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On September 14th after Catalyst, quite a few folks will be meeting together to watch and discuss Lars and the Real Girl starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer. The film is a touching look at the capacity for love and community that resides in all of us. We’ll be starting the movie at approximately 8:30 and then having some time for discussion afterward. There will be snacks and refreshments available.

You can watch the trailer for the movie here.

Also, please remember that ride sharing is a great way to help our planet and reduce the number of cars parked on the street!

Email questions here; Facebook Info.

Don’t forget about the Leadership BBQ on Saturday, August 30th at 3 PM!  We will be having a smashing time of appreciation and vision casting at the Miller’s house (Nate & Ali)!

If you are interested in serving in the Catalyst Service or in Young Adult Ministries, then please know you’re welcome to attend.  We are specifically looking for people who love event planning and multimedia (podcasting, powerpoint, and lights/audio).

If you are currently serving, then come along, eat, and enjoy the fun!  For directions or other details, please email Kym Wolf here.

The Young Adult Ministry of BVG is going out to the Modesto Nuts Ball Game on August 21, 2008 at 7:05 PM.  But come at 6 pm for a free private MEGA-BBQ! We will have a special box reserved and Shawn will be tossing out the opening pitch!

All tickets are $15 and will go on sale this Sunday night (or contact us ASAP at catalyst@bvg.org).

This will be a great night out as a community.  So invite a friend who sits on the fringe of faith or go with a your small group!  Either way, it’s going to be a blast… “at the ‘ole ball game!”

What a praise! Mike Leonard, a member of Big Valley and a vibrant part of the Celebrate Recovery community, was just declared cancer free!  He has been recording his journey almost daily, which you can read about at his blog site.

It was quite awhile ago that the young adult community took up an offering for Mike & Susan.  The money was used for travel expenses to and from Stanford for chemo.  Susan shared the other day that the gas money they spent was equivalent to the exact amount of the offering collected.  What a great answer to prayer!

Isn’t it great to be used by the Lord! It just goes to show you that every bit of obedience goes to strengthen the kingdom.  You were blessed to be a blessing and Mike will continue to be a blessing to others also!

Hey all.  If you know anyone who can cut hair and would like to volunteer their services on Saturday Morning, August 16 (the morning Modesto Gospel Mission is giving out the backpacks).

If you’re interested and able, contact Mike McCauley here.

And don’t forget to bring your backpacks!  This is the last chance to turn them in before the big weekend.

The Young Adult Ministries Fall Retreat is finally here. It was just one year ago that Josh Fox led us at Bass Lake during Equip07. That weekend was a pivotal time for the life of the then XRDS community. The call to lifestyle faith and developing a mature walk with Christ was just what we needed.

Well, this year, we’ve changed locations (again). But, don’t worry. It’s going to be amazing! We are heading to the Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center in Scotts Valley, only 8 miles from Santa Cruz. This conference center will be such a great place for Jon Byron, the weekend speaker, to teach about allowing our faith to take on deep roots. And in addition to Jon, we are grateful to have the Catalyst worship band to lead us as well.

The weekend schedule will include a series of three Branch-Outs. During these moments, retreat participants will have the chance to choose from six spiritual formation seminars led by Big Valley leadership as well as young adult peers. For info on the Branch-Out topics, click here.

I can’t encourage you enough to sign up and attend this great weekend! Know this… space is limited, so please register soon! We only have 80 slots still available… so it’s first pay, first go!

CLICK FOR BROCHURE & DETAILS.

“XTRA, XTRA, Hear all about it!”

On August the 3rd, we will be having a Taco Truck after the Catalyst Service!  You definitely don’t want to miss out.  We will be sharing the fall retreat details as well (so… bring your deposit money).

AND… we are hoping that as many people as possible will ride their bikes to church this Sunday too!  What a bike show that will be… yeah!

We had a great night at Catalyst this past weekend.  Senior Pastor, Rick Countryman did a great job sharing about making our invisible God visible.  Click here to listen to his great talk.

Recent River Baptism

Here is a video of those who were baptized.