Our first ProTeen meeting was the 2nd Thursday of September. The two new recruits this year were Jordan and Brian, and they received the "pie in the face"
by the more-than-willing higher officers, Leah and Ben.
This year's Teen talent Contest took place at Moraine Heights Baptist Church. Our teens competed and won in several categories.
The ProTeen Banquet was held at the Holiday Inn Banquet Facility. The guest speaker was Bro. Rick Patton, former youth director and
ProTeen director. Special awards were presented to all participants, and the ProTeen of the Year award went to Kevin Lynch.
The overnight camping, rock climbing, and rappelling trip took place at Ohio's Hocking Hills State Park. It has the highest rappel/climbing
cliffs in Ohio. As you can tell, we had plenty of dare-angels (not dare-devils) in our group. What is not in the photographs is the compass course
which was set up at night. Also missing are the fishing exploits of Brian Lynch, and the raccoon invasion of our campsite!
This year's X-Games were held at Charity Baptist Church during our 26th camp meeting! The most hilarious game to watch had to be Blind
and Bewildering Soccer. Teens are divided into two teams; half of each team is blindfolded, and the other half is the coaches. An oversized Xtreme
Ball is placed in the middle of the court, and the object is for the "blind" players to kick the ball through the opposing team's goal for a point.
To start the game, the blindfolded players spin around five times and the whistle is blown to begin. The non-blindfolded players remain outside the
soccer field and coach their blindfolded teammates by yelling which direction to go and when to kick. As you can tell, it's very loud, very exciting,
and very extreme. We had a blast!
In October of 2005, SSG John Crawford paid a special visit to our teen group by the request of our Youth Director, Brian Hargis. John and Brian
served together in the army at Drill Sergeant School in 2004. John was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom and served nine months of combat, on
over 1,500 patrols, and was the victim of seven roadside bombs, one of which almost took his life. His fame grew within the battalion to where
other soldiers would jokingly say, "If you want to get blown up, ride with Crawford"! Thank you, John, for being a part of our group, and for sharing those
personal experiences with us. Thank you for all the terrorists you stopped in their tracks. Thank you for being wounded in my place. Thank you for putting
your life in harm's way so that I can sleep peacefully tonight. We love you, and we support you!
On Sunday, October 23rd, we took a 9-mile bike ride to Xenia and back. I never realized how hard my bicycle seat was! It was rainy, chilly, and
muddy, which made the trip even more enjoyable. Our stop in Xenia was at the newly re-modeled McDonald's, where we feasted and dinned on Xenia's finest
cuisine. On the way back, we stopped at one's of Xenia's parks and things got real muddy when the downhill adventures began. At the park, there was a
huge, steep hill with a muddy trail down the middle. I was the brave one to go first, so with mud flying off my tires and my hair on fire, I raced down
the treacherous slope at break-neck speed. Evel Knievel, eat your heart out! Our newest ProTeen, Brian S, was the most interesting of all
the unwilling candidates. At 4'3" on a good day, there was no way that he was going down that slope. However, like most groups of young men do, they
found just the right buttons to push and Brian succumbed to the peer pressure. The button was, "Don't be a girl"! That was all it took to push him
over the edge. Well, away he went and it's too bad he didn't see that big hole at the bottom where his front tire lodged! Seemed like he cracked a
few ribs on the impact, but he rose to his feet as if nothing happened. After all, he wouldn't want to "be a girl"!
There is one particular person in the pictures who is heavily covered in mud. That would be our mountain biker extraordinaire, Matt Gresham. While
flying down the hill faster than a speeding bullet, Matt hit the front brakes, locking the bike, and bucking him off like a rodeo cowboy on an electrified
bull. Matt's face was the first thing to hit the mud, followed by his shoulder, his pelvis, his legs, and the bike. Did I mention the bike was broken into
pieces? He broke the gears, the brakes, the carrier, the mirror, and the shifter! Did I mention that IT WAS MY BIKE?!!! Thanks, Matt! The memory was worth
a few hundred dollars in damages. You're still my hero. No one else could take a spill like you. Not even Brian.
I hope you enjoyed this little saga, yet one more reason why you should visit our ProTeens group at Charity Baptist Church!
