Youth Happenings
Submitted by Pam Thomas
What have the youth of our church been doing since this fall? Take a look and see….
Sunday School for all ages started September 13th.
Teachers are Marcy Moster K-2
Gary Dudgeon 3 & 4
Sarah Heppner 5 & 6
Pam Thomas 7 & 8
Jerilyn & Chris Lowery High School
Attendance has been low; I encourage everyone to bring their children to Sunday School on Sunday mornings at 9:00. This is a great opportunity for fellowship and bonding. Confirmation Class will start in January. At this time I think there will be 6-7 Confirmands.
Kids Club kicked off on September 16th with a pizza party! This group meets the 2 & 4th Wednesday of each month and is for ages K-5th grade. In October & November we focused on service and beautifying our church. The children colored Fall pictures to hang on the walls in the Fellowship Hall for the Turkey Dinner. They decorated pumpkins with Fall and Religious themes to decorate the Sanctuary. Winners of the pumpkin decorating contest were Favorite Religious #10 Katie Thomas, Favorite Fall/Thanksgiving #3 Mitchell Thomas, Funniest #6 Keegan Moster, and Favorite Overall #3 Mitchell Thomas. The winners won Batesville Bucks so they can purchase something from a local business. Thank you to all who participated in voting! The children enjoy decorating and the anticipation of finding out who won.
Children’s Choir started September 16th as well and meets every Wednesday of the month from 6:30-7:00pm. The children will continue to sing the 3rd Sunday of each month. We encourage any child that loves to sing to join us!
FYI (For Youth Inspiration) Youth Group started up on September 13th. This group meets the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month. So far this year they have worked on service for the community. They handed out complimentary water at the Apple Fest with labels showing our church name, address, phone # and hours of services. Again this seemed well received by the community even though it was a cool, rainy weekend.
FYI has also done their annual Food Pantry competition 1 of 2 done annually. This is the youth splitting into 2 teams and shopping @ Save A Lot buying as many food items as they can for $25 per team. The team with the most items, that does not go over $25 wins. All food then goes to the Food Pantry.
Youth also helped at the Rummage Sale sponsored by the Church this summer. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, only Josh Rhoades, Katie Thomas and myself were available to help.
FYI also hosted the Country Store at the Turkey Dinner again this year. Youth were responsible for set up, selling, and clean up of the country store. Thank you to all of those who donated items to the youth for the country store. Proceeds this year went to Heifer International for the purchase of animals for underprivileged villages in other countries. The donation was matched by the Michel Fund enabling the youth to purchase $1,000 worth of animals to help provide food, and income to families in these villages.
On December 11 we had a lock-in at the church. Admission was to donate items for the Food Pantry. There were 26 kids in attendance with 23 of them staying the entire night. We started with some games, had a pizza party, played Christian Music, had more games and ended the evening with the movie Fireproof. There were four girls who chose NOT to sleep at all that evening so I got NO sleep either. J It was loud and active! It was a great time for all involved. Thank you to Brenda Hartman, Jeff Liter, and Shari Altum for assisting me with the duty of chaperoning.
Operation Christmas Child was again sponsored by FYI. Thank you to all those who donated boxes for this mission. Also, thank you to those who donated money for the youth to purchase items for you. We had a great time shopping for the boxes; we ended the evening with pizza while we wrapped the boxes.
Future items..FYI will be going ice skating in Jan or Feb. They have voted to do another lock-in at Bee Active inviting friends. We will also be working at a soup kitchen. We are also planning a BIG trip since it has been a few years since we have done one. The plan is to go to TN for a mission/white water rafting. We are also planning to go to The Underground for a concert or comedy show. This is a facility in Cincinnati featuring Christian bands and Christian Comedians. We will also have "Bring a Friend" day inviting friends to church to share their church experience. There is also talk about challenging another local youth group to a friendly game of basketball. There will also be some "surprises" to the congregation while they are in worship service.
The 3rd Sunday of each month will continue to be Youth Sunday with the youth being Liturgists & Usher/Greeters.
