The Basics of Snowboard Gear

Hey everyone,

One of our students asked me a question about snowboarding gear and I thought, with Mammoth 08' coming up, that it would be helpful to have an overview of how to shop for snowboard gear. Here are some basics about gear:


Generally speaking, Burton is a safe brand to go with for any gear that you need, they are the biggest and best snowboard company in the world. There are a number of other decent companies that I will list below, but few are as consistently high quality as Burton.

Brand Options
Jacket/Pants:
L1
DC
Mission Six
Billabong
Volcom

Goggles:
Anon
Spy
Dragon
Electric
VonZipper

Hat:
Any warm hat is fine, I wear a helmet which you could consider. If you choose to go with a helmet:
Red
Pro-Tec

Boots (Snowboard boots are like large shoes that get strapped to your board via the bindings):
Burton
32
DC
Forum
Salomon

Gloves:
Grenade
DaKine
Drop

Board (almost any board would be fine, typically you get what you pay for, meaning, cheaper board is a lesser product, if you find one on Ebay and you want me to look at it, I'd be happy to check it out)
Burton
K2
Ride
Rome

Bindings (go on top of the board to keep your feet connected to the board):
Burton
Drake
Forum
Salomon


Long Underwear (not necessary, but helpful):
Just get it at K-Mart or Target

If you're shopping for gear PLEASE don't pay full retail prices. There is always an option to go cheaper.

Ebay
Craigslist
The House
Steep and Cheap
Whiskey Militia (no alcohol:)

These are all ways to get gear cheaper. Be patient and use them well.

Revolution surf shop
Val Surf
Wave Rave

All typically have great summer sales. At least Revolution is doing an after Thanksgiving sale.

I hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any questions

New Room

Hey,

As many of you already know, we're getting a new room! Here's some pics from the demo :)

What is the real Gospel?

We got to study John 3 this week (here's the podcast). It was amazing to see Jesus have this conversation with a key Jewish leader (Nicodemus). Nico came to Jesus to ask him about the signs and miracles, Jesus doesn't necessarily answer that, he talks to him about being born again.

One of the big questions we'll be talking about this week is: What exactly happens when we're born again? What changes about our identity, purpose and function now that we are born a second time (think new life!)?

Chat about that, get uncomfortable talking about the impact of the Gospel.

John stuff

Hey everyone,

Sorry it's taken me a couple weeks to get things organized, but I want to give you a glimpse into what we're going through in the book of John.

One of the things we see a ton of in all of the Gospels and so far in John is Jesus' desire to disrupt the religious habits of the 1st century Jewish culture. This week we talked about Jesus turning over the money-changers' tables in the temple. The big question was... "Why was Jesus angry?" When you think about it, Jesus was angry because you had a whole bunch of people completely missing the point of being faithful. Rather than picking a choice lamb or an unblemished animal, they were grabbing their sacrifice in the courtyard of the temple. People were doing things simply because, that's what they've always done and that's what the Torah said to do.

So here are the key questions:

1. Are you missing the point of being a follower of Christ? Is it more about the church-going then the mission?

2. How can you challenge your kids to walk in genuine faith?


The second question is one that I think would be great for every family to work through. What are we doing here? What does our faith actually look like? If you get into discussions on that, I'd love to hear some of the things you come up with.

Latest Podcast

Hume and a baptism

The week at Hume was a good experience for the students and the counselors this year. We had a great time this year. I felt like the students were just excited to be there. They weren't concerned about much other than hanging out and seeing what God wants to do in their lives. It was very cool to see. On Saturday morning we had a baptism for three students. I was so excited to see God at work in the lives of these three (and so many more).

One of the huge things that God taught us this week was that we simply can't walk the line living in both the world and obedience to God, it is our call to live wholly obedient lives.

More Hume pics

Hume pics

What's is God's prayer?

We (the staff at Evfree) have been asked to pray through the question "How do you (God) want us to pray for this church?"

This is based off of Acts 4:24-29 when the early church lifted their voice with one accord. They prayed together for the body and for God's work to be done.

Acts 4:29 "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence..."

This is my brainstorming session on how we should be praying for this church.

The purpose of the prayer needs to be kingdom oriented. In other words, we need to be praying what God wants for this church, not what we want or what we are comfortable with. It even seems like we will be uncomfortable with whatever God challenges us to do.

1. One of the things that I am seeing that needs to happen in the high school ministry and possibly throughout the church is that we need to shake things up in the church in an effort to increase our presence in the community. I am seeing that one of the problems with the high school ministry is that our relevance and presence in the community is in decline. Not necessarily because we are less effective as a ministry, but as new kids filter through we aren't actively doing things to keep our ministry in the front of their minds. As a church, what are we doing in the community to keep this place in people's minds as a destination for people seeking Jesus Christ? We have an add in the Acorn. We are doing our day camp. We did the Action serving day. We have people in the congregation who actively invite and share about what God is doing in their lives. Those are good things, I guess one of my prayers is to ask God to push us out into the community even further.

That being said, I don't think that would be my "one accord" prayer.

2. That we would sacrifice everything to live out our love for Jesus Christ

3. That the voice of God would be heard through us in this community...

4. That we as a church are driven by the truth of the Gospel and everything we do would flow out of that.

If you read this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what we as a church should be lifting our united voice to God to pray for. This is still a process for me, I just thought I'd throw it up here, you know, for kicks:)

Video Scavenger Hunt

Last night was AMAZING! The kids had a great time running all over town performing a series of tasks that were hilarious. I can't wait to see the video. If you get a chance, ask your kids who they met, who they hung out with and what some of the crazy things they did. It will make for great conversation.

The "Others" part II

Hello again,

I don't know how many of you read last week's installment of the "Others", but I thought I'd shoot back for part 2. Once again...

Much of the information will be processed from a book called "Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps and Timelines". The book takes a chapter to walk through some of the deviations from normal/orthodox Christianity.

So let's get going. This week we're going to be taking a look at the Mormon faith.

The Mormon faith was founded in 1830 in New York by Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844). They are currently headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. The picture above is the Mormon Temple in downtown Salt Lake City. In addition to the King James Version of the Bible, the Mormons use the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price as their "holy books". In addition to that the teachings of Mormon prophets and other LDS "general authorities" are considered authoritative and treated as the words of God.

Theology
The Mormons believe that God the father was once a man, but he "progressed" to godhood. He has a physical body, as does his wife (Heavenly mother). There is no trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are three separate gods. Worthy men may one day become gods themselves. I have heard (unconfirmed) that the Mormon church recently amended this belief to say that men may one day becomes stewards of their own planet rather than gods of their own planet. Ultimately Joseph Smith taught that individual men may become gods of their own planet.

Christology
Jesus is a separate god from the Father (Elohim). He was created as a spirit child by the Father and Mother in Heaven, and is the "elder brother" of all men and spirit beings. His body was created through sexual union between Elohim and Mary. Jesus was married. His death on the cross does not provide full atonement for all sin, but does provide everyone with resurrection. The LDS main page talks about Jesus as the son of God, the savior of the world, etc. It says "If you follow his example as closely as possible, you will not only find joy in your life, but you will some day return to live with Him and your Father in Heaven".

Pneumatology (Holy Spirit)
The "holy spirit" is different from the "Holy Ghost" according to the Mormons. The "holy spirit" is not God, but is an influence or electricity-like emanation from God (or "light of Christ). The LDS website states

“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the

Holy Ghost

Also called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and the Comforter. He witnesses, or testifies of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and reveals and teaches the truth.

Holy Ghost?” ( Moroni 10:4)."

If you've ever spoken to a Mormon missionary, one of the key points that they make is that if you read the book of Mormon and seek out the Holy Ghost, he will show you that it is true.

Soteriology (Salvation)
Resurrected by grace, but saved (exalted to godhood) by works, including faithfulness to church leaders, Mormon baptism, tithing, ordination, marriage, and secret temple rituals. There is no eternal life without Mormon membership. The Mormons believe that after death you continue the process of learning and progressing. According to this, "Those who choose not to follow Christ and do not repent will be unhappy."

Death
Eventually nearly everyone goes to one of three separate heavenly "kingdoms" with some achieving godhood. Apostates and murderers go to "outer darkness".

Other Beliefs
Mormons believe that they should abstain from alcohol, tobacco, coffee or tea (anything caffeinated).

Baptism of the dead--Baptizing young Mormons on behalf of dead non-Mormons
Two year missionary commitment is encouraged
Door to door evangelsim is encouraged
Secret temple rituals exist, but are only available to members in good standing
People of African ancestry were not granted full access to Mormon priesthood and privileges until 1978

The Mormons believe in something called the Great Apostasy which basically teaches that when all of the disciples died the priesthood authority died with them. When that happened, error and corruption snuck into the church. This period is known as the Great Apostasy. When Joseph Smith found the golden tablets (the book of Mormon), this ended the period of the Great Apostasy. Now that the priesthood is restored all is well (according to the Mormons).


There is so much more, but I don't know how much of it I would be able to put in a blog. Again, my desire is to provide some basic beliefs of each of these groups. If you are having trouble identifying the differences between what they (the Mormons and Jdubs) believe and what Christianity believes A) read the Bible and B) talk to me and we can work through the main things.

There has been a surge of effort since the winter games for the Mormons to be more "Christian". Their website is very neutral and does not describe the extent of Mormonism that is reality. When speaking with Mormons, many of them don't know everything that the church teaches so they may not be able to answer all of your questions. Here are some resources on Mormon beliefs and Christian apologetics to Mormons:

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
Kind of wacky, but still interesting
Yet another ex-Mormon resource website (there are lots of these)
And finally, Wikipedia

The "Others"

I've been getting a lot of questions from students, parents and staff about some of the other groups out there that like to claim the name of Christ, but don't quite like to follow the stuff that's in the Bible. Over the next few months I will post a series of reviews on some of these "cults" of Christianity as we would call them.

Much of the information will be processed from a book called "Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps and Timelines". The book takes a chapter to walk through some of the deviations from normal/orthodox Christianity.

The first group we'll take a stab at is the Jehovah's Witnesses:

The Jehovah's Witness organization was founded by Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) in Pennsylvania in 1879. They are currently headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The Jehovah's Witnesses use a tranlsation of the bible called the "New World Translation", which is the only acceptable version. They have other publications that they use for life and practice called "Reasoning from the Scriptures, You Can Live Forever In Paradise on Earth, Watchtower Magazine and Awake Magazine". These publications offer direction, discovery and truth for the JW's and they are considered to be "from God".

Theology
The JW's believe that there is one God, called Jehovah. There is no Trinity. They believe that Jesus is the first created being. This is important because normal/orthodox Christianity believes that Jesus is uncreated and eternally existing (Col 1:15-20).

Christology
They believe that Jesus is not God. Before he lived on earth he was Michael, the archangel. Jehovah made the universe through him. On earth he was a man who lived a perfect life. After dying on a stake (not a cross), he was resurrected as a spirit; his body was destroyed. Jesus is not coming again; he "returned" invisibly in 1914 in spirit. Very soon, he and the angels will destroy all non-Jehovah's Witnesses.

Pneumatology (Holy Spirit)
The Jw's believe that there is an impersonal, "holy spirit" that is not God, but rather an invisible, active force from Jehovah.

Soteriology (salvation)
They believe that you must be baptized as a Jehovah's Witness in order to be saved. Most followers must earn everlasting life on earth by "door-to-door work". Salvation in Heaven is limited to 144,000 "anointed ones". This number is already reached. The rest will spend eternity in paradise on earth.


Death

The 144,000 live as spirits in heeaven. The rest of the righteous, "the great crowd" live on earth and must obey God perfectly for 1,000 years or be annihilated.


There are some quirky beliefs that the JW's hold to. Active members are encouraged to distribute literature door-to-door as many of us have experienced first hand. Once a year they celebrate the Lord's Evening Meal (communion), but only the anointed ones may partake. They do not observe birthdays or holidays. They are forbidden to vote, salute the flag, work in teh military or accept blood transfusions.

There are currently (as of 2006) about 16 million Jehovah's Witnesses , of those 6.7 million are considered true members (determined by who performs door-to-door work).

For more information check here

Next week... Mormons

Issues facing the church

Ok, so this last week we had a chance to get a group of people together to discuss the next steps for us as a church as it relates to reaching the next generation. We had Chuckk Gerwig to share with us about his personal experiences and research in the field of the emerging church. It was a great discussion. There were about 25 people in the room including elders from Evfree, pastors from Evfree, members of Evfree and a few people from other churches as well. One of the things that made it a great discussion is that there was a large number of people there who were interested in figuring out what it's going to take for us to build a church that ministers to and captures the passion of the next generation of society.

On a side note, I say the "next generation of society" because we all agreed that this doesn't have anything to do with age breakdowns. While the younger generation is leading the way in terms of numbers of people that think/act/live in a certain way, that way has affected the older generations as well and it seems to make sense for people up into their 60's.

I don't know if there is any way to identify this generational shift. If I say emergent or emerging, it casts a bit of a shadow on the discussion because in a lot of people's minds that communicates compromised theology or music and lighting changes. I don't know that any of that really captures what is happening in this new generation of followers of Jesus Christ. What was scary, what Chuckk helped us to see was the fact that younger people who are a part of this mindset shift are not going to church. Not only are they not going to church, but they are scared of church and scared of Christians.

One of the biggest potential solutions to this issue is for individual followers of Jesus Christ to work hard to be Christ in our community. The Conejo Valley is a tough place to do ministry because, well, there's wealth and comfort here. Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. We live in a valley full of rich people (check your status here). If we as individual believers get out into this community and love, care for, serve and share the Gospel with the passion that Jesus Christ gave to us, we will see more people coming to Christ and more people connecting to his body. I would love to hear thoughts on how you as an individual/family can be Christ in the community.

Seniors

This year's senior trip was interesting. This group was my first full four year class at Evfree. Basically, they came in as freshmen the summer after I got the job at the church. For the senior trip we went up to San Francisco mainly just to get away. Kristen and I have enjoyed taking the groups some place where we can give them a chance to just be together, while giving us a chance to challenge them to the life that God has called them to.

One of the best parts of the trip was the "cruise" around town that started at 1:30 in the morning. I've found this is the best time to go sightseeing because all the cool spots are empty and there's no traffic! We saw everything. We went up to Twin Peaks and saw an amazing view of the whole city. Then we drove down Market Street to the Embarcadero where we got to see all the piers. From there we went up to Lombard over the Golden Gate Bridge. On the far side of the GGB we stopped and got out looking back at the city. It was beautiful at 3 in the morning! We crossed back over the GGB and then went up Divisidero St. If you've never been to San Francisco, this is the coolest street in my opinion. It's super steep... SUPER steep. So we went up that and then back down it... Good times. From there we went back over to Lombard to hit up the windiest street in the world and then back to our hotel.

The BEST part of the trip was Saturday night. We climbed out onto the observation deck of the hotel for a late night chat. It was awesome to hear what God has done in the lives of these students over the last four years. God has prepared them and challenged them to go beyond a normal life. These guys are funny, weird, spastic and all-around insane, but they are kids that God has used to change my life and I am grateful for them.

On Wednesday night we had a junior meeting (11th graders). We had 25 juniors in the room. As I was looking around, I was getting more and more excited for the year to come. We have another amazing group of students entering their senior year. Keep praying for these kids, that God will grab their hearts and use them to transform their peers into disciple-making believers. Thanks for reading.

The Review

Wow! Mexico was amazing.

The quick details are:
1 week
35 students
8 adults
4 days of ministry
1 day of community service

My primary prayer for this week was that God would work through our students to reveal to them his power in their weakness. I was excited to see that prayer answered this week. God did some amazing things through the students, staff and translators.

I would encourage you (the readers) to talk to someone from our team about what God did in them during their week in Mexico. I would also encourage you to pray that God would take what he taught the students throughout the week and further it in their lives. Thanks for all your prayers and support leading up to the trip!

Wednesday Night Live

Last night at Unbound we had a very interesting discussion about the exclusivity of Christianity. The purpose of the discussion was to talk about why God would make it so that there was only one way to heaven. While this premise has been generally acknowledged for the past 2000 years, this generation is greatly questioning whether this statement is true or not. The discussion centered around whether "all roads lead to Heaven" or if there is one way to eternity with God. This was difficult for some of the students who have a number of friends that are actively communicating that everyone is right. We walked through the Old Testament and New Testament story of God and talked about how acknowledging God and the Bible necessitates an "exclusive" view. The problem with that word is that while the view is exclusive to only those who receive Christ, it is inclusive to anyone that will submit his life to God.

What are your thoughts on this issue?
Have you thought about engaging your kids with this? It's ok to talk through controversial questions, even if you don't have all the answers. It is important for the kids to hear you acknowledging some of the difficulties that they face on a day to day basis.

Mexico Outreach Concert

This past Friday night Taylor, AJ, DJ and Joey donate their time and talent to contribute to the effort to raise funds for Mexico 07. The concert was a blast and was highly successful in helping us raise over $250.00 for the Mexico Team. It has been exciting to see these young musicians having fun writing songs and creating music, then using that music to bring glory to God and support his mission to the world. Make sure to thank Taylor and the guys for all of their work!

Serving God

Unbound student ministries has been characterized largely by student led worship for the past 5 years. As students step forward with musical ability and leadership skills I see true transformation in front of my eyes. I have been so excited to see the students gain a true understanding for what it means to worship God.

We have a number of students involved in children's ministry in some capacity (Awana, Sunday School, Child Care, Kidzville Worship, etc). I have been so excited to see this number rise to almost 25 high school students involved in children's ministry. The students are understanding more and more the need that they have to be involved in furthering God's work through his church.

In the past year we've had 6 young men share truth from God's Word. Whether these young men aspire to be teachers or preachers is irrelevant. They are grasping key parts of God's Word and communicating that to their peers and in doing that I have seen immense growth and challenge. I am excited to see what God is doing in these students and I can't wait to see how he will use many of these young men and women to further his work in the future-should the Lord delay his return.

We also have 6 high school students participating on Junior High staff. They are putting gifts into practice by weekly leading small groups, games, teaching, helping with worship, and planning events. These students are a key part of the middle school ministry and they have developed amazing relationships with the kids in that program.

As parents and youth workers I would love to know what qualities you've seen in your kids or in these students that could be put into use for the student ministries and for the church ministries as a whole. We can't continue to think of them as "the church of the future" because I'm starting to see that they are the church of right now. All praise, glory and honor to God.

Counseling Resources

I am in the process of reading a book called "Pleasing People" by Lou Priolo (www.prpbooks.com). As a parent or youth worker, this would be a valuable read if you struggle in the area of seeking approval from people. The book presents an excellent Scriptural basis for understanding how pride affects our self-perception and how it causes us to seek out the approval of people. It also separates people pleasing into two categories--seeking the approval of men and fearing the rejection of men. This is so important as we interact with high school students. We set up our family systems to hinge on our approval and disapproval of our kids activities. I have already seen evidence of this in my own family and my oldest is only 4. In some ways we train our kids to seek out the approval of men rather than to be content in the approval of God.

Part of the problem might be that we ourselves seek the approval of men rather than the approval of God. If this is something you think you might be struggling with, this would be a great book to pick up. It's not perfect, but it does have some great insight into the issue.

The Will of God

Tonight at youth group we are going to be searching out the question: "Why does God harden people's hearts". I have found this to be an interesting topic with some powerful application.

The ultimate point of the night after looking at Pharaoh, the King of Hesbon and the Israelites in Romans 9 and 11 is to see that any time that God hardens a heart it serves a specific purpose for his Kingdom. Whether we know or see that purpose at any given moment is besides the point. The application for the night is to see that God wants us to focus on doing our part. We are incapable of saving anyone. Our role is to be witnesses, to be ambassadors and to speak the truth in love. We can plant, we can water, but ultimately God will cause that seed to grow.

This is actually encouraging. It takes the pressure off of results. We can trust that if we are faithful to do our part, God will do his part according to his perfect will. Does this mean that everyone we evangelize to will be saved... unfortunately, no. But as a faithful disciple I have to focus my attention on what God has asked me to focus my attention on. I can't focus on the things that are out of my control.

Where to go with this:
1. As a family, what are you doing to fulfill your part? Are there family members (immediate or extended) that you have been praying for and being a witness to? Can you identify what seeds have been planted or what watering has been done? If not, what are some seeds that you could plant? What is some watering that you could do? This would be a great dinner table discussion.

2. As a family, what are some things that you do to display trust in God? Is your giving a family affair? Do your kids know how much you give? Do they know the sacrifice that you make to support the work of the Kingdom financially? This would be a great discussion to have, not to brag, but to teach them the importance of trusting God's provision and his hand in the life of your family.

The Afterlife Part II

Tonight, the students will be hearing from one of our small group leaders, Toni Beherend, on her experience with the paranormal/occult before she came to know the Lord. I am curious to see what she has to say and how God brought her out of that life into her life with him now.

There should be some great opportunity for follow-up conversation after a night like tonight:
-Do any of your friends have stories about ghosts/spells/witchcraft/etc?
-Have you ever had any experiences like this?
-What are some of the fears/questions that you have about the supernatural world?
-How can we as Christians guard ourselves against this world while still being a friend and a resource to people in this world?

On a seperate note, I know the whole "Myspace" discussion has quieted down a bit over the past few months. If you haven't already, take a look at Kristen's and my Myspace to see what we've done to use it as a student ministry resource: www.myspace.com/mattandkristenlarson

If you have any questions about specifics of what we're talking about in the discipleship class, please comment below the blogs or email at Matt@evfree.net

The Afterlife

This week in the Discipleship Class we had an extremely challenging time of working through what happens after death. Not only that, but we talked through some of the issues of the spiritual world that this physical world deals with regularly. What do we do with ghosts? What do we do with mediums and psychics and all of those types of things that we see on TV (and in the schools). It was a thought provoking and encouraging time together.

Here are some thoughts for how you as a parent could continue this discussion:
Questions
1. What do you think happens in the supernatural world?
2. How should we as Christians approach the modern world of psychics and fortune telling?
3. Do you have any friends that I could be praying for?

Remember when you talk to your kids, you are their parents. You are a source of spiritual wisdom and understanding for your kids.

Keep checking back here for updates on what's going on in Evfree Student Ministries!

Biblical Church

Have you ever thought of what church looked like in the Bible? It looks pretty different from what we know as church today. I wrestle with this. I don't think that the Bible would presume that all church would look similar to what it looked like in the book of Acts, but ultimately, I find it interesting that church looks almost nothing like it did in Acts.

What is church?

Church is the body of Christ. That metaphor is important because it identifies the key parts. Christ is the head of the church. Each individual is a member/part of the body of Christ. Each part must be connected to the head (Jesus Christ) in order to function properly and move the body in the direction that the head wants it to go.

Church is the gathering place (Hebrews 10:24). We are challenged to meet together to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. The fact of the matter is that Jesus Christ has a purpose for us, if we are going to accomplish that purpose, we need to be pushing each other in the right direction. As a youth pastor, there is always a temptation to call hanging out "fellowship". Unless we are pushing people toward God, we are not participating in fellowship.

Church isn't a building, it's a body of people in motion together. You think about that early church (Acts). They didn't have any particular location, but they gathered together regularly, prayed for people, and let as many people know about Christ as possible. They were in motion. They moved forward.

The point of this is to wrestle through the goals for church. We can't get caught up in making church the right place for people. Sure, yes we want to remove road blocks for people to connect with the head, but in reality, church is what it is. Church is the body of Christ. People are going to make a choice to be a part of that body or not. We can't be people pleasers, we have to move in the direction that God wants his church going. He wants us making disciples (Matt 28:18-20), he wants us pushing each other toward him (Hebrews 10:24), he wants us communicating the manifold wisdom of God (Eph 3:10) and he wants us to equip the saints for works of service (Eph 4:11-12). There are other passages that deal with the goals of the church, but these are certainly some key passages as well.

This is just something to wrestle with. Think about it.