Merry Easter?

It's that time of year again, when the elusive bunny is hiding baskets of candy for good children and brightly painted eggs decorate the dinner table. Come on, admit it. Compared to Christmas, Easter is boring. And yet, if Jesus hadn't rose from the dead, it wouldn't matter if he was born in a manger or a Starbucks. Without Easter, Christmas is meaningless. Your struggles, your pains, your sins - they would be yours to bear (and pay for) alone. Instead, Jesus sacrificed his life to make your life right with God. His death and resurrection change everything. Learn more about it in this issue of Bounce. Oh, and Merry Easter!

News @ SpringHill Camp 44°

Crud wars, paintball, the zipline, adrenaline-packed rallies with awesome live bands, the Spirit Stick, the looooongest waterslide, friends and counselors who find their way to your heart and stay there - have you registered for the greatest summer of your life? Or, if you've been there, done that, live on the edge (literally) on an Alpha Expeditions trip. Climb some big rocks in Pennsylvania or join the awesome Adventure Race in Northern Michigan. Get all the details on our website.

Get SpringHill fall retreats on your youth group's calendar! At Camp 44 we'll be meeting at the Hill for the Junior High Kick It! retreat September 22-24. Live bands, out-of-this-world activities, time to grow with God and as a group - it's an awesome way to end a great summer.

Don't forget: There's still time to register for our our Parent/Child Retreats. Come to SpringHill April 28-30 with your mom or May 12-13 with your dad. It'll be the most amazing time you've ever spend together!

New Frontiers Summer Staff Gets Psyched for the Season - An Interview with Trina Lechlitner

Bounce: When you think about SpringHill Summer 2006, what makes you most excited?
Trina: Our Medieval theme, which we are doing for the first time ever! We will have knights, jestors, and a slight Monty Python flare...not to mention sweet costumes and unusual games to play to win the Spirit Stick (in the stone!). Plus, an amazing staff, with lots of familiar faces.
Bounce: What is the number one thing you can't wait to do this summer?
Trina: I am excited to see the skits during club, because I've read the scripts and heard the ideas and I'm already laughing about them. BUT... I cannot wait to see how creative the campers are with their medieval clothes that they bring.
Bounce: What would be the best thing that could happen this summer?
Trina: Through all of our shinanigans, a camper realizes that God loves us as we are. So, if through all the craziness - dressing up medieval, jumping like mad at club, fighting for the spirit stick - someone realizes this for the first time and begins a relationship with Him then it is all worth it.
Bounce: Why is SpringHill the best camp out there?
Trina: There is SOOOOOOOOO much to do, and you get to do all of it. Where else can you go and be blobbed, ride horses, attend a concert and zipline all in one day. PLUS, you get to do it with great new people. I always end up with new friends when I go to camp. You can't help but meet amazing people when you do stuff like this together.
Bounce: What's the biggest thing a kid who doesn't come to New Frontiers will be missing?
Trina: A totally new experience. It will be truly amazing this year and you'll just HAVE to be here to know how sweet it will be.
Bounce: What will be your title/role at camp this summer? How will kids know you?
Trina: I am the New Frontiers Camp Director this summer, plus I am in charge of the Ranch program. You will know me by my voice. I am pretty loud, and I will pretty much be unafraid to find you.

The Thorns Have Been Worn

"The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off they purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him." -Mark 15:16-20

"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:10

For many of us, Easter is a time to see family or eat food or go to church. 2000 years ago, Easter wasn't so pretty. No egg hunt. No big meals. Jesus was falsely accused, taunted and scourged beyond recognition. In the events following his arrest and leading up to his death, Jesus was silent and alone. He spent the days before his final hours in pain...the pain of our sin.

When we consider what Jesus went through, any trial we face should pale in comparison. Still, we often spend our days complaining about and focusing on the "thorns" in our own lives. It's natural. A friend has shut you out, an injury ruined your chance of making the team, your parent's divorce is overturning your life. These thorns are real and they hurt. But consider this: these thorns have already been worn. They have already pierced and drawn blood. Jesus' blood.

Think about this: If Jesus took on our sins for us, and paid for them with his life, can we justify complaining about our circumstances? The truth of Christ's death presents Christians with an ultimatum: Do you desire to be holy or do you desire to be happy? Jesus did not promise a life without pain or frustration. He does offer us an eternal home and a message of hope. How does Jesus' death fit into your worldview this Easter (and every day after that)?

Now Playing

Plans by Death Cab For Cutie: The first major label album from one of this generation's hottest indie rock bands is available everywhere. Pensive lyrics, unique blends of sounds and melody...this band, although not admitedly Christian, really grooves. Don't miss Plans if you can help it.

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice: The famed vampire-novelist-turned-born-again-Christian Anne Rice has published a novel of historical fiction about Jesus' boyhood told from Jesus' point of view. Widely acclaimed for her pre-salvation bestsellers (dark and chilling skin-crawlers), Rice has found a voice in her depiction of Christ as a boy. Click here, to read an interview with Anne Rice about her book and her conversion to Christianity.

The crucified Christ is not an abstraction but the ultimate answer to how far love will go, what measure of rejection it will endure, how much selfishness and betrayal it will withstand.
-Brennan Manning

You've Got to Be Kidding

» Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year.

» In 1953, it took 27 hours to create one Marshmallow Peep. Today it takes six minutes.

» Church attendance normally surges by at least 25% nationwide on Easter Sunday.

If you know a strange or interesting fact, email us. We could print it in the next issue of Bounce.

What You Said

Exactly half of you believe in luck but only 1/3 say you've been blessed with it.

What does luck depend on? 1/3 say grace, 1/3 say performance. Nearly 1/3 say there is absolutely no luck at all.

When you think of Easter, more than half of you say the cross comes to mind.