this is a letter i have sent off to a number of fellow youth ministers and interested parties. it's been quiet, but this a continuation of the recent firing changes of two our most functional and successful parts to the tennessee conference ministries of the united methodist church.
Hi all,
hate to leave a short notice alert for a meeting. but tomorrow has possibility to be a big day in the world of youth ministries.
In the afternoon the camping committee is meeting (at the conference office) to discuss the future of camping ministries in the aftermath of the dissolving of the program positions as they were. As it looks, there will be a rubber stamp to have Dickie Hinton, who is program director at Beersheba, function as director over all camping. The second point of business is summer camp at Cedar Crest. There is a real lack of summer staff and if canceling camp becomes the option then there are many of us that fear it would never come back. This might be the desire as some as there is a resolution going to Annual Conference to develop a task force for exploring other options for Cedar Crest. Though my participation in Cedar Crest has been minimal over the years I appreciate and know the important of camp. My own experience in childhood being spent at the methodist camp in southern New Jersey. We hired James to try and bring Cedar Crest up to speed as a camp that gives a high adventure retreat space for summer camps as well as smaller church groupings. My personal opinion, we have nickeled and dimed our way through camping ministries to get our current results. I ask for your prayers and maybe suggestions that we could bring to the table as solutions to not let summer camp die for the hundreds of youth that call it home for a summer.
at 6:30pm we will be convening the first gathering of the youth ministry for the conference since the 'listening' session a few weeks ago. This meeting, as i know, is open to interested parties to attend. As I know, I will be there and some of the CCYM as well as Loyd. The order or content of the meeting, I do not know. I hope it is a continuation of the 'listening' session where we can do some discerning and visioning of how to actually move forward. If you car not, or cannot, make the meeting pray for discernment and listening on all parts. Like I have said in the past, I am all for churches growing and reaching those who are lost/unchurched/etc. however, it is undeniable that the methods for which our trusted leadership took upon themselves to bring change have caused hurt and unrest.
thanks for all ya'lls time
shalom
-gav
