Hey all,

It's Holy Week!!! I hope that you all are finding time to dwell on what this week means to us as Christians. Here's a portion on the Apostle's Creed to chew on:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

Jesus' whole life: his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension into heaven are the ground for our hope that one day we will be with God as we were meant to be, that we do not have to die in our sins, but can be brought into a right relationship with God. That is reason to celebrate!!!

Youth Group Update
This last week at youth group we entered into Jesus' experience praying in the Garden before being arrested. He is surprisingly earthy in his response to his upcoming fate. Yet, as we saw, his honesty and openness to his Father in prayer is a model for our prayer to God. As we are open and honest to ourselves, our feelings, our emotions and as we express those feelings and emotions to God he meets us where we are at and helps us to really pray 'Not as I will, but as you will.'

Announcements
On Sunday, March 28, we had an informational meeting which laid out the current state of OrchardYouth ministries and where we are headed over the next 18 months. For those of you who could not be there the attached graphic explains it all...

The orange blocks are what we currently have running, the purpleish ones are 6 months out, the grey ones are 12 months out, and the black are 18 months out.

I am greatly encouraged by the course of our ministry and where God is taking us. But this is not just something that I think up and do on my own. I want, I need, to hear from you. To hear your heart for the youth of our church. And to hear ideas which you might have about possible areas of growth and change in our ministry.

To that end I have set up several small group setting type meetings over the next month. Would you please consider attending one of these groups?

• Thursday 4/15 – 7-8:30pm hosted by Chris and Lisa Powers
• Thursday 4/22 – 7-8:30pm hosted by Bruce and Laura Parrott
• Thursday 5/6 – 7-8:30pm hosted by David and Amanda Lecaroz

Each of these homes is located in Londonderry and each will host no more than 10 people in order to keep the time intimate.

Events

• No Youth Group next week, both SH and JH, for Easter week observance.
• Reminder, the "Does God Exist" group will be taking tonight off, in observance of Easter.
• For the SH, Crossfire, a student-led Christian group meets on Tuesdays from 2:15-3:15 in Room 121. Come on out!