RU at Joes Place-High School Team Show!!!

On Saturday January 26th, The Caronport High School Refined/Undignified team had a show at Joe's Place. This show was a good learning experience for everyone on the team, and was one of the best shows we did. Everyone worked hard, prayed lots, and had a great time doing it! Personally, I learned that trusting and being obedient to God is so important. Before the show had even started, I felt God was telling me I needed to speak after the show. I was terrified, I knew I wasn't the greatest public speaker, and the thought of going up in front of all those people and telling them my story scared me. I really didn't want to, but I knew being obedient to God was a lot more important than what I wanted. It turns out Joshua (another Refined/Undignified member) felt he needed to speak also. So before the show, myself, Joshua, and our leaders, Jacee and Matt, all prayed over what was meant to be said, and how we were to go about it. I felt a sense of peace after we prayed, and I wasn't so worried about telling my story. The show was about to start, so after some mingling with some of the youth, the team went to the back and we started praying for the show and the rest of the night. The Lord was moving, and by the end of our prayer session, all of us were excited and ready to go for the night. Our show started, there were a few difficulties, but with lots of prayer we got through it, and it was one of our best performances yet. After we finished the show our leader Matt went out, closed the show, and prayed for myself and Joshua as we prepared ourselves to speak. Joshua went first, and told his story, and told the crowd that it's direction that determines your destination in life, not intention. After that, it was my turn. I went out and started talking about my story, and the struggles I had gone through, I told them about the freedom Christ and brought me, and how they could have that too. Matt came on after me and closed the night. After that was all done, I had people coming up to me and talking to me about their stories and how they related to mine. It was just amazing to see how God had used me and my story to help these people in a sense. It really showed me that because I trusted in God, and I was obedient to him everything turned out just the way he intended it, and everything worked out perfectly. Altogether it was a great night, I felt like God had his hand over our team that night, and that he was truly glorified by the end of it. God has blessed me with this team, and has been teaching me so much through the ministry of Refined/Undignified. Kali

Camp Days-Briercrest-Jan 20

Our Blue Team performed this last Sunday (Jan 20) at Camp Days to encourage the people coming to the show and show what we can offer camps when we are able to do camp tours. It was a great night, a well done performance, and Matt-one of our leaders-shared his personal story afterwards which challenged many in the audience. A bit more from one of our team members perspective: "This weekend, we (RU blue team) performed our show, Want More, which follows the lives of four different teenagers all struggling with finding acceptance in the right places. I play Tony, the last of the four characters. In the final dance, called Everything, Tony struggles against the hold that sin has on him, visualized through chains being put on my arms with other members of RU pulling at them, expressing the internal battle of sin. This dance is very humbling for me, as each time I perform it or practice it I am reminded of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. Being in bondage to sin is a terrifying place to be, as anyone in a relationship with Jesus Christ will tell you. Many of those who watch Want More are still letting sin have a hold on them, and aren’t living for Jesus but instead choose to live for their own glory. I believe that God used the performance in Briercrest’s Hildebrand Chapel this past weekend to impact many of the students, in various ways. Whether someone had simply needed to be reminded that they are deeply loved by God, or someone needed to make some dramatic changes to the way they were living their life, I trust that God will use the performance for His glory." -Tim

Vegreville, AB Tour-Red Team

The past weekend (Jan18-20) we spent in Vegreville with the Red Team and it was amazing! After a long drive we had the opportunity to jump right in with the youth group and take part in all that they were doing. I was blown away by not only the structure but the involvement of the youth. The youth had their very own opportunities to serve by leading worship, setting thing up, and welcoming us all warmly. I had no doubt that God had big plans for this event. The final night after an incredible show and testimonial by the band "Kiros", some of the youth began to feel a pull at their hearts. My billets son was one of these individuals. I sat down beside him and asked if there is anything that he needs to say, just to let out. He then proclaimed "Satan has lost His grip on me!" He erupted with tears realizing Gods power. I could not help but cry out in joy for him and the transformation that I was blessed to witness. I got a few other member of the dance team to come and pray and hear what he had told me. Also bringing over the youth pastor who told me that he had been praying for God to soften this student's heart for over 2 years. Praise the Lord for the passion that has been brought about in this young man's life! He now as a 15 year old is taking steps to rid his life of His addictions and seek to serve the Lord through his parents and his King. Matt

End of last semester and Christmas break!

Last semester we ended the month of November with a packed schedule. It was so packed we forgot to blog about it until now! We had all three teams perform in the span of a week-The Red Team at Joe's Place (our local youth center), the Blue team did their first ever full performance at The Center in Swift Current, and the High School Team did their first full performance for Caronport High School-their own peers! What a packed few weeks of preparation and performing! All shows went very well and we trust that the Lord used what we did to impact the lives of those at each venue. After the performance we had our annual RU Christmas party, which was a costume party this year, and had a blast celebrating the Lord's birth together. The team did a couple more weeks of practice and everyone left for the Christmas holidays! On New Year's Eve our workshop teacher Matt was able to teach some workshops at Voltage, Saskatchewan's biggest chem-free New Years Eve party for teens held in Moose Jaw at the Hilcrest Apostolic Church. We also had a few of our high school team members participate in Voltage's kickoff skit and help out with the workshops that night. All 3 teams started practices again last week (Jan 15), and have been spending the hours refining the shows after not having danced them together for several weeks, plus each team has had a show booked for within the first 2 weeks back so it has been keeping us busy! Keep reading to hear from our team members how shows and tours go throughout the semester! And be praying for us as our schedule is very full, and the Red Team continues to also be preparing for Mexico on April 29-May 17! Blessings from Jesus on ya'll! -RU

Red Deer performance and God's Amazing Work!

Our Red Deer RU show on October 24th went awesome! We arrived in Red Deer around 5ish, set up our stage, and started to prepare for the show. I personally was buzzing with excitement because I've never danced in a church that was so big before. We prayed as a team right before the performance for the kids that were about to see the show and for ourselves so that we could rely on the Lord during the performance. The whole performance went really smoothly and RU had the chance to lead worship and have a time where kids could come up to the front and talk to us about what they are going through after the show. This was definitely my favourite part of the whole trip because we had lots of kids come up and talk to us. I myself got to talk to three young boys and pray with them about what was going on in their lives. We also found out as we were packing away our stage that one person asked Christ into their life which was AWESOME! The whole trip was Amazing and it was so good to see the Lord work through those kids. Jon (Red Team Dancer)

Youth Together Conference

From October 19-21 RU was able to participate in the Youth Together conference at Beaver Creek Camp outside of Saskatoon (run by the Salvation Army). It was a jammed packed weekend for the youth there and also for the team. Adrian was the speaker for the weekend, and we performed our Secrets show that Friday night. God really worked in power that night! Matt also led a dance workshop on Saturday and we were able to lead devotion time in the cabins on Saturday evening. It was an incredible weekend and the response to Adrian's message -around 30 youth accepted the Lord or rededicated their lives(!!!!!)- on Friday night really set the tone for the rest of the weekend. There was a lot of transparency with the youth and some great conversations came out of it, and the Lord was evidently working. On a side note, Beaver Creek was hit with a bad case of Norwalk Flu on Saturday and the majority of our team also got sick. Now we can laugh about the experience and the great bonding it held, and see the Lord's goodness in even this circumstance for our team. It was an interesting weekend to say the least, and I think on behalf of the team I can say, we would all get sick again to have those great conversations and see how the Lord worked in the youths' lives that weekend! Lynnea (Red Team Dancer)

OMNI-Regina Show with both college teams!

At the end of September we had the exciting opportunity to be a part of the first ever OMNI conference in Regina. The evening started off with the leaders having a joyful and energizing circle of prayer! Once all of the youth arrived at the venue the Blue Team kicked off the night with their first ever performance of the hype dance "Tonight". I must say that I feel like I know what it is like to watch a child take their first steps because my heart was so overjoyed to see the blue team do their first dance! They rocked it! We (the Red Team) had the privilege of performing our Secrets show for the first time with our newly formed team. Afterwards we spent time with the youth and enjoyed The Junkyard Poets concert. The following day we had an afternoon workshop where the youth got to learn a dance with the team. There was dance battles, free styling and tons of fun had by everyone! We finished up by praying and having Jon share his testimony with the group. To top it all off we also had the privilege of having some retreaters share their original choreography with us! It was a great weekend that we got to spend with some amazing people and our brothers and sisters from Eston Bible College (who were there as volunteers). Praise The Lord!!! Jana - Red Team member