Snow Didn’t Stop the Youth
Friday afternoon was the time to make the final call if the Interdistrict Youth Retreat would continue as planned. Seven churches had committed to joining in for the weekend’s main events on Friday night and Saturday. The leadership team was driving up from Bridgewater College in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We decided to go forward even with the concerns about the weather.
Eventually, 51 people gathered for the event. Youth and leaders played games and held three main workshop sessions in the Worship & Event Center. Youth enjoyed using the table games in the Youth Room and watching a movie on Saturday night. Some youth even ventured outside to try sledding on homemade cardboard sleds at the edge of the parking lot.
The workshop themes were focused on the Beatitudes in the book of Matthew. The leaders—Ewan Benjamin, Piper Brown, Tate Martin, Maya Michael-Lee, and their advisor Steve Spire—shared stories, invoked questions, used demonstrations, and encouraged discussions in each session.
Saturday morning the group drove to the warehouse of Unto in Mount Joy to help in sorting clothing donations and creating food packets for families in refugee camps. Unto is a ministry of Cru and serves missionaries and ministries around the world. Many places where they serve are not Christian and so they seek ways to serve and share Jesus’ message in the places they go.
The group enjoyed learning about the people being helped and lives being changed by what they receive from Unto. The clothing had to be sorted to remove anything appearing to be military, patriotic, or Christian. The food packets prepared would feed a family of five people for a month. All of the work is done by volunteers.
Several volunteers from the congregation helped out in various ways. George Harmes headed the kitchen and food prep. Katrina Bridgeman and David Byers assisted in registration as groups arrived. Alicia Cruz, Tina Herr, Megan Lester, Bryan and Amy Martin, Alex Nye, Angie Shenk, and Ashley Wenger volunteered their time with events, food, and games. Even Robin Baker joined to help out because her daughter and grandson both attended from Virginia. Youth and advisors from the Manassas (Virginia) COB stayed Saturday night and worshiped in our Contemporary service Sunday morning.
The weather gave us a good story to remember this first Interdistrict Youth Retreat held at the church. All of the leaders were enthusiastic to try this again and continue to bring our youth together in fun, faith, and fellowship. –Linda Byers, Director of Children & Youth