Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
Jan
9
I posted this a long time ago, but since the event is getting closer and many of you have been asking about hotels inthe area, I figured I would post this again. We have 4 hotels that we have worked discounts with for those attending ATF in Nashville this spring. Feel free to use these if you would like, or find your own. There is limited space, so be sure to reserve rooms soon, and don’t forget to mention that you are with ATF when you do! Please keep in mind the deadlines that you must reserve your rooms by in order to get these prices. Here the hotels are:
Super 8 Nashville
720 Royal Parkway
Nashville, TN 37214
877.900.1999
Distance from Venue: 8.6 miles
Rate: $65.00
Reserve By: 02.20.09
Country Inn & Suites
590 Donelson Pike
Nashville, TN 37214
615.874.8040
Distance from Venue: 8.0 miles
Rate: $95.00
Reserve By: 02.13.09
Quality Inn & Suites
2401 Brick Church Pike
Nashville, TN 37207
615.226.4600
Distance from Venue: 3.6 miles
Rate: $65.00
Reserve By: 02.20.09
Holiday Inn - The Crossings
201 Crossings Place
Antioch, TN 37013
615.731.2361
Distance from Venue: 13.0 miles
Rate: $82.00
Reserve By: 02.27.09
Also, I am looking for churches near the venue who would be willing to allow another youth group to stay overnight at their church. If that is you, let me know!
Jan
6
Friends, I have recently been made aware of a new online Christian community that you may want to check out. It was started by a group in Nashville, which caught my attention. Here a a blurb from their website that will give you a better idea of what it’s about:
“The God Nation is a Christian Social Network, or as we call it, Facebook for the Faithful! It’s a place where everyone can celebrate their faith and not be buried with inappropriate advertising! The Fans and Bands come together to celebrate through music. Upload your favorite songs to share with everyone. Maybe you enjoy writing and blogging. Inspire others and become inspired at The God Nation. Create a photo album of fun and inspirational pictures… vacation, bands, church functions, and friends, family, whatever! Meet members of The God Nation that share the same interests and form your own group. Join The God Nation today and let’s celebrate our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ!”
Feel free to check it out at www.thegodnation.com.
Jan
5
Hello,
The youth ministry has its ups and downs, but overall it’s one of the best places to work in ministry. Why? Because youth are the next leaders of this generation. I know it gets hard, and you sometimes feel like quitting, but if every youth pastor who ran into troubles quit, then our youth would be lost. I thank you for your faithfulness to the ministry.
Habakkuk 2:3 says: “This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming – it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.”
Thank you for all your hard work and devotion to your ministries. I, myself, along with everyone else at ATF, thank you and appreciate you more than you can imagine. I hope to see you at the event, and I pray that the Lord uses you to reach the youth of this nation.
Andrew Vargas
Team Captain of the Nashville ATF
Jan
2
Happy New Year! I pray that 2009 is a year full of growth for you and your students! I pray that you would grow closer to the Lord and closer to each other, that you would have a deeper understanding of God’s love and would be filled with His heart and His passion!
Dec
31
Everything you ever wanted (or didn’t want) to know about registration!
As you think about registering, here is some information that may clear up questions you may have about the registration process. As always, if you have a question and cannot find the answer, feel free to contact me!
First of all, when you register either online or over the phone, you will have the opportunity to choose the level and section that your seats will be in. We will then assign you to a section, but within that section, seats are first come, first serve (so you may want to arrive a little early so you can choose the part of the section you sit in). We will NOT be selling tickets per seat. This way, if you need to add on, we can try to fit you into the same section, as long as there is room, so that your group can sit together. Also, please keep in mind that on Saturday, the seats that you get in the morning will be your seats for the whole day. We ask that you do not try to move your group in the middle of the day to eliminate confusion.
To choose your section, please refer to the following map of the venue (which is also on the registration page). Please keep in mind that some sections may sell out sooner than others. To find out which sections are still available, feel free to check online when you register or call us.
When you register, there is a $1.99 processing charge that will be added to your order. If you create more than one order, you will be charged this fee again for every additional order. Also, when you register, you must pay for the whole amount of your tickets, unless you are taking advantage of our Buy Now Pay Later program (for information on this, please contact me).
Whether you register online or over the phone, you may pay by check or credit card. At the door we will also be accepting cash. If you are mailing in a check, you will need to print off our check form (which can be found online when you register or which we can e-mail to you) and mail it in with your check. This way, we will be able to process your order quickly and efficiently. Also, please mail in your check as soon as you can after you register. If you are registering before a deadline, your check must be postmarked by the deadline in order to still receive that price.
Once you have submitted your order, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with your order ID number and receipt. Please keep this e-mail for your files. Approximately a week before the event you will receive another e-mail, containing a link to a barcode. Please print this page off and bring it with you to the event. When you get there, we will scan the barcode and give you your tickets. We will NOT be shipping any tickets this year.
Instead of using wristbands as tickets this year, we will be using lanyards. It is very important that your students do not lose or throw away their lanyards before the end of the weekend since they will need them to enter the event on Friday night and Saturday. If someone does lose one, there is a $2 replacement fee.
Finally, be sure to enjoy the event! If there is anything we here at ATF can do to help make the registration process easier for you, please let us know!
Dec
30
We’ve had to make a few changes to our schedule for the event. Here is the updated one:
HERE COMES TROUBLE 08-09 Schedule
Friday PM
4:00 – Registration/Will Call open
6:00 – Doors open
6:30 –YP Event Briefing (lay out tracks for YP’s, parents)
6:59 – One Minute Countdown - START
7:00-7:30 – Worship
7:30-8:20 – Session 1:: Troubletown
9:00 – Concert
Saturday
7:00 – Registration/ Will Call
7:45 – Doors open
8:30-8:40 – Session 2:: the Trouble with the Opposite Sex
8:45-9:35 – Gender specific Sessions
9:45-10:20 – Worship
10:20-11:00 – Heart of Missions
11:00-11:30 – Session 3 :: the Trouble with The Letter (Parent workshop begin)
11:30-12:00 – Session 4 :: the Trouble with Being a Christian
12:15 -1:45 – Lunch – Optional Fast in Workshop room
1:45-2:05– Worship
2:05-3:00 – Session 5 :: the Trouble with Parents
3:15 - Break
3:25-5:00 – Bands/YP Training Tools Workshop (highly recommended to attend)
5:00-6:30 - Dinner
6:45 – 7:20 – Worship
7:20-8:00 – Session 6 :: Calling all Troublemakers
9:00 – Finale
Dec
29
Good afternoon, friends! I pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas! I was blessed to be able to go home for 10 days on vacation to see my family and just got back to the office today. While I was home, I was once again reminded that Jesus truly IS the reason for the season and that the God we serve is a powerful and faithful God who cares about even the smallest details of our lives. Here is just one example …
I live in Western New York state, in the middle of the snow belt. For all you southerners, that means that we get a lot of snow each year, from about November-March. However, the last few years that I have gone home for Christmas there was no snow. It seemed like no matter how many times I sang “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” it didn’t happen! Needless to say, I was very disappointed.
This year it seemed like the same thing was going to happen. I guess I had resigned myself to a gray and ugly Christmas day. As I sat on the plane, looking out the window, I was somewhat discouraged. There were various circumstances in my life that I had allowed myself to worry about, things I had no control over but that seemed hopeless. As I sat there, worrying, I felt the Lord speak to me.
He started by asking me what was wrong. Of course He already knew, but I decided to tell Him anyway. I started at the beginning of my “worry list” and gradually worked my way down. Then, as a true woman, I added the lack of snow to the end of my list.
I felt God chide me for worrying and not trusting Him. He reminded me that He is bigger than anything I will ever come against. He also reminded me that He is always in control and that He wants the best for me. I felt like a child as I listened to my Heavenly Father tell me that He will always take care of me and that He really wants to bless me, if I will let Him. Then, to my surprise He told me that since it meant so much to me, He would make it snow for Christmas.
I wish I could say that I immediately accepted this and was full of faith. However, I must confess that I was still a little doubtful. Even still, the very next day, it started to snow! And it kept snowing for the next 3 days! It snowed so much that roads were closed and people were encouraged to stay inside. And, sure enough, we had a white Christmas!
I know this is a silly story, but it reminded me that God truly is faithful, and He is more powerful than anything in our world. He’s even more powerful than our meteorologists and weather reports! I don’t know what you are facing in this New Year, but whatever it is, please remember that God is faithful. Just like a Father, He loves you, wants the best for you, and is just waiting to bless you!
Here is a picture that I took outside our town, the first day I was home 
Dec
15
Let’s face it - we all will most likely have to fundraise at one point or another in our lives. It’s not always fun, and it’s not always easy, but here are some good ideas that might help you as you try to raise money. If you have any other ideas that have worked particularly well for you in the past, please leave a comment so that we can all benefit from your fundraising wisdom! Also, please e-mail or call me for a more comprehensive list.
Sponsor-A-Teen
Get a jump start on your fundraising efforts by asking adults (via a presentation, mailer, bulletin insert or all three) to sponsor a young person at your church to go to Acquire the Fire. Give them the monetary amount that you are budgeting for an individual to go, along with specific prayer requests for that teen. Give them the special option to directly sponsor an unchurched teen. Tell your students how many of their unsaved friends can come for free and have them invite as many as they possibly can!
Service - Dog washing, window washing, random chores
This is another way to make money and help out the people in your church. In your church bulletin, announce that your youth group will be spending a weekend doing work projects. If anyone has work that the youth group can do, have them sign up on a list with a description of what they need done. Charge a flat fee or take donations.
Items needed:
Cleaning supplies
Time required:
1 hour per house
Amount you can expect to raise:
$ 500 - $ 1000
How to make it happen:
Advertise in the church bulletin.
Have a driver for the church vehicle who will drop a few kids off at each job and then come back around to pick them up.
Toilet Bowl Bribe
Paint an old disconnected toilet really badly. Make it look hideous (glow in the dark paint would be best)! Then, at night, plant it in a church member’s yard and request a $20 removal fee. It will stay in the yard until either they pay the fee, or get so fed up with it, they remove it themselves. If you use glow in the dark paint, it will even be ugly at night!
(Make sure to do this one with families familiar with the youth ministry!)
Items needed:
Disconnected toilet
Paints, including glow-in-the-dark
Time required:
As long as you want to keep it going
Amount you can expect to raise:
$20-$200 depending on how many houses you visit
How to make it happen:
Paint the toilet really badly
Drop it off at a church member’s house
Explain reason for dropping it off
Request $20 removal fee
Dec
12
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Dec
11
A special message from the ATF Call Center:
As you know, we are dedicated to getting the word out about Acquire the Fire. We desire to see this broken, hurting, and lost generation come to know the Lord, grow in their relationship with Him, and take His life giving message to the ends of the earth.
The average American teenager spends 16-17 hours a week watching television, on average sees 14,000 sexual scenes and references every year, and spends at least three hours a day online. This generation is being influenced greatly by media and the popular culture, and it is a major contributor to the issues we see in our young people today. We want to see this generation know the truth and live their lives for the Lord, taking back their generation. Barna projects that at the current rate of evangelism only 4% of this generation will stand for Christ as a Bible-believing Christian as adults. This is a problem, and we here at Acquire the Fire are working hard to be the solution, but we can not do this alone.
We need your help! Most people hear about Acquire the Fire not by a phone call made from us, but by people they know. Therefore, we have developed a street team called ATF FUSE.
This street team spreads the word about Acquire the Fire and helps us to reach this generation. To thank you for your help and support we give you and your friends an exclusive discount, free Acquire the Fire materials, rewards and special access at Acquire the Fire.
To become a part of ATF FUSE, just go to www.atffuse.com.