Redemption Youth New Parent Info

Hey there! Thanks for being interested in Redemption Youth.

My name is Josh Arredondo (Commonly referred to as "Dondo" by students) and I'm the youth pastor at Redemption.

It's our goal to provide a space for students to encounter God in a meaningful way. Before sharing what a typical youth group looks like - I want to share the heart of our ministry:

Mission

At Redemption Youth we want students to encounter and know Jesus. We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God and every word rings true. All of the answers that students are searching for in life are answered through it. We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to work in a students life - there is no junior Holy Spirit. The same spirit living in adults is the same one available to students who walk with the Lord.

We also believe that this world is messy - the pressures that students face have only gotten worse. Depression and anxiety are at an all time high. Explicit material is everywhere online. Vapes make smoking easy. Social media and brain rot are real. These are real pressures and challenges that students face on the daily.

We aren't expecting perfection with students who live in a broken world - but we are committed to walking them through their difficulties. We are looking for students to be honest with their mess, rather than put on a shallow perfectionist performance.

Real faith. Real questions. Real vulnerability. Real growth. That's what we strive to see in students.

A Typical Youth Group Night

We meet weekly* at Redemption Church (190 E. El Roblar Drive) in the back parking lot on SUNDAYS from 6:30pm-8:30pm. For students 7th-12th grade.

A typical youth group will look like:

6:30pm-6:50pm: Pizza and hangout/free time.

We provide the pizza, have some games set up, and students will have some free time to hang out & get to know each other before service starts.

6:50-7:00pm - Game

We will play a short group game - different each week! The goal is for students to get to know each other, burn some energy, and laugh.

7:00pm-7:30pm - Worship

After the game we head inside for worship. We will sing 2-3 songs, pray, go through some announcements and then start the message!

7:30pm-7:55pm - Sermon

Students will hear a BIBLICAL message that is relevant to their lives. We rotate through book of the Bible studies, topical series, testimony nights, and more!

7:55pm-8:30pm - Small Groups

After hearing the message, students will split up across the building into small groups based on if they are a boy or girl, as well as if they are in middle school or high school. Small groups will be led by youth leaders. Students will dive deeper into the content discussed in the message, get to know students, and pray for each other.

8:30 - Pickup

Please arrive by 8:30pm to pick up your student(s)!

*We meet the large majority of weeks - The best way to stay up to date is signing up for our text line.

Other Events

Summer Camp - Early-mid July

Youth Convention - Thanksgiving Weekend (Fri-Sun)

Lock-Ins (Overnight @ the church) - NYE

Communication

Our primary method of communication is through the texting platform - Gloo. Gloo is designed with oversight in mind. We have two separate Gloo groups - one for students & one for parents. Gloo is a separate phone number for Redemption Youth - allowing individual text broadcasts to be sent out to parents and/or students. Recipients can also respond to the number, asking questions or submitting prayer requests.

The parent text line gets a text a few days before youth group - reminding you of any relevant information, as well as sharing the topic or discussion for the night. The goal of this is to PARTNER with you and give you questions or talking points to ask your students after youth group. In addition, this allows us to give you a heads up when sensitive topics may be discussed, so that you can decide to keep your student if you are not comfortable with it.

The student text allows us to send out a broadcast to all students the day of youth group with a reminder to show up. This allows us to communicate with all students in a medium that they will actually read, while preventing giant group texts and personal phone numbers.

Scan the QR code or text 1 (833) 417-5774 to sign up for our parent list.

You can also check out our instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/redemptionyth/

@Redemptionyth

Safety

All Redemption Youth leaders are mandated reporters. In addition, all volunteers have gone through an application process to work with minors - including a FBI/Department of Justice mandatory Livescan fingerprinting process.

During Redemption Youth events, we are set up to avoid any instances where one leader would be alone with one student. There are always multiple leaders present with students. In addition, all rooms within the building where students meet are equipped with security cameras. All classroom doors in the building have windows in the door as well.