OREGON—Seventeen teens from the Wilsonville congregation caravanned to the home of members Josh and Laura Crocker in West Linn after services on August 9 for a teen weekend activity that included a tie draft, softball and plenty of food.

On the first evening, the teens spent the early hours of the evening baking and eating custom pizzas. The girls then headed over to the home of members Jeremy and Cassie Cocomise, where they spent the night.

Back at the Crockers’, Josh Crocker and Jeremy Cocomise led the 11 boys in the fourth annual tie draft, which started off with several challenges to determine who would receive the first-round draft pick from the 55 available neckties. After the last selection was made, the boys had slow-grilled turkey legs and a fireside chat.

“I liked the topics,” Tyler Smothers said of the chat. “Knowing all the teens have the same experiences standing for God bonded us together.”

Meanwhile at the Cocomise home, the girls participated in a “cupcake extravaganza,” which included decorating, team building and creativity challenges derived from popular cooking shows. For the bake-off, each team of two girls received a mystery basket including uncommon ingredients like lemon curd and lavender. They also received access to a pantry of the more standard baking ingredients, such as peanut butter, cocoa and honey.

After two rounds of baking, judges Cassie Cocomise and Laura Crocker determined the concoction by Brianna Smythe and Sarah Sliger was the tastiest.

Sliger said she enjoyed the activity because “we were able to use our homemaking abilities and imaginations while using unusual ingredients like turkey bacon and Nutella.”

The girls baked two dozen of the winning cupcakes for the softball game the following day. They ended the evening by munching on popcorn while reminiscing over Philadelphia Youth Camp experiences by candlelight.

After the girls prepared frittata for breakfast on Sunday morning, the teens traveled to a nearby park, where Jeremy Cocomise introduced the group to 16-inch softball, a form of the game popular in Chicago that is played without gloves and uses a larger “mush ball.”

After several innings in the bright afternoon sun, the group feasted on watermelon, oranges and cupcakes.