Our Youth Ministry newsletter:
- August 2008 Issue [PDF] (Click here for archive of previous issues)
Click here for...News from Our Youth Mission Team to Costa Rica
NEW...Online
Registration
for West Market Youth Events!
CLICK HERE to visit the online registration form.
Currently receiving registrations for: Fall Youth Retreat - October 17-19
Fall Youth Retreat - October 17-19 - Treasures of the Transformed Life - For all youth 6th - 12th grades. Cost: $130.00 and includes 2 nights lodging, all meals, t-shirt, and retreat supplies.
Photos from Sweet Elements - Youth
Variety Show & Dessert
February 10, 2008 - Fellowship Hall
THANK YOU!!! Sweet Elements was Great!
West Market UMC Youth want to thank each of you for joining us for Sweet Elements, our Youth Variety Show and Dessert Celebration. You can see from the photos that we had an incredible evening together.
We enjoyed a wide variety of talent, including swing dancing, rap, band jam, flute, oboe, magic, piano, vocals, a Blue Mando Duo (bluegrass with mandolin and banjo) and a hilarious and extremely powerful dramatic presentation! Sweet Elements was a fundraiser to benefit our Youth Missions. In June, we are taking a building team of 24 High School Youth and adults to serve God in Costa Rica. If you were unable to attend, but would still like to support this mission, we would deeply appreciate your contributions.
Thanking God for
each of you...
Jeff Peck and West Market Street Youth
Eighteen Youth Experiencing Confirmation 2008
Confirmation 2008 is off to a tremendous start! There is an high
excitement level as we experience God's grace within Christian
community each week. We have eighteen youth on our roll! Each
student
is already growing deeper faith roots and discovering what
it means to "claim the name" of Christian for themselves. Please
pray for each of our Confirmation Students by name during this
important rite of passage in their lives: Kathryn Black, Kaitlyn
Godfrey, Allen Jones, Caroline Livesay, Jenna Livingston, Allen
Martin, Greg Peoples, Annie Phillips, Austin Sellick, Stephen Stahl,
Jessica Stanley, Justin Stanley, Mary Grace Stoneking, Alex Tollison,
Tim Townsend, Tyler Wolfe, Megan Wright, Carsyn Yow. We still need a
few additional Confirmation Mentors. If you are willing to mentor
one of our students, please contact Jeff Peck at
jpeck@wmsumc.org or 275-4587
ext. 14.
Report from our Mission Trip
to Carolina Cross Connection
God’s love and grace shone
brightly through each of our 24 youth and adult leaders at Carolina Cross
Connection (July 29 - August 4)! We invested ourselves as the hands and
feet of Jesus Christ by serving those in need in Albemarle, NC and surrounding
areas. Even with the intense sunshine and exhausting heat, our West Market
Mission Team worked extremely hard each day to complete many projects. Our
teams built several wheelchair ramps, including a 45-foot long wheelchair ramp
for a blind, elderly woman named Annie. Her porch was almost 5 feet off
the ground and without this ramp Annie was confined to her home until her son
could come over and lift her down the steps. Other teams repaired floors
and porches, repainted rooms and homes (inside and out), built stairs and porch
rails, and did extensive repair and yard work throughout the week.
But Carolina Cross Connection taught us that even though the work was important;
our priority was the relationships that we developed with the residents who
lived in the houses and with one another. We discovered the gift of life-giving
Christian community and how vital this is in each of our lives. A huge
thank-you goes out to each of our youth and adult leaders who invested a week of
their summer by serving God at Carolina Cross Connection. Let us continue to
follow in the Way of Jesus Christ, by embracing each opportunity to serve those
in need.
ATTENTION ALL
YOUTH & PARENTS...we are updating our Youth Ministry Email List!
We need your correct email address so that we can
share information and updates about Youth Ministry at West Market. Please
click here to send
Jeff Peck
an email to update your email address. Thanks!
Register your red
mittens here. Each of us is the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Let's
unleash a revolution!"
"The King will answer, 'Whenever you did it for any of my people, no
matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.'" (Matthew 25:40).
UMYF Continues to Grow
All 6th - 12th grade youth are encouraged to bring a friend and come experience UMYF together on Sunday nights from 5:30 - 7:30 pm upstairs in the Youth Coffee House. We enjoy a delicious meal, hang out and catch up with each other, embrace God's gift of Christian community, and discover what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ in today's world.
Report from our Fall High School Retreat
Twenty-five of us were shaped and formed by God on the Fall High School Retreat. We grew deeper friendships with one another and deeper faith roots with our Creator. Our theme was "Broken Road" and we explored the many broken roads that we find ourselves traveling. We learned that God always meets us on the broken road and helps get us back onto the right pathway. We shared authentically with one another and prayed for one another in our struggles. We learned about the importance of Christian community and holding one another accountable. We discovered how to navigate the many roads of life by staying closely connected to God, our constant GPS. We rediscovered the treasure of God's Word, the Holy Bible. We also received custom journals, with our theme verse on the front, "O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64:8).
Each morning, we found our center by studying God's Word, reading an email from God, writing in our journals and praying. We created collages on clay pots to represent our life dream and who we are becoming as we follow Jesus. We learned about God's plan for healthy sexuality and divided into male and female groups for honest dialogue. We challenged ourselves and successfully completed a 40-foot high ropes course on Saturday afternoon. We learned how God shapes and forms our lives as a potter shapes clay. We laughed together, we prayed together, we learned together, and we experienced Jesus together in some fresh new ways. God breathed life into each moment of our High School Retreat. Thanks be to God for this stellar weekend!
