Huddle Recap Foothill: 2-23-11

Dear Foothill FCA Families,
Thank you for your great support in pulling together the behind-the-scenes details for this past Wednesday's Huddle. The kids always appreciate the food, and when we run out of pizza, they appreciate the cookies. When we run out of cookies, they are just glad to have a place to sit with their friends. The conversation I overheard between two girls as they walked into the gym yesterday was very revealing. One turned to the other and asked, "So why do you come here all the time?" Her friend answered "I don't know, I just like hearing what they have to say."
Bit by bit, Foothill kids are hearing the Good News, and bit by bit God is working in their lives! Keep praying for them!

Yesterday's Huddle started with a crazy game of blindfolded musical chairs! Three brave girls were eliminated, and it was down to two guys who turned the game into a wild elimination dance! We may have discovered a new extreme sport! View their antics at the link below:
https://picasaweb.google.com/mduffy/FCAHuddleFeb232011?authkey=Gv1sRgCML1rcHItp31-gE&feat=directlink 

Katie Quesada from Trinity then spoke about her amazing encounter with President Obama. (Ask your kids to explain what her birthday hat had to do with it!) She then linked her response to the president with the main point of her message--where do you put your hope and who or what do you truly worship? She is a great storyteller, and the kids were not only entertained, but given plenty to think about this week! Thank you, Katie, for your willingness to share with our high schoolers!
Thank you again, parents, for your prayers and support.

We look forward to another great Huddle in two weeks!

Blessings,

Linda and Cherie

Huddle Recap Northwood High School 2-15-11

Dear FCA Parents,

We hope this three day weekend finds you all well.  We're going to start this recap with a financial update as uncomfortable as it is to ask for donations, we just want everyone to know where we stand financially for our next Huddle scheduled for March 1st.  First, we want to emphasize how thankful this ministry is for all of you faithful givers as the past year we have always been two Huddles ahead financially!  This year we are cutting it close with each Huddle.  We know many families are struggling in this economy and it really is a miracle we are able to purchase $500 worth of food, water and paper products bi-monthly. Recently, we set up an FCA account so that ALL donations are now tax deductable.  If you own your own business or know of a company that would like to help sponsor a Huddle we would love to acknowledge their generosity in some small way.  If you have a student(s) who regularly attends and haven’t supported us in the past just know it costs about $40 to feed a student a year if they attend all of the Huddles.  We have always been of the belief that where God guides, He provides as this Ministry belongs to Him.  Please continue to lift this need in prayer.

    

In the meantime..... thank you to all of you parents who were able to serve at last week’s Huddle. As always we never tire of seeing hundreds of students flock to the gym to hear an inspirational message from our guest speaker.  Last week we had the privilege of hearing from Youth Pastor Joey Fiktarz from Voyagers Church.  Joey spoke of the rough start he and his wife had as honeymooners as his new bride expressed to Joey that she would rather be with anyone, but him on their romantic honeymoon cruise.  Not exactly the kind of start you’d expect from honeymooners.  Joey went on to explain that the two years that followed, he and his wife were counseled and they committed to make their marriage a Christ centered marriage.  Today, Joey and his wife are deeply in love and are committed to sharing their story to encourage others to lean on Christ during difficult times.             

FCA Huddle Pictures

http://s1131.photobucket.com/albums/m542/jounger/FCA%20-%20Ryan%20-%20Voyagers/

A BIG thank you to the following families:

Pizza:

Fox

Bowers

Baked Goods:

Skelley

Bowers

Dougherty

Nagel

Remember that our next Huddle is Tuesday, March 1st!   If you can donate money, please send a check made out to FCA NHS Huddle to: Monica Younger, 26 Rincon, Irvine, 92620.

Thank you in advance for your incredible generosity!!

Blessings.....

Kate Gisch

Torre Murray

Rosalyn Reasor

Monica Younger

Huddle Recap Irvine High School 2-17-11

Good Evening FCA Families!!

Hope you all enjoyed the long Presidents Day weekend!!

I wanted to send out a quick recap from our last huddle on Thursday.  We had an awesome turnout....more than 140 kids!!

Once everyone had a chance to get pizza and eat, Josh and Sara Nordstrom introduced the game/activity....check out the attached pictures to see some of the action.  It had something to do with passing a bagel from person to person with out using your hands....

I had Hayley Deklotz, one of our FCA student leaders write a short description of our speaker, Casey Page;
At the FCA huddle last Thursday, Casey Page stood up and spoke in front of her peers about her walk with God. As many of you know Casey is a part of the FCA leadership team and we’re very thankful for the courage she displayed while talking about her struggle with anxiety. To give a brief summary, Casey struggled through anxiety and panic attacks after her mother's hospitalization and her own hospitalization that happened shortly after. During this time she fought to find God and feel his presence. She went to counseling for a period of time to help with her anxiety and deal with the affects of her mother’s illness and her own health problems. In the end, it was her recommitment to God at Hume Lake summer camp that truly gave her peace and calmed her anxiety. Casey did an amazing job inspiring her peers to trust God and give all their worries and struggles to Him. As her best friend, I am so proud of her and the incredible testimony she presented.
We also had Greg Seneca (youth pastor from The River Church) and Steven Johnson (youth pastor from Good Shepherd) at our huddle last week.  Both guys just came to hang out with the kids.  It is so awesome to see the kids approach these youth pastors to ask questions or even just visit with them.  We would love to have your youth pastor come to our huddles, so please extend them an invitation.

Of course, our huddles could not happen with out your help....here is who stepped up to the plate this week:

• Pizza –  Thanks so much to the Torrey Family for donating all of the funds to provide 29 XL pizzas. Wow!!  Our group is                                         growing    

• Baked Goods were lovingly prepared by the these families:

          Hobbs
            Krolick
            Kenney

• Water bottles were provided by the Searl and Dossett families...8 cases worth!!

• Our amazing sound system is provided by the Alayra family. 

GOD IS SO GOOD!!
Your continued generosity will make it possible for us to be continue to provide the students with hot pizza, homemade treats and a drink... all while hearing an inspirational message.  If you are interested in sponsoring a Huddle, please contact me via email –jmnordy@cox.net  As you can see this club is growing and will only stay afloat with all of our help!   (Your financial donations are tax deductible!!)
If you are able to donate waters or baked good on the day of the Huddle, please email me.  You can either drop them off at the school gym the day of the huddle or beforehand at my house.  If you are able to help serve these hungry students, please show up at the gym at 11:30 on the day of the Huddle.   And most of all, we ask that everyone please pray for this ministry as kids continue to come with a curiosity and a hunger for meaningful inspiration!

THANK YOU PARENTS for your support!!!    
Our next Huddle is Thursday, March 3rd!!   Here are the dates for the rest of our huddles for this year.....
3/3/11,      3/17/11,      3/31/11,      4/14/11,      5/5/11,        5/26/11,      6/2/11
 Blessings.......

Jodi Nordstrom
Michelle Carter

Night of Champions Recap~Feb 11th

WOW! Night of Champions 2011 was an amazing night of fun, food, and worship! Over 1,000 students from all over Orange County joined together to honor and give glory to Jesus!

Held at the amazing Mariners Church facilities, the students were treated to free In-N-Out burger, 2 live DJ's, professional break-dancers. Also available to the students to use was a volleyball court, 2 basketball courts, ping pong, and video games!

Once program started inside everyone went nuts! The band was rocking, a beat boxer was doing his thing, and the comedy group O' Manna was hilarious. We were treated to 3 testimonies from a professional boxer, Jodie Nelson a former professional surfer, and USC QB Matt Barkley. The students were then treated to a moving message about God's love for us by FCA Director of Ministries Barry Martinez! He then gave everyone the opportunity to accept the Lord or rededicate their lives, which over 150 students did! Praise God, for He is good!

The night ended with all of the nominees for the FCA Character & Influence Award coming on stage to be recognized as great leaders on there campuses. The finalists for the award were then brought forward and Clark Cashion from Corona Del Mar High School was the 2011 winner. Congrats to Clark and all the other students who were recognized for the impact they are making on their campuses.

The night was a huge success and would not have been possible with out all the support and help of our wonderful volunteers and parents! Thank You!

Huddle Recap Foothill: 2-9-11

Dear FCA Parents;
Wednesday's Huddle was incredible! Even with the lunchtime activities, we had a full-house!
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=mduffy&target=ALBUM&id=5572465363493339073&authkey=Gv1sRgCPy1r-GOhLCsQw&feat=email 

Thank you to our faithful prayer warriors for covering the day in prayer. We know that all good things come from God, and Wednesday was another one of His blessings!

Thank you to the Browne, Hughes, Snyder, Barcelona, McNamara, Hohman, Gilchrist, and McBride families who covered our pizza costs. Thank you to our baking moms, Cathie James, Janice Furniss, Christina Zilkow, Andrea Fredericks, Robyn Geis, Cindy Marano, Shirley Lee, Sandy Hughes, Karen Haltman, Lisa Purcell, Kristin McNamara, and Lis Hohman who made sure the kids had plenty of treats. Thanks also to the Sains, Haltman, Yates, Purcell, and Hohman families for supplying water, which was very much needed on Wednesday! And another big thanks to Carrie Pihl, Rudy Sains, Heidi Andrews, Lis Hohman, Sabrina Pendergast (who snagged a friend from work to help), Dianna Rountree, Shawna Howard, Kim Stauffer, Scott Browne, and Lise Flannery who so graciously gave their lunch hour to feed hungry high schoolers!

We were also blessed to have six local youth leaders from Trinity and Calvary, Katie Quesada, Evan Amo, Melissa Brosch, Doug Brown, Ben Harris, and Kristin Gackle, come minister and connect with the kids.
Every Huddle is truly a community effort!

If you have been unable to get your high-schooler to tell you about the Huddle, ask if they raised their hand at the end of Greg's talk. Greg Sengel, high school pastor from The River in Irvine, had quite a testimony! Having come from a background of drugs, sex, and rock and roll (literally), his life was shaken up when a band member died unexpectantly. (Ask your kids what caused the lead singer's death--hint: Greg smashed one of these before the Huddle started!) Greg is passionate about not living for yourself, but choosing to glorify God in your life--he challenged the kids to not only raise their hands, but to verbally make the pledge to do what gives God glory! So many hands went up! So many voices confirmed the desire to live for God!

Every speaker's message is unique, and God uses each one to encourage and challenge our high schoolers. Please continue to pray for these kids at Foothill. Pray for spiritual growth and connection for those who are new Christians. Pray for those who have a personal relationship with Christ to be given the strength, courage, and wisdom each day to do only what honors and glorifies the Lord!
To Christ be the glory for ever and ever! Amen!

Humbly,
Linda and Cher

Huddle Recap Irvine High School 2-3-11

Good Evening FCA Families!!

Hope you all enjoyed the Super Bowl weekend!!

I wanted to send out a quick recap from our last huddle on Thursday and a quick reminder about the Night of Champions event happening this Friday....go to the website to check in out... http://ocfca.org/night-of-champions

We had a great turnout of at least 140 kids!

After eating pizza, the kids played a quick game .... Pass the fruit.  The kids broke up in groups and competed in a fun relay...passing fruit to each other not using any hands, just chin to chin....ha ha.  Lots of fun!!

I had Josh Nordstrom, the FCA leadership president write a short description of our speaker, Egypt McKee;
Hello fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We had another great huddle this past Thursday at Irvine high school. The speaker, Egypt McKee spoke on stillness and what it means to focus your life on Christ. He talked about how sometimes in our hectic lives that we need to take time and be still and refocus our lives on Jesus Christ. He captured everybody's attention and kept it light with a little humor. Over all, this was another successful huddle. Thanks for all your support and God bless.For more information on Egypt, check out his website.... http://www.egyptmckee.com/Please don’t forget to extend an invitation to your youth Pastors.  We would love to have them come to our huddles and join in the fun and get to meet the kids.

Of course, our huddles could not happen with out your help....here is who stepped up to the plate this week:

• Pizza – Provided by the Andraos and Alayra families.  Thanks so much to both of these families for donating the funds to provide 26 XL pizzas. 

• Baked Goods were lovingly prepared by the these families:

       Hobbs
        Kenney

• Water bottles were provided by the Garmin family...4 cases worth!!

• Our amazing sound system is provided by the Alayra family. 

GOD IS SO GOOD!!

Your continued generosity will make it possible for us to be continue to provide the students with hot pizza, homemade treats and a drink... all while hearing an inspirational message.  If you are interested in sponsoring a Huddle, please contact me via email –jmnordy@cox.net  As you can see this club is growing and will only stay afloat with all of our help!   (Your financial donations are tax deductible!!) 
If you are able to donate waters or baked good on the day of the Huddle, please email me.  You can either drop them off at the school gym the day of the huddle or beforehand at my house.  If you are able to help serve these hungry students, please show up at the gym at 11:30 on the day of the Huddle.   And most of all, we ask that everyone please pray for this ministry as kids continue to come with a curiosity and a hunger for meaningful inspiration!

THANK YOU PARENTS for your support!!!    
Our next Huddle is Thursday, February 17th!!!   Here are the dates for the rest of our huddles for this year.....
2/17/11,      3/3/11,      3/17/11,      3/31/11,      4/14/11,      5/5/11,        5/26/11,      6/2/11
 Blessings.......

Jodi Nordstrom
Michelle Carter

Huddle Recap 2-1-11

FCA Huddle Pictures Tuesday, February 1, 2011

http://s1131.photobucket.com/albums/m542/jounger/FCA%20Huddle%202-1-2011/

Dearest FCA Parents,

We must start by saying you have amazing kids!!  Last Tuesday three students from our FCA Leadership team courageously stood before their peers of approximately 550 plus students and shared from their hearts of 3 very different life altering challenges they have each faced in the last two years. Please read the following 3 re-caps as each is unique and powerful:

Sarah Campbell (Junior): Spoke of the day she received the news that her mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer her sophomore year of high school.  Sarah candidly expressed the fear she felt and anger toward God she was battling as she witnessed her mother endure harsh medical treatments. Although Sarah didn’t understand why this was happening to her family, she relied on her faith, the love and support of Christian friends, family and the Northwood community as her family was provided with meals and endless support during this very difficult time.  In closing, Sarah, emphasized the importance of owning your own faith and knowing what you believe.  She received a loud applause as she happily shared her mother is now cancer free. Praise God!!!

Emma Adams (Junior): Emma shared of the extreme confidence she had in herself as a young child.  She believed she was smart, beautiful, and felt she was in touch with her inner- princess.  In Junior high she felt her confidence was shattered by a very uncomfortable awkward stage.  Emma was bullied and lost confidence in herself and what she knew to be true.  As she battled self-worth issues she was wise enough to draw from Biblical truth and realized inner beauty and Christ confidence is unfading and more attractive.  She referred to several Scripture versus to encourage other girls to do the same.  Emma is a godly young lady that exudes inner and outer beauty.  Thank you, Emma!!!

Michelle Stukenberg (Senior): As Michelle faced her peers she paused with panic, but to all of the parents’ surprise, the Huddle of students began cheering her on with a loud applause.  Parents, this was a beautiful display of compassion from our students that will never be forgotten.  Michelle immediately gained her composure and confidently shared of her battle with an eating disorder that took her down a very destructive path.  She bravely spoke of the all consuming power Anorexia once had on her and the loving concern and support she received from Christian friends, dedicated coaches and teachers, youth leaders and the power of God in her life.  You’re an inspiration to all, Michelle!! 

A big thanks to the following:

Glorioso

Ascuito

Tol

Gisch

Murray

May

Weyand  

Baked good and water:

Skelly

Hartshorne

Nagel

Dougherty

And all of you I have forgotten, the Lord knows!! :)

Well, we hope you have all been blessed by the testimonies of our amazing students and will continue to give generously to this Christ-centered club.  We meet again next week and currently have $250 for pizza when we need at least $500.  If your student is benefitting from the Huddles please consider supporting us with bottled water, baked goods, or pizza donations.  All DONATIONS are now tax deductable.  Please make checks payable to FCA NHS Huddle and mail to: Monica Younger at 26 Rincon 92620. 

Thanks also for continuing to pray for all the students' hearts that are touched every other Tuesday at FCA!!

Blessings.....

Kate Gisch

Torre Murray

Rosalyn Reasor

Monica Younger

Huddle Update Mater Dei Feb 2nd 2011

February 2, 2011


Dear FAM Families:

We had an inspiring FAM last week with about 150 students listening to 
interviews about mission trips taken over Christmas.  Since the pool 
is still being repaired, we met around the corner in a different venue 
which was a nice location.  We had the family mission trip to Nigeria 
told by Lainy Barkley as she was interviewed by Sarah Greene and 
Jordan Hollingsworth.  Then the other lunch heard Grace and Alexa 
Boyer being interviewed by Sarah Vale on their family mission trip to 
the Dominican Republic.   Sure appreciate their great stories of 
serving, and inspiring fellow students....and parents!  They did a 
great job!

Thank you to the pizza underwriters:  Mari Frome and Tracy McMahon.  
So appreciate it!  Also, the treats and waters were provided by Karen 
Vale, Lauri Root, Paula Boyer and Cathy Sullivan.  Super fun to have 
Paula and Bev's parents there to help.  Thanks to all who served also!

We will see you at the next FAM:  Thursday, February 17th.

So appreciate you all!