Virginia Avenue United Methodist Church

At Virginia Ave UMC, the youth group is truly a family affair with sister and brother, mother and son.  Our numbers have dwindled down to a class of three as our older students have graduated and there is a large gap between the teens and the younger youths at church.  Unless we get new church members, it will be a while before the younger kids move up to join us.  Having a small intimate group has allowed me to take the kids on trips without the need for additional adults which just aren't available, so I am not complaining.   After refinishing the youth room and game room on the 3rd floor and purchasing a projector, we have had many Sunday school lessons via DVD's.  The most recent series presented by Ken Hamm taught the importance of the Genesis creation story as "literal".  We purchased a large collection of books and DVD's regarding this topic which are available to congregation members upon request.  To reinforce this lesson, we took a trip to northern Kentucky last summer to visit the Creation Museum.  Since then, we have also had the privilege of attending an annual youth event in Gatlinburg, TN called Winterfest for 3 days in February. This event was geared toward providing teenagers with much needed spiritual food and practical ways to grow their faith and relationship with Christ.  It offered 4 sessions lasting over 2 hours each beginning Friday evening and ending Sunday morning.  There were two groups of 6,500 people in attendance for each session totaling over 13,000 for the weekend.  The theme this year centered around the number "12" which is a more popular number than any of us realized and has great significance in the Bible. There were several different entertainers, worship leaders and speakers, and the event was extremely well organized and well run.  We received instruction on 12 different disciplines that, if we put them into practice, can truly enhance our lives as Christians and our personal relationship with God.  There were several enjoyable comedians (yes, even Christians can be funny) and a lot of contemporary Christian music being sung by all.  There were actually a couple of traditional hymns that I personally enjoyed the most, especially being sung by 6,500 voices.  It was a great weekend, even though the crowds and traffic in Gatlinburg were just plain ridiculous.  The tourists who were not in town for Winterfest realized too late that President's weekend probably isn't the best time to visit Gatlinburg.  Even the sidewalks were too crowded to attempt to enjoy the shops and sites.  The youth, along with a few of their friends had fun and had the privilege of seeing that there are thousands of kids just like them that have accepted Christ as their savior.  They were spiritually fed and supported.  It is my hope and prayer that what they already know about Jesus and the Bible has been reenforced through this experience and that they grow more comfortable with themselves as Christians.  We plan to attend Winterfest again next year.  We appreciate the support that you all have provided by participating in our many fundraisers which allows the kids to take these trips without financial burdens.  We are very frugal and spend the money wisely.  Just for fun, we also took a short camping trip to Pigeon Forge last month and went to two family shows and spent a day at Dollywood using our season passes and free tickets.

The Bible tells us that the world will hate us.  When we watch the news,we can clearly see that is a sad reality.  Teens are particularly at risk with the high level of peer pressure and the desire to fit in, so remember these young people in your prayers.  They are fighting a difficult battle that often seems impossible to win and need all of the Christian love and support we have to offer.