Welcome to your first evening program! Each night we start our time with a high-energy celebration called "Get Down". If you have been on a trip with us before, you might know this dance. If you are new, we are going to teach you how to do it by watching this video. Alright now that you know what to do, let's do this! You're invited to come dance with the crowd. We don't care if you're a dancer or not. It doesn't matter if you dance big or keep it low key. Just have fun! Whenever you hear the "Get Down" music start, you'll know it time to... Get Down!

Welcome to Sunday Night! We're so excited to see you here, ready to show God's love to the people of this community. Our theme today is hope, and we'll be talking about Hope here in the program and at your youth group group devotions later. This is a great time to take the temperature in the room. I want to check in and see how hopeful we're all feeling right now. Here's what we'll do. I'll read you some hope statements, and if you agree or if the statement expresses how you're feeling right now, stand up. If you're not in sync with the statement, remain seated.

The hope we just talked about in that activity is what I like to call a "cross your fingers" kind of hope. It represents dreams and wishes we have about things in the coming days. But the kind of hope I want you to think about tonight is the hope of God. The hope of God isn't a wish or a dream; it's confidence in who God is and in what God can and will do. It's knowing that we can trust God and that God wants our lives to be filled with goodness.

It's important that you understand what the hope of God is... because that's where we start tonight. This week you'll be sharing one of your own life stories. And although we'll be looking at rough times we've experienced, our stories will begin- and end- with hope. I guess you could say it's a circular journey, from hope to hope. And buckle up, because the journey isn't smooth. Along the way, we'll experience how God uses difficult times in our lives to shape us into the people he created us to be. Our suffering activates a process that makes us stronger, soften our edges, deepens our capacity to love others, and stirs a sense of gratitude for God's goodness. It's a process possible only through God.

Throughout the week, I'll be sharing a story of my own with you. It's about a time in my life when I suffered. Each morning I'll share a little bit more about what I went though. But tonight, I want to tell you what my life was like BEFORE my suffering started. During that time in my life, I was filled with hope. But I didn't know what was coming. I'll tell you more about my journey throughout the week. As I said, the journey wasn't smooth. I don't want to give away the ending of my story before I even get started. But know this: it starts AND ends with the hope of God. This is the perfect time to look at our scripture from the apostle Paul.

I need two volunteers to come help me. I've been talking about this circular journey we're on. It's a path from hope to hope to illustrate that idea, I want you each to form a circle using the item you're holding. Just a simple circle. Nothing fancy. I'm sure some of you realized that if this piece of metal were heated up, then you'd be able to mold it, shape it, and bend it into whatever you want. Like a circle. Heating metal to shape it is called FORGING. Watch this video about how this process works.

The concept of forging seems a little backwards. Usually when you think of strength, you don't think about something being softened. But when metal is heated and shaped, it actually becomes stronger. Something about heating the metal changes it in a fundamental way and makes it possible for a metalworker to create something new and stronger than the original raw material. That's the same way God work on us. God forges us in faith when we face difficult things in life. When things heat up and we feel like we're facing fire, God steps in and uses that heat to transform us.

That's what we'll ne talking about all week. It's what we'll learn by sharing our stories each day. And through it all, we'll discover what Paul means when he says we "glory in our sufferings". It's a message of hope, and I'm so grateful for all God will do this week. Listen to the words in this song, and sing along if you'd like.

Tonight, and every night this week, you'll gather with your youth group right after the program. Together you'll experience the devotions found here in the Mission Handbook. Your group needs to pick a spot around the building together and do devotions. Anywhere is fine, except the sleeping rooms. The spot you pick tonight will be your group's spot for the entire week. Remember: Tomorrow morning, wear your camp t-shirt Tomorrow is also Christmas Monday! Goodnight, Everyone.