Commune with the Taco Man on the Moon

Here's a litte clip from the band "Guerrilla Warfare" playing at the Forks for the Youth for Christ staff from all across Canada. The band is made up of 2 of us Niverville staff, a staff spouse, a volunteer, and our summer staffer. The song is called "Taco Man on the Moon." Enjoy!



What is the meaning of this song? Well...to sum it up, it's about finding God in unusual places. Once upon a time there was a boy who was special, for he had an amazing and contagious personality coupled with a mental disability. From some unexplicable reason he was fixated on space, with the belief that there were people made up of tacos up there. We as a band have had the pleasure of hearing from this boy vicariously through a friend of ours who had been his educational assistant. Our friend was so impacted by this boy and his unusual words of affirmation through his spacial taco world, that it overflowed into our lives. Our friend was given life-giving words that contained the power of transformation in her life, and she was connecting with her heavenly Father all the while.
Most of the lyrics in this song are quotes from this special (spacial?) boy. It was written years ago, and still holds power for us as we sing it...as we commune with the Taco Man on the Moon!

mops, brooms, and mayhem

*disclaimer*

the staff at Niverville YFC prioritize relationship, NOT organization.

Okay, with that out of the way, here's a little slice of drop-in staff life.

With the addition of summer staff David, we are four young men charged with the responsibility of the drop-in ministry...and sadly one of those responsibilities is clean up. "Surprisingly" (that was sarcastic) this responsibility can fall to the wayside, and so out of our collaborated brilliant minds we came up with the plan to meet together at a designated time every week to share the load and complete this task.

Today was that day.

D-day.

We will fight the dirt!

Now as epic as that sounds, disorganization can always defuse passion. What you may not have known is that the plan to attack TODAY was only made by 2 out of 4 staff, one of whom had forgot by the end of the weekend...and made plans with family. So 2 of us happened to show up on time, summer staff David wasn't even aware. 2 hours of scheduled time had passed, and no cleaning had started. Kids were knocking on the door, and calling to come and beat the heat and hang out with us.

Executive decision time!

We decided to use the drop-in's AC as leverage for our disorganized selves to get some help! A good handful of kids came in willingly on the condition that they clean for the use of the AC...and surprisingly no one was deterred (many were desperate out of boredom). Out came the mops, the brooms, the heavy lifting, and the mayhem! But the kids came through, and we were able to witness the summer boredom of teenagers be put to use! In hindsight, our disorganized relational framework somehow led to a clean drop-in centre!

The Life of Brian

Well, it's been a while, and here's an update for you all about Youth for Christ's initiative of Brian "HEAD" Welch @ the Niverville Fair!

Better late than never?

OK, so Brian was no easy feat to fly in from Nashville...but with the amazing unified effort of Niverville's Churches and Ministries, we were able to make it happen (or better defined as "letting God do His thing"). So the band was booked for a show on Friday night of the Fair, and after a good amount of time we were able to add a Sunday appearance of Brian to share his testimony as a little icing on the cake. As it turns out, this little "icing on the cake" addition became the substance of what is to be remembered of HEAD coming to the little old Niverville Fair.

Recently talking with some of our youth who have turned 18 and have been caught up in the drug scene, I asked them how their summer has been going. To my astonishment, the main thing they talked about was Brian Welch coming to Niverville, and not only that..but they were primarily talking about his testimony! Brian's coming has stirred up all sorts of interest and excitement in the youth. One teen told us that his mom dragged him to the concert because she was an old fan of Brian's former band, Korn. He was totally blown away by the intense, loud, and yet relevant music and message of this former meth-addict-rockstar.

The "icing on the cake" Sunday appearance also blew us away in terms of community response. With the leadership of Niverville's churches, we moved forward with the idea of abolishing the traditional Sunday Fair Services we've been having in place of hearing Brian's story (with a little bit of Jack Johnson-styled worship beforehand). With the risk of losing many traditionalist attendees, or disinterested non-church goers, we went ahead with plan...and ended up with well over double the normal attendance!! Both the churched and the un-churched were blown away, and we've heard nothing but positive feedback so far! Can I get an AMEN?! Oh, sorry...that was the southern baptist preacher in me. Woops. Anyway, we at YFC have been blessed to be a part of this move of God in little ol' Niverville...and yet it's not just an event that has passed. We believe the best fruit is yet to come...if we're willing to follow God's movement and make the most of each opportunity He gives us.

Above: Brian sharing his story with Niverville on Sunday morning.

Below: link to a video of this story (starts on Part 2 of 6, once each Part is finished, just click on the next video it recommends).
http://youtu.be/gO1nfnTNYNs

a devastating crush

there was a major car accident just outside of niverville in early may.

a young man named ryan died after being hit by a vehicle while riding his new motorcycle for the first time. four young men were in the vehicle, four young men that we at the drop-in centre have been getting to know in the last few years.

a devastating crush to all parties involved.

now the question remains, what happens to those left behind? one man had life and lost it, and four others are left with lives they hardly want. this all seems quite backwards. but when you look and the redemptive heart of God, it may not be completely backwards. One of the guys recently posted on facebook, while going through this season of intense eternal perspectives. the post was the bible verse that follows:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, Will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing"

we must understand that this reference wasn't just some comfort words pulled from some archive in this young man's life. with no church or christian background, these words were new, fresh, and revealing to him, unlike any characteristic of his past.

sometimes the most devastating blows can cultivate the best soil for change in our lives, change that brings us into reliance on God, and relationship with him.

Dance On It!

Last month we as the Niverville Youth Ministries hosted our 4th annual "Crave." With the help of a very modern youthful atmosphere, we opened the doors for the youth to worship God in a very atypical fashion.

In the midst of the music and dance, we gave everyone a chance to experience what we call "dancing on it." With a black-lighted atmosphere (see pictures below) we used highlighters that glowed to write on the dance floor things that we worried about, or brought us down. With that, the music pumped up and we were all able to dance on our situations, dance unto God and worship Him in the midst of our problems. The really neat thing that happened was that as we physically danced on the hightlighted words, they faded away under our feet. This was a perfect representation of what God does in our lives as we "dance on it" in the midst of our trials.

In another stream of the event, it was an outreach to many unchurched youth, and they came by the droves. We had about 200 youth, grades 9-12, show up and experience this Crave, whether it was by being right in the middle of the dance floor worshipping God with others, or on the sidelines watching...wondering what kind of energy makes these people move. We pray that this subversive expression of our faith takes roots in youth that are on the fringes.

a flock of youth crammed onto the illuminated dance floor

the night was lead by DJ DROPS (Chris Dropko, youth pastor of Maranatha) &
MC ROBOKOP (Rob Redekop, youth pastor at NCF)

teenagers writing writing some difficult issues onto the dance floor with highlighter

freedom was in the atmosphere as we praised God

the lighting was really cool, too.

on the Edge

With one last hoorah of indoor skating while the snow was still on the ground, covering our outdoor skatepark...we headed for the Edge. The Youth for Christ Winnipeg-run indoor skatepark dubbed, "the Edge" was a fantastic time for the youth to jump-start their skills before the spring melt. Presently, the Niverville Skatepark has been flooded with young people skateboarding in the wonderful weather we've been having. Here's some pics of our Edge trip:

CRUD fruit

here is the creative fruit conceived from the culmination of staff, volunteers, and students at the Drop-In. enjoy!



music by local artist Joel Wiebe.