The Adventure Park

We had a blast climbing and zip lining through the trees on Sunday!  The Adventure Park at Sandy River Retreat is awesome!

Spring & Summer Line Up

We have lots of great things planned this Spring & Summer!  Check out the line up below.  Hope to see you often!

Sunday, April 28th: The Adventure Park at Sandy River

Join us for 3 hours of fun in the trees!!  Cost is $20 (financial assistance is available).  We will meet at church at 2pm and climb and zip line through the trees from 2:30-5:30pm.  RSVP as soon as possible and no later than April 22nd to reserve your spot!!!  There are limited spaces available!  **Please Note: There will be no FUSION Gathering this evening.

Sunday, May 5th: FUSION Gathering

Join us for a regular Gathering meeting from 6-7:30pm...dinner, fellowship, games and Bible study in our LinC Series: Living in Christ!

Sunday, May 12th: Mother's Day

Don't forget we will NOT have FUSION Gathering this Sunday night in honor of Mother's Day. 

Sunday Mornings throughout the summer: Sunday School

Join us each Sunday morning throughout the summer for Sunday school from 9:45-10:45am.

Saturday, May 18th: Change the World

This year the whole Farmville District is working together to host lots of different mission projects throughout the whole district.  Check the Church's website and facebook page for a list of all projects.  Specifically, Farmville UMC will send a group to work at FACES that mornings and a group will help wrap shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child and make and stuff teddy bears to be packed in OCC shoeboxes!  Contact the church office if you would like to help with any of these mission projects!

Sunday, May 19th: End of the Year Cookout!

At 12pm, right after the 11am worship service finishes, the youth are invited to stay at church for a cookout and games to celebrate the end of the school year and usher in the summer!  Let Lyndsie know by May 16th if you can come so we know how much food to cook!  Our regular FUSION Gathering will kick off in the fall on August 18th!

Saturday, May 25th: Kings Dominion Trip

Tickets are $30 each for access to both the theme park and water park all day!  Checks can be made out to the church and financial assistance is available.  We will meet and leave from Farmville UMC at 9am.  All parental release/conduct covenant forms and money needs to be in to me no later than Sunday, May 19th.  Parents: if you are willing to join us for the day and provide transportation, please let me know!

Tuesdays in June: Sweet Frog & Fellowship!

All youth are invited to join me at Sweet Frog from 2-3pm every Tuesday from June 4th through June 25th to enjoy some tasty frozen yogurt, catch up with friends, and engage in a short Bible study!  Please let me know if you need transportation to and from Sweet Frog and we can arrange to get you there and home again!

Saturday, June 15: Richmond Flying Squirrels Baseball Game

Join us for a trip to see a Richmond Flying Squirrels Baseball game!!!  We will meet and leave from church at 4:30pm.  Tickets are $8 each and plan to bring money to eat dinner in the ball park.  You must have a Parental release/conduct covenant form on file with me to attend.  The deadline to RSVP for this event is JUNE 2nd so we can guarantee tickets with seats all together as a group!

Sunday, June 16th: Youth Usher

The youth are scheduled to usher at the 11am service.  Please let me know if you are available to help!

July 7-12: Farmville District Youth Mission Retreat

Rising 7th-12th graders are invited to join us at the East VA Woodman Camp in Crewe for a youth mission retreat with youth all over the Farmville District.  Spend each day in mission doing various projects: gleaning corn, painting houses, helping at thrift stores, light construction work, etc.  Spend the evenings playing games, going swimming, playing basketball, fishing, and more with your friends!  Cost is only $50 for the whole week!  Registration deadline for this retreat is June 10th. 

July 15-19: Vacation Bible School

Yes, you are now too old to be a participant.  BUT, we need your help volunteering!  Let me know if you are available to help that week from 9am-12pm each day.

Saturday, July 27: Pool Party!

Join us from 6-9pm at the Fillman's house for a cookout and pool party!  There's even a slide!!!  Let me know if you plan to attend so we can make sure to have enough food available.  Bring a side item to share.

Saturday, August 10: Youth Float on the James River!

Join us for our annual tubing trip down the James River as we say farewell to summer.  Cost is $10.  You won't want to miss this fun end to the summer!  Parents and siblings are welcome to join in the fun (children in 5th grade and under must be accompanied by a parent). 

Sunday, August 11: Youth Usher

The youth are schedule to usher at the 11am service!  Let me know if you are available to usher.

Jesus Calms the Storm

This week we "traveled" to the Sea of Galilee and watched as Adam Hamilton joined a local fisherman in a boat on the sea that probably looked a lot like the boat Jesus and his disciples were on.  It would have been nighttime since that is when they fished.  The boat was fairly small.  No wonder the disciples were scared when the storm came!   But Jesus calms the storm and asks the disciples why they are so scared..."Do you still have no faith?"  And the disciples begin to truly realize who Jesus is.  Before this, the only one who they had ever heard that could control the wind and waves was God.  So when Jesus calmed the storm, God's power must have instantly come to mind.  Surely this man, then, must be God's son!

What are you scared of?  When you face different "storms" in your life, what is your initial reaction?  Do you doubt?  Are you scared?  Are you worried?  Do you get mad or upset?  Do you pray?  Do you talk to a mentor, family member or friend?  Do you read Scripture?

How can we make practices like prayer, reading Scripture and talking with people who are important to us habits so that when we are faced with a difficult situation, those will be our initial reactions rather than being scared, mad or doubtful?

The Healing Ministry

This week we took a look at Jesus' healing ministry.  We visited Capernaum with Adam Hamilton and saw several sites where several of Jesus' healings took place.  We discussed who cares for us when we are sick and ways we can help others when they are sick.  What effect do you think you can have on another person's healing?  When we look at Luke 5:18-19, we see that Jesus healed this man who was paralyzed because of his friends' faith and dedication to him!  Who are our stretcher-bearers? These are the "people who will carry us and pray for us and have faith for us when our own faith is weak or nonexistent" (Hamilton).  Who will you be a stretcher-bearer for?

We spent some time being stretcher-bearers by carrying one another on a "stretcher" across the room through obstacles!  Check out the pictures below.

Baptism & Temptation

As we begin this season of Lent, we started with talking about Jesus' baptism and temptation.  Often it seems that we have a major exciting spiritual experience like baptism, a retreat, etc. and the first thing we want to do is tell everyone about it and do something to respond.  However, after Jesus' baptism, he goes into the wilderness for 40 days to fast and pray!  Maybe we can learn something from this.  Even though we are often excited and "on fire" after big spiritual experiences, maybe what God is often calling us to is to take time apart to pray and listen to how God would like us to respond.

While in the wilderness Jesus is tempted...and every time he resists the temptation and quotes Scripture.  What temptations do you struggle with?  Do you know others who are dealing with temptation?  Commit this Lenten season to asking God to help you through temptations and to praying for others who struggle with temptation.

Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday

Did you know that today is Ash Wednesday?  It is the start of Lent, a season of the church in which we prepare ourselves for Easter.  Yesterday you may have eaten pancakes...but why?  Well, Lent is a time of 40 days in observance of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert where he faced temptation.  So, often we spend Lent in practices of fasting and self-denial.  Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras is the Tuesday before Lent where many will feast and celebrate with the things they will deny themselves for the next 40 days.  Pancakes, then, often make for a good option since they contain rich ingredients of butter, flour, eggs, milk and sugar.  Shrove actually means to confess and repent.  So what we should really be doing the Tuesday before Lent begins is laying everything out before God to prepare ourselves for Lent.  But, to uphold cultural traditions, we did spend some time playing games in celebration of Mardi Gras.  Then we spent time thinking about and committing to something we are going to give up this Lent and something we are going to commit to doing this Lent.  What practices will you commit to this Lenten season?  Are there things you will deny yourself this year?  Comment on this post with your responses.

Easy Bake Ovens for All

This week at FUSION Gathering we talked about gender stereotypes.  It is pretty easy to fall into using these stereotypes in our culture.  We began with a little game of pictionary where each team had various occupations to draw.  Often, when we are given occupations like nurse, flight attendant and teacher we automatically think of females.  And when we are given occupations like doctor or pastor we automatically think of males.

We took a look at a youTube video of a girl who's little brother loves to cook and wanted an easy bake oven.  However, the easy bake ovens were only marketed to girls: they were pink and purple and only had pictures of girls on the boxes and in the commercials.  So the little boy's older sister petitioned Hasbro (the toy maker) to come up with new packaging to include boys and girls.  Hasbro responded and now make an easy bake oven that is more gender neutral!  You can check out her video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHESKyxrxJM

We then took at look at John 4:27-30, 39-42 of the story of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus was challenging all the culture's rules about how men and women should interact with one another.  Jesus was willing to break his culture's gender-based taboos to reach out to all of God's children.  And then, in a culture that did not value a woman's testimony, the Samaritan woman became one of the earliest evangelists!  Jesus broke through gender stereotypes and calls us to do the same!  In Paul's letter to the Galatians (3:26-28) we see that though we are all different and unique, we are all one in Christ!  Our differences should be celebrated not ridiculed because we are all precious to God.

Have you ever been told you can't do something because you are a guy or a girl?  Know that God loves you and will often call you to do things that some people may have a problem with.  Let us be like Jesus and go against the cultural norms to reach out, love and help all those around us!