• July Summer Sabbath! what is going on & where? Well, this week is a “sssshhhh” surprise, next week is a bit wet, the following is a bit of a messy mystery and the week after moves a bit faster than the rest. (We have many driving opportunities available for these)
• Inked! Marked for Life : our lesson series for the month of July & early August
• VBS NEEDS You! (Youth & Adult Needs) Due to unforeseen circumstances, several of our VBS leaders have had to cancel and will not be able to help with VBS. We need to fill these positions! Please contact Cay Barton, cay.barton@hfumc.org, if you will be able to help July 12-16. We are especially needing volunteers who will be able to be here every day from 8:00 a.m. to Noon. All volunteers will need to be Safe Sanctuaries certified. We have one more Safe Sanctuaries Training opportunity tonight at 6:30 in CLC-250.
• VBS Decorating! are you bored hanging out at home? Give Cay a shout and come help with VBS decorating. It is ongoing work so check it to see what is happening now. Next weekend are the BIG Decorating days!
• Photos from Jr. High & Sr. High Missions (more to come, surprise surprise, so check in later especially for some choir tour photos)
• Youth Outreach Opportunity : Park Place, Senior Living Community, would like to schedule times to have Youth (Jr. High and High School age) come and visit their residents and ask them to tell their stories and listen.  Carol Keller, from Love and Concern, has been working with Debbie (Park Place Activity Coord) on her visits to Park Place.  Carole 822-8386, Debbie 822-6002. (Several of our members are residents at Park Place)
• The US may be out of the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean the Methodists are out of Africa.
• Want some Methodist trivia? or is it?
• For you NWGlee’ers out there!
• I’m not into Vampires but apparently an Eclipse will bring out those who are. &:~)

hello all!

so our April schedule has changed slightly since i gave you a printed schedule 2 weeks ago…

we WILL NOT rehearse or sing on Easter.
we WILL NOT sing on April 11 but we WILL have rehearsal at 4
we WILL SING at the EARLY services on April 18 – rehearsal at 4
we WILL SING at the LATE service on April 25 – rehearsal at 4

the rest of the schedule is the same as your printed schedule.

may 2 – 9:30 service for confirmation; rehearsal at 4
may 9 – no rehearsal – mothers day
may 16 – 11:00 service for senior sunday; rehearsal at 4
may 23 – rehearsal at 4

it has been brought to my attention that some are concerned about the tour rehearsal schedule we have followed in the past. i am open to changing this schedule HOWEVER in order to do this i have to have COMMITMENT from EVERYONE to be at ALL REHEARSALS from now until tour. we are already learning music and if everyone is there, then we can start with choreography before the rehearsal retreat week. HOWEVER, it is VITAL that all are there or working the choreography does no good since we have to redo it everytime someone else comes in.

registration forms were due to me today. i have only received about 6 total. i cannot adequately plan this tour if i do not have the commitment from you for tour. please return those to my mailbox at church THIS WEEK. the forms are located in the youth lounge (i think all that were in the choir room are now gone, but i can make more and put there by wednesday). gretchen was seeing about getting the form on the church website. i am not sure if that has happened yet or not. i will try to find that out asap.

ladies and gentlemen, please be aware that our planning is extremely hampered until we get the commitment from you. please return the forms to me immediately and also let me know how you wish to work rehearsal retreat week. i am open to doing shorter sessions for more days; working during our sunday afternoon rehearsals; etc. but i HAVE TO HAVE YOU HERE.

on another note, i have heard more than a few times lately the immense pleasure the congregation is getting from hearing the wonderful balance and sounds coming from us lately. i commend you on your talent and dedication to serving our congregation throughout the year.

i love you all and am very excited about the future with you!
tiffany

Hey All,

Sorry for being absent this week leading up to Warmth in Winter, I was taken out by that stomach bug. I will spare you the details, but I am doing much better now. Anyways, here’s some info for those going to Warmth in Winter this weekend.

The trip is on, regardless of what Nashville snow storm we get. I’ve had assurances from the bus company that it can handle the trip to Murfreesboro & back. We will meet up at the church at 5:00pm, so if you need to drive a bit more carefully due to your local road situation do that. If you want, you can come up to the church earlier to avoid any road nervousness. By early I am thinking like 3pm, if you need to drop off earlier than that give me a ring.

Packing List:

• Bible
• Normal Clothes
• Warm Clothes (We will go for a walk to get dinner)
• Money for Dinner Saturday Night, late night pizza, drinks, books & other nick-nacks
• Pillow Sleeping Bag, for those of you who cannot share a bed (we have nice big rooms, but you won’t have a bed all to yourself)
• Camera
• Backpack (if you want to carry around freebie stuff)
• Swimsuit (there is a pool of some nature there, I’ve seen pictures)
• Sunscreen (prob won’t need it, but it’d be funny to see someone putting it on)
• Sled (honestly, don’t think there is hill around us, but you never know, haha!)

We should return around 12:30 on Sunday. Could be a bit later if roads still warrant more caution.

Some of y’all were asking for the rooming list: Hendersonville FUMC WnW Rooming

• Advent Conspiracy: What if Christmas became a world-changing event again? Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All
• Last Minute Toy Store: We are looking for friends to minister this Friday through the Last Minute Toy Store at 61st Avenue United Methodist Church. It’s a tradition we’ve had for a number of years. If you cannot give time, we are also collecting “teen” gifts, which are generally in short supply. More Details Here
• Leave a Message for West Africa this Christmas!
• Warmth in Winter 2010: This year is unlike any other. Get ready to Go the Distance with 2k+ fellow youth from all over middle TN and even Georgia. I need everyone who is planning on going to fill out a registration form ASAP. If you can’t get your money in by then, no worries, I just need to know you are going this early in the game. Sorry for the slam, but I’d like to make some of the early registration deadlines. visit website for more details
• Eikon: On Hiatus till Next Year, Jan 2010
• NWG Choir: Rehearsal this week at 4pm, Singing at 7pm Christmas Eve Service
• Drive Group: Training Tip for this edition
• Christmas Party Scavenger Hunt: our Annual Scavenger Hunt Christmas party is Dec. 20th. Usual start time applies, but plan to be later in the evening pick up. We are still in need of Drivers, Lots of Drivers to meet our Safe Sanct Requirements
  
• This month’s Youth Leader Spotlight
• What Is Your Spiritual Type?
• More Fun Links!
• Have you downloaded & filled out our yearly Health & Permission release form? Please do that.

• Warmth in Winter 2010: This year is unlike any other. Get ready to Go the Distance with 2k+ fellow youth from all over middle TN and even Georgia (got a leader buddy who’s bringing his group from GA). I need everyone who is planning on going to fill out a registration form by this Sunday. If you can’t get your money in by then, no worries, I just need to know you are going this early in the game. Sorry for the slam, but I’d like to make some of the early registration deadlines. visit website for more details
• Eikon Improv With just two more Wednesday Night Together’s left we are going to finish the year off with our Improv group. Starting next year we will be pulling in our Writing group focusing on Facebook updates as Interesting Narratives. Hope to get Art group off the ground finally. Photography group is meeting on alternative evenings now. If you want to get involved with that email me and I’ll put you on that email list.
• NWG Choir: Special Rehearsal Tomorrow Evening at 6:30 with the Children’s Choirs preparing for Christmas Concert.
• Drive Groups: Will meet as needed, and/or for abbreviated times, this Sunday due to the Christmas Children’s Concert (many of you NWG choir peeps will need to be there for that).
• Coming to theCorner: The Go Concert, next Thursday evening to benefit and raise awareness for global Malaria crisis. Check out more of what this looks like at http://thegoconcert.com/
• Drive Group: Training Tip for this edition
• Christmas Party Scavenger Hunt: our Annual Scavenger Hunt Christmas party is Dec. 20th. Usual start time applies, but plan to be later in the evening pick up. We are still in need of 1. Drivers, Lots of Drivers to meet our Safe Sanct Requirements 2. an Appetizer house to. Send “I Can Do” replys back to this email. I am forever grateful.
• NO Youth Team Mtg: Last month we started with our first Youth Team mtg in some time. We meet on the 3rd Monday’s of the month from 6:30-8:00 in Youth Lounge. With this month’s being so close to Christmas, we will not have one this month. Plan for January 18th.
• This month’s Youth Leader Spotlight
• Rob Bell in Nashville. I know that many of you have checked out this book on the media bar called “Drops Like Stars” & have seen Rob Bell in at least one Nooma video. Well he is coming to town next Wednesday to speak to the message behind Drops Like Stars. If you are interested in going, pick up a ticket and we can work out some ride down, or go as a family. You won’t be dissappointed.
• What Is Your Spiritual Type?
• Have you downloaded & filled out our yearly Health & Permission release form? Please do that.

Hey All! Pumpkin Update as of now

1. We have sold over $7,000 of Pumpkins as of yesterday
2. Our 2nd Shipment, a 1/2 Load comes Sunday at 1pm. Come prepared to unload the last of them.
3. Need help filling in spots over the Weekends. I know Saturdays can be Busy, But it is just 3 hours to give.
4. Fall Festival is Coming Up Sunday 25th. We will be hosting some of it at the Pumpkin Patch. I encourage our Drive Groups to Plan for some Trunk or Treat Fun as well!

I love the Onion, its a satire news site which, as all good written satire, shows us a very possible reflection of who we are and what we are possible of. Disclaimer: the Onion is many times of a pg-13 rating, so I am not advocating for all their content being acceptable in my eyes, but it still is many times truth telling. This little gem comes from their mock television news coverage. If you ever wanted to stalk keep track of your kids with their help, just join into facebook.

So You Missed our Parents Meeting earlier this evening. Here’s a recap so that you can be informed.

Youth Meeting

• There were super cool forms to fill out, one being the yearly Health & Permissions form.
• I told you about my youth growing up, finding my own ’strangely warmed’ experience amidst a youth program, but never finding discipleship till God called on me to practice my faith.
• Our shift in programming from a traditional UMYF model to our current set up is a movement back to our Methodist roots of young adult small groups and empowering youth people to practice their faith and grow deeper in discipleship.
• We went over our weekly program set up.
• We went breezed through this cliff-notes version of our calendar for the next 12 months. If you have questions about a specific thing, just email me.
• Different with the calendar you might see, is 2 senior high missions experiences to Long Beach. One during spring break & the other during the choir tour. The plan is to have choir tour come through Long Beach to do their choir performance and the whole group will do a day of missions in the area. The size of the two missions teams will be smaller than our normal, only being 15-20 people for each. Other logistics are still working out on that one, but that’s the dream.
• We need folks to sign up to help with Warmth in Winter, Pumpkin Patch, the Missions Experiences, and Snack Supper especially. If you are willing to help with Snack Supper please email Donna Daly.
• We have added the NWG Choir to the google calendar on our calendar page. If you are having trouble seeing the details of an event, let me know. In updating the calendar viewing permission might not have been set correctly. I think I got it right, but I have been known to screw that up in the past. &:~D

If you have more questions feel free to email gavin(dot)richardson(at)hfumc.org for youth program related stuff or nwgpraises(at)gmail.com for all things NWG Choir.

cartoon via cartoonchurch.com lots of funny stuff there

Hey All!

Since the last time we talked via 5minute eLetter a lot has happened & some of it wasn’t planned that way. We are still moving along and building our youth community for this coming year. As everyone probably knows, Erin & I welcomed Brooks Foster “The Pellet” Richardson to the family on August 16th, only 6weeks early. No problem.. Well, we are adjusting, mom & boy are great and I am getting back into work as usual.

• We have run into some safe sanctuaries issues since the start of fall. Nothing major but finding out that some of you fabulous leaders have not been certified through our Safe Sanctuaries process. Whatever the case may be, per our guidelines, no one who hasn’t gone through the screening & training process is allowed to be in leadership (that covers leading programs to helping out) for youth & children programming. There is a training this evening in the Companions class where you can get all that set behind & moving forward. If you cannot make tonight, please keep tuned in for the next available training. The safe sanctuaries team has been doing them pretty regularly since we started this last spring.
• Eikon:Writing, Improv & Photography will be on for this evening. We hope to finish the start of Arts & have all four groups rolling by next Wednesday. These are multigenerational misfit communities, come out if you are interested.
• NO NWG Choir: This Week
• NO Youth Gathering This Week either. We traditionally take a breather on Labor Day & Memorial Day weekends for Family time & Rest for our Leadership
• Parents Meeting: Due to the surprise arrival of Mr. Brooks, we postponed our Parents Mtg for that day. We will now be trying out a joint Youth/NWG choir mtg on September 20th, 415pm – 5pm for Youth, 5-530/45 for NWG Choir. Location in the church has yet to be determined..
• Fall Camping Retreat: The camping retreat went off really well thanks to a great crew of adult leaders. From what I know everyone came home in one piece and some even want to change their daily occupation to River Rat. View Photos from the Retreat
• Youth & Youth Leader Training: We will be rescheduling our last training session before we break up into our drive groups for September 8th from 530-730. I know its right on the heels of a long weekend, but make sure to do your homework and be there, we will be going over a TON of stuff.
• Helping with CoffeeHouse? A few of you have mentioned wanting to help out with CoffeeHouse sound board, tech stuff, etc. We are going to do a crash coarse Sept 13th, from 11am to 12. Right after we get done that Sunday
• Have you downloaded & filled out our yearly Health & Permission release form? Please do that.
• This coming Up to check out School House Rock Live, the World Vision Africa experience, & Spirit Days.
• Take a little Action today. Take a Photo and Join the Don’t Forget About Darfur petition.
• In the world of, “I can’t believe what I just saw” (or heard) may I suggest I will leave youth ministry if something like this happens at my church or youth event…

Thanks everyone for your support of the ministries & especially to Erin, myself, & now Brooks!

shalom

-gavin