Winter Retreat 2012

•    One night at the Hotel w/ swimming, basketball and racquetball

•    One night at a youth hostel near Shawnee Mountain

•    Two days of skiing, snowboarding or tubing

•    Make friends, grow as a leader and grow as a Christian

•    Check Ski Trip Notes under ‘documents’ for more information

December 2011

November 2011 Youth Events

So I'm trying something a little different with these posts. I'm going to make them less wordy and more picture-y.  Here's my first try. You can expect more posts like this the first week of each month!

Bible Study begins

Its time to start up our weekly Bible study. We meet Wednesday from 730-830pm. At our first meeting we will do some brainstorming to figure out what the rest of the year will look like. We'll talk about movies, music, food, and different places to gather for Bible study. We've done some fun stuff over the last couple years and we hope to continue that, but we need you and your ideas to make it happen! So join us October 5th at 730pm in room 10. See you then!

Kicking Off Right

So we are just about to start our meeting for Youth Group. Hopefully everyone had a good time at Youth Week: 

                     It looks to me like everyone had a good time. Speaking of a good time Back-to-School Olympics is coming up! We start our first youth meeting with a sticky, messy, slimy time of fun and competition. Be sure to join us September 11th from 6 to 8pm and tell your parents you may need a towel to sit on when you come!

Also, the week after the olympics we have our Parent Night. Please invite your parents to join us September 18th so they can hear about our next year of youth ministry.  We'll share details about our retreats and make sure everyone is properly registered for the year. Please have insurance and medical information with you for the registration forms.

Don't miss out. Join us for youth group starting September 11th!

Update - check the facebook pictures from bts olympics here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150810718870077.738193.420226465076&l=5b0ee92dfd

Youth Week 2011

Its time for youth week! Below you'll find a link to the registration form. You can either download it and fill it out or wait patiently by your mailbox. A letter should arrive at the end of this week or early next week. Be sure to check out the facebook event on 'FUMCTR Youth Group,' leave a comment and click that you are joining us for the week! Invite your friends. You'll see our logo for the week on the left and here are the events:

August 14th Lock-in @ FUMCTR Pigman Island 8pm to 8am

August 15th Dinner and Games 7^th-8th Grade Dinner, games afterward for everyone 6pm dinner & 7pm games at 101 Walchest Drive

August 16^th Delaware River Tubing Complete the WAIVER FORM 10am to 6pm

August 17^th Funtime America Laser Tag Laser Tag, Arcade and more 530pm to 10pm

August 18^th Breakwater, Beach and Boardwalk Your choice! Waterpark for $23, beach for $5 or walk the boardwalk for free. 10am to 4pm

August 19^th Blue Claws Ballgame Lakewood vs. Greensboro. Fireworks. The Three Blessings (Abby, Taylor and Kaitlyn) sing! 6pm-10pm?

August 20th Service Project and Pool Party Work with H4H or at the church. Pool party at Matt's 9am service project, 1pm pool party at 907 Jamesport Dr.

Youth Week 2011 registration form
Youth Week 2011 Letter to Parents and Youth
Delaware River Tubing Waiver

Pool Party!

We'll be having a pool party on July 10th at Trevor B.'s house.  If you don't know where that is text or email Brian.  The party is from 2 to 5pm. We'll have hot dogs and burgers. You can bring a dessert, drinks or a side dish if you want.  Some of us are going to briefly discuss UMARMY. It was pretty awesome this year, but we want to sit and talk about what our plans for next year are going to be. If you'd rather just swim, play games and eat all day that's cool too.  Here is a picture from our missions trip. Enjoy!

UMARMY 2011 is here

This is just to keep everyone updated on what to expect at UMARMY next week.  There are a few special things you should be prepared for - that includes t-shirt nights and colors to wear in support of the colors teams (fyi none of this is mandatory).  Here we go:

Sunday is camp shirt night. We'll provide you with the shirt!
Monday is purple team. Wear purple if you can!
Tuesday is green day. You can also wear your favorite sports team shirt!
Wednesday is orange day. We'll also be dining out that evening.
Thursday is client night. Wear red during the day and a Christian shirt or your camp shirt that evening.
Friday is blue day. In the evening we will be doing "share night."
Saturday we leave around noon and should be back in Toms River at about 4pm.

We are looking forward to a great week of missions and fun! See you Saturday at 7pm to pack up and at 930am for our commissioning and consecration! We will leave after the third worship song that morning, but we won't actually depart until after the service is over so you can say goodbye to your family then. See you soon!

Summer Time!

So the Summer is finally here! Our year together is coming to a close and we are enjoying the end of school, the end of some hard work and the start of relaxation and vacation!  The youth program has one more meeting, June 12th, but there are still several things happening during the Summer to stay engaged. Join us when you are able to!

June 11th is the UMARMY pancake breakfast from 8am to 1030am.
Please arrive early to get your job assignment!
June 26th-July 2nd is UMARMY in Williamsport, PA.
UMARMY Colors will be Purple, Blue, Green, Red and Orange!
We will be doing missions work for that community.
July 10th is our pool party. The location is still undetermined.
It will be from 2pm-5pm though.
July 24th-30th UMARMY will be here in Toms River.
You may want to help in some way. Give me a call if you do.
August 1st-5th is Vacation Bible School.
Come and help out in the evenings by being a team leader!
August 14th-20th is Youth Week.
We will have fun all across New Jersey, so check your mail for information.
August 21st is Youth Sunday!
The youth group will lead the 830 and 10am services in worship.

Youth group will resume September 11th with our Back-to-School Olympics. It'll be challenging and messy so prepare yourselves! Have a great Summer and I look forward to seeing you soon!

UMARMY 2011

Now that the 30 hour famine is over (and it was awesome by the way) its time for us to focus on our Summer missions trip, UMARMY 2011!  Again, we'll be heading to Williamsport, PA, but unlike the last few years we'll be teamed up with a whole slew of new churches! We have over 130 youth registered for this camp, which means there will be a TON of new people to meet.  Our friends from Simsbury will be returning with our church too!  I will be a part of the programs team along with a guy named Matt and a guy named Russell.  Russell does music and Matt has a lot of experience with UMARMY.  They should help make this year's camp the best ever.  We've talked about some of the evening activities, which may include a murder mystery boat ride! or a trip to a game park with mini bowling and mini golf! You'll just have to come on the trip, though, to find out what we'll actually be doing.  I bet you'll have a ton of fun and help restore homes for people who really need it. What more could you ask for?  UMARMY is fun and helps those who need it.  We've been faithfully raising money throughout the year for this trip. All we ask for is a "tithe" of 25 dollars, which is one tenth the cost of the trip.  The trip is June 26th to July 2nd.  Here are a few dates you should be aware of:

June 5th is a mandatory informational meeting in Thompson Hall following the 930 service
June 5th is the tool training for UMARMY at youth group from 6-8pm
June 12th is the youth pancake breakfast fundraiser from 8-1030am
June 25th is the day we pack our trailer full of tools, supplies and our luggage for the week at 7pm
June 26th is our consecration service at the 930am contemporary service

We leave for UMARMY immediately following the 930am service and return the following Saturday afternoon!

Here are a few pictures from our last event...

Easter's Coming

Its getting closer and closer to Easter and the youth ministry at FUMCTR has a lot going on!  Here are just a few of the things you'll see around our church as we prepare for Easter:

Bible Study will meet just three more times before the end of the season.  We meet at Brian's on April 6th, in the media room for a special worship night on April 13th and then one final time April 27th with KFC for a closing ceremony.


Youth Group will continue to meet on Sundays with an important meeting April 10th for UMARMY.  We will be explaining a bit about UMARMY and filling out permission forms for the trip, so parents need to come in and sign forms! April 17th will be a special field trip as we consider Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. We'll need some parents to help drive us to our secret destination.  We could also use some youth to help with our Egg Hunt that day.

No Youth Group April 24th (its Easter) or May 8th (its Mother's Day) and instead of the usual May 1st youth meeting we'll be heading out to Yellow Brick Road for some ice cream!  We will have a couple of tabled reserved from 6 to 8pm so instead of meeting at church, we'll just let people come in and out of Yellow Brick Road to hang out with our group for as long or as short of a time as they want.  Bring your family, bring your friends, bring whoever!

Also, don't miss our 30-hour famine where we help those who need our help the most! We will have our overnight event April 29th-30th including a scavenger hunt, a service project and plenty of time to experience what hungry people go through every single day.  Join us because its fun and because its good for you!

Epic IMPACT

An Epic Impact is upon us!  We are only a few more days away from leaving for IMPACT 2011, our Senior High Retreat in Ocean City, MD.  If you still have questions about what to bring, how much money you need, when we are leaving or why a young person should go on this event please revisit our IMPACT notes.  Any young person going must have a yearly Parental and Medical Release Form filled out (you can find a link to that document here).  Most people have that filled out already, but if you aren't sure, give me a call.  We leave Friday at 330pm and will pick up 3 of the Hertls on our way to Maryland. I look forward to some great bonding, great bands and growing in our love for God.  See you soon for an Epic event!

Some Fun Stuff

In March we have plenty of exciting stuff happening in our youth ministry. Let me share with you just a few of those things:

March 6th we are having an open gym riddled with team-building activities
March 13th is our 30-hour famine fundraiser. Join us and be inspired to serve!
March 20th is a St. Patrick's Day celebration. Wear green and show pride!
March 25th-27th is our IMPACT retreat. Join us if your in High School, but remember, there is no youth group on March 27th.
Don't forget that KE,WL continues to meet on Tuesday nights for Senior High Bible Study and on Wednesdays we have another Bible Study meeting with movie nights and house meetings. We'll even be meeting at Friendly's in a few weeks! To hold you over until then take a look at some pictures from the ski trip.

Ski Trip

Our Ski Trip is coming up! Its only a few weeks away now and I'm betting a lot of you want some information on it. Well I finally have it, so here's the link to the ski trip notes. If you still have questions you'll have to call or talk with Brian. February 4th-6th. We'll spend the weekend skiing and talking about leadership based on the story of David from 1 Samuel. We'll have worship with our newly minted worship band and bring back from last year our story-telling through the drama team. All your friends will be there so you should too! You can click that you're attending on our facebook page under "toms river youth." The cost is 110/150/175 so read the notes to find out which one you should pay. See you soon!

Parent Resource #2 - Media Consumption

The youth group watches movies once a month as part of the Wednesday Night Bible Study.  If you haven't been to Bible Study in a while come to room 10 at FUMCTR January 26th for The Secret of Kells. We may take a trip out to see a midnight showing of a movie in the spring and you should join us for that too.

Whether you do or don't its no secret that young people love movies and music.  This is a generation of media consumers.  So what is a parent to do? How can parents help their children watch good movies, and I don't just mean morally pure, but also artistically and cinematigraphically pleasing ones. Here's a resource: Common Sense Media. They not only evaluate the movie for its age appropriateness, but also tell you what's in the movie, the basic plot and how good of a movie it is.  They do the same thing for video games, music and books too! If you're tired of playing the roulette game with the media your child consumes, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes appropriate, sometimes inappropriate, maybe you should try Common Sense Media first.  Young people are going to keep loving movies and music, so let's make sure its good for them!