December 12th Christmas Party

Dear Parents,

I just wanted to let you know of our upcoming event called "A White Elephant Christmas" Party. Please visit our main student ministry site for more information.

-Pastor Phil

Momentum Update

Dear Parents,

For all who have made the necessary adjustments to your schedule to have your student participate in our weekly fundraisers, I want to say "thank you." Thank you for involving your student in an event that not only helps them with fall retreat costs, but finds them serving others with their peers.

I do want to let you know that this Wednesday, October 15, is the last week of Wed. Night Dinner Fundraisers. We still have other fundraisers available. For more information, please see Carly McGrinn.

We are also in the midst of planning a PARENT APPRECIATION BREAKFAST for Saturday November 22, 2008 so please note that date on your calendars!

God Bless,
Pastor Phil

2008 Fall Retreat

2008 Fall Discipleship Retreat
November 13-15th

Dear Parents,

Our annual Fall Discipleship Retreat is upon us. This year we are going to be holding our event at the Lake Aurora Christian Camp & Retreat Center, in Lake Wales, FL. The cost of this camp per student will be $140. If your child is involved in our fundraiser events, they can apply those monies to the cost of their camp. This summer our Summer Discipleship Camp cost was almost $400 per student, but because of our successful fundraisers, we were able to keep the cost down at $125 per student. I feel very confident we can do the same for this event.

So what are we going to do at our Fall Discipleship Retreat?

Like our summer camp, these events are designed to take your student out of their "comfort zone" and place them in an atmosphere where a connection with Christ - and a deep understanding of what God's Word has to communicate to their lives - is top priority.

By the end of this year's fall retreat, they will have sat through 5 intensive discipleship sessions where God's word is taught "verse-by-verse" and where they each will have an opportunity to connect with Christ through worship and prayer.

Of course, with any of our events, our students will have fun. This year, our venue will have tons of things for them to do, like canoeing, basketball, and more. We will also have team building challenges where the students will definitely get the chance to work together to solve a task. All of this is planned with the belief that God cares about the relationships we build with others, and especially with those who are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Here's the breakdown:

• Cost: $140 per student
• Deposit: There is a $30 deposit due by Oct 22. (this will be applied to total cost, not in addition to the $140 cost, and is non-refundable)
• When: We leave Nov. 13 @ 4:30pm from the church and will be back on Nov. 15th in the afternoon. Detailed info TBA.
• Fundraisers:

Option 1:
Every Wed night we are hosting a fundraiser dinner. Students should arrive at 5:30pm to help out. Those who participate will be able to benefit from the proceeds.

Option 2:
We are also selling Entertainment Books for $25. Each book a student sells will pay for $5 of the total camp costs

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or Carly McGrinn. If you would like to reach me via email you can do so at pastorphil@calvaryso.com.

God bless,
Pastor Phil

Free Movie Night

::: Showing :::

"Expelled" - No Intelligence Allowed

When: October 24, 2008

Time: 7:00pm

Concession will be available for purchase.

This movie showing is OPEN TO EVERYONE.

About the Movie:

In a controversial new satirical documentary, author, former presidential speechwriter, economist, lawyer and actor Ben Stein travels the world, looking to some of the best scientific minds of our generation for the answer to the biggest question facing all Americans today:

Are we still free to disagree about the meaning of life?
Or has the whole issue already been decided…while most of us weren’t looking?

The Issue:
The freedom to legitimately challenge “Big Science’s” orthodoxy…without persecution.

The debate over evolution is confusing and to some, bewildering: “Wasn’t this all settled years ago?” The answer to that question is equally troubling: “Yes…and no.”

The truth is that a staggering amount of new scientific evidence has emerged since Darwin’s 150-year-old theory of life’s origins. Darwin had no concept of DNA, microbiology, The Big Bang, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or of the human genome.

Each of these discoveries has, in one way or another, led a growing number of scientists to reconsider the simple view espoused by Darwin that life is a random, purposeless, chance occurrence. The universe, and life itself – is turning out to be far more complex and mysterious – than Darwin could possibly have imagined.

Darwin’s theory isn’t a single idea. Instead, it is made up of several related ideas, each supported by specific arguments. Of the three, only Evolution #1 can be said to be scientifically “settled.”

Evolution#1: First, evolution can mean minor changes in features of individual species – changes that take place gradually over a (relatively) modest period of time.

Evolution # 2: The Theory of Universal Common Descent - the idea that all the organisms we see today are descended from a single common ancestor somewhere in the distant past. This theory paints a picture of the history of life on earth as a great branching tree, from a single cell that “somehow” materialized.

Evolution#3: A cause or mechanism of change, the biological process Darwin thought was responsible for this branching pattern. Darwin argued that natural selection had the power to produce fundamentally new forms of life. Together, the ideas of Universal Common Descent and natural selection form the core of Darwinian evolutionary theory. “Neo – Darwinian” evolution combines our knowledge of DNA and genetics to claim that mutations in DNA provide the variation upon which natural selection acts.

When you see the word “evolution.” You should ask yourself, “Which of the three definitions is being used?” Because arguments and evidence supporting #1 do not support #2 or #3!

What Is Intelligent Design?

The theory of intelligent design is simply an effort to empirically detect whether the “apparent design” in nature acknowledged by virtually all biologists is genuine design (the product of an intelligent cause) or is simply the product of an undirected process such as natural selection acting on random variations.

“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” rejects the notion that “the case is closed,” and exposes the widespread persecution of scientists and educators who are pursuing legitimate, opposing scientific views to the reigning orthodoxy.


The Controversy
The American public’s awareness and beliefs vis-à-vis our government’s expanding role in defining the curriculum in America’s schools, universities and institutions of science.

Neo-Darwinian theory contends that life is the result of a random, purposeless process.

Neo – Darwinian theory is taught in schools as if it is the only plausible scientific explanation of how life originated and developed. Yet Intelligent Design theory has recently emerged to challenge neo-Darwinian theory.

Both are scientific theories, and the debate is therefore legitimate. Why is the debate being suppressed?

At stake are two very consequential views of existence: Is life purposeful, and intelligently designed? Or is it random and purposeless?

Question #1:
Knowing this - should our government be engaged in official, de facto promotion of the exclusively secular, materialist worldview inherent in neo-Darwinian theory in our nation’s public schools, universities and research institutions? Why?

Question #2:
There is growing support among scientists that there is evidence of intelligent design operating in nature. Yet these scientists, researchers and educators are being routinely persecuted for their scientific views. Who is behind this persecution? Why is this happening in America? How did this situation develop?

Question #3:
Should the enterprise of science somehow be treated differently from all other forms of human knowledge, and accorded a special privilege that exempts it from robust debate or inquiry, especially when such debate or inquiry may alter viewpoints that raise important questions concerning larger issues that extend beyond the limits of science itself?


“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” presents a point-of-view so powerful, that it
literally forces a re-examination of these issues.

What’s At Stake (and why is it important)?
We all know that ideas have consequences.

And our country was founded on principles of free and open debate.

The differences between these two worldviews are certainly consequential. So…why the suppression of scientific debate?

If in our publicly funded schools, universities and institutions our children continue to be taught only this: that all life on earth is the result of a purposeless, meaningless and undirected process of random mutation and natural selection…

What are the consequences over time of teaching this one-sided worldview as if it were fact rather than theory?

How will ideas of morality change, if life is thought to be purposeless and undirected?
How will the role of Government change, if the individual is taught by The State that one is accountable only to ones self?
How will the role of “science” change, if “Big Science” alone determines our worldview?

Such a change in our government’s official policy represents a deeply troubling shift in our cultural identity and a radical departure from the very principles upon which our country was built. America is the first Democracy that was founded on the distinctive worldview that “a Creator” conferred “inalienable rights” on human beings, rather than the State, or another institution, such as “Big Science.”

So…how was it decided that the teaching of such a profoundly different worldview should become the official position of the United States of America’s public institutions?

Who was behind the decision? And…why?

“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” looks to scientists on both sides of the issue…and reveals some truly shocking answers.


Biography: Ben Stein

Ben Stein (Benjamin J. Stein) was born November 25, 1944 in Washington, D.C., (He is the son of the economist and writer Herbert Stein) grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and attended Montgomery Blair High School. He graduated from Columbia University in 1966 with honors in economics. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1970 as valedictorian of his class by election of his classmates. He helped to found the Journal of Law and Social Policy while at Yale. He has worked as a poverty lawyer in New Haven and Washington, D.C., a trial lawyer in the field of trade regulation at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., a university adjunct at American University in Washington, D.C., at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. At American U., he taught about the political and social content of mass culture. He taught the same subject at UCSC, as well as about political and civil rights under the Constitution. At Pepperdine, he has taught about libel law and about securities law and ethical issues since 1986. 

In 1973 and 1974, he was a speechwriter and lawyer for Richard Nixon at The White House and then for Gerald Ford. (He did NOT write the line, “I am not a crook.”) He has been a columnist and editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal, a syndicated columnist for The Los Angeles Herald Examiner (R.I.P.) and King Features Syndicate, and a frequent contributor to Barrons, where his articles about the ethics of management buyouts and issues of fraud in the Milken Drexel junk bond scheme drew major national attention. He has been a regular columnist for Los Angeles Magazine, New York Magazine, E! Online, and most of all, has written a lengthy diary for ten years for The American Spectator. He also writes frequently for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, op. ed. and almost every other imaginable magazine. 

He has written and published sixteen books, seven novels, largely about life in Los Angeles, and nine nonfiction books, about finance and about ethical and social issue in finance, and also about the political and social content of mass culture. He has done pioneering work in uncovering the concealed messages of TV and in explaining how TV and movies get made. His titles include A License to Steal, Michael Milken and the Conspiracy to Bilk the Nation, The View From Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Days, Hollywood Nights, DREEMZ, Financial Passages, and Ludes. His most recent book is the best selling humor self help book, How To Ruin Your Life. He has also been a longtime screenwriter, writing, among many other scripts (most of which were unmade) the first draft of The Boost, a movie based on Ludes, and the outlines of the lengthy miniseries Amerika, and the acclaimed Murder in Mississippi. He was one of the creators of the well-regarded comedy, Fernwood Tonight. 

He is also an extremely well known actor in movies, TV, and commercials. His part of the boring teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was recently ranked as one of the fifty most famous scenes in American film. From 1997 to 2002, he was the host of the Comedy Central quiz show, “Win Ben Stein’s Money.” The show has won seven Emmys. He appears regularly on the Fox News Channel talking about finance. 

He lives with his wife, Alexandra Denman (former lawyer,) his son, Tommy, four cats and two large dogs in Beverly Hills.

A quick guide to viewing the Website

The following links will help you understand the film at a glance. Included here are individual page links…or you can navigate the site directly from the Home Page. But be sure that you visit each of the six pages below, in order to get a feel for the project!

Go to the Home Page www.expelledthemovie.com watch the “Bad to the Bone” teaser trailer. Then enter the site.

From the Home Page…start with the Trailer…a clip from Ben Stein speaking to a college audience. It gives you an indication of the controversy surrounding the issues that the film addresses.

Ben’s Trailer http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php

Then go to the Movie Overview…a short synopsis of the film.

Movie Overview http://www.expelledthemovie.com/movie_overview.php

Next…go to the blog, and scroll down the page to Ben Stein’s Introductory Blog…nearly eighteen hundred people have responded already, since the site first launched August 22, 2007. Remember…the “responses” are all about a film that no one has even seen yet….so take them with a grain of salt!

The Blog http://www.expelledthemovie.com/blog/

Then…go to the News page. The film made the front page of the New York Times on September 27, 2007. A link to the story is the top article.

News Page http://www.expelledthemovie.com/news.php

Complete with all of the assets that you would find in a hard-copy press kit, this online press room was created specifically for your uses
Press Room http://www.expelledthemovie.com/press_room.php

Last, but not least…go to Big Science Academy parody Yearbook, and follow the links to the Class Officers, etcetera. The Playground is just that…a place on the site where the issues are treated with a decidedly tongue-in-cheek fashion.

Big Science Academy http://www.expelledthemovie.com/bigscienceacademy.php

Event: Hard Knocks

When: Spetember 27th, 2008
Time: We will meet at Hard Knocks at 1:15 and will be done at 2:30 sharp.
Cost: $5 Pre-registration (non-refundable) is due by September 10th. $18 is due on the day of event (Total cost is $23)

Requirements:

• Wear shoes, not sandals, or flip flops
• Have waiver form signed (Download Waiver form Here)

F.A.Q.

1 What is Hard Knocks?

From their website:

Hard Knocks The nation's first indoor combat simulation arenas open for entertainment, law enforcement training and corporate team building. Featuring 30,000 square feet of urban-themed combat area and Florida's largest, most advanced LAN gaming center. Our customers execute missions that challenge them to defuse bombs, rescue hostages, protect VIPs and eradicate the enemy.

Hard Knocks has set the bar high when it comes to the latest in Xtreme sports. Combat is now an athletic event, perfect for recreational customers, corporate team-building, bachelor parties, youth groups and law enforcement training.

Building upon the base aspects of paintball, Airsoft and laser tag, our brand of combat delivers a sophisticated combat experience unrivaled by alternative combat solutions in the market. The following pages will demonstrate how we are able to execute the most sophisticated indoor combat engagements in a realistic and pain-free environment.

For more info, visit Hard Knocks Web Site or contact Pastor Phil.

2. Why the $5 Pre-Registration
Hard knocks requires a 20% non-refundable deposit to make a group reservation. The $5 fee covers this and will go towards the total cost of the event.

3. Are we meeting at the church? Where are we meeting?

We are NOT meeting at the church. We will be meeting at the Hard Knocks location. If your child needs a ride and you cannot provide one, please contact Pastor Phil to see if arrangements can be made.

4. Where is Hard Knocks?

Hard Knocks Combat Sport Arenas and LAN Center is conveniently located near UCF.

From UCF:
Head north on Alafaya Trail
Turn left on Econ River Place and continue 1/4 mile
Turn right onto Dot Com Court
Hard Knocks is on the right, Suite 1025

From Oviedo:
Head south on Alafaya Trail (434)
Continue past Chapman RD and Carrigan RD
Turn right on Econ River Place and continue 1/4 mile
Turn right onto Dot Com Court
Hard Knocks is on the right, Suite 1025

View Larger Map

Event: Rock the Universe

Dear Parents,
Rock the Universe is upon us again! Here are some last minute information as your student prepares to join us at this event.

Cost: $37 (This covers admission and parking. Students are on their own for food and other misc. spending)

Departure: We will leave the church at 4:30 pm for Universal Studios. If you would rather drop off your child, we will be meeting at the front entrance at 5pm, as some people have already planned on doing.

Back to School Bowl Pictures

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

In a recent article of Scientific America, Carol S. Dweck - a Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University -  reported on a new study concerning "The Secret to Raising Smart Kids".  Here's a couple of excerpts from the article:

Hint: Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

Many people assume that superior intelligence or ability is a key to success. But more than three decades of research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent—and the implication that such traits are innate and fixed—leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn.

Teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.

Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

People do differ in intelligence, talent and ability. And yet research is converging on the conclusion that great accomplishment, and even what we call genius, is typically the result of years of passion and dedication and not something that flows naturally from a gift. Mozart, Edison, Curie, Darwin and Cézanne were not simply born with talent; they cultivated it through tremendous and sustained effort. Similarly, hard work and discipline contribute much more to school achievement than IQ does.

The article is rather lengthy but it is quite interesting.  To read the whole article go here:
The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Do you agree?

Do you disagree?

Back to School Bowl

When: August 29, 2008 @ 7pm
Where: Three Point Bowling (click for directions)

View Larger Map

Cost: $12 (includes 3 games and shoes)

We will meet at the bowling alley and will bowl until about 9pm. (Each game runs about 45 min.)

Orlando Watersports Complex Event

Dear Parents,

This upcoming Saturday, August 23rd, we are planning on going to the Orlando Watersports Complex. We will meet there at 1pm. The park does not close until 8pm, so you can have them stay as long as you like, or as long as they can physically stand it.

The park closes 8pm, but the center is open til midnight because of their "Saturday Night Summer Jams" series. You can find more info about it here.

Important Message

If participant is younger than 18 years old, a parent or legal guardian needs to complete a liability release form for the minor.

If a parent or legal guardian is not able to sign the release in the presence an OWC employee, the release must be notarized in the space provided on the liability release form. If a legal guardian is completing the release, official notarized proof of legal guardianship papers must be provided.

Liability Release Forms

Post-Camp Update

Dear Parents,

For those of you who let their child(ren) attend this year's discipleship camp, thank you for investing into the spiritual life of your children.  For those who were not able to, I hope you take advantage of the other discipleship opportunities for your child.  

I once talked with a man, who when discussing such events as our discipleship camp, sounded very skeptical to the usefulness and the effectiveness of them.  He talked about them as though they were a waste of money.  He then tried to come around at the end as say that, "I guess if it makes a difference in one student's life, then it's all worth it!"

Here is the truth.  Strategic discipleship events accomplish the goal of making disciples of your students.  Statics can prove it, George Barna can prove it (see his book, "Revolutionary Parenting"), and God's word can prove it.  Whenever you take the time to have your student exposed to a verse-by-verse teaching through God's word, you are not just letting them get advice from an asian guy with thick glasses, but you are allowing them to have the Word of God instruct their lives - and THAT will never return void for %100 of your students.

Here are some future opportunities for discipleship that are coming up for your student:

• Every Wednesday (even when growth groups are not meeting) we will meet for worship and bible study
• October 23-25, 2008 we will be having a fall discipleship retreat.  More info to come.

Because you also desire that your teen have opportunities for fellowship we have a some events for the pure goal of them having fun and building relationships.

• August 29th, there will be a Back 2 School bowl at the Three Point Bowling Lanes.  Cost is $12 and this will include 3 games and shoe rental.  We will bowl from 7pm-10pm.
• September 5th, we are planning on attending Rock the Universe.  Cost will be $50.
• September 27th, we will be going to Hard Knocks.  More information is TBA.

These are just some of the events we have going on for your student.  If you have any questions about these events, please email me, post a comment, or give me a call!  

Your Pastor,

Phil

Last day of Camp

Dear parents,
Camp has been absolutely amazing. This is by far the best camp we've had since we started doing this. Today we had really great breakout sessions and tonight we are really looking forward to having Pastor Charles teach tonight.

I know many of you miss your kids...but don't worry...they don't miss you! Ok...I'm just kidding, but I did have a couple of them try to bribe me so we could stay longer. It's funny to think that teens could go without TV, Internet, or Video Games for this long!

Camp Update: July 6th 2008

Dear Parents,

It is our second night at Laguna Beach Christian camp and we just finished a great night of worship and exploration of God's word.  Our theme for today was "One Body".  We had a morning session where we went through Ephesians 4, and then our night session was going through John 17:20-26.

We had my friend Dustin Bryson from Eastgate Christian Fellowship (a Calvary Chapel fellowship here in Panama City) come to share with our students about "One Water - One Life."  If you want to know more about this collective effort of young people to be the "hands and feet" of Christ, you'll have to ask your teen.

We are all doing well...most of them have gotten a lot of sun and are looking forward to spending most of the hottest part of the day indoors for our free time event, which is bowling at Rock-it-Lanes.  Continue to pray for your student and the change that I know God wants to do in their lives.

Pre-Camp Info

Camp is now less than two days away. Here are some documents that will help you as you prepare to have your student(s) get ready for camp.

• Camp Schedule
• Packing List
• Emergency Contact Information
• Guidelines and Expectations (revised for clarity)
  

Please remember that students will be responsible to pay for their lunch on the way up to camp. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With Love,
Pastor Phil
407.967.6141
phil@calvaryso.com

Camp Schedule Update

Dear Parents.
In less than a week camp will be here! Are you ready?

Here is the schedule for the week, include departure times and arrival times

Camp Schedule

Summer Beach Camp 2008

Dear Parents,

Our annual summer beach camp is once again upon us. Some of you still may have questions about the details of camp, so I've provided some information that I think may answer some of your questions.

When: August 5th-9th

Where: Panama City Beach, FL @ the Laguna Beach Christian Retreat (click for more info)

How much: Total cost is $125

3 simple steps to get your student to camp

1. Turn in a registration packet with your $75 deposit
2. Have you student participate in our fundraisers
3. Turn in the final $50 payment by July 30th, 2008

If you have any more questions feel free to contact me!

Your Pastor,
Phil

Oh Yeah: What exactly is it?

June 26th-27

This upcoming event is one I am really excited about. We are partnering with two other Calvary Chapel Student Ministries for a huge gathering where we will hang out together, eat together, and worship together. I encourage each and everyone of you to get your child to this event. They are not going to want to miss it....guaranteed!
So here's what's going down:

June 26th
4pm:
CC Jupiter students, and CC Port St. Lucie students, and Momentum Students (that's us) will be meeting at the church.


5-6pm:
Everybody eats dinner

6:30 - 8:15
"O-Yeah" program kick-off

8:25pm
The Great Ice Cream Feast!!

9-11pm:
Late night entertainment

11:15
Light's Out (yes...we are sleeping at the church!)

June 27th
7:30am
Breakfast

9am:
Everybody leaves (some are going to Universal...if you'd like to go, contact me for more info)

Be sure to be there and bring a friend!

Pastor Phil

Youth Conference Info: Absolute '08

When: June 13-14
Cost: $40
Cost includes:
Friday Night Dinner, Saturday Breakfast, Saturday Lunch, t-shirt, and cost of concert.

Departure:
We will be leaving from the church at 3:30pm. It is recommended that you plan to arrive at the church (CSO) at 3pm because of rush hour traffic.

Lodging:
CC St. Pete is letting us stay at the church to help keep costs down. That means everyone needs to bring their own sleeping bag, pillow, and whatever else you need to fall asleep.

Departure:
The conference ends at 1:15. This will puts us back in Orlando around 2:30 - 3:00pm. If we are later that 3pm, you will receive a call.

If you have any question do not hesitate to contact me.

Your Pastor,
Phil
phil@calvaryso.com