Our Youth Ministry newsletter:
- July 2010 Issue [PDF] (Click here for archive of previous issues)
West Market Youth Mission Team
shines brightly in Savannah, Georgia
On the drive home from the Youth Mission trip to Savannah, Georgia, many of our
youth were overheard saying “That was the best mission experience I have ever
had!” Indeed, it was a stellar week in every way! We took a team of 23 teenagers
and 4 adults to serve as the hands and feet in Savannah, Georgia from Sunday,
June 27 through Friday, July 2. Even with extreme heat indexes over 100 degrees
and sweltering humidity, our youth team worked extremely hard and stayed
positive. I was extremely proud of each of our mission team members! I am also
deeply grateful for our adult leadership team: Sara Gray, Molly Lindsey, Jimmy
Cornfoot and myself, Jeff Peck. We had a blast and enjoyed every moment
together!
Our West Market team served alongside of youth and adult leaders from four other
churches: Mt. Zion Lutheran from Charlotte, North Carolina; Wesley UMC from
Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Augustana Lutheran from Elkhart, Indiana, and Indian River
City UMC from Titusville, Florida. Our youth were placed into work crews of 8 –
14 people, with youth and adult leaders from various churches in each work crew.
This gave us the opportunity to interact and form friendships with youth and
adult leaders from each of the churches. We experienced a deep sense of unity,
cooperation, and teamwork throughout the week.
Our work crews served in many different mission opportunities: house painting
and minor repair, landscaping and weeding, playing Bingo and interacting with
residents at local nursing homes, sorting furniture, clothing, books and more at
local thrift stores to benefit the Old Savannah Rescue Mission, serving at the
Salvation Army, and ministering to 75 children at a local Boys and Girls Club.
After the first day, we found out that the Boys and Girls Club did not have any
art supplies, recreation equipment or resources and many of the Youth and Adult
Leaders sacrificed their own money to purchase supplies for the children to
enjoy.
We all worked extremely hard and played hard too! We made sure to enjoy multiple
breaks at Dairy Queen, Starbucks, Parkers and other fun stops! We had a huge
crew of Middle School boys who enjoyed nightly wrestling matches on the air
mattresses, along with a lot of laughter, bonding and camaraderie with the
entire crew.
Each evening, our group would go out for a fun activity. Monday night we went
down and walked around River street and bought souvenirs. Tuesday night we went
to a local shelter for homeless men and learned about the ministry that takes
place there. One of the youth work crews who served at the shelter did an
informative skit to help us understand the scope of their ministry. We also
enjoyed an ice cream party there at the shelter. On Wednesday night, we enjoyed
the beach at Tybee Island! We played ultimate Frisbee, and enjoyed swimming in
the ocean together. It was a blast to cool off, relax and play after a week of
hard work at the work sites! Then, on Thursday evening, we invited the residents
from the homes we painted and others from the community to a cookout party. My
work crew was able to enjoy being with Rice and Eddie, the couple who owned the
home we painted. It was fun to share this experience with them and to introduce
our new friends to the rest of our church group. They are full of laughter, joy
and love!
In addition to the work at the sites, each work crew rotated through a schedule
of meal preparation, meal cleanup, bathroom cleanup, building cleanup and crew
room cleanup. We stayed at Grace UMC in Savannah and worked together to keep the
church clean.
1 Timothy 4:12 reminds each of us, “Don’t let anyone think less of you because
you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you
live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” Our West Market youth
certainly lived up to this challenge. They were shining brightly all week long
and illuminating Matthew 5:16 with their very lives, “Let your good deeds shine
out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
I want to thank each of you for praying for our Savannah Mission Team. Each of
our 23 youth and 4 adults are grateful for your prayers, your friendship, your
support and your encouragement.
God’s Peace,
Jeff Peck
Love God, Love People
West Market Youth Event
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Love God-Love People….words in action
By Deborah Bisbee
A fresh set of eyes. That’s how I viewed the evening and wow…what a
Sunday evening. I observed 150+ youth from three different churches
coming together in the heart of Greensboro to worship and praise the
Lord and tackle issues most teens ignore or are too afraid to
confront. I was there to support the technical production but I took
so much more away from the evening.
West Market Street UMC hosted the ongoing, multi-church gathering
dubbed “Love God-Love People” this past Sunday evening. The focus
for the evening was “Temptation.” In attendance were youth (and
their invited friends) from Oak Ridge UMC, Mt. Pisgah UMC, and
WMSUMC. With that many young people, one would expect chaos, but the
story unfolds quite differently.
During the course of the evening I witnessed joyfulness and
exuberance that was contagious. In fascination, I watched as the
youth’s deep passion for music fed the WMS Worship Band and surely
led to a significant connection to Christ and a profound
appreciation for God’s music by all present!
Under the direction of Drew Dupont, our drama group performed the
Lifehouse skit “Everything.” Words fail to express how powerful
their performance was.
The drama group exhibited a willingness to allow God to express
himself through their performance, expertly drawing the crowd into
the rocky world of temptations youth struggle with daily. But the
experience was so much more because it offered the youth a larger,
modern picture of how Christ can make a difference in their lives,
and that by his death, Christ gained ultimate control over the
temptations we all struggle with.
How LGLP faced the battlefield of temptations head-on was uplifting.
Later in the evening, the youth broke into three smaller groups
which dove deeper to the 3 top-rated Temptations: drugs/alcohol,
sex, and gossip (as voted on earlier by the youth attending the
service). The topics were treated with respect and openness and
focused on Christ-centered approaches. Several youth displayed
valiant courage in sharing personal experiences which offered
insight that touched closer than any adult could ever attempt.
Many people contributed to the Sunday evening worship service but
the most important part…Christ was present…I saw him on the faces of
many who left, touched by an experience that will live with them
forever. Don’t you want to be a part of that?
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.
NEW...Online
Registration
for West Market Youth Events!
CLICK HERE to visit the online registration form.
Currently receiving registrations for: Crossover Retreat for Rising 6th Graders at Mt. Shepherd, Saturday, August 28, 2010. Meet in our West Market Fellowship Hall at 9:00 a.m. Return at 3:00 p.m. for a Youth and Parent meeting until 4:00 p.m. Cost: $30, includes recreation fees, transportation, lunch and a T-shirt
West Market Street UMC Youth Ministry
Stepping into GREEN!
In an effort to become better stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to us, West Market Street UMC youth ministry has already implemented several important steps. It is our prayer that these steps are only a beginning and that our youth ministry will pave a new pathway towards responsibility, sustainability, and effective stewardship of each of our resources.
- We have completely eliminated using all disposable plates, cups, bowls and silverware. Instead, we are using the rolling carts to bring up plates, bowls, cups, and silverware from the main kitchen in the fellowship hall. Following the youth meal, we return this to be washed downstairs in the dishwasher.
- We no longer use bottled water or plastic 2-liter sodas for our UMYF meals and other gatherings. Instead, we now have a PRIMO water cooler and use their water delivery service. We are asking the youth to bring their own water bottles. But since we often forget, we use the washable water glasses from the kitchen downstairs.
- We watched a powerful film called “The Story of Stuff” (www.storyofstuff.com) and had small group dialogue concerning the impact of our culture of consumption. Here is a description of the film from the website: “From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. ‘The Story of Stuff’ is a 20-minute; fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. ‘The Story of Stuff’ exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.”
- We watched the Leonardo Caprio-narrated movie entitled, “The 11th Hour” and discussed our impact on the Earth. Here is a synopsis of the film, “’The 11th Hour’ is the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment -- how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolsey and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who discuss the most important issues that face our planet and people.”
- We have sorted through the youth storage closet and reduced, re-used and re-cycled wherever possible. We are trying to take what we have (old piano benches, old tables and breathe new life into them: checker tables, game tables, etc.)
- Instead of buying chalkboards for the youth suite walls, we are using chalkboard paint and painting on a chalkboard graffiti “blessings” area right on the wall.
- We are now using facebook as a communication tool with our teenagers (and many of our youth leaders and parents as well) instead of mailing out so many paper copies.
- We are encouraging our youth to carpool to church events, and also reducing our carbon emissions by attempting to walk to events downtown whenever possible (concert at Greensboro College, Grasshoppers game, feeding the homeless in City Center Park, etc.)
- We make every effort to stack our rehearsals and youth events to reduce driving time and carbon emissions from all of our parents driving their youth downtown to the church.
- We are beginning to work with organic, sustainable T-shirt companies for our T-shirts for youth retreats and other events.
- We make every effort to ensure that all lights, lamps, amplifier, projector, DVD player, ipod docks, etc. are all turned off when we leave the room.
- After cleaning out the youth storage areas, we are saving all of our unused papers and scraps to make our own recycled scratch pads, and journal to use with our youth.
- We are also implementing a comprehensive recycling policy for any coke cans, drink bottles, plastic, cardboard, paper, or anything else that we can possibly recycle.
- We are constantly making efforts to reduce, re-use and recycle in our every area of youth ministry and are exploring ideas of how our youth could lead the rest of our church in becoming better stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to us. Together, we can “Step into GREEN!”
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