January 5, 2013 9 am
First Lutheran Church
Meeting minutes
Regrets: Jennifer Spacht (Bethel)
Devotion
Ian talked about Seasonal Affective Disorder. People in the Northeast have higher rates of depression this time of year. Something to be aware of when working with youth and congregations this time of year. A portion of Mark Yaconelli's Wonder, Fear, and Longing: A Book of Prayers was read that referenced Psalm 22.
Thrive reviewed
Thrive, our Conference Youth event for November was reviewed. We hosted the Captive Free East Lakes Team the weekend before Thanksgiving. We planned several events for the weekend. The one that worked best was the Sunday afternoon event with 5 churches participating. The Saturday afternoon event, which was planned as a family event, didn't really draw that many kids--although we had older adults from around First Lutheran's neighborhood in attendance. We are planning to host Captive free again in Nov. 2013--we will keep what worked and reevaluate our expectations for the other parts of the weekend. For instance, maybe we should plan Saturday to be a day for the retirees in the housing around First Lutheran. Janet Wahlberg was very helpful in organizing the soup lunch and many individuals and churches contributed for meals for the team. Karen Rine generously hosted the team.
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| 18 people representing 8 different churches in the SW Conference participated in the Stewards of Children training in December. |
Stewards of reviewed
The Child Abuse Prevention Committee did a wonderful job training our the conference in how to identify and respond to child abuse. 19 people representing 8 churches in the conference participated. We will consider offering some sort of annual event for Youth Workers and Christian Educators in the future.
Mission on the Mon
The parent/student information meeting for the summer mission trip was only attended by one parent. Due to lack of interest, we are canceling the trip. (The parent was given information about the trip to follow up personally.)
Pastoral Representative & schedule coordination
The Conference Youth Committee is seeking a pastor to serve on its committee and will also seek a coordination meeting with other youth-serving ministries around the conference to coordinate schedules for the 13/14 program year.
Toilet Bowl 2
This popular event for youth is coming back to the Gateway Center on Sunday, February 17 from 1 pm - 4 pm. This year's recipient of paper products will be Joint Neighborhood Project. We will need approximately 6 adults to chaperone and assist. Youth will lead worship. The committee with email churches seeking volunteers for various aspects of the service.
Continuing Education
We also discussed Lutheran Theology: How God is Working in the World using a video produced by the ELCA Youth Ministry Network.
Upcoming Conference Youth meetings:
02/02/13 9 am First Lutheran
03/02/13 9 am First Lutheran
