IMAGINE IF-Dodgeball Digest: April 2015

Retreats Abounding!!

During our after school program breaks, we like to still provide events so that we can stay in contact with our youth. Retreats offer us an opportunity to really see what the Bible has to say about a particular area of our lives. We also tend to see more self-reflection and transformative change as a result of these fun yet focused weekends.

We held the Weird Wonderful Women and Love Thy Selfie retreats at the beginning of this year.

Weird Wonderful Women was specifically for young women 5th-8th grade and was held over Valentine's day weekend. 16 young women attended. We wanted to teach the gals about real love!

• About loving ourselves and our bodies for what they are in a society that tells us our beauty should be our main priority and that the standard is impossibly narrow and devoid of our marvelous flaws. 
• About God's plan for love between men and women. We heard testimonies from those who waited and those who did not and had a brave, brave man field any and all questions the ladies had for him on the subject! 
• About discounting all the negative labels put on women for simply expressing the way God made us. To love it and embrace it!

The lessons were peppered with hilarious skits, illustrative videos and self-esteem building activities.

A fancy 3 course brunch capped off the weekend to show the ladies that accepting anything less than the banquet table of the One True King is beneath them! Every gal left with a unique picture frame commemorating the weekend and a picture of themselves covered in duct tape affirmations their new friends had written for them!

We had many ladies share things they had never shared before and many saying the felt renewed and refreshed! One young lady said, "please thank whoever decided to have this retreat. I finally feel beautiful again." We thank God for the passion put on our volunteers hearts to do this and for the stories of His Glory He has given us to share. A monthly small group for young ladies has been born from this weekend!

Love Thy Selfie was held for both guys and gals age 5th-8th grade March 13-14 and had about 27 youth attend. It was centered around how today's culture is obsessed with "selfies" and how we are perceived by others. However, knowing your identity in Christ is the only way to have an unchanging and healthy foundation.

• About why other's opinions of us are so important. Discovering God's view of us and what being made in His Image looks like. Like holiness, like love, like humility.   
• About chasing trends and getting attention from the wrong things. How what the world tells us will lead to happiness is often a lie. How as Christians we can dare to be different and drop the baggage that's keeping us from total freedom in Him. 
• About connecting with those around you in a genuine way, not just through cyberspace. Communicating when offended, giving grace and asking for forgiveness. 

We played tons of fun games (human hungry hungry hippos, NERTS, #picture scavenger hunt), watched silly videos (a Jimmy Fallon hashtag video rip off) and had an amazing worship band that kept us jumping and dancing in praise all weekend long. We also had a morning dance wake up and social media 101! We had some youth share that this really revitalized their walk and that they will think twice about why and how they use their social media! One young lady said, "what if we just did this every day instead of school?!"

God Talk

PRAISE

• Continued financial support through grants!
• Doubling our amount of monthly donors with the March to 100 campaign!
• New male and high school volunteers engaging in program! 

PRAYER

• Spring semester After School Program: staff, volunteers, curriculum, hearts of the youth, their families, etc. That we all exhibit only God's love every single day. 
• Summer Program-Limitless! 
• For Pendleton youth to find out about our program, to want to come and for the registration forms to actually end up in the parents' hands!!
• Staff to plan like it depends on us but to pray knowing it depends on God!
• Transportation
• A hangout spot/community center--somewhere after school where older youth can hangout with each other and have trusted adults there for when they need to talk
• The health and wellness of the following IMAGINE IF supporters
• Nick Bradley - Carol Jacobs' family - Andrea Vellinga - Cameron DeBono - Betty Stephenson - Mark Yeager - Robin Henderson - Adam Grbic - Hicks/St. Clair family-Kurtz trip to Zambia - Diana Zeabart -Tina Goins - 

If you would like to support this program by donating financially, you may:

• send check (made to IMAGINE IF) to PO Box 187, Pendleton, IN 46064
• donate online at Support Us