First Congregational Church Youth Ministry

We’re happy to announce that FCC Youth Ministry finally has its own transportation! An anonymous donor from the church has given us a 20 passenger shuttle bus (with A/C) which will greatly help us get to our various off-campus events including Camp, Ski Trip, Boomers trips, Beach trips, and more. With 20 seats, we’ll still need drivers for most events but we’ll need significantly fewer than before.

In fact, if anyone out there has a Class-B Passenger license, we could use you now. Although the bus is in our possession we will be working on getting people licensed to drive it for at least a couple of months so unless we find someone who’s already willing and qualified, the bus will be out of commission for this summer.

This will give our whole ministry a bit more versatility as we’ll be able to travel together a lot more easily.We’re also working on getting decals of the FCC Logo for the sides and the rear.

I don’t know what we’d do without Boomers! It’s tons of fun and it’s oh so very easy!

On Tuesday, August 3, all Jr. High Youth (grades 6-8) are invited to bring a friend and come down with us to Boomers in El Cajon. At Boomers there’s Go-Carts, Bumper Boats, a Rock Wall, Mini-Golf, an Arcade, a Ferris Wheel, and more! It’s a great place to spend the day and this will be an absolutely wonderful trip on which to bring your friends!

We’re meeting at the church parking lot (404 8th street) at 12:30pm (after lunch) We’ll leave shortly thereafter to go straight down to Boomers in El Cajon. We’ll spend the day having fun and we’ll leave from Boomers at around 6pm. We’ll get dinner and be back home between 7:30-8pm. Students should bring $10 for their Wrist Band and some extra money for dinner on the way back (as well as for anything else on which they might like to spend money).

Everyone who goes will have to have filled out the FCC Youth Handbook for 2010-2011 (many students may have already filled it out for the year). We will NEED DRIVERS. So if any parents would like to come and spend the day with us, their help would be greatly appreciated. Please RSVP with Wes in the church office (760)789-3348 or by email at wesellis@fccramona.org if you’d like to come on this trip.

Finally the search is over!

David Auten and his wife of eleven years, Erin Auten, came out from their home in Connecticut last week to meet with groups from church including the Youth and on Sunday he preached his first sermon from our pulpit. Immediately following the second service, the congregation gathered to vote on whether or not it would be his last sermon. The vote was unanimous that David Arthur Auten should be the new Settled Pastor of First Congregational Church in Ramona! David has accepted the position and is scheduled to start in late July.

The energy at church on Sunday was electric and the overall excitement of everyone who has met David and his wife is simply undeniable. Our church is in for yet another challenging transition and now, more than ever, we are ready and hopeful for what God has in store for our church family. We know that God is going to continue to use our congregation in new and exciting ways to be a blessing and a prophetic voice in our community!

On June 24th all Youth are invited to Bob & Vickie Burch’s house for a pool party. From 1-3pm we’ll play games, swim, eat lunch, and just have fun! But wait, there’s more!

As most of you know, our church has been in the interim process for about two years. We’ve been searching for a settled pastor who will lead us into the future with a more long term commitment. Well, the search committee believes that their search is over. David A. Auten and his wife Erin from Connecticut will be coming out to meet with various groups from our church, to get a feel for us as we get a feel for him, to preach to the congregation and, ultimately, to be voted into settled ministry at First Congregational Church. David and Erin are in their early 30′s, they’ve got a four-year-old named Isabella and a two-year-old named Joshua. David went to Yale, has ministered in a plurality of contexts, has a passion for Christ, and has even written a book (entitled Embrace and available at Treasures Christian Store). We’re very blessed to be given to opportunity to accept David as our pastor!

This pool party, on June 24th, is the Youth Group’s opportunity to meet David (and possibly Erin too) personally, ask questions, and get to know him. David wants to meet us, and who could blame him? We’re a pretty awesome group. So please come to the pool party and meet our new pastor (tentatively speaking). For more information on David Auten, call the church office. Informational brochures will be available at church starting this Sunday.

The Burch’s house is located at 727 Saddlebrook. Directions are here.

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This Wednesday, May 19th, all youth are invited to come hiking with us up Iron Mountain. We’ll meet at Iron Mountain hiking trail (on Highway 67) at 3:30pm. We’ll hike together as a group to the top, do a quick devotional there, and then we’ll hike down. Parents will be expected to pick us up at the mountain at approximately 6:30pm. We will try to keep in touch via cell phones if we come back down the mountain earlier. We’ll have good fellowship, good exercise and good fun. This will be a good event to bring your friends!

After the hike, everyone is invited, along with their parents, to join us for dinner. We’ll go to Bowl Weevil on the way back into town and eat together. Anybody who wishes to join us fr dinner will have to bring some money for food but other than that, this is a free event. Please call Wes at the church office 760-789-3348 to RSVP.

We had a Jr. high beach trip scheduled for this Saturday (as you’ll see on your calendars) but due to some other circumstances we’re going to have to postpone the event until May 30th. We’re sorry about the inconvenience and we hope that this doesn’t complicate things too much.

Our plan is now to leave for the beach promptly after the 9am service (which will be the only service that Sunday) on May 30th and return no later than 6:00pm. If you’re an adult and would like to drive, please let me know. If you’re a student and would like to go, please RSVP.

Bring friends!

On Friday Night, April 30th, 22 senior high students met at the church parking lot for our Senior High Lock-in. At about 8:15pm we set off for Parkway Bowl in El Cajon for Cosmic Bowling. Some did worse than others but nobody was on their “A” game (who would be, with all the music, lights, and laser shows?). But who cares about the score when you’re having fun?! We bowled from about 9pm-11pm and then promptly headed back up the hill to Ramona to start the real fun. As soon as we got back we turned off the lights in the Youth Building, busted out the strobe light, and “bumped some jams” (as they say). After about 20 minutes of chaotic dance music and silliness, we started a game of Sardines in a Can. You’ll have to ask one of the students who was there if you wanna know what that’s all about.

After about 3am, we watched Star Trek (the newest one) followed by Monsters Vs. Aliens, two fantastic flicks! Some fell asleep, some played cards, some just stayed awake. At about 7:50pm, we vacuumed and cleaned up our mess. It was a lot of fun, although it was exhausting, and we had a good time of fellowship and fun. The event was a success and everyone was safe.

On April 30th, all Senior Highers are invited to our Lock-in. A lock-in, if you don’t already know, is an overnight event–an overnight extravaganza even–where we sleep is optional. We’re going to meet up at the church on Friday Night, April 30th, promptly at 8pm. Right at 8pm, we’re leaving for Parkway Bowl in El Cajon for Cosmic Bowling. From 9pm-11pm we’ll be bowling in the dark with black-lights, fog machines, and music. At 11pm we’ll head back up to Ramona, to the church, where we’ll load up on candy, play Sardines, watch movies, and maybe even have a campfire. Students will need to be picked up in the morning at 8am.

You’ll need a few things:
-A sleeping bag & pillow
-$10 for bowling
-Your favorite Pajamas (must be appropriate for mixed company!)

Guys and girls will be separated for sleeping (for those who decide to get some sleep) and they there will be at least one adult supervising (and awake) throughout the night.

If you’re planning on coming please RSVP with Wes (760-789-3348) or on the Facebook Event profile.

We’re gearing up for summer camp! Can’t wait!!!

But gearing up means fund-raising. We’ve got a lot going on with that. We’ve got the YouthWork Project, the Magnet/bread/calendar sale, and our Yard Sale will be on June 5th.  Hopefully, with some hard work and dedication we will be able to bring the price of camp down significantly. We are currently accepting deposits for Forest Home, so in order to secure a spot for camp you must pay $40 to Wes Ellis ASAP (checks payable to FCC Youth).

We’re encouraging students to be as independent in their fun-raising efforts as possible. We’ve got some jobs for them but it’s their responsibility to go out and be creative in finding ways to make their own money for camp. If you’re a parent, it would do you well to help us in encouraging this kind of effort (it’ll end up even less money out of your pocket).

Just so you know, we don’t want lack of funds to be anyone’s excuse for having to miss out on camp this year. If you think that you may come up short… don’t worry about that for now… we’ll find a way to get you to camp! This is much to important an event, a much too life-changing experience for money to be an obstacle! Just focus on whether or not you want to go, then we’ll work out the rest of the details together.

Keep up the good work and feel free to contact us with any questions!

Rob Bell’s Nooma videos have been a blessing to our Youth Ministry. This Easter, Rob put out a new short film about the resurrection. I think you’ll enjoy it!