Presbyouth

Can also be the most outrageous time of year. It can be the kind of cold that actually makes you angry, and everyone is all germy and sick, and running around like chickens with their heads cut off because shopping and presents and meals and parties! Last week I missed the PresbYouth Christmas Party because I was the kind of sick where you would very much like an induced coma until your body is back to normal instead of some DayQuil and cough drops. I completely lost my voice and it hurt to even swallow water and I was freezing and exhausted and I am super dramatic and being a psychology major makes you a hypochondriac so I was surely dying of some sort of disease. I cried about missing the Christmas party. I wanted to go Caroling and tie blankets for the homeless and see my presbyouth babies before the holidays swallow them up and don't spit that back out until January 11th. But it's not a Kingdom Problem (PATent pending). The Party happened without me and I'm sure...

OH MY GOODNESS, WE LOVE SERVING THE LORD! The Lord is so good and gracious and amazing to us, so this week the PresbYouth did its best to walk like Jesus. We helped to make over 200 Birthday-in-a-Bags for the Family Visitation Center, here in Sioux Falls. The FVC is such an amazing organization that help families to reconnect or stay connected through difficult situations. They provide so many services that quite literally save families and we are so honored to have worked for them this week. One of the very cool things FVC does is provide a Birthday Party for every child they serve! Since these children only get to see their noncustodial parent within the walls of the facility, FCV makes sure each child gets to celebrate their birth with that parent. So they provide a bag full of Birthday Party Supplies in order to do that. About a year ago they asked for donations and were so abundantly blessed that they had no room to store all of the bags! They had to break down the bags an...

Hey y'all, Show of hands, how many of you panicked just a smidge when you read the title of this post? As a former Lutheran/Methodist/engaged to a Catholic/attending a baptist school/working at--member of a Presbyterian Church, I hear ya. Isn't it funny that we tend to just accept this crazy idea that we read scripture about people, not just Jesus, CASTING OUT DEMONS, but then close the Bible and say "that's nice," but as soon as someone talks about this type of Spiritual Warfare going on in present day we shut down because "that doesn't really happen." I have an update for you: yes it does. The author of Luke and Acts didn't close the book and put down their pen or piece of flint or feather or whatever and God said "good thing that's over," and stop giving people the authority to cast demons out. And he sure as heck did not say, "Okay demons, you can go home now." They are here. The Devil still comes to Steal, Kil...

This past week and this coming Wednesday, we had the wonderful opportunity to hear from two powerful women of God, Correena Spangler and Jess Sharp. These women are doing such crazy spiritual things I couldn't help but have them share with the students of FPC. Jess spoke to the High School group while Correena spoke to the Middle School group last week and they will swap groups this week. Jess spoke deeply and personally about "the more of God" while Correena enlightened students on the ability to see and cast out demons. Since I sat in with the High Schoolers last week, I think I'll share what Jess had to say about her walk with Christ. Jess grew up in a little Minnesota town as a very athletic and successful young lady. She was raised Lutheran and followed her brother to Augustana when she graduated. She said that she "grew up knowing a lot about God but not having any sort of relationship with the Lord." Boy did that change. She went on to tell us ab...

I was walking around the shops downtown trying to figure out the perfect gift to get my mother before I took off to make the perfect batch of cookies for this family Christmas in October. Then I had to do laundry at lightning speed so I could pack the perfect bag full of the perfect outfits for any possible event that might occur while hanging out at my Grandma's with my family. Oh, and I had to leave my house in the perfect condition--spotless to the point of OCD so that I wouldn't feel stressed when I got home Sunday night. So I'm walking through Lot 2029, looking at jewelry, scarves, coffee cups with fun sayings on them, and I stop in my tracks. On the table is this cute little light pink journal that says "I will hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection," in gold letters. It was stunning. I just HAD to have it! I flipped it over and it was a billion dollars so I didn't get it. But I snapped this picture and wrote it on a sticky note and hung it o...

Hey everyone! I am so excited to start our new series: Crazy Spirituality. We ran into a little bump in the road as we began this series as far as scheduling goes. Because of that, we will be speaking for two weeks about spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, casting out demons, and some unbelievable prayer. We will be talking about why God gives his people these gifts and how they work, as well as dig into what the scripture has to say. Then, on November 2, we will start four weeks of guest speakers who will share their stories, and how their gifts have shaped their lives. While planning this lesson I got to thinking about my faith journey and moments where I have encountered some crazy spirituality. I looked back on the time my mentor Ranelle helped me pray away the pain of my past, the months where prayer and God's presence were the only thing that could stop my panic attacks. All of the times I walked home in the dark afraid until I prayed for God to keep me sa...

Hey everyone! We hope you had as great of a night as we did last night! Here are some pictures of our adventures. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the mini-horse chasing we did but here are some of the others! A big thank you to the Silver Creek Apple Orchard for hosting us last night!

Last week, we were able to talk about what Church is and what it looks like for us.  I shared with my high school students that when I think of Church, I think of Mentos. My Grandma and I had an understanding that if I was well behaved during church up until the sermon, she would give me a Mento. Now, let's be honest, Mentos are probably the least exciting candy known to man, and I only got one. Truly, I was being jipped. But it was the highlight of church for me and it worked really well because sitting in the pew, making my Mento last as long as it possibly could, I found and got to know Jesus.  Then the students shared what they think of when they think of the word Church. I got everything from, "a body of people worshiping God together, to circle donuts and the kiddy bags full of toys. Whatever it is that makes you think of Church, I pray that you find Jesus in that memory.  This week in the Presbyouth rooms, we are creating our own Churches. We have talked...

Google defines 'Church' as: church CHərCH/ noun noun:  church ; plural noun:  churches 1 . a building used for public Christian worship. "they came  to church  with me" synonyms: place of worship,  house of God , house of worship;  More a particular Christian organization, typically one with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines. noun:  Church "the Church of England" synonyms: denomination , ecclesial community;  More the hierarchy of clergy of a Christian organization, especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England. noun:  the Church institutionalized religion as a political or social force. "the separation of church and state" verb archaic verb:  church ; 3rd person present:  churches ; past tense:  churched ; past participle:  churched ; gerund or present participle:  chur...

Leadership. Administration. Teaching. Knowledge. Wisdom. Discernment. Prophesy. Exhortation. Shepherding. Faith. Evangelism. Apostleship. Serves/Helps. Mercy. Giving. Hospitality. Peter Wagner defines a spiritual gift as “a special attribute given by the Holy Spirit to every member of the Body of Christ according to God’s grace for use within the context of the Body.” I used to think that I hadn't gotten mine yet; that I was too young and had to wait. I watched a lot of magic shows: Charmed, Wizards of Waverly Place, Sabrina The Teenage Witch. In these shows, you grow into your powers, because can you imagine a baby being able to blow things up or freeze time? Dangerous. So naturally, I thought of spiritual gifts as magical powers and assumed I would grow into them when God decided I was ready...or my 18th birthday. The truth, though, is that every believer in our big Body of Christ has a spiritual gift, likely more than one. And we all are called to use those gifts for the b...

Hey everyone! How great is it to be back at it? Okay, it might be a little overwhelming and stressful and I'm guessing some of you picked up pencils last week and realized you forgot how writing works for just a minute, but it's all okay because WE HAVE YOUTH GROUP THIS WEEK! We are going to be discussing all of the changes that are being made to the youth group, like the schedule, the new rooms, the new leaders, etc. And I know for some of you, change isn't something you enjoy. The good news is that change usually is for the best and while we have to move forward, I think it's important to take a breath and a moment to remember what we loved about youth group before the change. This got me thinking about my youth group. Let me tell you, it looked nothing like this crazy Presbyterian business. There was no "youth room," and instead, we met at the home of  Isaac and Ranelle, a young couple from our Church. We all fit on their couch... it wasn't even a...

For more Pictures, go to https://digitaltapestry.shootproof.com/gallery/colorwars2016/home and type in jadaplath@fpcsiouxfalls.org. Downloads are also available so post away! Thank you to Cathy Newcomb with Digital Tapestry for photographing the event and to Shelly Horr for providing delicious rootbeer floats! It was a blast!