Panama City, FL
THIS TUESDAY IS THE LAST DAY WE CAN ADD SPOTS.

We will stay in a beach-front hotel and worship with over 1500 other students from around the country. We are highly anticipating that God will do more than we can ask or imagine. BigStuf delivers incredible big-room sessions, featuring dynamic speakers and gifted worship leaders. There is also plenty of free time for activities like volleyball and basketball tournaments, swimming in the pool/ocean, and hanging out with friends. Students are guaranteed to return home with lasting memories and a deeper faith! The total cost of the trip is $550.

Please email [email protected] if you'd like to have one of the remaining 4 spots! Our camp week has already sold out, so hurry before they are gone!

Remaining balances of $480 are due on or before May 1, 2017, and are payable via check or the

MyRiverOaks online payment portal. Fundraising options will be announced soon.
Kentucky Middle School Mission Trip
July 22 - July 298am - 4pmLOCATION: Salt Lick, Kentucky
This summer we are headed back to the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky for our middle school mission trip. We will have an opportunity to serve people in need by working on their homes. Service projects may include painting, roofing, or a variety of other construction projects. We will also have an opportunity to provide an outreach event for the community during one of our days there. There will be evening worship services and free time each day. More details for this trip will be made available in the spring. If you want to get a jump start on fundraising, a sample support letter can be found here.

The cost for this trip is $485. A deposit of $100 is due by April 23, 2017 (NON-REFUNDABLE). The remainder is due on June 25, 2017.

(Deposits and trip payments may be made online using the My River Oaks Payment Portal or with cash or check at the church office.
Getting your car washed this spring? Use CODE: 1234 all year long and the youth ministry gets 10% of all sales that goes straight to scholarshipping students on trips!
Discussion Questions to Get Your Family Talking
HomeWord.com -
Getting your teenagers talking can be quite a challenge. You've probably had a conversation that went like this:

Parent: Did you have a good day?
Teen: Yeah.
Parent: What did you do?
Teen: Nothing.
Parent: Did anything exciting happen?
Teen: No.
Parent: Any plans for the weekend?
Teen: Not really.

Some of the challenge in parent-teen conversation is due to the type of questions parents ask. When parents ask questions that can be answered with one or two words, they usually don't lead to great conversations.

To get your family talking, try using open-ended questions that create the possibility for more engagement in conversation. These won't guarantee long answers from your teen, but the more thought you put into the questions you ask, the better the chances are that your kids will engage with you.

Here are some suggestions for open-ended questions which may help you get thinking about creating your own:

- What was your understanding of what happened when _____________?

- What would you like to see happen when you ____________?

- What do you think caused them to ____________?

- What were the two best things that happened to you today?

- What was the most surprising thing about your day?

- What do you hope your life will look like 10 years from now?

- How has your opinion of our family changed over the years?

- If you could change something about our family, what would it be?

- If you had to choose, what would you say is the best decision you've ever made?

- What sorts of things are most important to you in life right now?
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