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Weekly E-news - Aug. 28
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Dear youth and parents,
It's going to be a busy weekend with our Mission Trip Shareholders' Luncheon on Sunday afternoon and a meeting for all youth parents on Sunday night. Read on for more info on the meeting, as well as some new volunteer opportunities that are available for youth
Grace and Peace,
Russ
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Youth Parents Meeting this Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
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 All parents of youth in grades 6-12 are invited to a meeting this Sunday evening, August 30 from 6:30-7:30 in Room 207. During the meeting we will be introducing staff and volunteer leaders, 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 providing directories that include the names, grades, schools, and basic contact info of every UCC youth. We'll look forward to seeing you this Sunday night!
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Sunday school class breakdown for this year
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last weekend we promoted our youth to their new grades for this school year. In case you missed it, we wanted to remind you about rooms and grades for this Fall.
On Sunday morning, bagels and juice will be available starting at 9:45 a.m. in Room 303, which has started its transformation into our "Gathering & Game Room." Afterward, Sunday school classes will meet from 10:00 - 10:50 in the following rooms:
Faith Development Class (6th grade and up) - Room 304 [see note below]
Chi Rho Boys (grades 7-8) - Room 308
Chi Rho Girls (grades 7-8) - Room 307
CYF (grades 9-10) - Room 315
CYF (grades 11-12) - Room 311
(Note: all 4th-6th graders have a meeting this Sunday morning at 10 a.m. in the Sanctuary about acolyte opportunities. FDC will not meet for class this week, and 7th graders who are signed up for FDC are invited to attend the Chi Rho Boys or Girls class this week.)
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Contact info for Isaac Varner, UCC's Assistant Minister for CYF
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 Rev. Isaac Varner's ministry as UCC's Assistant Minister for CYF (high school) got off to a quick start as he joined us for the Back-to-School Retreat and then participated in worship leadership this past weekend. Isaac's office and e-mail are up and running, so please make a note of his contact info. Isaac is in Room 301 on the third floor (an office he will be sharing with Anna Ross and Alec Ylitalo), his phone extension is 145, and his church e-mail address is isaac@uccftw.com. Be sure to get in touch and let him know you're glad he's here!
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Youth volunteer opportunities coming up
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There are two major events coming up that will benefit greatly from youth volunteers:
1. On Wednesday, September 9, volunteers of all ages will gather in Fellowship Hall to prepare 1,800 school uniforms for distribution at our annual Children's Closet "Bag-It Night" from 6-8 p.m. Youth are needed at 4:30 p.m. to move boxes from around the building to Fellowship Hall, and a pizza dinner will be provided for all youth who are part of the early volunteer crew.
2. Our church will gather outside on Sunday afternoon, September 13 to kick off fall programming with a churchwide picnic immediately after the 11 a.m. worship service. Youth helpers are needed to assist with face painting, photography, a cake walk, making balloon animals, and general setup and teardown of tables and chairs.
Watch for sign-up sheets on Sunday mornings for both of these volunteer opportunities!
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Join a youth handbell choir this Wednesday
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 Do you sometimes feel like you gotta have more handbell? Then join one of UCC's youth handbell choirs! Rehearsals take place on Wednesday evenings in Room 229, and everyone from beginners to experts are welcome. Whitechapel Handbell Choir for grades 6-8 will practice each week from 6:30-7:30 and the UCC Ringers for grades 9-12 practice from 7:30-8:30. The first rehearsal of the new year is this Wednesday, August 26, and both choirs will play regularly in worship throughout the year. Contact Mimi Rogers at ensembles@uccftw.com for more information.
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Youth Ministry Architects completes work; UCC's work begins
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 From August 7-10, 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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Youth events on the horizon...
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August 30 - Mission Trip Shareholders' Luncheon - 12:15 p.m.
August 30 - Youth Parents Meeting - 6:30 p.m.
September 9 - School Uniform "Bag-It" Night - 6 p.m.
September 13 - Churchwide Picnic (youth volunteers needed) 12:15 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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