The Christmas Conspiracy – 7th Grade Impact Trip Giving Project

The Christmas Conspiracy

conspiracy  [k?n’sp?r?s?]

2.the act of making plans in secret

A few years ago I read an article about a youth group’s Christmas Conspiracy. I loved the idea and we’ve been doing it each year on the last morning.　 We usually think of a conspiracy being something done in secret with intent to harm, trick, etc.　 However, this group went for the 2^nd definition … the act of making plans in secret and turning it for good.

God’s word challenges us to do good and to look to the interest of others… these things are pleasing to him.

Hebrews 13:15　 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

On our last morning together of the 7^th grade Impact Trip we do a Christmas Conspiracy Project.　　 We divide the students in to teams and give them $$ and have them pray about what they can do as a team to bless someone else.　 It’s the best if it can be done in secret – the recipient doesn’t know who answered a prayer and blessed them.

It’s always exciting to see what the teams come up with.　 And every year there are new ideas.

Team 1 – Went to a church and asked if there was any one in need -　 a family’s home had burned to the ground the previous week.　 They had saved for years to get this house… and now they had nothing.　 The Marble Falls bait shop was taking donations.　 So the $90 given to team 1 … with their own money chipped in as well… they gave $200 in gift cards for the family to purchase clothes and groceries.

Team 2 – Decided that they were to bless people that served others…　 They added their own money to the $90 and bought lunch/dinner/evening snack for all three shifts at the Kingsland Nursing Care Center.　 They were so excited … “No one’s ever done anything like this for us before”

Team 3 – Felt to go to a restaurant and see if one of the wait staff could use some encouragement here at Christmas time.　 A very young single mom of 4 … working at the Bluebonnet Café … really struggling to even just make ends meet.　 This team also added their own money to the $90　having gotten　the ages of the children, went to Walmart and bought them Christmas.

I believe each group was guided by the Holy Spirit and really blessed unsuspecting people today. The teams showed the different people – God knows about you… he cares about you … he wants you to see he loves you and wants to bless you… today!

Thank you for allowing your student to go on the trip!　 It was a joy to serve along with Mr. Dwayne Chappell, Mr. Ed Wilson, Mrs. Cheryl Wilson, Rickey Campbell, Audrey Hill, Taylor Preece and Jennifer Wilson.

Let your light shine… so others can see the light of Jesus in the darkness!

Mrs. Ginger

“Be blessed and highly flavored…You are the Salt of the Earth!”　　　 ~Mz G

Wise Men Do More Than Seek Him – 7th Grade Impact Trip

It warmed up enough for us to go to ‘The Town of Bethlehem’ …  we were in the line for about 25 minutes.  It was a lot of fun and a great beginning of our time together.

Once we got settled in to our cabins we met together for our first devotional! Audrey Hill brought the first devotional.  With the Christmas story as the background she took us on a journey with the Wise Men.

Audrey – asked us, “What does Christmas generally mean to most people?” “Gifts” “new phone” “new game” “clothes”   When we think about the Wise Men we usually think about them showing up and bringing gifts. But they brought more than gifts.

1. Hope… Wise men gave us hope – everyone else viewed the birth it as an ordinary night – they had hope that there was something good amidst the darkness. We don’t think about our hope in him.  They put their hope in the star – to see the Messiah –
2. They gave God their time –   took the time to seek him out.  We don’t know how long it took them – it was most likely days, weeks… some say years.  A lot of times we think – we give our time – we go to Bible School – we have Bible class  –  but they took significant time out of their lives to seek out the Messiah.
3.  They gave the gift of worship – They fell down and worshipped him.  They took the time to let everything sink in and everything that he was – and worshipped him. Do we honestly worship him?  To we take him for granted – they had the hope to follow – took time out of schedule to purse him… then actually worshipped wholeheartedly –
4. The wise men gave material gifts.  What gifts do we have that we can give him?

Christmas can bring ‘fun’ for some, but it can bring ‘frantic’ for others. For some the holidays are a rough time. When we’re going through a rough time… do we focus on Him?  Worship him and let Him take control of our life?

Let’s be encouraged to take time out of our daily schedule – if we really seek him… pursue him… give him our time … bring him our worship …He is waiting with open arms.

 

We ended the devotional time with small groups… admitting what our personal struggles are that keep us from ‘seeking’ the King of Kings … giving Him our time… wholeheartedly worshiping Him…

 

The final thing we did as a group was a fast, furious game of … “Never… have I ever ….  Intense.. and fun… teambuilding…

Half of the team will head out at 8:30 in the morning to Meals on Wheels and the other half will stay here and clean windows in their large meeting hall.  Camp Buckner is really excited about us being able to serve them.  After that we’ll head to Kingsland Nursing Care Center to decorate for Christmas and then sing Christmas Carols.  We’ll go to the Trail of Lights… and then come back to came for debriefing and our 2^nd Devotional.

We are reading Matthew 2:1-13 …  Join us … let the story of the Wise Men challenge you!

Mrs. Ginger