Passage to Ponder - Hebrews 13:2 (NIV)   

"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

by Rev. Terry McBride, Minister Member at Large, Michiana Youth Ministries

In the summer of 2005, I made a leap of faith and left my position of associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in South Bend to form Michiana Youth Ministries, an ecumenical not-for-profit organization that sponsors Cursillo-based weekend retreats for senior high youth.

Our program, called L.O.G. (Love Of God) brings youth from many schools and many churches together for a weekend of singing and sharing and praying - an intentional experience of Christian community and love. Youth are usually invited by a friend who has already attended L.O.G. (can you say evangelism?) and afterwards, he or she may choose to serve on a L.O.G. leadership team and invite their own friends.

Each year, MYM partners with Bashor Home present one L.O.G. weekend for the teenagers who are in residential care at the United Methodist Church facility for children and youth in Goshen.

Three years ago, we began offering a new retreat called Connections: An Intimate Look at Relationships: Spiritual, Emotional and Sexual. This event is designed to encourage teenagers to base their friendships and romantic relationships on Christian principals.

Near the end of each summer, youth may participate in a Next Step: Love*4*God retreat. Where L.O.G. encourages kids to embrace the abundant love that God has for them, L*4*G helps youth grow in their love for God by focusing on the spiritual disciplines.

Our newest adventure is Michiana Youth Showcase, a community-wide talent show for senior high youth that doubles as a fundraising and promotional event for MYM.

After twenty years of youth ministry in two local churches, nothing I have found seems to be as successful in making a difference in the lives of teenagers as the L.O.G. program. MYM's motto is reaching youth with the love of God through weekends that can last a lifetime.

I am thankful for the courage and ability to follow God's call on my life - even more for the many friends and colleagues that have affirmed that call and supported me in this mission and ministry.

For information about Michiana Youth Ministries, please check out our website: www.michianayouth.org  or email me at terry@michianayouth.org.

Resource Center

In Partnership with PWV

Congregational Resource Center 

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Center for Congregations

 Positive Change for Congregations

11 a.m.-1 p.m. (Central time)
November 6 & 20 and

December 4, 2013

in Valparaiso

11 a.m.-1 p.m. (Eastern time)
November 7 & 21 and

December 5, 2013

 in Fort Wayne 

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ALBAN WEEKLY

Affective Competence and Missional Identity

by William Kondrath  

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 Thank you! 

Thank you for your ministry and your service... 

• September 15, 1989 - Rev. Will Miller, University Church Purdue West Lafayette
• September 15, 1979 - Rev. Marcia Smith-Wood, Spiritual Director
• September 16, 1979 - Rev. Jeff Cover, Central Presbyterian Church Lafayette
• September 16, 1990 - Rev. Lyle Ewing, Auburn Presbyterian Church
• September 16, 1979 - Rev. Mark Killmer, Validated Ministry
• September 18, 2010 - C.R.E. Rick Ryan, Elston Presbyterian Church Lafayette       

If you have been omitted or your information is incorrect please accept my apology. Help to update your records by sending your current information to vicki@ourpresbytery.org.   

All congregational leaders hope that their faith lessons make an impact on children and stay with them through their teen and young adult years. In this workshop, Fuller Youth Institute Director Kara Powell explores ways to make faith lessons stick, bringing about powerful changes in not only youth, but in worship, adult education and congregational life. 

Office of the General Assembly

GRADYE PARSONS, Stated Clerk

LOUISVILLE

The Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is urging people to personally engage Congress about Syria and to pray.

Hello my name is Gradye Parsons. I'm the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and I come to you out of my concern for Syria and out of the church's concern for Syria, and out of the concern for our government's intervention into that troubled land.

The General Assembly meeting in Pittsburgh, Penn. last summer in 2012 made the following statements about this Syrian crisis.

• To support a mediated process of the cessation of violence by all perpetrators,
• To call for outside parties to cease all forms of intervention in Syria,
• To support a necessary and strong role for the United Nations, and
• To refrain from military intervention in Syria

Military intervention would have 'detrimental effect' on Christians in Syria, webinar told   

Presbyterian News Service

BETHANY DAILY

LOUISVILLE