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Weekly E-news
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Dear youth and parents,
The last few days have been INCREDIBLY exciting (and exhausting) here at UCC. I encourage you to read below about a new addition to our youth ministry staff, the results of the amazing assessment/visioning/goal-setting process we completed with Youth Ministry Architects, and great opportunities to get oriented and plugged-in as a new school year begins.
Grace and Peace,
Russ
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Isaac Varner joins UCC Youth staff as Assistant Minister for CYF
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 I'm excited to share with you that Rev. Isaac Varner will be joining our youth ministry staff as Assistant Minister for CYF (high school). Isaac will take over Carol Elliott's responsibilities for leading/coordinating CYF youth group on Sunday nights, supporting and assisting CYF Sunday school teachers, and providing pastoral care for high school youth (among other duties). He will be serving in this position on an interim basis (I know you're tired of that word) to allow our youth ministry plenty of time to search for a long-term Assistant Minister for CYF. Isaac plans to be on staff at least through the month of December.
Isaac is an ordained minister who not only brings great youth ministry experience to our church, but actually has a long history at UCC. A native of Richardson, Isaac graduated from TCU with a degree in engineering and worked in that field before answering a call to ministry. He attended Brite Divinity School, and celebrated graduation and ordination to ministry in 2007. Isaac volunteered as a youth group sponsor at UCC for nearly 10 years (including a short stint as an interim youth minister) and was also involved in leading young adult ministries and starting The Search. During and after seminary, he served as Associate Minister at Azle Christian Church until he and his wife, Cherie, moved to Dallas for her to work on her master's degree. Since then, Isaac has served as Interim Youth Minister at Community Christian Church in Aledo, and is preparing to teach math in Dallas ISD this school year after completing their alternative certification program.
Because Isaac will be teaching full-time on weekdays, he will be present at the church on Sundays, occasional weeknights, and for special events. During the week, he will stay connected to UCC (and our youth) via phone and e-mail.
I'm thrilled that such an experienced and beloved youth minister will be joining our staff, and I know you'll be eager to welcome him. Issac will be with us on the Back-to-School Retreat this weekend and present on Sunday morning. Stay tuned for further information on a reception to greet and welcome Isaac, and feel free to send him an e-mail at isaac@uccftw.com (which should be active by the end of the week).
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Youth Ministry Architects completes work; UCC's work begins
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This past weekend, two consultants from Youth Ministry Architects (YMA) helped our staff and lay leadership create a mission statement, name and embrace our core values, identify short and long-term areas of focus for our youth ministry, and establish a timeline for realistic, measurable goals for staff, volunteers, and programs. About 80 different people participated in focus groups and visioning sessions over the course of the weekend, and almost 40 came to hear the final report and recommendations from the consultants and staff on Monday evening.
You can read the fruits of this labor for yourself by downloading two documents (click here for the PDF file). The first is the assessment and recommendations from Lesleigh Carmichael and Missy Carfield, the wonderful consultants from YMA who spent hours with us and even more hours on their own digesting the information preparing their report. The second is the youth ministry's mission statement, core values, and 3-year goals (with 1-year benchmarks), developed by the Youth Committee and staff with Lesleigh and Missy's guidance. I hope that you will take some time to read through the good, the bad, and the ugly...and that you will share my optimism about the future of youth ministry here at UCC as we work together to make this detailed blueprint a reality.
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Back-to-School Retreat registrations due today!
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UCC's
youth who are entering grades 6-12 will kick off a new year together with the
Back-to-School Retreat. Youth and adult
sponsors will meet at UCC at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 14 to travel to Briarwood
Retreat Center in Argyle and return on Sunday, August 16 at 9:45 a.m. for
Sunday school and worship. During the
weekend, the group will spend time growing closer to God and each other through
worship, small groups, prayer, games, and other fellowship-oriented
activities. The event is an excellent
way to bond as youth groups and to get to know adult staff and volunteer
leaders better, setting the stage for a great year of spiritual growth in UCC's
youth ministry. The cost for the retreat
is $95 per person, which includes two nights lodging, four meals, and a
t-shirt. Scholarships are available upon
request.
Click here to download a PDF that includes a letter to parents, youth registration form, adult chaperone form, packing list, and schedule. Remember to turn your registration into the Youth Office today (or e-mail Sharyn at sharyn@uccftw.com if you plan to attend but your form will be late).
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Promotion Sunday, FDC orientation on August 23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The morning of August 23 is important for two reasons:
1. It is promotion Sunday, meaning that all youth will move up one grade in their Sunday school classes. Class breakdowns and room assignments will be published in next week's e-news (still tweaking some of those).
2. I will be leading a Faith Development Class orientation at 10 a.m. in the chapel for parents and youth participating in FDC. During the orientation, I will go over the structure and goals of FDC, introduce staff and volunteers who work with middle school youth, and provide a calendar and additional information about opportunities available to youth this year beyond FDC.
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Youth Parents Meeting scheduled for August 30 at 6:30 p.m.
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 Following our incredible experience with Youth Ministry Architects, UCC's Youth Committee moved swiftly to schedule a meeting for all parents of youth on Sunday evening, August 30 from 6:30-7:30 in Room 207. During the meeting we will be detailing some of the recommendations and goals from the YMA assessment, distributing and going over a calendar for youth events through Summer 2010, highlighting the major components of our programming for this year, providing opportunities to sign up for many different volunteer roles, and (hopefully) providing directories that include the names, grades, schools, and basic contact info of every UCC youth. Mark your calendar now, and I'll look forward to seeing you on August 30!
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Youth events on the horizon...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ August 14-16 - UCC Back-to-School Retreat - meet at 7 p.m.
August 23 - Promotion Sunday (youth move up one grade in Sunday school)
August 23 - Meeting for FDC parents and youth - 10 a.m.
August 30 - Mission Trip Shareholders' Luncheon - 12:15 p.m.
August 30 - Youth Parents Meeting - 6:30 p.m.
September 13 - Sunday Night Alive programming (including youth groups) begins
December 27-31 - Youth Ski Retreat to Colorado
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Staff Links
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Russ Boyd, Associate Minister for Youth - E-mail Russ
Isaac Varner, Assistant Minister for CYF (grades 9-12) - E-mail Isaac
Anna Ross, Youth Ministry Intern for Chi Rho (grades 6-8) - E-mail Anna
Sharyn Peterson, Ministry Assistant for Congregation Life - E-mail Sharyn
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