Our Youth Group
meetings are Tuesday Night, from 6-7:30 p.m.
We
eat dinner from 6:00-6:30, then have the meeting, games and
prayer time. Join us and bring a friend! We meet in the
church basement and CE center.
College
Scholarships.
The Sarah Beck HIll Memorial Scholarship Fund provides
grants for good students attending URI. Applications are
due by April 10, and the scholarships will be awarded in
May, 2010. Contact Ralph Thomas at
thomasesar@aol.com.
Scholarship
application
Looking
ahead....plenty of activities for FPC youth!
Current
events:
Tuesday, March 9: meeting
March: Concert, to be determined
Sunday, May 16: Youth Sunday
Saturday, May 22: Yard Sale
Saturday, June 5(or Friday, June 4): All-Island Youth Group
July: Boston Project or Black Mountain, NC with PRMI. Ten
students will attend Boston Project July 11-16.
Looking
back
. . .
October 2009. We went
to two Christian Concerts in October. First we went to see
and hear and feel Skillet
and the
other groups were Decyfer
Down and
Hawk
Nelson in
Worcester, MA. The next week a small group went to
see Newsboys
in
Lowell. Later in the month we went to the
Escobar
Corn Maze on
Sunday and then went to the church for an evening of food
and fun. We had 21 current students and 6 college-aged
participants at our Alumni Event.
2008
During October we explored the five love languages of
gifts, acts of service, quality time, physical touch, and
words of affirmation. We discussed how we must understand
others’ love language in order to minister to them. We also
began our search for a theme song for the year and as usual
enjoyed the games we play under the direction of Mr. Kent.
We had a fabulous time October 17 when we did the Corn Maze
at Escobar’s and returned to the church for dinner and a
movie. In November, we are exploring how a teen achieves
his/her goals of independence and identity in a Christ-like
manner.
In November we explored the age-old desire of teens for
independence and identity, and how to approach those needs
in a Christ-like manner. November 4 was “Messy Game Night”
and everything about it lived up to its name. On Veteran’s
Day, Mrs. Ferree led the night and on November 18 we
celebrated Mrs. Ferree’s birthday (her 29th of course.) We
had a superb day on November 15, when 24 of us went to Rock
the Sound and “rocked out.” The wide range of music made it
fun for all of us. (Although I still don’t think I know a
single word that Skillet sang.) We did two days of
“sitting” at the church to raise money for Snow Camp in
November. December and January included the blood drive,
Ugly Quilt Day, and Snow Camp
We
enjoyed snow camp with 28 campers from FPC! We played and
prayed and worshiped and ate, (notice the lack of the word
sleep in this). First place in sled and banner and overall
contest winners, we ate our share of tripe, and cow tongue,
and worms, and Mrs. Ferree of course got chocolate again.
In February, we provided babysitting for the Sweetheart
Dinner and had some extended get-together time during
Vacation Week.
March was an exciting month. Our ranks grew to 25!
On
Youth Sunday, May 17. we led the worship service and
provided a "potato bar luncheon" afterward as a fundraiser
for the youth mission trip. The yard sale May 30 was a
great success.
Remembering
Summer '08.
In Sunday School we took a practical approach to Worship by
planning the Youth Worship Service. On Sunday 18 May, we
led the worship program for Youth Sunday, which included
musical offerings, scripture readings, and testimonies.
Later in May we went to Rumney for a work weekend. The week
of 22-27 June we sent a team to the Boston Project. Several
of us attended “Upward Challenge,” a week long Christian
camp and teaching experience in Black Mountain, NC from
21-26 July.
Also, this summer, we have examined different types of
Christian worship services by attending services at other
churches in the area and then discussing our experience at
our youth meetings on Tuesdays.
Every Day. . .
We
realize there is lots going on in the life of Senior High
students.... As you learn to balance the many competing
demands on your time, daily devotions and prayer.
All
enjoyed the September game night at the Atlantic Solutions
Garage in Portsmouth. The highlights of the event was the
food eating relay (how does Ben always end up with the
candy?) and of course Mrs. Ferree and Molly searching for
those special worms. Nine youth and two adults went to Six
Flags New England and after a day of rides saw a great
concert by Third Day, Thousand Food Krutch, Farewell
Flight, Koi, and Siloam. Several youth also participated in
a volunteer work project
Team NOLA was a great success. Several of our teens went to New Orleans to assist Katrina victims in rebuilding.
During November we continued working on our study of temptation, looking at temptation from the perspective of “Putting on Our Armor” to be ready for the fight and accepting our role as His knights in battle. Our thanks to November’s “mystery guests” Tony and Elaine Ruggiero. Also, 16 people went to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Lowell. A big thank you to Zoe and the others who sold calendars on Sunday mornings for our summer trips.
December and January were jammed packed. Sure, we had our usual exciting meeting on Tuesday night meetings, but we also had a special night of caroling in Newport and New Year's Eve lock-in at the Newport Athletic Club.
In January we got back on the Tuesday meeting schedule with topics of Doubt: Does God Really Care About You? and Impact: Can a Teen Really Make Any Difference in the World? We enjoyed our mystery guest, Tyler Will, on his winter break from URI. Will provided food from the kitchen and food for thought. Also, we sponsored the yearly church blood drive for the RI Blood Bank. And of course who could ever forget the fabulous Snow Camp weekend, when we set the 21st Century First Presbyterian snow camp attendance record with over 30 at a snow camp retreat! We did our banner and skit on the idea of “Under Armor” about the full armor of God and medieval theme. The Holy Spirit fell, snow fell, our goals were lifted and rumor has it the bus driver will be able to return to his job after a few more weeks of psychological rehab.
In Sunday School we finished looking at the end times as revealed to us in the Scripture. We moved to our new Sunday School classroom. We started working on a study of Worship and how we can really worship God in our church services and in our lives.