the Stigmatic Fear of "COUNSEL"

"everyone's gonna think I'm crazy"
           "I can handle this on my own"
"this is so not cool"
                                   "I'm fine.  Really.  I think?"
      "people will find out"
"what can talking do?"

These are some of the many thoughts that enter people's minds as they breech the topic of professional counselling.  The profession has been fighting this kind of stigma for a long time, and the fight continues.  But as the stigma can still exist, so does the effectiveness of counselling, impacting one life at a time.

That's why we at Niverville YFC believe in counseling, and (if you don't already know) we have partnered with Winnipeg YFC's Turning Point Counselling Services to offer this service right here in Niverville.  Right here in our Drop-In!  Eunice Wiebe is on staff with us, who has professional training and experience in counselling, and has her office in our facility. 
Feel free to make an appointment and come on by for some great Christian-based counselling, as Eunice works with families, couples, youth, and individuals of all ages.

Here's another little fun video we put together...enjoy!
Turning Point Counselling Services

the day and age of opportunity

It has been asked, "what's in a name?" 
This question prodded deep into the inner man for centuries.
The question that's currently prodding and haunting young people moving into adulthood is not "what's in a name?"
but rather...          
"what's in a job?"

I (Mark) presented the topic of "Identity for young adults in the workforce" at the Niverville YFC Annual Banquet this year.  This topic referred to our ongoing relationships with young people who graduate, turn 18, and face the effects of detachment from institutional routine in school - an ever-growing part to our ministry at the Drop-In.

Today, I believe we are at an awkward crossroad of unprecedented widespread job opportunity met with the lowest fundamental need for work in history!  With relative ease, one could be a massage therapist in Thailand, or a Social Network advertiser at home, but even easier would be just to stay home with no job and play video games in your parents basement.  Or take one class at University on your parents dime and live and home and drive around their expensive cars while constantly socializing.  Still no job.

But a job is strongly attached to who we are, what we think of ourselves, and what our life purpose is.  These are the fundamental elements us YFC leaders reinforce in our relationships, and the stronger they are, the further our young people can go in life.   So the "agenda" here is not to find the perfect job for each young adult, but rather to engage in the deeper, personal, and spiritual matters of our young adults.  The belief here is that when these elements are nurtured, one can find the character necessary to be good at mundane jobs and find greater purpose in them, as well as pursue dream jobs when the time is right with diligence and patience.

We also understand that when ANYTHING is done WITH and FOR God,
it can bring the most meaning to the simplest of tasks.

Here is a clip portraying what our young adult program is going through....

banquet success!

I'm so pumped to say that this year's banquet was a great success!

In the last few days prior to the event, sponsorships and attendance RSVP's poured in and we were so blessed to have quite a full house in our beautiful Atrium.

The buffet was great
The Horizon Choir blew us away with their creative repertoire, filling the acoustically perfect room with their rich voices, singing songs from up on the mezzanine, on the grand staircase, and on the front stage.
The video and technological aspects went perfectly smooth
The speeches flowed well, coming straight from the heart..

and we had guests all the way from Belgium!


Thanks for all your support, prayers, thoughts and help in anyway.  We feel it, Niverville.  Thank you!


Mark, Gord, & Johnny

the BANQUETING table

It's that time again...
BANQUET TIME!

                                        crunch time.

If you can do so, please help & pray that we can fill tables so we can connect with as many people as possible and share the vision of what God is doing with our little Drop-In ministry.  And of course, you are ALL welcome!

Here's the deets....

Fall has come and gone?

WHOA!
It's so hard to believe that fall is on it's way out!
(I mean, we really only have 1 month of autumn, right?)
As a ministry, we eased our way into the season, and each week seemed to bring along more events, young people, and regular programs.  Now we're almost in over our heads!

HIGH SCHOOL DROP-IN, SKATE NIGHT, YOUNG ADULTS, WRESTLING, ART, HOMEWORK CLUB, DISCOVERY TIME COURSE, AND COFFEEHOUSE.

Please pray we don't get overloaded with all this, and that we get the help we need to complete the task set out for us.

Thanks!

prayer calendar is here!

Summer RECAP

Oh summer....

You were busy, and you were good, 

and you flew by like LIGHTNING! 

One highlight of the summer was being able to run our 2nd annual Skate Camp!  And this time we had skate instructor Johnny running the camp as the official new Skatepark Director for Niverville YFC!  The camp took place in the afternoons for an entire week...skating, eating, building relationships, AND A LOT MORE SKATING.

 

On another note, I (Mark) was able to take one of our regular patrons, Chris, to his first Bomber game.  Chris is a die hard sports fan and he was ecstatic about this day...despite our hometeam bombing pretty badly :(

anybody remember the tornado day this summer?  here's a view from the drop-in's backyard.

 

Well, we don't really have many more pics to help recap our summer, but it was a summer of many connections, and we thank God for them as we plants seeds into so many lives!

brainstorming

Tis the season for...
                                              brainstorming?
Yup.

We've got a new school season coming shortly, and we're planning on some fresh approaches to meeting the needs of our youth in Niverville.  

We're praying for direction, and we ask you to join us in this endeavour.  God's wisdom always supersedes our human logic on such matters (and any matter, for that matter).

So our staff meetings have been looking a little like so...
(Airtran promotion completely unintentional)

tradition!

Thanks to all our wonderful volunteers who have invested so much in the 2012-2013 season!

 In August we take a break from our evening programming, giving our volunteers a rest (and keep our staff extra busy).  Our annual Volunteer Wind Up was held at our fearless Director Gord's place.

For some reason BADMINTON has become the traditional activity for Drop-In workers.  The competition is intense, to say the least.

We're looking forward to what God has in store for the Fall!

the "long" trip from the west coast to niverville

the Niverville Drop-In Centre is pleased to announce the addition of a new Skateboard Director!

JOHNNY LONG

 

Johnny hails from British Columbia, and made his way to little ol' Niverville through a series of skateboarding mediums.  As a teenager, he developed 2 huge passions:  skateboarding and Jesus, and with these he got connected to the large family of Youth for Christ.  This led him to a skateboarding internship in Winnipeg with YFC's skate ministry called The Edge, which then led him to a summer job as skateboard facilitator with St. Pierre YFC and through that became acquainted with us in Niverville.  Spending this last year back at home in B.C., Johnny knew he'd be coming back to Manitoba (to marry his Manitoban fiance) and had on his heart to come and impact the skater scene here in Niverville.  What's interesting is that Johnny has been familiar with the skater scene in Niverville for quite some time already.  If you go back on this blog you will notice that last year we ran a Skate Camp...and our main instructor was none other than Johnny Long.  And if you go back even farther to 2010, you will find a post on a 24-hour Skate-athon we did...featuring Johnny Long as one of the professional skaters performing for the kids (this was while he was interning with the Edge).

Johnny has already begun a part-time work here at Niverville YFC, while he continues to look for financial supporters to ensure his position lasts.  He has already taken over our skate shop in the Drop-In and brought it to life, started a Wednesday evening skate night involving different skate activities each week, all while supervising the skatepark and growing relationships and sharing his faith with our many skaters.

Welcome Johnny, we're glad to have you aboard!

Golferoony!

an invasion of helicopters?

Over the winter months we like getting groups of skaters together to go to the Edge Skatepark in Winnipeg (an indoor skatepark run by YFC).
One such trip I had the privilege of having my father-in-law join us...along with his super camera technology.
The result...

Feel the Breeze!

The Niverville Fair is rapidly approaching!
                                       And our schedule's are rapidly filling up with planning.

Just a quick heads up that we are excited to be a part of a number of things once again this year.  Friday evening we're a part of a musical conglomeration of more than 10 local artists, going on for 3 hours straight!  My (Mark von Riesen) band Pangea! will be playing.
Also, we're heading up the late night youth concert, bringing in a Christian band from Altona who recently got signed onto a label...Vessels of Veritas!
Finally, we're also helping spearhead the Sunday worship service.  Working alongside the churches, we've decided to move to Hespeler Park to make room for a more family-friendly experience.  In addition to worship music (traditional & modern), testimony, prayer, feasting and games....YWAM's Island Breeze will be joining us to provide some real Spirit-filled excitement!!  Check out their website if you want to know more about them.

http://www.islandbreezemanitoba.com/

Behind the eight ball...

POOL TABLE DESPERATION!!!

Many years ago the Drop-In was donated some top notch pool tables, but with many years comes much wear and tear, and we've been behind the eight ball for upkeep.  Unfortunately, this kind of repair is not "do-it-yourself" kinda work, and it does not come cheap, so as a not-for-profit we haven't had the extra funds to fix them. Year after year they still become a major highlight of our facility, and a great way to connect with people, but duct tape isn't doing the job. So I'm going out on a limb here hoping that the word would spread that we are in need for some financial donation specifically for this cause. My estimate is $1000 for both tables to be repaired (possibly more). Let me know if you or someone you know may have this on their heart...THANKS!

Skaters vs Old Man Winter

With this crazy whirl of "spring" weather we're getting a crazy whirl of emotions within our skateboarder crew.  Sunny, dry skatepark and snow-covered skatepark with biting northern winds, from one day to the next.  Anticipation for the end of old man winter has never been this high as long as I can remember.

Let the Spring come!

Let the kids come!

Old Man Winter go away!

An organic volunteer experience

We just got back from the ANNUAL YFC VOLUNTEER RETREAT

WOO WOO!

 As always, we gathered at YFC's Camp Cedarwood.  This year was different because for the first time we had all our sessions in the "Lakeview Lounge."  We also brought our friend, Jordan St. Cyr to come jam with us.  It was a fun, organic worship experience.  Thanks so much to Jord for coming!

Vintage piano stylings from Josiah

 Our "questionable" -yet adorable-  sound techs for the weekend.

Connecting with each other, and God, all in one room.

Magnolia on lead piano, everyone!

All in all, a great time of connection with each other, the YFC vision, and ultimately our awesome Lord and Saviour, Amen!

marked out on a whiteboard

It's DISCO TIME!!!

Also known as DISCOvery Time.
It's the "Christian Teaching" optional class being offered in Niverville to grades 1-6.  We have been teaching the grade 6's for about the last 10 years.  It's not an easy endeavour, as we walk the balance of what is relevant, worthwhile, keeps order and yet engages.
Our biggest push towards this opportunity is NOT teaching grade 6's, actually, but rather establishing RELATIONSHIP and sharing that same heart of what we do at YFC, of what's in the Bible, and about Jesus.
So we had our last one of the year (the course only goes up until Spring Break), and we had the kids come up and write what was on their hearts about God.

We were so blessed to see their hearts marked out on whiteboard.

homeshow

So the South Eastman Home Show at the Niverville Heritage Centre has come and gone.

Quickly, I might add.

What does the Home Show have to do with our local Drop-In, you ask?

Well, we're still trying to figure that one out.

     What we do know is that we were invited by Town Council member, John Falk and Credit Union to take up a complimentary booth for non-profits.  So we said yes.  Yes to what...we weren't sure.  But we showed up with some limited "eye candy" such as signed merchandise from the professionals we have brought to Niverville over the last few years (Project 86, Brian Welch, Zac Archuleta, Brian Sumner...) as well as skateboard paraphernalia, videos, and a videogame system for kids (and some adults) to play.
      I think most importantly we brought ourselves.
     Although it was an extra 18 hours of exhibit-manning on top of our busy week, we were able to connect with many people, young and old, as well as other businesses and exhibitors whom we would have never had such an opportunity to do so.  I remember having talks with a young boy about 7 years old with a thick English accent who wanted to become a skateboarder.  Also talked to a professional MMA instructor (Mixed Martial Arts) and how that's affecting youth culture, as well as a good old-fashioned talk with a senior lady (probably in her 90's) about how we can best impact our youth.  So it's probably safe to say that it was worthwhile.
     We're so thankful for the community of Niverville, for each one of you "Nivervillains" who contribute to make this place great.  Us Drop-In folk are walking proof of this...a self-sufficient, sustainable community ministry reaching to many youth in the margins.
     Thank you, Niverville.

May many more who come to live in this town come alongside the Drop-In vision!

(2 of our most adorable visitors at the Home Show)

twenty thirteen already!

time flies...
                           ...it's been a long time.

life at our local drop-in centre's been a little crazy.

last year we said goodbye to a staff member...our good friend eric mcmahon.
                           ...but gained his valuable experience as a volunteer!

now we have a hands in a young people's coffeehouse running twice a week,
                              regular drop-in nights
      runs to winnipeg yfc's "edge" skatepark (sometimes twice a week)
student worker program supervision
                                                      community young adult get togethers
and many, many one on one relationships...



...for which we need your prayers.

mark von riesen