Greetings my friends, both old and new!

This week's news I bring to you!
In poetic form,
yet clear and concise (I hope)
you may even wish to read it twice!


1. To start the week off, come and join us for prayer! Monday at 8, hope to see you there! At the fireplace in the MUSC atrium, you can still go to 8:30 class when we're done!


2. Then the rest of the week will go just like most others, with small groups and prayer pockets - communing with others. This week is the last where we study this year. After this we'll be partying, celebrating with cheer! For the times and locations of each of these sessions, just read below and email your questions!

Monday
Where: 121 Stroud Rd.
When: 7:30pm

Wednesday
Where: Whidden Hall
When: 7:00pm

Thursday
Where: 57 Barclay
When: 7:00pm

Friday
Where: MUSC Rm. 303
When: 1:00 - 3:30pm

Got any questions? Contact us: macivcf@gmail.com


3. Now I know that it's sad that our time's almost done, and you wish you could study more with everyone. But you can cheer up! Don't you fret, don't you frown, because soon MarkCentral will be around! It's a week where we gather, from all sorts of places, students of all different genders and races, from all 'cross the province, both far and wide, we all come together side by side, to study God's word. The book of Mark. We gather, we learn, from dawn until dark. I urge you to strongly consider this venture, it's worth pursuing, like searching for treasure. So check it out. Read the info below, and if you've got questions, then please let me know!

Mark Central
Dates: May 1-7
Location: York U - Glendon Campus
Cost: $450 BUT you can fundraise! To learn how, please e-mail Mel at mchook@ivcf.ca. She can give you some training/tips.

Registration Closes: April 15th
Register here: http://www.regonline.ca/register/checkin.aspx?eventId=1076735 BUT only if you are going to pay the full price yourself. If you are fundraising, please hold off! Mel can give you a code to correspond with the amount you fundraise so the site only charges you the amount you are paying. (Example: if you fundraise $200, you only need to pay $250. She will give you a code so the website only charges you $250, rather than $450.)
To learn more, watch this video:



Well, that's it for the week. Not too busy, but good. There will be more events soon to come.
But for now, I will leave you with pic. and poem, to remind you of where we've come from.

This past week was a blast with the mural and party, fun artwork, new friends, and, well, food!
so to finish things off, staying true to my word, I give to you - a haiku:

Inter-Varsity
Fellowship in Christ, in love
this is the Kingdom


Emily

A warm and sunshine-y greeting to you all!

I hope you got a chance today to get outside and enjoy some of the sunshine! If not, you'll just have to join us for our outdoor/semi-outdoor events this week...

1. Monday Morning Prayer
This is still going on every Monday morning at 8am at the MUSC fireplace! I highly encourage taking the effort to pull yourself out of bed and joining with other community members to spend some time with Jesus before the day kicks-off and gets hectic!

2. Small Groups
Monday
Where: 121 Stroud Rd.
When: 7:30pm

Wednesday
Where: Whidden Hall
When: 7:00pm

Thursday
Where: 57 Barclay
When: 7:00pm

Friday
Where: MUSC Rm. 303
When: 1:00 - 3:30pm

Got any questions? Contact us: macivcf@gmail.com






PAY ATTENTION NOW!






THIS WEDNESDAY:
Alix here- strange, I know! I am so very excited to be sending you an email about our NEW STUDENT OUTREACH event taking place on March 14th! It's going to be a creative time where there will be a giant mural, music, and free snacks! The mural will be blank except for a phrase that might go something along the lines like: contribute to something bigger than yourself. There will be people playing instruments throughout the day, and instead of people giving us money for the talent, we are going to give them individually wrapped goodies!

Here's where you come in- we need everyone's help to make this event a success, so just email us back where you could see yourself helping out!

MURAL

ART SUPPLIES: We need: paint brushes, paint, sidewalk chalk, markers (hit reply if you can bring any of these things)

FLYERS: Melissa has graciously already volunteered for this, let Melissa Hillard know if you want to help

INSTRUMENTS: If you have an instrument to either play or just lend us for the day hit reply (I'm bringing my ukulele)

TRANSPORTATION: If you have a car that would be able to transport some of the things needed to set up this event- please let us know

I have created a doodle doc to help us sign up. I have never done this before- so bear with me! Each time spot has 5 openings (we were thinking 2 for busking, and 3 for chatting with people). You may certainly sign up for more than one spot!

http://www.doodle.com/xs5b25aqkpbp5ipt

Have a great day everyone- and feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Alix

- Also, I would like to take a second to encourage each of you to prepare well for this event by thinking/praying about what it means to you that you are a small part of a bigger picture, given meaning through Jesus and the Kingdom mission. Be expecting an email to further facilitate your preparation for this event in the next couple of days. (love, Emily)

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/318021811589200/

Then:
THIS FRIDAY:

An important message from the party planners:

Hey IVCF community! We're throwing an awesome party on St. Patrick's Day but we need your help! The party is Saturday, March 17th, 5:00-midnight.

If you could sign up for at least one of the tasks below, that would be greatly appreciated! You are more than welcome to sign up for more than one! The more people who help, the better.

In keeping with the theme of "contribute to something bigger than yourself", this party is going to be HUGE. So contribute by helping us make this an AWESOME party!



Here is the description of what we need help with, and how many people we would like for each:

Desserts: 4+ people to bring a dessert to share

Set-Up: 5 people to help set up the house before the party. You would need to arrive around 3:30-4:00pm.

Cooking: 4 people to help us cook in the kitchen. You don’t need to be a master chef! It will not be difficult cooking.

Leprechaun: 2 people to help Naomi build the GIANT LEPRECHAUN!!!

Refill Team: 3+ people who can make sure that bowls of chips and cases of pop stay full throughout the night

Clean-Up: 5+ people who are willing to stay late and clean up (maybe around 1:00am).

Please sign up for one (or more) jobs here: http://www.doodle.com/y7bheam6ypk6ch6d



Thanks very much for your help guys!!


Joshua, Meaghan, and Melissa
facebook:http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/170585916393215/?notif_t=event_invite

Then, for Easter, keep this in mind:


A message from our friend Keegan:

On April 1st (Palm Sunday) I hope to organize as many McMaster students as possible to gather together and attend the morning service at MacNeill Baptist Church. I have attended this church on a couple of occasions and have found their congregation to be pleasant and welcoming and their services to have solid Christian teachings. Despite this and being in sight of the university on King Street, there are no students consistently attending this church. My hope is to fill the sanctuary that Sunday morning as a way to bless and encourage the congregation because they truly do have a heart not just for students but for all people. I am asking for your help in: prayer for the event; and that you would consider coming out to MacNeill on April 1st. Thank you for your time and do not hesitate to ask for more information.


Keegan


SO, RECAP:


Monday

Bible Study

Wednesday

NSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and Bible Study

Thursday

Bible Study

Friday

Bible Study

Saturday

St. Patrick's Day PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


- Oh, and don't forget about MarkCentral: http://www.facebook.com/#!/MarkCentral

Registration is NOW OPEN!


Can't wait to spend time with you all this week! Good luck on midterms! Work hard, but pray harder!


love,

Emily


P.S. I almost forgot. Next year's leadership team:

Emily (Francis)

James

Joel

Justin

Keegan

Melissa

Tim (Chung)


Exec:

Alix - President

Karlee

Joshua


We really are excited to see how God will work through these awesome individuals next year! It is our hope that you will be praying and supporting them with us!

SNOW!

Have you looked outside lately? I'm not sure if you can tell through this email, but I'm REALLY excited! Just in time for midterm season, now we get this beautiful reminder of the awesome stuff God can do! He can take this seemingly annoying, cold, semi-solid version of water, and use it to turn our regular, gray-greenish landscape into a dazzling, sparkling, beautiful 'winter wonderland'. As you spend time outside, enjoy the stillness that comes when you see the flakes gently float from the sky, and the knowledge that comes with seeing an untouched patch of snow. There's something that can be truly calming about seeing those patches of perfectly smooth, footprint-less snow. Knowing that noone has traversed that peaceful blanket of earth, and that it has been still - untouched by anything but the wind and God's hand...
Okay, wow - sorry about that. I'm apparently really excited.

Onward to the good stuff:

LEADERSHIP NOMINATIONS
It's that time of year when we need to start thinking ahead to set our wonderful community up well for the next school year. To do this, we need to select some leaders to represent and help hold vision for the community for next year. Therefore, to begin this process, we are asking you to read this description, and let us know who you think would be well fitted for next year's leadership team.

The way leadership is structured, is that the 'Exec' team (Karen, Alix, and I this year), work most directly with the MSU and IVCF staff. The Exec is responsible for creating and holding vision for the group as well as things like booking rooms, signing checks, and the like.

The leadership team is usually a larger group of students, often requiring slightly less time commitment and responsibility, but are the go-to people for helping plan and organize events and passing on vision to the rest of the Mac IVCF community. This position also often means leading a bible study and/or a prayer pocket.

NOMINATIONS MUST BE IN BY SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5th! This is a short time-line, but we need to get on with the process so that we can fill out the appropriate forms for the MSU.

Retreat
Thank you to all of you who signed up and especially to those of you who are bringing friends! Way to be bold! Details on the where and when of leaving will be sent out via email later this week.

However, what we need to know ASAP is:
1. If you have a car, and can help with the driving, please let us know! (unless you already have)
2. If you have an extra sleeping bag that someone from our community could borrow, again please let us know

Small Groups and Prayer Pockets will be goin' down as usual, check out the website for those deets:
http://macvcfsg.blogspot.com/

http://prayerpockets.blogspot.com/


February 10
We're going skating! Details are to come soon! This is your early warning so that you can plan accordingly! (I believe there are skate rentals available on-site if necessary). This is a great event for inviting friends to, so please do! Start inviting now (ie. earlier warning to your friends to plan accordingly), and by the time the night roles around, you'll have invited them multiple times, making it way more likely they'll have actually remembered to plan accordingly etc! - Just an idea...

Okey Dokey Folks,

That's it:
Retreat - Feb 3-5
Leadership Nominations - Feb 5
Skating - Feb 10

Until next time,
Your friend,
Emily

Hey Gang!

This is Emily here, with Karen and Karlee on my left and right, and we're here to bring you all the information you've been waiting for!

1. Worship Night
This Friday (January 27th)
8pm
Camleford Hall (2nd floor of Div College)
- Bring a mug! (If you can)

2. Retreat!
Deadline to sign-up (email Karlee) and get us your $20 deposit, is this Sunday!
When: February 3-5
How much: $89 ($20 deposit due to someone on leadership before Sunday)
Who: Everyone! And we mean everyone! To aid you in the inviting of your friends and acquaintances, a brochure has been made and attached to the weekly email. Feel free - actually, feel compelled - to print a couple out, and use them as tools to help you with the invitation process.

Now, perhaps you are thinking: but most of my friends aren't really Christians. If this is the case, then I would like to inform you of the multiple individuals from other campus groups who will be attending but also are not Christians. There will be a fair amount of teaching, but there will also definitely be tons-o-fun!

How do I sign up?
email Karlee at: macivcf.rsvp@gmail.com
then get $20 to someone on the leadership team (or Karlee directly)
BEFORE THIS SUNDAY!

Got questions? Send us an email! We want to answer them!

Sign up! Trust God! He loves you! He loves our campus! He wants to love our campus through you! Be encouraged and find out more! Stop thinking about it, and just do it! Sign up! You know you want to...


Sign up!

~ Emily

p.s. sign up! Before Sunday - ie. now: macivcf.rsvp@gmail.com

Good morning friends!

I've just returned home from Monday morning prayer in the Student Center (every Monday at the MUSC fireplace at 8am), and I am just about ready for another great week! How about you? I'm going to do my best to give you as much information as possible in this email, but please keep an eye out for another one this week with more details on Friday night's Worship night and the upcoming RETREAT!

To start things off, this week is the 'week of prayer for christian unity' (or I'm pretty sure what has in the past been called: Christ at Mac Week). Learn more about what it is here. This year's text and material was chosen and written by Poland. If you'd like to check it out, it's 1 Corinthians 15:51-58. The Christian Unity group is keeping things pretty low key this year, but I'm sure the event will still be great! Check out the prayer table in the atrium this week, and consider visiting them at the Soul Food Fair in the atrium on Wednesday (I believe there will also be some cool performances in MUSC that day including a canter from the local synagogue and the Mac Gospel Choir around 2:30pm). Then on Thursday will be a night to gather as a larger Christian community to learn about prayer and join together to pray for each other and the school. That starts at 5:30 in Div College rm. 136. Light dinner will be provided at the event.

Okay, so... Small Groups and Prayer Pockets!

They will continue to run this week! I would also like to encourage each of you to bring your past Acts manuscript pages (if you have them) to study with you. Not only may this help with your own understanding of the book as a whole and contribute to some continuity, but it could also potentially save some trees!

So here are the times and locations:

Monday Night (Tonight)

Where: 121 Stroud Rd.
When: 7:30pm
Wednesday Night
Where: Whidden Hall
When: 7:00pm
Thursday Night
Where: 57 Barclay
When: 7:00pm, arrive at 6:30 if you'd like dinner
Friday Afternoon
Where: Student Center (MUSC) Room 303
When: 12:30 - 3:30pm


We invite anyone to join us at any of these groups!

And Prayer Pockets:


Stay tuned for an email from your P.P. leader if you have not yet received one. If you were not able to be a part of one last semester and would like to join one for this semester, (or if you've just now decided that you would like to participate), please let me know. Hopefully times and locations for running P.P.s will also be posted soon. So far, there are 2 worked out:

1. Friday mornings at 9:30 am at the MUSC fireplace

2. Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 in the Health Sciences Building outside the main floor Williams.



I pray that you would strongly consider joining with others in committing simply 1 hour a week to catch up with others, and chat with God.

THIS FRIDAY... We're going to join together for a... WORSHIP NIGHT!
YAY!
Unfortunately, that's about all the detail I can give you right now, so please please please stay tuned for more, we'd love to see you out!

And now,
for the main event:
I am SO excited to inform you all about our upcoming RETREAT! It's totally legit. guys! We're teaming up with MAC KCF, and Laurier-Brantford IVCF for an entire weekend, to get away from school, have fun, bond, celebrate our love for the Lord, and learn about how He loves our campus. There will be giant dutch blitz, an authentic Korean meal, and TONS of FUN! It will be occurring the weekend of February 3-5th, and the cost is $89. The deadline to sign up is January 29th! In preparation for this retreat, you will want to have a sleeping bag! (if you don't have one, let us know). Also, if you are planning to attend and have access to a vehicle, we would greatly appreciate help with transportation, so please let me know if this is something you are able and willing to do!

We also highly encourage you to bring friends to this event. If you know someone who you think might possibly benefit from getting connected to a good group of people, and seeing their love for each other and Christ, then this would be a great thing to invite them to. If when reading that someone came to your mind, but you are now ignoring that that happened, I encourage you to think further about actually taking a brave step and inviting that person. If you'd like someone to talk things over with first, or would just like some moral support, let me know - I would love to help!
We are SO excited for this event, that we even created a new email account to deal with the in-flux of emails from people wanting to attend! So, to let us know you're coming, please email Karlee at: macivcf.rsvp@gmail.com

More information will be coming in the email to be sent later this week!


Here's the RECAP:

January:

26 - 'Why Pray?' Prayer Night
27 - Worship Night
February:
3-5 - RETREAT!


The End
(at least for now)

Sincerely,
Emily

Hey, hey, hey!

Thanks to everyone who came out to GIANT Dutch Blitz on Friday night! It was a BLAST! Hopefully, you enjoyed it as well, and to those of you who could not make it, there will definitely be more fun things to do! Speaking of which, Small groups will start this week. Instead of studying something new, we will be taking the time to review what we studied last semester. So if you have them, bring your notes! If not, we'll catch you up. :). It also will be an opportunity to get to know the people in your group, and just have some fun. Times and locations of the studies are as follows:

Monday (tomorrow) Night
Where: 121 Stroud Rd.
When: 7:30pm

Wednesday Night
Where: Whidden Hall
When: 7:00pm

Thursday Night
Where: 57 Barclay
When: 7:00pm

Friday Afternoon
Where: Student Center (MUSC) Room 303
When: 12:30 - 3:30pm

We invite anyone to join us at any of these groups!

Also, every Monday at 8am, a group of us will be meeting at the fireplace in the student center to pray for our school and community etc. Please join us!

Prayer Pockets will be continuing this semester, so please stay tuned for an email from your P.P. leader if you have not yet received one. If you were not able to be a part of one last semester and would like to join one for this semester, (or if you've just now decided that you would like to participate), please let me know. Hopefully times and locations for running P.P.s will also be posted soon. So far, there are 2 worked out:
1. Friday mornings at 9:30 am at the MUSC fireplace
2. Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 in the Health Sciences Building outside the main floor Williams.

I pray that you would strongly consider joining with others in committing simply 1 hour a week to catch up with others, and chat with God.

Next up, this week is the Veritas Forum! Check it out:
The Veritas Forum is on January 15-20, and we want you!! (to be involved)
To find out more about Veritas, check this video out: http://vimeo.com/veritasmcmaster/freedom or:http://veritas.org/mcmaster.

How you can be involved:

Come to the Sunday night Kickoff (SO IMPORTANT):
Sunday, Jan. 15 @ 7:30pm in TwelvEighty.
Dwayne Cline from Hughson Street Baptist Church will be speaking with Joshua Seller(http://joshuaseller.blogspot.com/p/about.html) and his band from Harvest Bible Chapel, Oakville, leading worship.

Check out the Freedom Art Exhibit and bring your friends!
Monday, Jan. 16 – Thursday, Jan. 19 in MUSC Atrium
This art exhibit showcases dozens of pieces, the majority of which were created by McMaster Art students, and all of which are on the theme of Freedom. The art exhibit itself is set up as a giant maze to symbolize our quest to escape confinement and find true Freedom.
Throughout the day, The Gospel Choir will be singing and Bruce Kuhn will be performing segments of “Tales of Tolstoy” in the MUSC Atrium. Tolstoy’s brilliant short stories are witty and profoundly simple portraits of grouchy saints and ordinary sinners, struggling to live good lives in a fallen world.

Come to DAILY PRAYER with a VERITAS FOCUS!
Starting Monday, January 9, through the week leading up to Veritas and the week of Veritas, we will two prayer slots at the Div College Chapel from 10:30 to 11:30 or from 11:30 to 12:30. Pick a time slot, and show up to pray - every day except for Wednesday.

Join the facebook event!
( https://www.facebook.com/events/269682043078042/)
And invite others (ie. everyone you know!)
Change your profile picture to the attached poster.

Tickets to the Gospel of Luke will be sold at COMPASS
$5 per ticket - buy tickets for your friends too! (We are encouraging people to come only if they are able to invite a friend)

We will have tables in the Student Center
Every day, Monday, Jan 9 to Friday, Jan 13 except Thursday
Please drop by and offer to help!
Pick up fliers at the tables and give them to your friends!

Coffee house!!
If you have gifts and have not signed up yet send an email to or text Sarah Jennison (s.jennison@hotmail.comor 519-546-9743)

Please feel free to email Bahi with questions or call him at 289 888 2246.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Kickoff!

Then next week:
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Prayer Night
January 23-26th, McMaster will be participating in the international week of prayer for Christian unity. In accordance with this, there will be a table in the student center hosted by students from various Christian groups on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday where students' questions about Christianity and particularly prayer will be welcomed, along with an invitation for individuals to place any prayer requests they may have in a box. This will lead up to Thursday night, where there will be a time of food and conversation, as well as a speaker talking about 'what is prayer', followed by a time of prayer in which we will open the box from that table in the student center, and pray for those requests. Your presence at this prayer night would be a great way to join with other Christians on our campus in reaching out to others on our campus. If you would like to help out at all (ie. with the prayer table), please let me know!

January 26 - 5:30 - 8:30pm in the Div College basement

After that:
Worship Night
For those of you who missed the one at the end of last semester, we're hoping to do more worship nights this semester where we can come together as a community and bring praise and prayer to our Father! The first of these worship nights will be on January 27th. Location is still TBD, but we will keep you in the loop.

If you would like to be a part of leading worship for one or multiple worship nights, we are looking for people like you, so please let me know! We would love to get you involved!


Then:
Retreat
Who: McMaster IVCF, KCF; and Laurier Brantford IVCF
When: February 3-5!
What: Tons of fun, bonding, and of course - learning!!!
Why: To make new friends, get closer to old friends, to see part of the larger IVCF community and better understand our role in the furthering of the Kingdom, to have fun, and most importantly, to grow closer to Jesus!
Cost: If we can recruit 20 people or more, it will only be $80!
- In preparation for this retreat, you will want to have a sleeping bag! (if you don't have one, let us know). Also, if you are planning to attend and have access to a vehicle, we would greatly appreciate help with transportation, so let me know if this is something you are able and willing to do!
(We will be playing GIANT DUTCH BLITZ at this event)

Okay, so as per the usual, here's the

RECAP:

January:
16-20 - Veritas Forum, Small Groups, Monday morning prayer, and Prayer Pockets start
26 - 'Why Pray?' Prayer Night
27 - Worship Night
February:
3-5 - Retreat

If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to send us an email or check out our facebook page!

Alright, well... Hope to see y'all on the flip side!

Emily

Oh, and P.S. check out the pictures page for updated pictures from GDB night!

Greetings one and all!

We've got an exciting couple of months ahead of us, so here's what's goin' down:

1. Giant Dutch Blitz!
When: This Friday! January 13th, 2012 7 pm
Where: MUSC (Student Center) Atrium = By the Fireplace!
Why: To have fun! And kick-off what is sure to be an awesome semester!
Who: EVERYONE! Bring all your friends! Invite widely! The more, the merrier!
~ This Wednesday (January 11th), we will be manning a table in the student center in order to invite everyone possible to this event, and invite people to join our community. I will be there all day, and would love it if you could drop by and help me out, or even just say hi!

2. Small Groups
These will be starting up the week of the 16th. The days and times for the studies are as follows:

Monday
Where: 121 Stroud Rd.
When: 7:30pm

Wednesday
Where: Whidden Hall
When: 7:00pm

Thursday
Where: 57 Barclay
When: 6:30pm (for dinner), 7:00pm Study start

Friday
Where: Most likely a Student Center Study Room (exact location still TBD)
When: 12:30 - 3:30pm

These locations and times will be confirmed at this Friday's Dutch Blitz night!

3. Monday Morning Prayer
Prayer is an essential part of life, and is SO powerful! In accordance with this, a group of students from our IVCF community have committed to meeting every Monday morning at 8:00am at the MUSC fireplace to pray for the school, our community, and each other. This is an invitation to join with them in starting your week off well!

4. Prayer Pockets
Prayer pockets will be continuing this semester. If you were not able to attend one first semester, this is your chance to get in on the goodness!

Times and locations will be confirmed and announced at Friday's Dutch Blitz Event, and sent out in the next Monday email. We would love to see prayer pockets grow, as we know from experience, the good that can come out of them. I pray that you would strongly consider joining with others in committing simply 1 hour a week to catch up with others, and chat with God.

5. Veritas Forum
The Veritas Forum is on January 15-20, and we want you!! (to be involved)
To find out more about Veritas, check this video out: http://vimeo.com/veritasmcmaster/freedom or: http://veritas.org/mcmaster.

How you can be involved:

Come to the Sunday night Kickoff (SO IMPORTANT):
Sunday, Jan. 15 @ 7:30pm in TwelvEighty.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Dwayne Cline from Hughson Street Baptist Church will be speaking with Joshua Seller (http://joshuaseller.blogspot.com/p/about.html) and his band from Harvest Bible Chapel, Oakville, leading worship.

Check out the Freedom Art Exhibit and bring your friends!
Monday, Jan. 16 – Thursday, Jan. 19 in MUSC Atrium
This art exhibit showcases dozens of pieces, the majority of which were created by McMaster Art students, and all of which are on the theme of Freedom. The art exhibit itself is set up as a giant maze to symbolize our quest to escape confinement and find true Freedom.
Throughout the day, The Gospel Choir will be singing and Bruce Kuhn will be performing segments of “Tales of Tolstoy” in the MUSC Atrium. Tolstoy’s brilliant short stories are witty and profoundly simple portraits of grouchy saints and ordinary sinners, struggling to live good lives in a fallen world.

Come to DAILY PRAYER with a VERITAS FOCUS!
Starting Monday, January 9, through the week leading up to Veritas and the week of Veritas, we will two prayer slots at the Div College Chapel from 10:30 to 11:30 or from 11:30 to 12:30. Pick a time slot, and show up to pray - every day except for Wednesday.

Join the facebook event!
( https://www.facebook.com/events/269682043078042/)
And invite others (ie. everyone you know!)
Change your profile picture to the attached poster.

Tickets to the Gospel of Luke will be sold at COMPASS
$5 per ticket - buy tickets for your friends too! (We are encouraging people to come only if they are able to invite a friend)

We will have tables in the Student Center
Every day, Monday, Jan 9 to Friday, Jan 13 except Thursday
Please drop by and offer to help!
Pick up fliers at the tables and give them to your friends!

Coffee house!!
If you have gifts and have not signed up yet send an email to or text Sarah Jennison (s.jennison@hotmail.com or 519-546-9743)

Please feel free to email Bahi with questions or call him at 289 888 2246.

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Kickoff!

6. Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Prayer Night
January 23-26th, McMaster will be participating in the international week of prayer for christian unity. In accordance with this, there will be a table in the student center hosted by students from various christian groups on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday where students' questions about Christianity and particularly prayer will be welcomed, along with an invitation for individuals to place any prayer requests they may have in a box. This will lead up to Thursday night, where there will be a time of food and conversation, as well as a speaker talking about 'what is prayer', followed by a time of prayer in which we will open the box from that table in the student center, and pray for those requests. Your presence at this prayer night would be a great way to join with other Christians on our campus in reaching out to others on our campus. If you would like to help out at all (ie. with the prayer table), please let me know!

January 26 - 5:30 - 8:30pm in the Div College basement

7. Worship Night
For those of you who missed the one at the end of last semester, we're hoping to do more worship nights this semester where we can come together as a community and bring praise and prayer to our Father! The first of these worship nights will be on January 27th. Location is still TBD, but we will keep you in the loop.

If you would like to be a part of leading worship for one or multiple worship nights, we are looking for people like you, so please let me know! We would love to get you involved!

8. Retreat
Who: McMaster IVCF, KCF; and Laurier Brantford IVCF
When: February 3-5!
What: Tons of fun, bonding, and of course - learning!!!
Why: To make new friends, get closer to old friends, to see part of the larger IVCF community and better understand our role in the furthering of the kingdom, to have fun, and most importantly, to grow closer to Jesus!
Cost: $80
- In preparation for this retreat, you will want to have a sleeping bag! (if you don't have one, let us know). Also, if you are planning to attend and have access to a vehicle, we would greatly appreciate help with transportation, so let me know if this is something you are able and willing to do!




DID YOU GET ALL THAT?
Just in case:

January:
13 - Giant Dutch Blitz
16-20 - Veritas Forum, Small Groups, Monday morning prayer, and Prayer Pockets start
26 - 'Why Pray?' Prayer Night
27 - Worship Night
February:
3-5 - Retreat

Well, that's all folks! - At least for now.

As always, I hope to see you all soon!

Emily

Welcome Back!

It's Frost week (ie. Welcome Week take 2), and it seems that the weather definitely got the memo. Wow, it was cold today!

Well, I hope that your semesters are off to a good start! Just in case their not, we've got some fun planned for the next couple of weeks.

Our first official event will be on January 13th, and yes, it will be a GIANT Dutch Blitz games night, hopefully played with our very own deck of giant cards! More details on time and location are soon to come, but for now, tell your friends to book it off on their calendars!

Also coming up soon is the Veritas Forum. January 16-19th, McMaster will be hosting this exciting week long event. For more information, check it out online at:http://www.veritas.org/Campus/Schedule.aspx?cid=108 . Or even better, watch the video on how you can get involved: http://vimeo.com/31151934
Also:

Are you creative? Would you pick up a guitar over a textbook any day? Are you that person in the trendy little cafe with the over-sized glasses writing your heart out to the background track of indie music?

Friday, January 20th, 2012 Veritas will be hosting a Coffeehouse from 7:30-10:30 in CIBC Hall, and we want you to provide the show for the evening. We’re looking for anything from songs, to poems, spoken word, short stories, videos, skits, self-written or not, but all surrounding the theme of Freedom.

Anyone is invited to present so if you yourself may not have a creative bone in your body but you know someone who does, pass this message along!

We’re also looking to have people interested in being included that evening to audition just so we can have an idea of what kinds of acts we will have and how to put together the run-down for the evening. Acts should be about 5 minutes or less in length.

Auditions will be held in the first week back January 3-6th, but if you are unable to make one of the times on the list or if you have any questions about acts then please contact Sarah Jennison at s.jennison@hotmail.com.

So sign up and get your creative juices flowing!!

http://tinyurl.com/veritascoffeehouse


Next up is the retreat! February 3-5th, we will be teaming up with McMaster KCF, and Laurier Brantford for a weekend of fun, learning, and bonding! Right now, the cost is estimated to be $80 per person, but the more people we get attending, the less expensive the retreat will be!


So:

January 13th – Dutch Blitz

January 16-19 – Varitas Forum

February 3-5 – Retreat


Details on the where and when of this semester's small group Manuscript Bible Studies should be available as of the 13th (the games night).


Got any questions? Want to get more involved? Shoot me an email!



Oh, and if the 13th is too far away for you, we're going to have an informal hang-out night this Friday, starting at 7pm. Bring your stories and snacks to share! If you would like to come, and do not receive the weekly email, just contact us for the details. I hope that I can see many of you there! I can't wait to catch up and hear about your breaks!


Sincerely,

Your friend,

Emily