3/30/10               
                Time is flying by this year and it is time to pull out the Summer calendar.  We have a number of events open to the children and youth of the church that we would love to have your children or grandchildren participate in. 
                June 28th-July 3rd - Shenandoah Springs - I will be leading group to camp Shenandoah Springs including kids and youth.  I have spoken to Doug Farmer, the owner of the camp and a former pastor here several times over the last month about bringing kids and youth to the camp.  For those of you who do not know, the camp has strong ties with people here at the church.  For many years, the camp has had a great relationship with this church and kids had a great time.  I have spoken to Doug and visited with him and his wife.  I have seen the camp and many of the great things that have for kids.  I have heard his heart for kids and I am convinced that this camp has the potential to be a great experience spiritually for our kids and youth. 
I will be there serving as a counselor, as well as leading our group from the church.  I am also planning on taking my 8 year old nephew as well.  This is open to anyone 1st – 12th grade.  The youth can sign up to be Counselors in Training (older youth) or Wranglers (helpers, younger youth).  There is swimming, rock climbing wall, horseback riding, Bible study, worship times, rifle range (supervised by qualified adults), sports, etc.  Please consider this and let me know what you think.  Again, I believe the Farmer’s have a great heart for the Lord and children.
In order to get a good head count to them as early as possible, please let me know if you are interested in attending or serving as a chaperone by May 1st.  Parents receive a discount on tuition for their children if they come along to serve in this capacity (training and screening is required).

July 12th-17 – PowerPlant -  Last year, we took a group of our students to work in Charleston, WV with church planters working for the North American Mission Board, our Southern Baptist Convention’s mission network to the US.  We worked with church planter Andy DeHart passing out waters, cookies, great tasting dog biscuits (Don’t ask how I know that), and information about their church, Centerpoint Church of Hurricane, WV.  In addition, we washed dogs, handed out drinks and snacks at Walmart, K-Mart, and Publix, and spent some time hanging out with people in various parks.  It was a great experience for our youth and they were all moved by the teaching, preaching, training, and worship gatherings. 
We are planning on returning this year to West Virginia as PowerPlant participants, furthering the work we started last year.  The trip is designed for students in 7th-12th grade, as well as college age students.  This year, the trip is from July 12th-17th and cost is $269 per person.  Please let me know as soon as possible if your youth is interested in participating or if you would like to come along as a chaperone.
PowerPlant is a ministry of the North American Mission Board designed to engage students in church planting and evangelism. The first PowerPlant project was in 2003, and it has been growing since then. PowerPlant participants will learn church planting principles and evangelism skills each morning, then have a chance to engage personally through assigned ministry team activities in the afternoon and evening. Students and adults will begin to see that the church is not about buildings . . . it's about people! And there are lots of people in North America who need Christ!
The youngest student who can participate in PowerPlant must have completed the sixth grade prior to the summer of the project. Beyond that, all middle school, high school and college students along with their adult leaders are eligible to participate.
We would encourage you to pray for this ministry, that students and adults who participate would see that God can use them now to do mighty things for Him while they are here on earth. Pray for the church planters we work with, that God would give them strength to carry on the task they have been called to do. And pray for the leadership team as they facilitate these projects.

July 26th-30th – Vacation Bible School – I will not say much about this, as Cyndy will have a lot of information to share with you soon.  For youth that are participating, we do need to know early this year to reserve your slot as a helper.  We have had such a phenomenal response in recent years from our youth volunteers and they have done an excellent job working with the kids.  But we do need to know how many we will have, so please let us know, sign up with Cyndy. 
More to come as details emerge

In Christ,
Matt McCraney
Associate Pastor for Youth