Freedom House Youth!

It's the 2nd annual cheesy Christmas sweater Christmas party and gift exchange. Here's what you need for tomorrow night. 1. Wear the corniest, funniest, cheesiest, goofiest Christmas sweater you can 2. Bring 2 a funny, nice, crazy, lovely, wacky, unusual gifts... (a cheap one). Wrap them up and bring for the great gift exchange game! 3. Make sure you dress warmly as there is an outdoor component to the night! If you forgot last year... here's some of the Christmas sweaters that people wore... It's all gonna be a TON of fun! Be at the church at 6:45pm Friday night... SHARP!!!

Friday Night will is gonna be a very very wintry youth night! We're gonna be singin' and skatin! Please arrive at the stage area of Harmony Square at 6:45 sharp and as Freedom House... we're going to be serving the city by singing Christmas Carols for the skaters from 7 until 8pm. Then from 8-9 we'll lace up our own skates and hit the amazing outdoor rink beside the beautiful new Harmony Square Christmas tree! We'll wrap youth up a 9 this week so be sure to bring a friend! All ages are welcome at tomorrow night's event by the way... not JUST the youth. Don't forget that next week is our 2nd annual cheesy Christmas sweater Christmas party and gift exchange. You need to be thinking about 2 things 1. Finding the corniest, funniest, cheesiest, goofiest Christmas sweater you can 2. Finding a funny, nice, crazy, lovely, wacky, unusual gift (a cheap) to wrap up and bring for the great gift exchange game! It's all gonna be a TON of fun! See ya tommorow.

Here we go! This is the plan for the weekend. Friday Night: Get to the church by 7pm where we'll be filling the night jammed full of amazing awesomness. Just a few of the games.... Hot, hotter and hottest... Mall Assault... Capture the flag... a BIG ole scavenger hunt and more You Tube games too! Then... we'll sleep. We'll wake up and have breakfast (parents please let us know ASAP if you can help with a cold breakfast of bagels, muffins, cream cheese, syrup, drinks) and we'll be doing a Saturday morning session on "Our Story". We'll then be piling into vans and driving to the Cambridge Center where we'll be shopping, eating and ice skating on the in-mall rink! So you'll need to bring money for lunch in the food court, 3 dollars for skating (IF you want to skate) and 3 dollars IF you need to rent skates. There will be time to shop if you are so inclined. Should be a great time! We'll be coming back to the church for dinner (Tacos... pare

It's party time this Friday Night at the Putt House (143 Lyndon Road) for glow in the dark mini putt ! You can find a map how to get there at their website linked here . You can get dropped at 7pm. The cost is 11 dollars and you'll get a round of golf, 2 slices of pizza, AND all the pop you can drink!!! Awesome. After that, we'll be going back to the Nelson's House ( 4 Tanglewood... map linked ). You can get picked up at 10pm at the Nelson's House. Don't forget that Saturday Night is the Santa Clause Parade. We need to know if you want to parade with us... so please tell Sarah and Trevor ASAP. And NEXT Friday Night is the over-nighter. Details to come!

Flippin' Friday's "Distinct" edition is up this Friday night... and everyone is invited. As we all decided last week... our answer to " How do we change our city in 1 hour " was doing a free street BBQ. So make sure you're at the church by 7pm sharp as we'll be sending out teams to give out flyers to the downtown announcing the arrival of the hot dogs. Then we'll be headed out to meet some of the people in our neighborhood and give out free street meat! Parents of youth... you're invited to come and join in if you'd like to see your youth in action! Make sure you're checking the calender in the youth blog ( here ) to see what's coming up... including the youth OVERNIGHTER LOCK-IN @ The Freedom House City Center December 4th-5th. We'll be announcing the details shortly. Also coming up is the 2nd annual Youth Ugly Sweater/Gag Gift exchange Christmas Party on December 18th. Be on the lookout for a cheesy christmas sweater

It begins... "Distinct" worship is gonna do some things in this world

Here's a sample... but check out the whole collection on FB here !

Tomorrow night at youth... is going to be a challenge. A challenge you've accepted AND SUCCEEDED at before. The challenge is going to be to figure out: 1) What does our community look like? 2) How can we change it in one night? Oooo.... interesting. So dress warm because we're going to go outside in the streets a bit to really really look at our downtown and we're TOGETHER going to develop next week's Random Act of Kindness as we learn HOW we change a city from the inside out. If you're doing worship... make sure you're there by 6:30 latest for practice! Bring money for tuck shop and let's get ready to have a great night! Dave

It's an easy equation... Prayer + Pictionary + Pizza = One awesome Friday night This Friday night... meet IN THE STUDIO/24/7 PRAYER ROOM as the youth are going spend the hour praying for youth as Freedom House TV is going on. That mean's you (along with the youth leaders) are going to be leading all the viewers in many different cities in prayer for the youth of our cities! Very very cool it will be. Please be at the studio by 6:45 so we can get ready to go on air at 7pm. NOTE: If you have laptops... bring them so you can also hang out in the FHTV chat room as the show is going on! After that, we'll be headed downstairs to the City Center and we'll be play Win Loose or Draw / Pictionary and eating Pizza. Gonna be a great night. Cya at 6:45 Friday night!

Hi guys... coming up this week @ Youth, we're having our worship night and Matt Haley is speaking for the first time at youth! So that will be very cool. 7pm at the Freedom House City Center (bring money for tuck shop!) You'll also notice that on the blog ( Linked here if you're getting this in an email ) that there is now an on-going youth calender that will be constantly updated about what's coming up in FH Youth world. Here are some highlights from now until Christmas! Friday, October 30 7:00pm Worship and Matt speaking Friday, November 6 7:00pm Prayer & Pictionary (as a part of the 24/7 Prayer week) Friday, November 13 7:00pm Youth Worship Service (Dave Speaking) We're also inviting another youth group from "The Dwelling Place" Church to be a part of the next two weeks. Sunday, November 15 1:30pm Youth Band practice (If you want to be a part of this... please talk to Matt Haley ASAP) Friday, November 20 7:00pm RAK Night with The Dwelling Pl

We've got the Bowling gameplan! We'll meet at Star Lanes (map linked here) at 8pm... we'll bowl untill 9. Then we'll head over to Wendy's on Colborne Street across from PJ ( linked here ). Parents... you can pick the youth up at 10pm. The cost is $7 per youth. See you tomorrow night!

This should be a GREAT week... OF BOWLING! Hurray!!! We're going bowling Friday (somewhere) and meeting there at 8pm (NOT 7) because some of us are involved in the show at Harmony Square (from 5-7pm Friday Night... you're welcome to come too!) But we need to know HOW MANY WANT TO BOWL. Please email or call Sarah ASAP and let her know if you're planning on coming so we can book lanes Email: sarahmarienelson@gmail.com Call: 519 209-2537 Cost still to be determined but likely in the 10 dollar range... don't hold me to that number :)

Hi guys... OK... I want you to remember one thing tomorrow night. Wait... 2 things. 1) BRING YOUR BIBLE!!! 2) Remember to think about MOVIES!!!! Can you do those two things? I knew you could! Tomorrow night we're gonna start chatting about our faith... and the Pop Culture that inundates us everyday. So we're gonna hang by the fire in the lounge and talk about Movies ... get some snacks at the tuck shop... chat more about the name of the youth group... and then watch a movie too! See you all Friday Night at 7pm!

Have you ever been at Aunt Beatrice's house for Thanksgiving and you're just about to sit down at the table for the feast when someone shouts out in horror... "Oh NO... I forgot the CRANBERRIES!!" This Friday Night at Youth... we make sure that this will not happen to homes in Brantford. How? It's RAK Night! We'll be meeting at the Freedom House City Center at 7pm and heading out into town to do Random Acts of Kindness by giving away Cranberries and through it, reminding people that God LOVES them. After... we'll be headed back to the church for some fun and snacks (so bring money for tuck shop!). Make sure your ride picks you up before the mall doors get locked at 10pm! See ya then!

It's here! The first youth service of the year, is this Friday Night right down in the Freedom House City Center. We'll be starting at 7pm and make sure your parents have picked you up by 10pm ( because the outside doors in the Mall get locked at 10). I'm (Dave) going to be speaking... SO BRING YOUR BIBLES! I've got a trivia question for you to think about between now and then. Question: Why were Christians originally called Christians? Post your answers here on the blog or on facebook. Why do you think Christians called themselves that? Hmmmm... The Tuck Shop will also be open Friday Night so bring money for the candy and snacks that you requested... as they are going to be on sale. The most important thing to bring Friday Night... is your WHOLE self. We're gonna have fun, there's gonna be food, but we're coming to worship and encounter God. So come ready to worship!

FreedomhouseTV promo from Freeom House on Vimeo . It's coming... pass it on!

This Friday Night is going to be an awesome night! Here's how it's gonna go down. We're going to be meeting at the Nelson's House ( 4 Tanglewood... map linked ) at 6pm. We'll be driving in a convoy of vans driven by the youth leaders leaving at 6:15 sharp (so if you're not there by then... we're not waiting!) We'll be going to Calvary Church in Cambridge ( 127 Hespelar Rd ... map linked ) and we'll be taking part in a GIANT youth party, complete with worship, bands, prizes, games and... YOU. The Freedom House Youth group will be doing the "Everything" drama that the SMT learned and performed at the church and in Harmony Square this summer. Remember? There is no cost... but I'll bet there will be snacks for sale (so it's not a bad idea to have some cash with you). The night will go from 7pm until 11pm... so we won't be getting back into Brantford until around Midnight. The leaders will drive each of the youth home when

Well welcome guys it's time for youth to begin again! Here's a quick look at what's coming up in September for the next couple of weeks. So that means that this Friday we'll be at the Nelson's ( 4 Tanglewood Terrace ) and the Haley's from 7-10pm. In fact that's what time youth is going to be going from this year. 7 until 10pm on Friday Night's. The next week, we'll be joining up with Calvary Church in Cambridge for their GIGANTIC youth kick-off complete with bands, giveaways and amazing fun. Check out the Facebook event here . Ride details to follow next week. The first week of October, we're going to be doing our 1st Freedom House youth service of the year... where I'm gonna start talking with you guys about "Who YOU are" and "who WE are" . Part of that process is going to be deciding what to name of the all-new Freedom House Youth Group. On our Facebook group , I've asked the question... "What should o

You guys rock... I'm super proud you all Dave

You guys have had quite a summer so far! I think it's time we have a Freedom House Youth hangout and POOL PARTY night. So this Friday Night... we'll be meeting at 6:30pm at the Bouman's House ( 17 Knightswood GMap linked here ). Bring: Swimsuit Towel Drinks Chips Games you might like to play Please make arrangements to be picked up at 10pm. You guys rock. Dave

Guys... you were amazing on Canada Day! I'm proud of how you guys have embraced the SMT Ministry Team. The growth in you guys over the last year is astounding! Count me a proud youth leader. Dave

Hey, Wow, I am blogging! It's my first time so take it easy on me! I just wanted to let all the SMT Memebers know that Canada Day is going to be awesome and we need all hands on deck. Come out this Sunday for the dress rehearsal and to find out what area you are going to be apart of. OH AND BIG NEWS!!!!... July 7 the team from Toronto is coming to do their drama workshop with us! It is going to be alot of fun and you will come away from this day having learned alot! A calender is soon to come! Looking forward to meeting with you guys! I think this is all I am going to write :P IM SIGNING OUT!

Wow... so... what a week this has been! We had a youth retreat... then the Kingdom Come Conference! I was at home last night watching the service online and I saw and heard some of you guys GOIN FOR IT in worship and in prayer! Totally wild stuff. So here's the plan for tonight. Let's meet in the Lounge and we'll chat about some of what God's done in our lives over the last week and even some more about the idea of the youth running a service this summer. You guys rock by the way. You've IMPRESSED me and made me quite proud of how you've put what we've learned into action! So bring a Tim Horton's... even bring a snack if you want. I'll meet you in the lounge at 7pm and we'll just chat about "The Kingdom of God" like we've been learning about for the last week!

Well tomorrow's the day! Hope you're ready for "To Infinity and beyond... a look into how far God wants you to go!" It's gonna be great. Few details. Don't forget to bring your 25$ for the weekend Parents... you can pick your kids up at the Galaxy Cinemas at the Brantford Mall at 4:30. The movie ticket, breakfast and lunch is included in your retreat money but bring your own snacks or money for popcorn at the theater if you'd like it Bring your sleeping bag... and... Pillow Air Mattress if you want one Toothbrush Board Games you might like to play Bible, pad of paper, pen Things that will help you smell clean in the morning Be at the Freedom House City Center at 7pm tomorrow evening. If there is ever a situation where the outside doors happen to be locked (as the summer hours can be a bit weird) ... you can call Sarah ( 519 209-2537) or Trevor Nelson's ( 519 209-2536) cell phone and we'll pop right up to open the doors. Should be a great weekend

It's THIS weekend! First things first. Don't forget that that tomorrow night at youth, my sister Jen is coming to set up our weekend by talking about her recent time in Africa. She'll have pictures and stories about how God takes you from ONE places and can drop you in ANOTHER! The theme of the weekend is, "To Infinity and Beyond... how far does God want you to go??" For Friday, here are details (that could change at anytime so stay tuned :) 7pm: Arrive at Freedom House City Center with: Sleeping Bag Pillow Air Mattress if you want one Toothbrush Board Games you might like to play Your own snacks and drinks 25$ Bible, pad of paper, pen Things that will help you smell clean in the morning An expectation of great things and a good attitude! 8pm: Worship and Session#1 called " And now it's time for cooking with poo with Ezekiel " Nice eh? I'll be teaching maybe my favorite story in Bible about how to be an "Incredibly cool weirdo" 10

Hi Guys… Remember that tonight is RAK Night at Youth. We’re going to be doing a couple of things. 1 st … We’re going to Tim Hortons! I’ll explain later but please bring a 5-dollar bill with you. OK? 2 nd … We’re going to be taking a little tour of the city and thanking some of the people “in our neighborhood”. 3 rd … I’ve got a couple of announcement about what’s going on with youth this summer! Don’t forget that next weekend (June 12 th overnight until June 13 th in the afternoon) will be our Youth Retreat / Mall Sleepover! The cost will be 20 dollars like before to help cover some of the costs and help raise money for more RAK stuff to come! Cya tonight at 7pm SHARP in the lounge.

This Saturday May 30th: Keep it Real Party We'll be joining up with the rest of the youth groups from around the city from 1-4pm at the Brantford skate park (by the Casino). LEGEND SKATEBOARDS, FREE FOOD, DRINKS, PRIZES, SKATEBOARDS, T-SHIRTS, BANDS, MUSIC, SKATE COMPETITION, KILLER GRAFFITI ! Check the Facebook Event here. We'll just meet up with each other down there and hang out together MANY other youth from Brantford. Check out the Keep it Real team in action... Wednesday June 3rd: Random Acts of Kindness Night What we're doing is still open for suggestion. Email me dave@freedomhouse.ca if you have some thoughts. We'll meet at Freedom House @ 7pm. Wednesday June 10th: Africa Night We'll be having a small group type night in the Freedom House lounge at Jenn Carrol (my sister) will be talking and sharing. Jenn recently spent 7 months living in Liberia West Africa, on a giant ship that had been converted into a floating hospital! Come here her amazing story

Well... it happened again. Rain on RAK Day. Clearly it's impossible to be kind in the rain ( winking ), so we're going to put RAK Day off a week and PARTY instead!!! So this Wednesday, don't go to Freedom House. You can get dropped off at Dave and Krissy's House anytime after 6:30 (so your parents can drop you off and get to their small group on time) and they can pick you up after. In case you've forgotten, we live at 71 Strathcona Ave . What are we gonna do? Little bit of this... and a little bit of this... Please bring a bag of chips... a bottle of pop ... and we'll Rock Band and board game the night away! Don't forget to answer the poll on the top of the blog! I know what I'm voting for! It's Party Night @ the Carrols this week!

Hey guys ... lots of GREAT STUFF coming up at youth in the next few months! I'll tell you more tomorrow (Wednesday) as we get our Freedom House Youth Service Rockin' at 7pm sharp! Bring friends. And cattle. But mostly friends. Dave

So the race is (kinda) on. I've decided (because I'm such a lovely man) to give a (tiny) sneak peek at one of the pictures that will be on your sheet for this Wednesday's photo scavenger hunt... check it out... Yeah... I told you it was a tiny peek. I'll post it up on the FH Youth Facebook group here for you to discuss where it is if you want. REMEMBER... Be at the church in the lounge by 6:50 because we're leaving on the race at 7pm SHARP! Please let me know if you're bringing friends in advance (dave@freedomhouse.ca) so that we can make sure there are enough seats in cars. The race is on!

After Youth Tonight... things got kinda crazy. Hey next week is our 2nd Annual Photo Scavenger Hunt. Be at the church ready to roll at 7pm sharp! We'll be heading out into the city to try and find tickets hidden at obscure locations! Stay tuned

Tomorrow at youth... we're going to be starting a series about Relationships. How we all get along. In a youth group... over the next bunch of years... we'll all spend a WHOLE LOT of time together and relationships aresoooooo important. So starting tomorrow for the next bunch of weeks, we'll be meeting at the church and watching a video to start with the bigger group... then we'll head into the lounge and chat together just with the youth. Stay tuned because we've got some fun stuff on the way this month too! Cya tomorrow! Dave

Well... given that we're doing a week of 24/7 Prayer... what do you think we'll be doing this week at youth? CORRECT! Wednesday night for youth... meet at the church at the regular time. We'll chat in the main room for a few minutes then head into the 24/7 Prayer room. Cya then!

Looking forward to tonight as my good buddy Trevor Nelson is gonna be sharing what God's put on his heart as we get together and worship again! You remember what it all felt like when we pressed in and worshiped together at the youth retreat? Well God tells us that we move from "Glory to Glory" and that "Everyday with You is Sweeter than the day before". So what that means... is that when we get together today... we have the opportunity for it to be even better than the youth retreat if we press in. Looking forward to tonight! See you at 7pm!

Little switch 'em up for March Break. We're going to move our next Youth Service until next week (the 25th) and because it's supposed to be so warm... we're going to do a RAK Attack (Random Acts of Kindness) this week. Since part of what youth is about is learning to lead and influence, we're going to be going with, and helping the LAFF Academy with this week's Servant Evangelism. We've done a number of these so we'll be able to help some of the younger kids so they can get in on the fun too! We have some preparation work for this one... so anyone who can... we'll be meeting at the church at 6pm to help put "Captain Kindness" labels on bottles of water. Remember? Like a drinkable version of Krissy! So please come at 6pm if you can and 7pm we'll get movin! Cya Wednesday! Dave

Well I don't know if you've noticed... but it's a bit unsnowyfull for tobogganing. So what are we going to do? We're going to play one of everyone's favorite game show's from the 80's! Win, Lose or Draw! Check this out (if you're getting this by email, check out the blog here for a wild old YouTube clip) We'll also be doing ice cream sundaes so let's meet up at the church in the lounge at 7pm Wednesday Night!

Honestly... what a weekend! It started off with THIS And ended up with THIS Don't forget what God did in you this weekend! You know What to dig... How to dig... Where to do... all that's left for you to do is.................... DIG!

It's a big week at youth this week! First thing's first. On Wednesday, we're splitting up the boys and the girls into small groups. Girls... you'll be meeting at our house (The Carrol's 71 Strathcona Ave) and the boys will be in the lounge at the church. For the girls... for convenience, you can get dropped off anytime after 6:30 and get picked up after. Now... Here's the program for the weekend which is going to be called... "The Big Dig" First off, the weekend will only cost 20 dollars to help cover costs and the meals will be provided. Please be at the Freedom House City Center at 7pm Friday Night. Session #1: "Why do we dig ? " Exploring why we should even bother spending our days shouting at the sky? Sleepover: We'll be locking the mall doors and sleeping over! There will be games of all kinds (from many eras)... light, dark, video, board... it will be a blast Session #2 (The Pajama Session): "How do we dig?" D

Last week's RAK Attack was amazing. Check out the video evidence... This week at youth... we're digging even further into the question of, "How do I change my city?" at our Freedom House Youth Service 7pm at the City Center. This weekend, I got to hang out with a room full of people who PRAY pray at the 24/7 Prayer National Meeting. One guy from Vancouver and his group have been praying for 4 years... non stop!!! But they don't just pray... they change the city! This is a picture of me and him hanging out in a tunnel UNDER Niagara Falls! For real! We'll learn more about it Wednesday Night... come ready to worship! Also please email me ( dave@freedomhouse.ca ) ASAP if you are coming to all or part of the 1st ever Freedom House Youth Retreat March 6th and 7th. There will likely be a very small cost but nothing out of anyone's reach. Leaders and youth... please confirm one way or another ASAP! Thanks! Cya Wednesday! Dave

It MAY be a BIT drizzly outside, but that's OK because... we're giving away lightbulbs tonight!!! I have 120 lightbulbs ready to be given to unsuspecting downtown residents tonight! Why are we doing this you ask? A) "To show God's love in a practical way" because B) Romans 2:4 says "God's kindness leads you toward repentance" So make sure you wear a coat that you can get a little wet... because it's RAK NIGHT @ YOUTH! Dave

Well... here's what the weather looks like for tonight.. That doesn't sound like good "handing out lightbulb" weather to me. So we'll do that next week. Off to plan B... Tonight will be GAME NIGHT! We're gonna play board games by the fire in the lounge tonight. So if you have a favorite board game (or 2 or 3) bring them tonight. See you @7 tonight! Dave

This week at youth... it's our monthly Random Act of Kindness Night! Last week, you'll remember, we walked around our new neighborhood (the heart of the city) and looked... listened... observed what the climate of the area was. Then we analyzed it and identified the best way to let God's light shine in the darkness. And what we came up with was... we're going to be giving away energy saver light bulbs to the people who live in the apartments downtown. Youth will all be with adult leaders of course. I was talking with a Christian Brantford Paramedic this weekend about our RAK Attack and she said, " that will be great, because lots of those places don't have light bulbs!" Awesome! When we're asked why? We simply say... that we're trying to show you how much God loves you in a practical way. You see... both practically and spiritually... light gets rid of darkness. Wednesday night, we WILL loose God's light into our new neighborhood. Just

This week at youth, we're picking up where we left off last week. We're going to take what we learned last week about using our spiritual senses... and we're gonna take it into the city. We'll meet in the lounge (by the fire) at 7pm... please wear warm clothes as we ARE gonna go outside. Check out the schedule for what else is coming up this month. Also some BIG NEWS! I'm happy to announce the FIRST EVER FREEDOM HOUSE YOUTH RETREAT!!!! Details are still to come, but I want you circle Friday March 6th and Saturday March 7th on your calender. Our youth retreat is going to be... RIGHT INSIDE FREEDOM HOUSE. We're having a "lock-in sleepover" at our very cool, brand new church home! We'll be having a Friday night service, then play games into the wee hours! After we sleep (please Jesus let there be sleep) we'll be having a full day of services, food and fun on Saturday! I'll send more details as they become final but make sure you BOOK

Here's what's coming up this February at Youth! And stay tuned... because last night we (the leaders) came up with some great stuff to look forward to this spring... here's a teaser!

Youth begins again this Wednesday at our brand new City Center! So... here's the plan. Meet me right here... ... at 7pm sharp. Sam will be lunging appropriately! We're going to start talking about what the deal is with "The City Center" thing... and how it will impact US. I'm gonna chat for a bit... then we're going outside for a little bit. So please bring warm things to wear, as we're going to begin to learn to use our Spiritual Eyes... Spiritual Ears... Spiritual Noses... And maybe even spiritual mouths??? Just don't eat the yellow snow. There is nothing spiritual about that. I made THAT mistake once. ONCE! When we're done... we'll be back by the roaring fire! Ready to roll?

Well... it turns out I was wrong. We don't have youth (for one more week). We're working almost around the clock to get the new church ready for the Grand Opening this weekend. So we'll start youth up again next Wednesday. By the way, did you know that we're calling our new building the, "The Freedom House City Center"? Why? Because we're about to start to (even more than before) find new awesome ways to change our city... and the youth are going to be a big part of it! Very exciting! Make sure you come down to the City Center on Saturday afternoon for the Grand Opening!

Hey everyone... just wanted to confirm that we DO NOT have youth tomorrow night. BUT we will have our first youth night of 2009 on the 21st. I'll let you know where we'll be when I know! This has been a very busy bunch of weeks as we get our new home all together so everything is pretty hectic right now, but it's going to be awesome when we have a great place to meet together each week! Go youth go! Dave