First, thank you to all who attend or participated in the banquet in some way. It was lots of fun and it is great getting to meet you all. I am very proud of our students’ commitment to serve (after all, it was a Friday night) and how well they did at it.
Next, we have some great ideas percolating and developing. The students and I agree that we want YFC to be a force for Christ in the community, not just some programs being run. To gain student input and insight, we have begun developing Student Leadership teams for both Junior High and Senior High (since it is still developing, I will save the list of names until the next newsletter - but yes, the Macomb students you met at the banquet are part of that team).
As a result of our first meeting, we are proud to announce that Junior High Campus Life will kick off January 11th, running on Tuesday evenings. Specific details will be announced in our next newsletter.
We also have two thriving support ministries, that you are invited to join us in: Cookie Ministry (providing cookies that we serve during our programs) and our Prayer Team. The team agrees to maintain confidentiality as we pray over the emailed list of prayer requests for students, leaders YFC and other needs. If you are interested in joining either of these teams, please let me know.
During our Battlefield of the Mind for Teens study, we focused on James 2:26, “Faith without deeds is dead”. As a result, this group came up with several ways to serve others:
· During the six Friday night home games of basketball season, 5th Quarter participants will be encouraged to bring Loaves & Fishes food pantry contributions.
· We will partner with Western Illinois Regional Council (WIRC) in an “Angel-Tree” like means to provide for some of the needs of children in the area, with tags available during Pizza Lunch. We plan to have the tags ready before Thanksgiving.
· We have discussed being on the lookout now for those elderly people that could use help with shoveling. If you know of an elderly person that still does their own snow removal, can you please email me at Laurensurp@yahoo.com. (Note: we are not certain how this will all work logistically, so we will try to get to all the names collected, but not certain if we will).
Lastly, we are discussing other fun activities that we can run, just to get kids connected to YFC, at least on a social level initially.
As we continue to develop and expand our programs, we would love to have you partner with us. Please watch the next newsletter for the specific opportunities that will be available.
Thank you for your care, commitment and support of YFC.
Be well and be blessed
Lauren
