Christmas Party!

This Sunday is our Christmas party! We will meet at the church at 530pm and head over to Matt D.'s house together. We'll have music, twister and apples to apples.  Also you can expect a mountain of food from different families and we'll even do a grinch gift-exchange! Bring a gift that costs less than 5 dollars. It can be a joke gift too. The party should be a lot of fun so be sure to invite a friend to join us for the evening. Parents are welcome too. The party will end promptly at 8pm so we should be back to the church just a bit after 8. See you then!

Scholarships for College Students

If you are going to college and you want some money for it go to these links. United Methodist Higher Education Fund or the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. You probably won't be able to apply for many of these scholarships until the first week in January, but some of the deadlines are as early as January 15th! So take a look at the requirements and get yourself some money for college.

Parent Resource #1

Hi readers. So every once in a while I'm going to post resources for parents. You'll be able to spot them easily enough because they'll be labeled and titled with numbers. For our first entry I want to suggest a book that is a standard parenting book. Its called How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk. Its by Faber and Mazlish. * Here are a few thoughts derived from the book by another youth minister, Jeff:

Listen with full attention.
Put down your phone, turn your chair around, and quietly listen to the whole story.
Acknowledge their feelings.
Instead of jumping in with questions or advice, start with simple phrases that indicate you care: "Oh." "I see." "Tell me more." Coupled with caring attitude, these are invitations for a child to explore his or her own feelings, and possibly come up with their own solutions.
Give the feelings a name.
We deny a child's feelings by saying things like "Everything's okay," or "Don't freak out." But when we say, "That must have been frustrating," or "Sounds like you're pretty mad," then we convey an empathy and understanding that leads to constructive conversation.

For more thoughts and ideas on having meaningful conversation with your child get the book (you may even be able to borrow it from the local library). It could change the way you interact with your child so give it a try!

*Group Magazine Nov/Dec 2010

ALIVE

Hey. If you are looking for extra info on ALIVE here it is. This is the link to the leaders packet. It has the schedule for the whole weekend and lists contact information for our Hotel (Quality Inn).
Please have extra money for food! You will need money for dinner Friday (We'll be stopping for fastfood in Delaware), lunch Saturday (fastfood), dinner Saturday (something nicer like Applebee's) and lunch Sunday (more fastfood). I'll let you decide how much money you'll need, but we'll never let you starve. I promise. There is an indoor pool at the hotel.

We leave Friday (11-19) from the church at 4pm and will return Sunday (11-21) at about 4pm. If you need anything else let me know!

Winter Stuffs

Winter is upon us! I've already started wearing my trench coat and a scarf everywhere I go. My feet are FREEZING! As we come to a new season there are plenty of things happening in the winter months that you should be aware of. Several are listed here:


Nov 24th Ecumenical Service at St. Joseph's 730pm (no bible study that day)
Nov 27th Taco Night for College Students at 101 Walchest 7pm
Dec 12th Christmas Party for Everyone at Matt D's. Come to the church at 530 for a ride. We'll be back a little after 8pm.
Dec 26th UB Triangle meets at 101 Walchest for an overnight. 8pm-8am (and you have to leave my house by 8am because...)
Dec 27th Sight and Sound Bus Trip 830am-715pm, includes Bus, Smorgasbord at Shady Maple and Tickets to 'the Miracle of Christmas.'
Feb 4th-6th Ski Trip to Bel Aire, New York. 330pm Friday -4pm Sunday. Sign up if you haven't! It should cost about 150 dollars, depending on if you have your own equipment or not. We are going back to Bel Aire and the Frost Valley YMCA for lodging.

CROP Walk

This Sunday, October 17th, is our CROP Walk. Join us to help end hunger in the United States and around the world! We'll gather at the church at 1:30pm and then head over to the Presbyterian Church to register our group. The walk begins at 2, so if you don't go over with our group be sure to arrive before then. When we finish we'll have hot dogs and hot chocolate! After we finish you can get picked up at the Presbyterian Church or over at 101 Walchest. After the CROP walk we have a short Youth Council meeting to decide which mission trip we will be participating in this Summer. We start that at 5pm and then head over to the church for youth group! Be sure to join us and make your voice heard.

Parent Night 2010

Hey guys. Sunday, September 19th 2010 is Parent Night! We have our regularly scheduled youth meeting, but we ask that parents and volunteers join with our youth for this special night. There will not be a dinner served this year. We'll have a few activities just for the family and then the youth will stay in the gym for games and parents will head to thompson hall for an informational meeting. We come back together and end the night around the Christ Candle. Come and join us from 6pm to 8pm. Thanks!

setting course for 2010/2011

Hello. To the left is a picture from Youth Week 2011 and below is a brief review of what we did at our last youth council meeting:

We prayed and played a short clip on fundraising. We will fundraise throughout the year to raise money for youth2011 (about 7000 dollars). Chris is going to talk with our parents on Parent Night to try and get more adults working with him in this area. There is a list of potential fundraising ideas, but we need more help to make it work.

2010/2011 retreats - Alive Nov. 19-21, Ski Trip - Feb. 4-6, IMPACT - Mar. 25-27, Youth2011 July 12-17, Youth Week Aug. 14-21
Other events - CROP walk Oct. 17, Christmas party Dec 12 (location TBA), 30-hour famine April 29-30, Relay for Life (date TBA), senior night? end of May and a pool party June 26th.
We'll do some interesting things with our Bible Study. Ask me about it if you want details.
Youth Week next year will include a beach trip and maybe a waterpark.
Care packages will be sent to our college students from the youth. They will not include homemade cookies.
We meet for youth group from Sept. 12th to June 12th. No meetings on Oct. 31, Nov. 21, Dec. 19 or 26, Feb. 6, Mar. 27, Apr. 24, May 1 and May 8.
The youth rated our year of youth ministry about a 4 out of 5. Our advance project for the year is "nothing but nets." We need someone to make a poster for it. Wanna help?

We look forward to the start of the new year of youth ministry! Get ready for back-to-school olympics on September 12th at 6pm!

The New School Year

Hey guys. I know its just about time for a new school year, but don't worry, it also means youth group is starting up again! Here are a few things coming up that you should know about:

August 29th 6pm youth council at 101 walchest drive
September 12th 6pm back-to-school olympics at FUMCTR
September 19th 6pm parent night at FUMCTR

August 29th 6pm youth council. We'll talk about our plans for the year, new events and old events alike. Maybe you have something new to offer the group? Ask Brian if you'd like to attend.
September 12th 6pm youth group! back-to-school-olympics. this is a messy, slimy, chicken-tossing kind of day to celebrate the start of a new year. We'll discover things like; who can husk corn with their feet, how fast can you fill a cup with eggs while its held over someone's face, and how far can you spit that sausage? join us because its gross.
September 19th 6pm youth group parent night! last year it was ultimate banana (ultimate frisbee with a banana). Who knows what will happen this year. Parents and youth should plan on attending. Parents will get information on a whole year of events and youth will have some fun!

Join us!

Youth Week 2010

The details for Youth Week 2010 are finalized! We have a pretty awesome week of events planned, including the return of kidnapping our new 7th graders and escape from pigman island! If you didn't receive the list of events in the mail let Brian know (it should arrive the week of August 1st), or just print your own copy using the links here:
youth week 2010 events page
delaware river tubing waiver

Here's the list:
August 15th Lock.in at FUMCTR
August 17th BlueClaws Game
August 18th Delaware River Tubing
August 19th Blackbeard's Cave
August 20th Dinner and a Movie at Brian's
August 21st Service Project and Pool Party

Incoming seventh graders, we can't wait for you to join our youth group! Graduating Seniors, we look forward to your participation in this final event as a part of the youth group. College students, we can always use a hand putting youth week together (especially for pigman island). Come and join us. A great week is ahead!

UMARMY events

There are plenty of things happening in the near future with the youth group, especially as we prepare for the United Methodist Action Reach-Out Mission by Youth. UMARMY is a lot of fun and a lot of work. Its worth it though!

Come and join us in what's happening! Here are the events concerning UMARMY:

June 11th Karaoke/Coffeehouse 7pm
June 12th Youth Pancake Breakfast 8am
June 13th Tool Training 600pm
July 10th Car wash Fundraiser 8am (There's also breakfast being served inside)
July 11th Information Meeting 11am (Mandatory for UMARMY participants)
July 17th Pack Trailer 600pm (Please note: the fish fry is canceled)
July 18th Consecration Service 10am
July 18th-24th UMARMY in Williamsport, PA

Relay for Life

Hello All,

Just a quick update on Relay for Life - Emily and I will be at TR North at noon, Saturday May 22nd. If any parents or youth plan on attending be sure to connect with us! First Church will not have chaperones overnight, though, so parents please make sure your youth are adequately cared for if they are staying overnight.

Also, you can still donate to this worthy cause, if you'd like. Go to http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10EA?pg=entry&fr_id=20924 and click "donate." Look for our team by typing in our team captain: Trevor or FUMCTR. Thanks for supporting the American Cancer Society and First UMC.

Around the Church:
May 23rd - confirmation Sunday and Pentecost. Wear red!
May 30th - Youth Council at 4pm 101 Walchest Drive
June 11th - Karaoke Coffehouse Fundraiser at 7pm in FLC
June 12th - Youth help at the Pancake Breakfast, 8-1030am in FLC

Our Summer schedule will be decided at our next youth council meeting so look for another message soon about future youth meetings. God bless!

Love Feast

Join us for our Love Feast this Sunday! We'll be eating a meal catered by Ray, so you know it will be good. Our confirmands are bringing drinks and deserts, but if you could bring some soda or snacks to help out that would be great. The parents of our confirmands are joining us, too, so it should be an interesting night.

You may be wondering what a Love Feast is. If you are, don't worry, you are not alone. A Love Feast is an old school way of having communion together, and involves food, prayer, testimonies and some scripture reading. Most people haven't been to a Love Feast for a hundred years, so its probably new to most of you. Come join us and see what a great time it is. God moves and you can't beat the food! See you Sunday at 6pm. Food is served at 630 and we should finish before 8pm. Stay and help clean if you can. God bless!

A Death in the Family

This past week one of our confirmands experienced something terrible. Angelo's dad died in a motorcycle accident (the picture to the left is of his father). Its so sad, and a horrible thing for someone to have to go through at such a young age, so please keep Angelo, his mom Dawn and his step-father Jeremy in your prayers. These three have been a part of our church over the past six months and can use the support of the church in this tragic situation. If you have thoughts or ideas on how we might be able to support this family please let me know. Think about what you might want someone to do if you experienced a real tragedy in your own life. If you come up with anything give me a call or text me.

Angelo is going to read Revelation 21 at the funeral today. It says "‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Know that in tragedy God brings healing.

Angelo's father was a police officer for Harvey Cedars.

30 Hour Famine

The 30 hour famine draws neigh. Fasting for our youth group begins at 930am Friday. I'll send a text out to those who have it to remind you. Remember, we meet together at FUMCTR at 7pm and end at 4pm. We will break our fast together at 330pm with a simple meal. If parents are willing to wait half an hour or come in and help we can use a hand cleaning up at the end of the event.

We will be off site for part of this event, so if you are getting picked up or dropped off other than start or finish times please tell me. There will also be a presentation to the congregation on Sunday morning sharing what we've done. We present at the end of the 8am service, during the contemporary service and at the beginning of the 11am service. We'll put together specific plans at the famine.

If you can, bring some drinks to share with everyone else. Get excited because we have lots of games, tribes for teams, and so much celebrating to do for all the funds we've raised! Join us and bring a friend because this is one of our best events! Any questions, call or text. See you Friday for the famine!

Easter Egg Hunt Fun

Hi! Its Holy Week! We started it off with an Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddies. We had a lot of fun. There are some pictures of the event which you can find here... Don't forget that Thursday at 6pm is our Seder Meal and Holy Communion and Friday at 7pm is a Tenebrae Service. Each service has its own unique qualities which you won't see at any other time of the year so come join us for this special time of year! Take care and HAPPY EASTER!!!

April 2010 and UMARMY registration

Hey everyone. Lots of good stuff is happening over the next month so be sure to stay plugged in to what is happening. The youth group will not be meeting on the following dates:

March 31st - canceled Bible Study (spring break)
April 4th - canceled confirmation class, canceled youth group (easter)
May 9th - canceled confirmation class, canceled youth group (mother's day)

There is a community Easter Egg Hunt on March 28th. Everyone is invited but we are hoping to have some youth help out with the event. Its from 1-230 so join us if you can!

April 23rd-24th (7pm-4pm) is our 3o hour famine and May 16th (6pm-8pm) we are having a love feast! Ask Brian for details.

Finally, UMARMY registrations are due April 11th. This is the final day to accept registrations for youth, young adults and adult volunteers. You can find the registration form in the 'documents' section of the youth blog. We still need adult volunteers so ask around!

Thanks for being a part of our youth group and I'll see you soon!

District Lock-in

Our District Lock-in is just a week away! We'll meet March 19th at First United Methodist Church of Toms River at 8pm (129 Chestnut Street Toms River, NJ). We plan to have an early breakfast and finish at 8am with worship together.

We have a theme for our night: countries of the world! We are asking for a one dollar donation to the Russia missions team in keeping with our theme. We'll have a worship service, midnight bowling ($10 if you plan on bowling), video game tournaments, ping pong, volleyball and basketball. We also have lots of group activities and quick games for a ton of fun.

We don't plan on having time for sleep because its an all-night event, although there will be designated rooms for people to rest in if they need it. There should be somewhere between 50 and 100 people for this event. We'll provide breakfast, but we are still looking for chaperones to drive youth to and from the bowling alley.

If you're on facebook find fumctr youth group and rsvp for this event! That's about it. If you have any questions or want more details email me or call me on my cell!

Confirmation Class 2010

Confirmation class has begun! Lent is marked not only by sacrifice and repentance, but also by study! We have a huge class of 29 'confirmands' that will be studying the word of God and the history of the Church. There are also 14 mentors that will help our young people understand the scripture as they read through it. Each week our confirmands will read and journal on the Gospel of Luke and spend an hour in class studying different parts of biblical theology. By the end I'm sure we'll have some real bible scholars in our church! Here's a slideshow of our confirmands; enjoy! (note: josh and mike are not pictured)

Spaghetti Dinner

Well done everyone! Our spaghetti dinner raised over 1300 dollars! Thanks to everyone who came out to help serve, inform, sing and clean! You did a wonderful job and will help send several more young people to UMARMY 2010 in Williamsport, PA! Watch the slide below to see some pictures from the event. We'll see you for youth group Sunday nights from 6 to 8. Coming up: confirmation classes and 30 Hour Famine on April 23rd.

Ski Trip 2010

The ski trip is coming up! Its February 5th-7th and you gotta get your stuff in to go! There are plenty of forms you have to fill out to make sure everything is in order. Also, please take note of the prices on the 'Ski Trip Notes' form (cost depends on if you ski and if you have your own equipment). Forms for skiers and boarders are due by the 24th and all money is due by the 31st. Get ready for a great trip! We leave February 5th at 3pm and return on the 7th at about 3pm.

Here are the links for the forms:

General Permission Slip (required of all FUMCTR youth for any events this year)
Belleayre Rental Form (required of all skiers and snowboarders)
Ski Trip Notes (notes on the trip including cost)

Delayed Christmas Party

Hello Faithful Youth Members. We finally had our Christmas party! It was delayed because of snow and someone's wedding *eh hem* and the new year, but we finally had it! You'll find a few pictures here and, as always, you can go to the photobucket page linked below under "pictures" to see all of them.

Remember! Coming up is our MLKJDay Lock-in. January 15th-16th we'll be partying til the early morning! We start Friday at 7pm and end Saturday after a light breakfast at 9am. So join us!

Also, our ski trip is only a few weeks away now. We leave Friday, February 5th at 3pm and return Sunday, February 7th around 4pm. Be sure you put your name down on our sign-up sheet so we can plan for enough space. You'll also need to fill out an emergency medical release form as well as your $150 dollars for the event. Its gonna be great!