fumcbparentconnection

Form for CTCYM Great Day of Service HERE!

2010-04-07T15:28:00.001-05:00

Click here for the Great Day of Service Liability Release Form. All those participating in the event this Saturday, April 10th (adults and students) need to print it out, fill it out, and bring it with you!

Seven Simple Steps for Online Registration for Summer Mission Trips!

2010-03-10T14:23:00.005-06:00

1. Click here to access the CTCYM webpage.
Begin by clicking the "Register Here" link. Create an account for your family. This should be set up by an adult family member who will be the primary point of contact about the trip for your family. You will need an e-mail address to set up this account.

2. Review Welcome Message
You will see a welcome message with any last minute information and further instructions. You will also see the registration fees and schedules here.

3. Add Participants
Add a participant by providing the information under "Add a Participant." When registering this individual for future trips, you will be able to select that name from a list of family members who have participated in other trips.

4. Choose a Trip
Select the trip this participant will be attending: Senior or Junior High trip. You will be required to complete a seperate registration for each trip, even if this is an adult participating in more than one trip.

5. Family and Participant Information
The first time you register a participant, you will complete a family profile with all of the necessary contact information. Next, you will enter information specific to the individual participant.

6. Review and/or Add Another Participant
Complete your registration by confirming all information entered and changing any if necessary. From here, proceed to checkout or add another participant.

7. Checkout
Select "Pay by Check". Our church will be collecting registration fees from individuals and paying by church check.

That's it! You're registered and ready to participate on a CTCYM trip!

Senior High will be joining University UMC and FUMC Midlothian in Frederick, Oklahoma.
Junior High will be joining FUMC Weatherford, FUMC Waxahachie, and FUMC Mineral Wells in Columbus, Texas.

Secret Service Cancelled this Saturday

2010-02-09T11:50:00.000-06:00

Due to scheduling conflicts with our project host and the impending inclement weather, Secret Service is CANCELLED this Saturday. Our next Secret Service opportunity will be in late March. The GREAT DAY OF SERVICE (with other local UMC youth) is also coming up on April 10th from 8 am – 3 pm!

Sorry for any confusion this causes. Please enjoy your weekend!

Help Haiti THIS Sunday Night!

2010-01-15T14:34:00.000-06:00

Due to the tragic earthquake in Haiti and the desperate need for medical and health-related supplies, we will spend a major portion of our time together this Sunday night putting together health kits that will be shipped to Haiti through UMCOR (United Methodist Committee On Relief) to assist in relief efforts there. I am asking students and families to assist us in this project by purchasing and bringing the following items with you on Sunday night:
• hand towels (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27", No kitchen towels)
• washcloths
• combs (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)

• nail files or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
• bath-size bars of soap (3 oz. and up)

• toothbrushes (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
• adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages

All items must be NEW items. Please bring what you can and if you can’t bring anything, please show up to help us put kits together. Thank you, in advance, for your willingness to help those in need. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.

P.S.-Please don’t forget that registration forms and payment are due this Sunday if you are planning on attending Mid-Winter.

ADVENT CONSPIRACY IN PROGRESS!

2009-11-18T14:40:00.002-06:00

Advent Conspiracy is a four-session study that asks participants to look through the consumerism of the holidays, refocus their attention on Christ, and prepare for Christmas by worshipping fully, spending less, giving more, and loving all. Our Wednesday night Bible Studies (from 6-8 PM in the Youth Room) will be moving through this study throughout November and Decemeber.

Our first session was last week and it covered the idea of worshipping fully this Christmas season, opening our eyes, minds, and hearts to the amazing and powerful story of the birth of Christ and what his life means to ours rather than worshipping at the altar of walmart, target or other retail stores.

This week we will be looking closely at how we can spend less this Christmas season, refocusing how we use our resources to spread the good news of Jesus Christ rather than on getting the material gifts we desire.

Next week we will be uncovering what it means to give more. That is, to open our hearts and give of ourselves, our energy, and our time and not just opening our wallets to give our money.

Our study will culminate on December 16th when we close with what it means to love all with the same love that God offers us through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This study challenges the preconceived and precontrived notions that retail and commercial enterprises attempt to sell us about Christmas, namely that the entire holiday focuses around the purchase of material gifts that will ensure our happiness. The study offers that the real power of Christmas lies in the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ and what it means for our lives that God shares in our humanity. It can be challenging at times as it asks us to refocus our attention during a season that is centered around the giving and recieving of gifts. It may challenge students to look at and ask questions about family traditions around gift-giving and recieving. It is my hope that these conversations are fruitful and positive, leading families to look closely at the focus of the Christmas season. Here are some questions that might assist you as parents in walking through this study with your students:

How do we worship together as a family during Christmas?
What is the origin of our family traditions around the way we observe Christmas, especially the way we handle gift-giving and recieving?
Could we as a family plan to take part in some sort of service to those less fortunate during the holiday season? Are opportunities like this already a part of our family traditions? If so, what are they?
What are some of the traditions we may have to alter or change because of the current economic situation?
What are some ways we, as a family, can keep our focus on Christ this Christmas?

If you would like to view any of the Advent Conspiracy resources (which include a DVD and companion book) please feel free and let me know so that I can make them available to you. You can also visit www.adventconspiracy.org or www.rethinkchristmas.com for more information and ideas. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

The InfoPause

2009-11-05T10:01:00.001-06:00

Click here to check out the FIRST InfoPause...the print newsletter of the FUMCB Student Movement!

Sign Up for the Email Distribution List

2009-11-03T17:28:00.000-06:00

Click here to sign up for the FUMCB Student Movement Email Distribution List. Please put "subscribe me" in the subject line.

Food Scavenger Hunt: SUCCESS!

2009-11-03T16:06:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics from our Canned/Non-Perishable Food Scavenger Hunt from this past Sunday night (11/1/09). Middle School and High School teams went head-to-head and door-to-door all around Burleson to collect food for the emptying shelves of Harvest House. All said and done, we collected 154 lbs. of non-perishable food for Harvest House. They are still in need. Please think about you could help them out and stop by sometime this week with a food or cash donation to help fill the shelves of this awesome community service organization that assists so many in need in the Burleson area! Harvest House is located at 349 NW Renfro Street in Burleson, Texas. You can also find them online at by clicking here.

Thanks to all students who participated Sunday. It was a lot of fun and all for a good cause!

Talking Points on Living in Community series....

2009-10-21T13:28:00.000-05:00

On Sunday nights over the past two weeks, we have been discussing some of the finer (and harder) points of living in community, namely a community focused on and around following Jesus Christ. The first week we discussed forgiveness (and forgetfulness) and closed with an exercise where we asked students and adults to write down those situations/people/areas in their life that needed to be forgiven and forgotten. We solidified that forgetfulness by providing dissolving paper to write these notes on and placing those notes in a bowl of water, which served as our image/metaphor for Jesus Christ.

Last week we discussed accountability, the fact that we must remain accountable to each other and speak the truth in love to one another. We practiced lectio divina (a meditative practice for reading Scripture) with Matthew 7:1-5. Students and adults were then asked to write those things that serve as planks or logs in our eye, those things that prevent us from seeing the needs of others and assisting them with the love and grace of Jesus Christ. We then discussed accountability and looked at three places in Scripture where the author was writing about different characteristics of accountability, namely that it is a group effort, that it builds up or edifies the body/community in the end, and that the truth must be spoken in love. We then sawed the plank in half and hammered the two pieces together to make a cross. The cross reminded us that in Christ, we are forgiven and bound to each other in community; that when we seek to model the love and grace of Christ and center our community around Him those things that may have gotten in our way of helping each are harder to see. To the right, you'll see the picture of us sawing the plank in half.

These are the heavier of the essential elements of community, I know. I wanted to start with some of the more difficult so that we could have longer to reflect on them and think over the role they play in a healthy community. I also believe that without these, we have a difficult time of getting into deeper, authentic fellowship.

This next week (10/25) we will be discussing acceptance. Some questions I wanted to share with you that might assist you in following up with your student on these topics at home are:
-How do you see us/our family practicing forgiveness, accountability, acceptance at home?
-What are the difficulties of forgiving? What are the difficulties of holding one another accountable? What are the difficulties of accepting one another? Where can I help you in these areas?
-Do you see the benefits of these particular things when it comes to living as a family? as a community? as a student movement?

Please feel free to offer more questions you think of or stories of conversations you have shared with your students over the past month by posting them as comments. These would be helpful for all of us as we move through this journey with our students.

reThink Church Commercials from Sunday, October 4th

2009-10-08T16:36:00.003-05:00

here they are! i will watch the phone for a call from the Academy. i apologize in advance for the picture quality, it's what i get for trying to get away with the cheaper option. we'll have a better camera next time! please don't forget to vote for your favorite on the poll on the right.

thanks to all the awesome students and adults that contributed such creativity and innovative thought!

if you're having trouble viewing commercial #1 click here.
if you're having trouble viewing commercial #2 click here.

Notes from The BIG Meeting...

2009-09-29T13:10:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, thanks to all who made our first annual BIG meeting happen. It was a great success with over 70 staff members, students, parents, and family members in attendance. We ran out of fried chicken and all the sides and desserts were gone by the end of the evening!

Some notes on the night from our presentation:
-We reflected on the word "movement" to describe our ministry and looked over our new logo and the guiding principles below it "live..love..serve". A movembent involves a large number of people partnering and working together around a central person; in this case Jesus Christ, and a central idea: seeking to live as Christ lives, love as Christ loves, and serve as Christ serves.

-Tables took part in small group discussion about how they see God moving in their life, in the city of Burleson, at FUMC, and in the student ministry.

-Shared the Church Strategy developed by our Administrative Council for Student Ministry:
"Acheive GROWTH through an exciting and fun-filled
youth ministry that provides opportunities for SPIRITUAL
enrichment, MISSION, and FELLOWSHIP experiences."
(emphasis added by me)
- I am a firm believer that "To hit our target, we need a clear view of what we are trying to accomplish." To do this, I have asked 12 students and adults to assist me in getting a clear view of what we are trying to accomplish. I am calling this team VAST: Visioning And Strategic planning Team. Members include:
-Jodi Page
-Jodi Cloud
-John Crysup
-Charlotte Franks
-J.D. Davis
-Caleb Davis
-Missy Courtney
-Robert Walker
-Breanna Hunt
-Amber Cloud
-Justin Cloud
-Kyle Roberson

Please contact these VAST team members with visions and strategies you would like to contribute to our work. After our work is complete, VAST will develop into two distinct teams: Parent Connection (for parents) and Student Movement Council (for students). VAST and the subsequent teams and work it births will assist us in our goal to Live, Love, and Serve.

-The 4 Immediate Initiatives under our Strategy are:
-Youth-led Community Service
-Mini-Mission Trips
-Expand Communication
-Expand Music Program

-Youth-led Community Service and Mini-Mission Trips will be acheived through existing programs like our work with Harvest House, which will continue to expand in scope and offering, our participation with Conference events like GREAT DAY OF SERVICE and CTCYM SUMMER MISSION TRIPS, and the development of a new program: SECRET SERVICE. SECRET SERVICE are day-long mini-mission trips from 10 am - 3:30 pm on a Saturday to do mission/service in and around our community. See IMPORTANT DATES sheet in the info packet for dates and times. Drop-off and pick-up for SECRET SERVICE will be FUMCBurleson and students are asked to bring nothing but work gloves and a sack lunch. Our first SECRET SERVICE will be Saturday, October 10th.

-Expanding our Communication will be acheived through the following offerings:
-Up-to-date Student Info and Release forms (see info packet)
-email reminders and weekly ePause email
-Text message reminders (visit fumcburleson.org and click on "Student Movement to sign up for this service)
-Websites (visit fumcburleson.org and click on "Student Movement)
-Social networking sites like Facebook
-Monthly Student Movement Newseltters arriving through USmail
-Bulletin Board outside Youth Room
-Annual BIG Meetings (our next BIG Meeting: August 15, 2010 from 6-8pm)
Also reminded everyone that we are PARTNERS in ministry, working together with the best intentions/interests of students in mind. Feedback is crucial and necessary. I only ask that it be:
-Clear
-Constructive (How will YOU work with me to improve/build upon success?)
-Timely
-Realistic

-Expand Music Program through the recent hire of David Anavitarte who will oversee and organize a Youth Choir program as part of his responsibilities as Assistant Choir Director. We will also be expanding how/when we use music in our regular programming.

-Our time frame for these initiatives is the next 12 months, and those responsible for making sure these initiatives become reality will be ALL of us working together and participating. The buck stops ultimately with me but will need your time, energy, assistance in making these reality.

-Finally, shared that our culture encourages collaboration, creativity, and innovation and our Student Movement will be encouraging these three things as well. Some of this is conceptual but we will have the next year to put our hands on these ideas, wrestle with them and see how and where God is moving in and through them. Together, we move in faith into the coming year.

PLEASE SEE ME ASAP FOR A COMPLETE INFO PACKET THAT INCLUDES:
-Student Info and Release Form (a MUST for participation in any SM event!)
-Important Dates for 2009-2010
-Registration for our most recent upcoming event: 30-hr Famine (Nov 6&7)
-Magnet with all my contact info and contact info for Student Movement
-Get 2 Know...card that will assist me in getting in touch with folks
who may have dropped out of our program over the last couple of years
and any friends or neighbors you think would benefit from what we are
offering here at FUMCB Student Movement.
-Volunteer Info and Release form for ANY and ALL adults who would like
to participate as sponsors/volunteers.

imagine the possibilities

2009-06-15T23:58:00.007-05:00

imagine the possibilities of a collaborative on-line community for parents of FUMC, Burleson students where you could connect with other parents by:
-sharing information, advice, and tips
-sharing reviews of movies/books/events/restaurants you have experienced
-asking questions and advice from other parents and staff
-checking the online calendar for upcoming events for students and families
-submitting posts to celebrate events in your students life
-submitting prayer requests
-sharing your observations and feedback regarding the student movement

that place is here, the time is now, this is just the beginning.