Faithcation | June 11

Several months ago, our kids and youth staff made a decision to provide a safer alternative to camp and VBS, calling it Faithcation. Now, it's go-time! Our staff and adult leaders will spend each day (Thurs-Sat) offering students an experience unlike any other we’ve tried previously. Sort of like VBS, we’ll have rotations through activities. Sort of like church camp, we’ll focus on a theme through different bible stories and scripture readings. Sort of like both, we’ll play games and do fun activities together.

I’ll be serving as a guide on Thursday and Saturday with our 2nd and 3rd graders. I am so excited. It has been several years since I’ve been to church camp. I missed in 2018 because I broke my foot and in 2019 because of Annual Conference obligations. We all missed camp last summer because of the pandemic. My trips to church camp have always rooted me to my calling, reminding me why I do what I do. I get to hang out with our students. We visit together over meals. We share with and support each other in our small groups. And, we always worship together and it touches the deep places in my heart.

Our kids lost so much during the pandemic. They didn’t get to have mission trips, Wednesday night worship, small groups, Sunday School, and so many other activities that encourage our students to grow in their faith. It makes me proud of our church that we’re seeking to invest these three days in our students, offering them a connection with us and a challenge to grow with God.

On Sunday, all of our students will move up to the grade they will enter in fall 2021. We call that Promotion Sunday. For our students, it is a big deal. I especially pray for our fifth graders moving to sixth grade and entry into Faith Youth. This year, even more prayers because they lost a whole school year with us. They were fourth graders when we all went home and now they are coming back as sixth graders. I hope you will pray for them also.

After we finish Faithcation, our sights will be set on July 4 (a Sunday this year). We have reserved the pavilion out at Turkey Mountain...the same place we were for Easter. We’ll have one worship service at 10:00 am. Please keep these few things in mind. We’ll reserve several parking spaces in front of the pavilion for those with mobility issues. We are asking everyone else to park in the overflow parking lot, north of the main parking lot. We will once again be running shuttles. We will have Communion at the worship service on Turkey Mountain with King’s Hawaiian and Welch’s Grape Juice. We’ll also have gluten free elements. We will NOT have either the 9:00 or 11:00 worship services in the sanctuary on July 4.

When we worshipped on Easter at Turkey Mountain, there were several guests who joined us. They didn’t come to Turkey Mountain intending to go to church that morning, but they ended up going to church because we were willing to take church to where they were. I am praying for our guests on July 4. I am praying for those who won’t wake up that morning thinking about God or Jesus or Jesus’ followers, but when they enjoy the fireworks that evening, perhaps their celebration might be more than they expected. Perhaps by being invited into the community and to the Communion Table, they will be reminded of something missing. May we be faithful witnesses of God’s welcome on Independence Day.

See you Sunday,