A number of EBC students of present and past have been involved with an organization known as Youth Encounter. Captive Free, the group that led music in chapel on Friday, is one of their ministry programs.  Ben Ahrens and Chantalle Lowes both work on Captive Free teams in the East Coast and West Great Lakes regions of the United States.  Mikey Fisher a former student who I do not know personally is serving on their international team known as Watermark-Denmark, and his sister works with Watermark-Germany. Each of these people have dedicated a year ending in August 2009 to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through music, drama, and puppets. Youth Encounter also works in West Africa, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, India and Australia. This organization is indeed an opportunity that is available to EBC students and if you want more information about Youth Encounter, you can find that information at www.youthencounter.org

(Editor’s Note:  The information above is from an e-mail received from Mary Bull of Youth Encounter)

Wesley Hague

Day and Age is the fourth full-length album from The Killers, and for those of you who are fans of The Killers, this album has been much anticipated. Even if you aren’t a regular listener of The Killers, you will find this album to be very enjoyable.

If you don’t know who The Killers are by now, you are quite possibly missing out on one of the greatest “Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll” bands of our day. This four-piece band hails from Los Vegas and truly knows how to bring the eccentric style of their city to their music.

Day and Age combines the retro, new-wave sound that they brought with their first release Hot Fuss and the more mature, bigger ego, sound that came with Sam’s Town.

The lead singer, Brandon Flowers is known to sing off key and be very wordy with his lyrics. The band as a whole is known for their up-tempo songs such as ‘Mr. Brightside, and ‘When You Were Young.’ Knowing their strengths, the Killers released ‘Human’ as the first single off of Day and Age. The song starts out with a slower tempo but soon opens up to the heavy use of the synthesizer, with main lyrics being “are we human, or are we dancer?” This song is soon to become a classic like ‘Mr. Brightside.’

Many of the songs off of Day and Age contain unexpected new sounds thanks to the addition of new instruments. There are saxophones that come in strong during the intro of ‘Losing Touch.’ I can’t stay, contains a harp, steel drums and has a very “tropical” feel to the song. ‘This Is Your Life’ has a very catchy bass intro, which leads into a funk sound throughout the rest of the song.

In my opinion, ‘Spaceman’ is one of the greatest songs off of Day and Age, showcasing their retro new-wave sound and up beat tempo. I would recommend this album if you are searching for something new to add to your music collection, but don’t just let this be the sole album that you listen to from The Killers.

Matt Winger

I personally can’t wait to be home for the holidays and see friends and family for Christmas. I am sure that the majority of you would agree with me. It will be a great time to reflect and relax. But have you ever noticed how stressful the holidays truly can be? Every year the malls get packed full, with line-ups stretching out the doors. North American society has conditioned us to believe that at Christmas time we have to shop, shop, shop. What happened to the true meaning of Christmas?

According to adventconspiracy.org, Canadians spend $35,000,000,000 and Americans spend $450,000,000,000 (that’s right 450 Billion) a year on Christmas. Strangely enough it would only cost roughly $13,000,000,000 to bring fresh drinking water to the whole world.
Why have we become so consumed with consumerism? Does that bring us happiness and joy at Christmas time? How can we begin to make Christmas meaningful again?

Christmas marks the birth date of our Saviour. It is essentially a huge party where we can worship and celebrate our love for the Lord. It is a time to love and bring peace to everyone all around. Even soldiers put down their guns for one day to remember Christmas.

Doesn’t it just blow your mind at the amount that we spend on Christmas annually? What if we were able to spend less? Everyone loves gifts; there is nothing wrong with that. Do you ever feel obligated to give a gift, or receive a gift? What if we were able to let that one gift go and not spend unnecessarily? We would save more, and have more time to spend with others.

Maybe at Christmas we should spend less, but try to give more – does that make sense? Our gift could be time. I think Jack Johnson put it perfectly “She gives me presents with her presence alone” (Angel – Sleep Through The Static). We could simply just be there for our friends and family. Maybe we could give some time to visiting a homeless shelter and serving food, or visiting people in the hospital who have no one at Christmas. I’ve often thought, what if I gave some sort of service as a gift, such as preparing a meal, cleaning for my mom, or taking care of a lot of the outdoor chores for my dad.

Ultimately, the concept behind Christmas is love. Simply, love. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1). Jesus came to save his people, us, because he loves us so much. Jesus became poor to love the poor, the sick and the forgotten. Maybe this Christmas we can all try to love like Jesus loved and instead of giving a present maybe simply give your presence.

For more information check out www.adventconspiacy.org

Matt Winger

Name: Melissa Doerr
Student Council Position: Vice President
Hometown: Kitchener, ON
Currently Resides: 21 Upper Warder on the right side
Home Church: Country Hills Evangelical Missionary
Pets: Melissa has a black and white tabby named Jersey and a Beta fish named Waldo.
Educational Background: high school diploma at Grand River High School
Favourite Skittle and why: Her favourite skittle is blue, no green! The reason being that green is her favourite colour and apples are green.
Favourite Food: Chicken Bruschetta
Favourite Bible Verse: Psalms 1:16
Most Influential Person And Why: Melissa’s cousin Nicole is the most influential person in her life. Because neither of them have sisters, Melissa and Nicole have become like sisters to each other.
Best Power ranger: The best is the yellow one and the worst is the white.
Favourite super hero: Batman
Dream Vacation: Germany
If You Could Change Places With Anyone For A Day At EBC-Who Would It Be And Why:
Melissa said, “Marjorie Hopkins so I can dance to Celtic music in my office”!
A Quote For The Masses: Don’t forget to take your vitamin C!
Favourite Carebear: the SHARE BEAR!
Blood Type: O positive
How Do You Want To Die? Old and healthy
Super-Short Testimony: Born, Christian at 4, High School- BAD, EBC-GOOD
How Have You Experienced God This Year: Melissa experiences God in classes due to her knowledge being challenged. She is also working at making faith her own.
Who Wears the Most Awesome Socks at EBC: Lisa Kuepfer

The Semester is already nearing a close. Instead of focusing on the exams ahead, the voice staff this week chose to ask you “what is your favourite Christmas tradition?” Here is what you said…

Robbie Oleniuk -”Presents and Trees.”

Brandon Myers -”Every Christmas my family goes for a walk in the snow, and my dad buys us small gifts.”

Stephanie Vincent -”Mummering, it’s a Newfie thing and you’ll have to look it up on Wikipedia.”

Angel Taylor -”We go to a candlelight service on Christmas Eve, and sing O Holy Night.”

Christie Heemskerk -”My parents sign at least one gift To:Christie, From:Santa Clause!”