Activate Ministries: Fairview, AB

Fairview, AB

25
Mar

If you drive 6 hours north west, through Grand Prairie then a little further north, you'll find a little place call Fairview. Being so far north, this little town of 3500 has pretty much everything it needs to sustain itself. With everything from a hospital to a recreation centre (with a pool) and a college, Fairview is a happening place. It was here that we journeyed last weekend for Snow Camp 2010 (Mar. 12-14).

There we joined Pastor Mark Frase, his youth group and others from surround communities such as Manning & Peace River. All together there were about 35 youth hanging our to enjoy lots of fun happenings, worship, learning about God and tons of recreation. Pastor Mark is the leader of a youth group that is primarily made up of community youth. Many do not attend church regular nor do they have a relationship with God, but the are learning about God. They learn about God through Mark & his wife, Shannon's love and concern for them. They learn about God through the open arms of the church family. While much of the youth group events is focused around building relationship and rapport with the youth, Snow Camp is a youth retreat that they hold to inspire youth to learn more about God and perhaps even take the step to begin a relationship with Him. And with that purpose in mind, we began to minister to this awesome group of youth. Though hesitant at first, it did not take long before the youth begin to drive into worship with us. God did some amazing things amongst these youth. There were a few who responded for first time commitments, others who were learning more about God while some just went deeper in their faith, allowing God to mold them. So amazing to see God at work within those who know Him the least.

Friday Night

First Pastor Mark leads in calestetics.... aka crazy exercises to make sure we were "awake". Rick later spoke from the Word.

Saturday Morning

Saturday mornings are always difficult to get youth interacting because, let's be honest, they are not even awake. To get the blood flowing, Lorne started the morning with leading the youth on a faith walk. Each youth was blindfolded then sent into different parts of the church as they followed a course that was made with rope. They encountered many obstacles (tables, chairs, walls, etc.) that they had to go around, over, under or whatever it took to continue through the course. Afterwards Lorne spoke to the youth what they experienced and how to apply that to their own lives.

Saturday Night

Leave it to Jase for any interesting and "interactive" message. These guys didn't know what they were getting into when Jase asked for volunteers. He spoke to youth about Jesus' foot washing... gotta have dirty feet first to get them clean.