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Weekly E-news
November 13, 2009
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Dear youth and parents, I just returned last night from a whirlwind trip to Louisville as part of the leadership team for the Disciples Youth Ministry Network. Every gathering with this group of veteran youth ministers is a blessing, even when it's two days of intensive brainstorming, planning, and coordinating. The biggest (and most visible) event that we lead is an annual conference that brings together Disciple youth workers to hear a top-notch speaker, learn from each other, and find ways to connect and collaborate. Our lesser-known work (which has bigger potential) is a project to use a comprehensive website and webcam technology to provide resources and training to youth ministers and lay volunteers at Disciple churches across the country. We recently received a $20,000 grant from Disciple Home Missions to help fund this initiative, and there are some exciting projects in the works as a result. I'll be sure to share more in the future -- in the meantime you can visit our website at www.dymn.org. Be sure to take a moment to read through the events coming up, including three this weekend: big fundraising opportunities at the TCU game on Saturday, the conclusion of our Youth Trialogue on Sunday morning, and Youth Sunday at The Search on Sunday evening. I hope you're able to participate in at least one of these great opportunities! Grace and Peace, Russ |
Two parking lot fundraising opportunities this Saturday
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 As many of you are well aware, this Saturday's big game between TCU and Utah is sold out and ESPN College GameDay will be broadcasting live from TCU's campus commons on Saturday morning. This means that UCC's youth and parents have two
opportunities to raise money by parking cars in the morning for the College GameDay taping and in the afternoon for the game.
Because of the enormous crowd that will be descending on the campus, we will be charging $20 for game parking in the afternoon and $5 for parking in the morning for the ESPN broadcast. Volunteers should sign in by 8 a.m. for the smaller morning shift (we are only opening the two lots on Cantey due to the WDS Holiday Bazaar) and 3 p.m. for the bigger afternoon shift. Kickoff will be at 6:30 p.m. As always, each shift worked by
youth and/or parents earns credit toward registration costs for camps, mission
trips, and the ski retreat (plus funds for UCC's youth
ministry to use for scholarships and 3rd floor improvements).
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Youth travel to mosque on Sunday for Trialogue conclusion
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 UCC's youth in grades 7-12 have joined with Jewish and Muslim youth for two sessions of a three-part "trialogue," first at Beth-El Congregation, then here at UCC. The series will conclude this Sunday, November 15 when we travel to the mosque at the Islamic Association of Tarrant County for a program focused on Islam. UCC's participants should meet in Fellowship Hall at 9:30 a.m. to carpool there.
A couple of notes about the Youth Trialogue:
- This event will take the place of Chi Rho boys/girls and both CYF (grades 9-12) Sunday school classes. Faith Development Class will meet as usual.
- The program will conclude at noon and we'll return to UCC at 12:15.
- To be respectful of the culture and traditions of our Muslim friends, please be sure to wear a long-sleeved shirt (nothing low-cut), long pants, socks, and shoes. Ladies: Clean hijabs (head scarves) will be available for you, but
you're welcome to bring a piece of fabric to use as your own.
- Every participant will receive a Youth Trialogue t-shirt this Sunday. The suggested price is $5 each. (Payment isn't required since everyone gets one whether they like it or not, but the $5 to defer the cost is appreciated.)
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Youth Sunday at The Search - this Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Come worship at The Search this Sunday at 5 p.m. as our middle and high schoolers lead the service. This year's service is part of the popular iFaith series that examines a different scripture and pop song each week to see how the two might inform or reflect the life of faith. This Sunday the scripture is Isaiah 11:1-9 and the song is "Secret Crowds" by Angels and Airwaves. We hope to see you there!
Youth: Please be in Fellowship Hall by 3 p.m. to set up prayer stations, rehearse speaking parts, and prepare for greeting, communion, and offering duties.
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Youth Night Out bowling tourney coming on November 20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  On Friday night, November 20, UCC is sponsoring a bowling tournament at Cityview Lanes for local Disciple youth groups. We'll meet at 6:30 p.m. to get our shoes and divide up teams, then compete from 7-9 p.m. The winning team will take home a pretty spectacular trophy -- just take a look at the photo -->
The event will cost $15 per youth, which will cover shoe rental, two hours of bowling, pizza, and a drink. Several other congregations are competing, so we hope to see you there representing UCC!
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Registration continues for CYF Fall Retreat - December 4-6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Registrations are rolling in for the CYF Fall Retreat for youth in grades 9-12, scheduled for December 4-6 at Disciples Crossing in Athens.
The youth and adults who serve on the Youth Ministry Council
have planned a refreshing event that focuses on the theme "What does
spirituality mean to you?" Registration forms are due in the Youth Office by
Sunday, November 22. The cost is $80 and scholarship assistance is available
upon request. Download a registration
form online at www.uccyouth.org.
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Youth events on the horizon...
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November 15 - Youth Trialogue concludes at mosque - meet at 9:30 a.m.
November 15 - Youth Sunday at The Search - 5 p.m. (youth meet at 3 p.m.)
November 20 - Youth Night Out - Bowling at Citiview Lanes - 6:30 p.m.
November 29 - Hanging of the Greens celebration - 5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
December 4-6 - CYF Fall Retreat at Disciples Crossing
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, Assistant Minister for Chi Rho (grades 6-8) - E-mail Anna
Sharyn Peterson, Ministry Assistant for Congregation Life - E-mail Sharyn
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