Eve of Easter Morning - Praise & Worship gathering

The service on Saturday was a blessing. Since our church celebrated Maundy Thursday (Страстный Четверг), the youth did not have a gathering for themselves. I felt called to do this a couple of weeks ago, partially because I only then realized that Easter was coming on us quickly, but also because I'd like to continue a new tradition that we've started a only a few years ago. Besides, it's a great way to see those who do not typically attend our church, see old friends and companions, praise Jesus for His faithfulness to living a life like ours, putting himself down, taking on sin to death and rising from that death to prove He's more powerful than the evil/injustice that exists on earth, and worship God together in that knowledge and in our community.

We had a guest speaker, Brian Schultz, a Biblical Studies professor from Fresno Pacific University, who lived in Israel 12 years before coming to teach/work here in the States starting 6 months ago. He spoke of the ressurection "via the backdoor", reading from Jeremiah, Habbakuk, and John. Hope you all enjoy listening. If you have any suggestions for this ministry or any ideas, leave a comment.

The value of silence

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.



One thing brought to my attention at this past youth night is the value of silence. Our lives seem too busy to sit still, be quiet, listen, be patient... The loud morning alarm-clock, the bustling cafeteria, the busy workplace, the classroom, the drive to church, music in the car, cars rushing by, music in the church, music driving back home, music when you go to sleep... God is not only where we look for him, but also where we don't. God can be found in the silence. It is perhaps the silence that speaks the most of God.

Youth Night 3/6

Here's some of the musical worship that was performed this Thursday night. Because it is Spring Break for FPU, a lot of our musicians are gone (hint hint, Fresno locals). So we were running low on supply in regard to musicians. So Ilusha, Igor and myself decided to do an acoustic set, with the help of a sweet keyboard. Take a listen.

My thoughts: I was a little (perhaps I'm underexaggerating) disappointed about tonight. I expected to come to practice today with everything in place. I wanted everyone to put aside their stress, busy work day, concerns, many thoughts, and focus on God. I wished we could have spent more time in prayer (especially before practice). The sound guys came at 7pm (when we are supposed to stop practicing), so that got me really ticked off. It just seems like nobody takes their ministry/service seriously. Hopefully things change for the better. Today just seemed like a real test on my patience. Maybe I expect too much of people? Am I just that big of a jerk?

House of the Gospel Youth - Thursday, February 29th, 2008

This week's Thursday Youth night was a great evening. We had a guest speaker come from Russia to speak to us about relationships. Instead of me talking about it, I decided to post the audio recordings I made of the evening for the reader (you) to listen to.

Worship Band:
Ilusha Rud - Guitar/Vocals
Natalia Datsko - Vocals
Vasya Todoriko - Bass Guitar
Misha Borisov - Electric Guitar
Anton Trofimenko - Drums

Speaker:
Ilya Ivanenko. Originally from Maikop, Russia (Krasnodar Oblast, a short ferry and bus ride from where I was born and raised), Ilya serves as a missionary based out of Novorosiysk, Russia, where he is participating in raising up a church. The topic of tonight is "What to do before you consider getting engaged".

Enjoy, my friends. Hope this helps to get a little of our church's youth life out to the rest of "the world".