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Dear youth and parents,

Today is the last day of Vacation Bible School, and I'm thrilled that this year 30 middle and high school youth served as volunteer leaders.  It's a great experience for our youth, a huge help for UCC's children's ministry, and our younger kids love being around the youth.  However, there are benefits down the road as well.  Research indicates that youth who volunteer with younger kids at church are the most likely to continue to live an active life of faith after they graduate.  There's something about a teenager acting as a role model who is responsible for passing along faith to the next generation that creates the kind of "sticky faith" that we're striving for in our ministry with youth and children at UCC.  For that reason, you can expect to see more opportunities for youth to work with younger kids in the future.  For a crash course on what does (and doesn't) help faith stick beyond high school, I highly encourage you to read this article by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin of the Fuller Youth Institute.  (The specific phenonmenon I have described can be found in "Intergenerational Insight #2.")

Read on for info about a CYF outing to play Whirlyball, camp dates for summer of 2013, an important volunteer opportunity, and more!

Grace and Peace,
Russ 

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