Tournaments will take place Monday – Thursday during the afternoon free time option.  There will be tournaments for larger teams (flag football, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, etc.), smaller teams (sand volleyball, basketball, etc), individuals (tennis, ping pong, chess, etc.), and co-ed.

A complete listing of tournaments will be published prior to CHIC 2012 on the website as well as in your welcome pack when you arrive.  You’ll get a chance to sign up for tournaments under the rec tent next to the Hub.  This will be available during the Welcome Party as well as during the free time option on Monday, July 16.

A sweet “CHIC Tournament Champion” T-shirt will be given out as a prize to the winning teams, as well as the reputation of CHIC Tournament Champion for the rest of your life!

Don’t forget, youth pastors and volunteers are encouraged to sign up with their kids!  Just know there are certain restrictions on how many adults can participate based on tournament rules.  All tournament rules and restrictions will be posted at the tournament sign up tent just outside the Hub.

What tournament are you most looking forward to?

CHIC is the place to make new friends.  The HUB provides a place for students to meet others.  Common activity leads to conversation, and conversation to connection and friendship.  Play, create, compete, eat, relax, and find new friends from Connecticut to California and beyond.

Remember that one? It’s not only true about marketing a product, it is equally true about your experience at CHIC 2012. The very first event you encounter will definitely rock your world! It’s the “Welcome Party.” Both words are true. It is a place for you to be welcomed to CHIC 2012. You matter. You are important to CHIC 2012. You are welcome at CHIC! The second word is “party” (got that one right!). It is probably the most massive party experience you have seen in ages.

The main issue you will face will be to simply figure out which of the several incredible options to be encticed by.  Volleyball? We’ve got you covered with a nice, sand volleyball court. Live music? Yep. Food? Another yep. Pizza, Italian ice, etc. – all free, wating  for you. Tatoos? Well, not a permanent one, but a great air-brushed image is yours.  You may love to do beadwork. Done.  Huge, overgrown patio games? Another yep.  Shoot hoops, toss a Frisbee, or something active after a long bus or plane ride? Yep, got that too.  Dunk tank?  Lovin’ it.  Meet new friends from around the country and around the globe.  Get a great freebie water bottle to carry with you for the week.  Video games? Got that too.  How about a place to pray with someone? Got that too.  Get your picture taken with your group at a special spot created for just that purpose.  All that, much more, plus a place to sign up for excursions, tournaments, and get all the info you need to make your week at CHIC 2012 the most awesome week of your life.

By the time you are done at the welcome party, you will be ramped and ready to launch into the week with friends.  You’ll be looking forward to a week packed with more surprises, more memories, and more God-moments than you can imagine.

The Welcome Party. Remember it. Get there.

Each student and leader can register for up to 3 excursions. Transportation is provided for all excursions. The afternoon excursions are a great way to see and experience the greater Knoxville area and the beauty of Tennessee! Whether you like to run around playing paintball, cool off going down Lazy River, or spend an afternoon in the Smoky Mountains hiking, excursions has something for everyone. 13 excursions are offered each afternoon during CHIC.

Sign up early as excursions will fill up quick! If spots are available, tickets will be sold during the Welcome Party.

This message is shared with you by Tim Ciccone, the Excursion and On-Site Coordinator of CHIC.  Tim serves as the High School Pastor at Hillcrest Covenant Church and  is the author of “In Transit.”  Follow more of Tim’s thoughts at Relational Youth Ministry.

Dear CHICSTERS and CHIC Leaders—

We are so glad that you are coming to CHIC 2012!  You are about to be a part of an epic week that will be exciting, surprising, fun, and deeply spiritual and we ARE SO GLAD you are coming!

The daily schedule is set up so that you have a full-day packed with spiritual challenges, fun, competition, down-time, and quality time with your friends.   Not only do we want you to have significant experiences with God during CHIC 2012, but we also want to provide you with amazing moments that you will never forget.

In the afternoons we will have so much for you to do—everything from taking a white water rafting trip to chilling out in The Lounge.   Make sure you head to The Hub every afternoon to experience the center where everything is happening.  We’ve got competitive tournaments for you to gather your friends and compete in. We’ve got a video game pit that is awesome, a bowling alley, an olympic sized pool complete with 3 dives, and athletic fields where soccer, ultimate frisbee and football are happening.  ALL THIS AND MORE!

Everything you need to know concerning CHIC Excursions (off-campus) and On-Site Recreation (on-campus) is on the CHIC website .  If you have questions please feel free to contact me, the CHIC excursion and on-site coordinator.

We can’t wait to see you at CHIC 2012!

~Tim Ciccone

In this guest post, Margo shares her thoughts on the power of sponsorship and the opportunities CHIC provides students.  Margo is a member of DeerGrove Covenant Church in Palatine, IL and a student 

We need world changers. We need multiple generations of young people with bright dreams and a steady determination, men and women who will be moved by the miracles Christ is able to perform in their lives. CHIC(Covenant High in Christ) is a convention for senior high students where as a denomination we are able to give thoughtful tools, loving people and unforgettable experiences that will lead these students closer to God.

Throughout five days in July students will have the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and bigger than their youth group or church conference. Surrounded by other teens from throughout the country, CHIC provides students with the ability to learn about social injustices in a small setting, hear music from talented Christian artists, and be touched by speakers who strive to relate specially to youth.

For some this time will be one of forgiveness and healing, others will be struck by the importance of serving our world, and if history repeats itself, for many students this will be a period of time where they will choose the way of the cross over the way of the crowd.  Hearts are stirred, goals are set and God shows us once again that He has the ability to surpass all expectations. The stories of these teens are important to God, and therefore each of their stories are important to us.

As the Evangelical Covenant Church we want to show that we support these young men and women in their faith journeys. One of the most difficult parts of getting students to CHIC is the cost. Many students would love to spend five days in Knoxville but are unable to pay for the experience. Please consider joining the ECC to help sponsor these senior high students and give them  not only a memorable week in their summer, but a shaping experience in their walk of faith.

If you would like to show your support to CHIC attendees, please consider donating to the CHIC Legacy Fund.  The CHIC Legacy Fund was created in 2009 as a way to guarantee that the next generation of Covenanters will be able to write their piece of the history of CHIC.

Grab a seat on one of the couches, a beanbag chair or a piece of carpet.  We’ll have music, movies, and video games playing.  See you there!

In this post, Chad McDaniel shares his thoughts on how to create life-changing memories at CHIC.  Chad is the Associate Pastor of Student Ministries at Bethany Covenant Church in Mt. Vernon, WA.  Chad also serves as the CHIC Liaison for the North Pacific Conference.

What’s up with CHIC?  What makes CHIC stick – as a memory, as a life-changing event, as something worth attending?  CHIC is the space for connecting with your group and connecting your group to a larger community of believers.  CHIC is a place where our students can physically see that they are not alone in following Christ – that the body of Christ is bigger than their family, their church, their town.  This is the power of CHIC – connecting students to each other and to Christ in a weeklong intense, spiritual experience.

So how can YOU make CHIC memorable?  Know your group and plan some things that will bring unity, make memories, and have them forever saying, “Remember that time Brandon went crowd surfing in a banana suit at CHIC?!”  I know, I know, crowed surfing isn’t allowed at CHIC, but I can’t help but remember when one of my students pulled out a banana suit and headed for the front of the stage.  Honestly, a banana suit?  These are the things that bind groups together.

So what can you plan that will be memorable for your group?  With a little forethought, a little planning, what is something specific you can pull off to connect YOUR group of students to each other, and to Christ?  I remember one youth pastor taking his group to a special place after mainstage for reflection and a deeper time of prayer.  He had thought this out.  He had planned this for his kids, knowing what they needed to remember that moment, and deepen the experience.

CHIC is an opportunity – an opportunity you can’t afford to miss – to connect your students to one another and to Christ.  Hope to see you at CHIC 2012!  And I hope to hear about the incredibly creative ideas you had to make CHIC memorable!

In this post Lisa Holmlund shares some of her favorite CHIC must-do’s.  Lisa serves as the Pastor of Student Ministries at Montecito Covenant Church in Santa Barbara, CA.  Lisa 

I am gearing up to attend my 6^th CHIC.  I am super stoked for what God is going to do in the lives of high schoolers across our denomination.  I can’t wait for the conversations that are planted in student hearts due to what they experience at CHIC.  I can’t wait for the HUB, and The Welcome Party, and kids eating grits for the first time or spending free time on the strip.

At this point, I am thinking that half of you are  glaring at my “CHIC lingo”… and I wanted to give you as leaders a crash CHIC course of must-do’s; lingo to know about; and what I have found as some awesome parts of all of my CHIC experiences as both a student, volunteer, & youth pastor.

• Find a way to promote why your state is the coolest state attending CHIC.  Kids love seeing where others are from (West Coast is the best coast).
• Attend the Welcome Party on July 15^th after you arrive.  Insiders tip: free food; free friends; free entertainment; free fun… everyone goes!
• Allow your kids to go on the strip (Cumberland Avenue going through campus) during free time.  After all, if they want to spend their own $5 on a burger, let them.  Insiders tip: there is a Panera about ½ mile down… great for last morning or when waiting for your flight to leave.  Buy a dozen bagels for the kids to share.
• There is SO much to do on campus each day and if you want to save money, do some awesome things on campus.
• UT water park… yep, there are fountains shooting water down by the convention center… my kids LOVE just playing down there.  We do it at least once every other day.  FREE RANDOM FUN.
• Make your kids try grits.  It makes for great stories when they share on Sunday Mornings for CHIC reflections!
• Assign one leader to buy pizzas after worship for your whole group.  Saves you all time and money.
• Get to know the other youth pastors who are staying in your dorm!  It makes the connections last longer when you return home and do regional gatherings!

See you in July!  You’ll find me at the Free Water Park!

What are some of your favorite “must-do’s” at CHIC?

In this guest post, Jim Eaton shares his thoughts on helping youth get to CHIC.  Jim is the Director of Student Ministries at Countryside Covenant Church in McPherson, Kansas.  Jim also serves as the CHIC Liaison for the Midwest Conference.

“I recently spoke with a youth worker in Iowa who had a great fund-raising idea for CHIC 2012.  He figures out how many miles it is from his church to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He then divides the total cost for his group to attend CHIC by the miles to figure out what the cost per mile is. With this number, he invites the church to ‘sponsor-a-mile’ or multiple miles. Each mile being between $7-$8, most people sponsor many miles and they get to CHIC pretty quick!”

-Jim Eaton

What’s your best CHIC fundraising idea?