Monday, December 15, 2008

15 Dec Weekly News

All UMYF,

This Advent season is continuing as we draw closer and closer to the birth of the Christ. I hope that we all remain cognizant of the true reason for the season! For God so loved the world that He have His only begotten Son, such a gift should be enough for us all. We had 25 show up last week, more than enough to really change Christmas morning for 35 small children who might have gone without otherwise. Tom Russell and the Board of Directors for the Security Blanket Project wanted me to pass along their sincere thanks for such a selfless act of giving during this Christmas season. Way to go Trinity UMYF!

Sunday after worship service the UMYF collected $550 dollars and some toys and a great group personally delivered them to Ms. Paula Wiggs, the Executive Director of the Bethlehem Center, during their annual Christmas program at 4PM. I hope that all that joined us had a great time and enjoyed the program full of great singing. Ms. Wiggs and the Bethlehem Center greatly appreciated our presence as well as the donations. Since we have officially adopted the Bethlehem Center as our domestic mission project, Ms. Wiggs has promised to get in touch with me soon about issues we can help address on their campus. Great job once again UMYF!

There will be no UMYF this coming Sunday evening. I have been invited to speak out of town Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I travel. Also make it a point to come to Sunday School and Worship Service in my absence, just because I will be elsewhere do not mean you should sleep in Sunday. Church League Basketball has started, and our teams have been victorious! Come out and support your fellow members and friends. A schedule of the games will be posted in the CLC door so you can find out when the teams are in action. Take care and I will see you around!

Best,
Chuck

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Ideas for Parents and Families

1. Expect more from your kids. Stop praying only for minor behavorial changes; instead, share with teenagers Jesus' love for the marginalized. Develop them to love this same way.

2. Encourage kids to commit to a cause. Having a cause creates commuity, life-transformation, and a Christian identity. After teenagers overcome any initial reluctance, their lives will never be the same. Trinity's UMYF has adopted the Bethlehem Center and the Security Blanket Project as their causes during their "Season of Giving" campaign. You can do the same!

3. Be a role model. Serving and faith sharing should be "do as I do" activities.

4. Help willing faith-sharers find receptive hearers. Some of your kids' friend are likely to experience brokeness and pain. Encourage your teens to invite those people to church events!

Security Blanket Christmas Project!

All,

25 UMYF members, accompanied by Todd and Julie Stephens, and Chuck ventured to Walmart to buy presents for 35 children as part of their "Season of Giving" mission project to support the Security Blanket Project and the Bethlehem Center. 35 siblings of children with severe afflictions and cancer will now have something under the tree on Christmas morning. Thanks to all UMYF members for their efforts and Julie Stephens for coordinating!

7 Dec Weekly News

All UMYF,

I hope this week is going well for you all and that you are slowly starting to feel the Christmas spirit in your hearts. I want to thank everyone who came out Sunday evening to support our mission project to aid the Security Blanket project that is so near and dear to many here at Trinity. Because of your willingness to help, thirty five children who in all likely hood would have had a bleak Christmas morning will now have some joy and excitement. So on behalf of the Security Blanket project and those thirty five children, I thank you all.

Tuesday morning and afternoon I attended a statewide Youth Worker Ministry Conference in Columbia. Much was discussed, with a great deal of time devoted to how youth ministry is approached in South Carolina. I hope that some exciting new ideas will be implemented as we march forward into 2009.

Sunday after service the UMYF will be taking a special offering to personally deliver to the Bethlehem Sunday evening during their Christmas Program. We will be departing from the church at 3:30PM. The program begins promptly at 4PM, and I hope we have a large crowd to represent Trinity and the UMYF during their Christmas celebration!

Continue to come out for Bible Study on Wednesday evenings at 5PM and enjoy supper afterwards. I saw a few of you this week during lunches at your respective schools, and I hope to see more of you once you get out for the Christmas holiday. Feel free to stop in or call me if you want to chat or hang out, and please continue to check our Facebook page and blog, http://trinitychumyf.blogspot.com/

Best,
Chuck

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

1 Dec 2008 Weekly News...

All UMYF,

I hope and pray everyone had a restful and grand Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for, I know I do. Taking time from the ordinary hustle and bustle of life to give thanks to God and those around us who makes our lives richer is a welcome task and one that we should partake in more often. I call on each of you to thank someone who enriches your life before we meet on Sunday, be ready to report about this encounter.

Come prepared for more interesting conversation this Wednesday evening in the church library at 5PM. Discussions will continue examining events in our everyday lives, and how we as United Methodists and Christians deal with them daily. The dialogue thus far has been great and I hope it continues. Again, we will be having dinner afterward at 5:45PM, and I invite all to come out and participate in our discussion and then enjoy supper!

UMYF will meet this coming Sunday at our scheduled time, 6PM. Please come out with positive attitudes and a renewed commitment to the Christmas season of giving to others as Christ gave Himself for us. I went out to MJH for lunch today, and I had a chance to see AE, Ben, Ellen, and Maggie today. It was great seeing you guys, and I will continue to check in on everyone. Be blessed this week, and I will see you around...

Best,
Chuck

A New Week...

All UMYF,

Thanks to everyone who came out last evening! The trip to the Bethlehem Center was informational as well as heart wrenching. There is plenty of work to be done there on their campus, and it is my sincere hope to see us play a major role in their renaissance. The tour was a great way to assess what needs to be done out there. I also found our stuffing of envelopes before our departure a fitting way to end our trip. Please continue to think about our visit to the Bethlehem Center and ways we as United Methodists can aid Ms. Wiggs in all that she and her staff do day in and day out.

Feel free to drop by my office any time, call, or email with your thoughts or if you just want to talk or hangout. My doors are always open. A sincere thanks to the Hamilton family for providing a delicious meal for UMYF Sunday evening. The continued support of parents and other members throughout our church family makes what we do as a UMYF possible, day after day.

I had a great time last week at Spartanburg Day, and I was able to catch several of our members in action on the basketball court. If you are an athlete or actor and would like me to attend an event you are participating in, please let me know. Send me schedules and such so I can put your information on the calendar and get out to see you do your thing! Because so many of you have Thanksgiving plans that will be taking you out of town, we will not be having UMYF this coming Sunday evening. However, right after service, all who are present are invited to stay after service to help with the Chrismon tree decoration in the Sanctuary. This will be a great help, and I think a fun time will be had by all.

As Christmas draws closer, we have several events that will keep us fairly active until the New Year. Shopping for the needy, a Night Out on the Town, and Trinativity are all on the schedule for the month of December. Please start returning your pledge cards as soon as possible. I hope to see you at these events, and for our various activities on Sunday mornings. Continue to be blessed, and I will see you guys around...

Best,
Chuck

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Local Youth Mission Project

All,

Members of the Trinity UMYF helped a member of the Trinity family Sunday afternoon. Fifteen faithful UMYF members, led by Todd and Julie Stephens, Cathy Bryant, and myself spent the afternoon at Will Brockman's house lending a helping hand. Through the course of the afternoon the group was able to organize and aid Will around his house. By the time we left, I think everyone, including Will, was extremely happy with the work done. After we cleaned up, the UMYF and Will all came back to the church and shared a great meal brought by the Mauney family. I consider Sunday a huge success, and I cannot wait to get the UMYF involved in more outreach, locally and abroad.

Best,
Chuck

Wednesday Night Bible Study and Supper

Come out and enjoy exhilarating conversation and debate and then supper! We we will be talking about modern topics and their biblical implications on our lives. Bring a topic you would like to talk about and we will tackle it as a group! Last week was great, and I expect the debate to continue this week with the same great voices and more to join. Afterwards, we will come together and have dinner and fellowship downstairs with the rest of our church family. We will meet at 5PM in the church library and finish the Bible Study at 5:45PM. We will eat dinner right after and enjoy some free time together. Hope to see you here at the church!

Best,
Chuck

Weekly News...

All UMYF,

Many thanks to all of you that made it a priority to come out and help another person who was in need of assistance. I was very proud of everyone, and I think we accomplished a great deal in a couple of hours. Just as Christ helped those in need without looking for a pat on the back or compensation, you too have done a good thing. All that was done was made possible by God's grace and mercy. Seeing everyone working together for the good of another warmed my heart, and for that I thank you and I am proud to be in your midst.

This coming Sunday we will be getting together to talk about this past Sunday, what we did, why we did it, and how you feel about it. Think of it as a debriefing session, allowing you the opportunity to speak aloud about whatever was going through your head as we worked for such a great cause this past Sunday! We will also be touring the Bethlehem Center here in Spartanburg. We will meet here at the church at 3:15 PM. We will be done by 6PM. Afterwards we will return to the church to talk about the idea of Missions and have dinner. Come prepared to dialogue with me as well as others present about the whole experience at Will's house and our trip to the Bethlehem Center.

A good group gathered at the church Friday evening for dinner and the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I hope everyone had a good time, I think anytime fellowship is possible we should cherish the time together and take advantage of such an amazing gift. Thanks to everyone who came out and made the evening a memorable success.

Again this Wednesday evening, we will be having another meeting of our Wednesday Supper Bible Study. Due to our group dynamic and conversation, our session went in another direction instead of what was planned. I think this was an amazing turn, and I thank God we had such a great group to shoulder the responsibility of such stimulating debate. We had a passionate dialogue for the entirety of our session, and I hope to continue this type of discourse this coming week. We will meet again in the library at 5PM. We will adjourn and have dinner together afterwards at 5:45PM. We had a great group last week, and enjoyed a delicious dinner together as well. So come out and share your thoughts!

Continue to check the blog at http://www.tumc.com/ and our Facebook page for updates. I will see you soon!

Best,
Chuck

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A New Week!

Thanks to everyone who came out Sunday evening for food, fellowship, and the discussion of our future. I hope everyone got as much as I did out of watching Pay it Forward. The theme of the movie I hope will serve us well as we embark on a mission project close to home. The movie calls for three calculated acts of kindness, and it is my sincere hope that we are able to carry out three calculated big acts of kindness before the New Year.

As discussed, come to the church at 3pm Sunday afternoon in work clothes prepared to pay it forward for a member of this church in need.

I also want to extend my thanks to the Rush family who provided great subs for dinner Sunday night! The parents have a done an excellent job of providing great meals for UMYF thus far, and I know their amazing support will continue.

This Wednesday evening at 5pm in the library we will have the first of our new Bible Study sessions. We will go from 5pm to 5:45pm, and I then encourage you to join us for dinner here at the church. Wednesday after Wednesday, Mr. Harvey continues to provide delicious food, while many member of UMYF come out and enjoy a night together. Dinner will be taken care of, we just ask that you come out and fellowship with us. This Bible Study will look at the Fruits of the Spirit, as found in Galatians. The title of this Bible Study is "What Fruits Are in You?" So please come and check out this new series!

The new blog is now up and linked to the Trinity website. Go to TUMC.com and click on UMYF Blog on the left hand side. I will be updating the blog weekly, and I think it will be a great way for you to give me feedback on what you think is working and what you would like to have more of as a UMYF.

As we discussed Sunday evening, planning is underway for a Ski Trip in January and the Statewide UMYF Retreat in February. Please be mindful of these events happening in the future, and continue to give me feedback with your thoughts and ideas!

We had a good discussion during Sunday School, and I would love to hear more about what you think! Come out on Sunday morning and voice your opinion on a plethora of issues and hear what others have to say as well! I think we may be having donuts and beverages this Sunday! I hope you all have an amazing week, and maybe I will catch a few of you during my trips to the schools for lunch. Enjoy the weather!

Best,
Chuck

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Weekly News

All UMYF, I hope everyone has had a tremendous week thus far! We had a great turn out Sunday, and I hope that everyone had a wonderful time at the Corn Maize. I think Sunday was a great time for fellowship and camaraderie. For the most part, things went smoothly and for that I thank you. This coming weekend, we have United Methodist Youth Game Day at Wofford College. Wofford will be playing the Citadel. I hope we can get a good group together to spend the day at Wofford, enjoying the game and each other. We will be meeting at the church at noon and departing shortly after. The cost per person is $15, this will include admission to the game, a t-shirt, and a hot dog with beverage. I think this will be a wonderful time for us to get out and enjoy this amazing Fall weather and support Wofford College.

The Youth Executive Board met last Sunday and did some long range planning, taking us early into the new year. We are planning a Ski Trip in January, a retreat to Springmaid in February, and our rescheduled retreat to Earthshine in late March or early April. All of these events are in direct response to all of the ideas and thoughts you guys have brought to me during my time here thus far. I hope they meet with your approval and that you support them accordingly. We will also be stepping up our interaction with various missions in the coming months as well. To whom much is given, much is required, and I think we should live this mantra out to our fullest capabilities.

This coming Sunday, the District UMYF is having a Y-Net meeting at St. James United Methodist Church at 3PM. Text me or call me if you are interested in coming with me Sunday afternoon. I would like to have three or four people come with me if possible. I will provide transportation. I hope several of you will come with me and attend this meeting. Sunday evening will be watching a movie and talking about a local mission project that we will be undertaking in the coming weeks. Come out Sunday night and learn how to get involved! It is my belief that in doing for others we learn more about ourselves and those around us than in any other human endeavor. Continue to check the Trinity UMYF page on Facebook and the our new blog! http://trinitychumyf.blogspot.com/

Peace,

Chuck

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Acolyte and Crucifer Training

An Acolyte and Crucifer Training session will be held on Sunday, November 16th at 9:30 AM in the Sanctuary during the Sunday School hour. This training is for children and youth in 3rd grade and above. The training will help new acolytes and crucifers learn about this service to the church and be a reminder for those who have done it in the past. Crucifer and banner bearers are also asked to join, as those duties will be discussed as well. See you then!

Wednesday Supper!

All UMYF,

Come one, come all! Come join me and other youth for Wednesday Night Supper here at the Church. Liam, Leland, Elizabeth, Harry, and Ben have come out and enjoyed fellowship and dinner. Every Wednesday dinner starts at 5:30 and it is prepared by Mr. Dick Harvey. You will be provided with a one time pass that will allow you to eat dinner for free. It is a great time to catch up, laugh, and share with one another over a delicious meal. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me here at the Church or by email or phone. See you soon!

Fall Festival at Trinity

There will be something for everyone at the Fall Festival on Sunday October 26th from 5-7PM. Come out, bring your friends, bring your neighbors, and bring your family to this fun event planned for everyone in the family!



There will be...



- Hot Dog Supper in the Fellowship Hall

- An Inflatable Bounce House, for lots of jumping fun

- Bingo games, with prizes for all adventurous adults

- Cake Walk for adults (Intense competition for some of the most delicious Trinity cakes!)

- Cupcake Walk for children

- Pumpkin decorating

- Face painting

- Children's Games of all kinds

- Sunday School Class Trick or Treating

- Separate Games and Play Area for Toddlers

- You can even come in costume! Who will you be at Fall Festival?



I would like all youth to consider volunteering. If you would like to volunteer please meet at the Church at 4PM. There are many ways to participate and make this event a success. Come out, have fun, help, and enjoy this amazing fellowship opportunity!