STIX 'N STONES

NYE BASH Video

This is a video created by Brendon (one of our 2Twenty students) recapping our NYE BASH where over 350 students were in attendance on New Year's Eve.  As you can see, we had an absolute blast! 

It's Not Over, Even When It's Over

Many times I can find myself thinking that once a large event (or something we've been planning for a long time) is over, that I can quickly move on to the next thing.  However, this is not necessarily the best approach.  (Notice that I'm writing this with our big New Year's Eve event in mind that we just had.) 

There are 2 things that are extremely valuable after events or significant times of ministry:

1) Celebration - It's good to pull the team together and say "Great job, way to go!"  It feels good to acknowledge a "win" together.  It's also very motivating for everyone involved.  Too often I have not done this well in the past.  I am committed to doing this better in the future.

2) Debriefing - This involves pulling the primary team players (those who helped plan the event) together and answering (at least) 2 primary questions in relation to the event: a) What did we do well? and b) What can we do better/How can we improve?  Today we did a debriefing about our New Year's Eve event.  We captured the information on paper and we will use it to make things even better for next year.  Don't get me wrong - this was the best NYE event we've ever had.  We're just committed to making it better each time that we do it!

New Year's Eve All Nighter

On New Year's Eve we held an all night party for students in grades 6th through 12th.  It was an absolutely amazing time, from 10:30pm on Dec. 31st to 7:30am on Jan. 1st.  We had over 350 in attendance, and a total of 6 churches participated (including APC): Central Assembly (Houston, PA), Coraopolis Church of God, Pitcairn Assembly, Riverside Community (Oakmont, PA) and Sharpsburg Family Worship Center.

There were a variety of things to choose from all night long so that students never got bored.  We had 2 primary locations where the events were held, Allison Park Church and Fun Fest.  The events included:

• A balloon drop at midnight
• Life-size inflatable games
• Basketball
• Laser Tag
• Cosmic Bowling
• Arcade Games
• Pool (Billiards)
• Prizes
• Karaoke
• Music & Videos
• Food

Gregg Jacobs did a fantastic job at planning this enormous event.  Also, a special thanks to all the adult workers who helped to make this night possible.  We could not have done it without you.  I'm still recovering from staying up all night, but it was worth it (I think)!

NYE '07 ALL NIGHTER

We are hosting an All-Night event for students in grades 6 through 12 on New Year's Eve at Allison Park Church.  Yes, that's right - ALL NIGHT - from 10:30pm on Dec. 31st to 7:30am on Jan.1st!  (I guess we're kinda crazy!)

If you LEAD students in any capacity, we want to serve you by making this a SHARED EVENT.  Let's join forces and do this TOGETHER!  It's much more fun that way!  Please contact me if you are interested in bringing the students that you lead.

We're working hard to make this THE BEST ALL-NIGHTER around!  We'll be using the facility at Allison Park Church and Fun Fest (in Harmarville) as the 2 locations for all the activities.  Here's a sampling of what will be happening:

• UNLIMITED Laser Tag
• UNLIMITED Cosmic Bowling
• FREE-PLAY Video Games
• Life-size Inflatables
• Movies
• Food
• Prizes
• More

We have created a brochure that you can "make your own" to promo NYE '07 for your church/organization Download nye_07_materials.zip .  If you would like to just participate with the Fun Fest portion of the evening, we have included a flyer that you can use for that purpose as well.  (Make sure you download the fonts we included in the folder or else the brochure probably won't look right).