A Brand New Look

Check out our web page www.EYouthWNY.org!  We've got a brand new look for 2011.  More details on what's new coming up in the new year, plus more dates for upcoming events, photos of the new Diocesan Ministry Center and more!

Have a happy New Year!

Peace
Jay

The Christmas Story Video

This is from a great congregation based project that brings together art and kids.  Loved the star and the image of mother and child touching fingers in the manger is just beautiful.

A video Christmas card.

Faith and the Buffalo Bills

"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

The words are from a tweet by Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson following his awful day against the Steelers.  The dropped pass will follow Stevie for years to come, both personally and professionally.  Until he has the chance to win the big game with a catch (and I believe that he will) THIS is going to be the play for which he is remembered.   And that’s really too bad.  Prior to this game Stevie Johnson has been an incredible addition to the Bills and a lot of fun to watch.

What jumped out at me though is what he said in his tweet.  It’s a great chance to take a look at some commonly held beliefs.  Let’s break the tweet down:

(And Stevie, why all the SHOUTING?  I’ll do this in polite cyber- tones)

“I praise you 24/7”  A good place to start and I’ll take him at his word.  The problem is, quite simply, yeah, so what?  Does God owe you something because you praise Him?  No, it’s our place and duty to praise the Creator of the Universe (and us too).  It is our appropriate response to the Divine.  If we DON’T praise Him 24/7 will God somehow be deprived by that lack?  Again, no.  I believe that God is saddened when we don’t pray to Him on a regular basis but we can’t gain the upper hand in “negotiations” with God by withholding prayer.  So pray for the right reasons, not because you think you gain something by it.

“And this how you do me?” Um, no.  Let’s get past the idea that God gives a darn about football games.  Even better let’s get past the whole idea that every time something bad happens in our lives it’s God’s fault.  You see the underlying assumption there is that our lives would be perfect if God didn’t keep messing them up.  I hope you can see how screwed up that idea is without a long explanation from me.  No Stevie, God gave you all the tools you needed to make that catch.  Your quarterback put the ball right where it was supposed to be and the Steelers defense (sigh, lifelong Steelers fan here) left you WIDE OPEN IN THE END ZONE (sorry, I promised not to shout)!  And you dropped the ball.  You did it Stevie.  Not God.

“You expect me to learn from this???? How???!!! I’ll never forget this!! Ever!!!”  Three thoughts but all related.  God expects us to learn from everything.  The good.  The bad.  The boring.  Life is not a spectator sport.  You’ve got to keep your head in the game as the football players say.  How do you learn?  One way is by not forgetting what happened to you.  It’s about remembering how bad it feels when you screw up and hurt the folks around you.  The memory of that pain is a great way to work hard to avoid ever being in that position again.  Remember the joy of getting it right.  That’s inspiration to do what it takes to get back there as well.  Pay attention.  Make sure you use your gifts to the best of your ability, every time, all the time.  Trust me, no matter what age you are you’re not done learning.  Thinking you know everything is the best way to set yourself up for some major pain and failure.

“Thx tho”  In the end Stevie gets it right.  Even when you’re mad at God (and getting mad at God has a long and distinguished history.  It’s OK, God understands) always remember to say thanks.  Thanks for your life, thanks for your gifts, thanks for the person or people in your life that makes a difference, thanks for the chance to be the person making a difference.   Thanks for kittens and puppies and sunsets and thunderstorms.  Thanks for all things that make you special and your life special along side.

In the meantime say a little prayer for Stevie Johnson.  A lot of people are dumping on him right now.  He feels terrible.  Remember what it felt like the last time you screwed up.  Pray that God will help ease his pain.  And give him another chance to win a game for our Bills.

Peace

Jay

On the Election of a new bishop

It's a difficult time.

For a lot of us it is a reminder that a relationship we value is coming to an end. We are “losing” our bishop. Changes in relationship are always painful. Of course we always knew this change was coming, it's a natural and normal part of the process but that doesn't change the pain.

Then there's the whole election thing. It means that many of us didn't end up getting our first choice. Of course that's part of the process as well. Let's take a look at that process for a second.

This election took place in a community of faith. Like most of us I didn't actually have a vote. People from my parish (another election) were trusted to make this decision on my behalf. I trusted them to make that decision carefully, prayerfully and while listening with their hearts to hear God's direction. So if I trust them and trust that God wants what is best for that portion of his children known as the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York then I need to trust their decision.

And that can be hard sometimes. It's not something that “polite Episcopalians” would normally speak of but the reality is that some folks really liked/really disliked some of the candidates. Which means that some folks saw this election as a huge win/terrible loss. We're not supposed to talk about that but let's be honest. Some folks are happy with the choice, some are not, the rest are hopeful. Happens in every diocese every time.

So what do we do? Our faith declares us to be people of hope. Our next bishop won't be as good as some people hope and he won't be as bad as some people fear. In faith and hope we need to be open to the possibilities of this new relationship. We need to be prepared to offer our support and council to our new bishop-elect and to listen prayerfully to the council and leadership he will offer us. It's the exact same process we went through when Bishop Garrison was elected.

Being a bishop isn't easy. My question for all of us in the youth ministries of the diocese, youth and adult, lay and clergy, is this – will we chose to work with the bishop-elect for the glory of God and the health of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York or will we chose to hang out to our disappointment and become a stumbling block.

Have a joyous and thankful Thanksgiving.

Peace

Jay

Stair Dance

We have been greatly blessed with four amazing candidates to be our next bishop. May the Holy Spirit's voice be heard by all my brothers and sisters voting tomorrow.

In the meantime here is an amazing video featuring one of the four!

Checking in From Home

Just a quick update video so you can see that I'm doing OK.

Meet the bishop candidates, EYE and more!

Newsletter for October 25 2010

Welcome (again) to the new youth minister at St. Luke's, Jamestown - Miguel Covarrubias!  Miguel was commissioned by the parish this past Sunday in a service that involved everyone from the Vestry to the youth to the Diocesan Youth Missioner!  It was a great service.
  Miguel comes to western New York from Montana and youth work in other denominations, most recently in the Presbyterian Church.

If you get the chance I'm sure he'd love to make connections with other youth leaders in the Diocese.







Bishop Candidates Walkabouts

"Come Feel the Emotion & Spirit

November 6,7 & 8"

We have a wonderful opportunity coming up in just a few short weeks: the chance to hear the four outstanding candidates for bishop answer those questions that are relevant to our diocese and that, in fact, were created by YOU.   The new bishops need to see young people and hear your voices and questions.  You can come to any of the following:

Saturday, November 6, 2010 @ 1 p.m.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
1 East Main Street
LeRoy, NY 14482

Saturday, November 6, 2010 @ 7:30 p.m.
Christ Episcopal Church
7145 Fieldcrest Drive
Lockport, NY 14094

Sunday, November 7, 2010 @ 7:30 p.m.
Trinity Episcopal Church
371 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14202

Monday, November 8, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
St. Luke's Episcopal Church
410 North Main Street
Jamestown, NY 14701

You can learn more about the nominees and the entire election and consecration process at www.wnybishop.org.  Save the date, March 6, for the Celebration of the Episcopacy of Bishop Michael.

Youth Prayer at Electing Convention

There is still room on our youth prayer team.  We have a solid core but could add up to another 10 or so.  Please contact Giselle Jackman for details.  We need adults to work with this group as well.  Contact Giselle about that too.


Episcopal Youth Event (EYE)

We are beginning the process of creating our delegation.  The first thing we need is some idea of adults who are interested.  The adult application packet is now ready.  You can download it HERE

EYE 2011
June 22-26
Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota

Three full days of worship, sharing, praying, learning, singing and working - followed by an opportunity for three days of urban or rural mission in Minnesota.
The Episcopal Youth Event is open to youth in grades 9-12 during the 2010-2011 academic year. Up to 32 youth and 8 adult sponsors from each of 109 dioceses and 3 regional areas of the Episcopal Church are invited.

$275 per participant (youth or adult) covers meals, lodging and event activities. (Ten percent of fee goes toward mission opportunities at the event.)
Shuttle to and from train/airport is approximately $25 additional.
$20 per day covers lodging and breakfast for additional days of mission.

Please contact me at EYouthWNY@gmail.com if you're interested.

Episcopal Youth Event - Adult applications are ready

2011 is the next EYE and we're starting to get ready.  The first thing we're doing is trying to judge how many people are interested and ABLE to go.  The dates are going to be difficult for some folks so please double check them.  As always this is going to be a great event.  The home page for EYE 2011 is HERE

Because the adults need to meet several criteria in order to qualify we are getting their applications up first.  Adults interested in being part of the diocesan delegation can get the packet HERE

What's EYE all about?  Check the core issues below plus
Photos from 2008 
2008 Video  (find it on our Facebook page EYouthWNY)

The Core Values of EYE
created by the Provincial Youth Ministers in February 2010
Focusing on Jesus Christ and his presence in our lives, EYE will provide an opportunity and create an environment where our young people and the adults who accompany them can continue to grow on their journey in faith.

Striving to be a uniquely Episcopal Community and acknowledging that each person is a child of God and that we are called together into a full relationship with God and God’s Creation, we claim that we are a sacramental people of common prayer with diverse understandings and cultural contexts, all of whom work together as the Body of Christ.

Celebrating our mission and our ministry as the Body of Christ in Community, we will offer training for young people and adults and equip them to be faithful servant leaders in their local and diocesan communities.

Embracing the “Anglican Marks of Mission” as our charge, we will strive to engage the passion and energy of faithful youth, to embrace their call to ministry and to empower them to put their faith into action.

We Need Your Opinion!

Youth Commission is always looking to help people join us. A question has come up about the TIME when we meet. Please follow the link below and take the very short (3 questions!) survey to help us discover the answer to that question.

Youth Commission Meeting Time Survey
Click here to take survey

Meet Your Presiding Bishop!

Lunch and Q&A

with Presiding Bishop

Katherine Jefferts Schori

A chance for High School aged youth and
Young Adults (up to age 30) to meet and
talk with Bishop Katherine.

RSVP for lunch required, see below

lunch choices are tuna salad, chicken
Salad, or a veggie wrap

October 30 2010
Noon - 1:30 PM

St Patrick’s Cheektowaga

1395 George Urban Blvd,

Cheektowaga, NY

RSVP to:

897-3420

Or

PBresponseWNY@Gmail.com

DeVeaux Scholarships

This is a great gift that we have here in Western New York. My daughter was honored to be a DeVeaux scholar.


It is again time to publicize the DeVeaux Scholarships available for Western New York Episcopal students attending Niagara University. Please encourage and inform your parish families during November, December, and early January. The recipients of the 2010-11 DeVeaux awards were published in the Spring/Summer edition of Journeys , the diocesan magazine.

Scholarships to be awarded in the academic year 2011-2012 are:

• Three three-thousand dollar ($3000) tuition scholarships.
• Judge DeVeaux Endowed Scholarships. The number and amount of these grants depend on the number of applicants and the interest available in the fund. For the 2010-11 academic year eight (8)grants averaging twenty-nine hundred dollars ($2900) each were awarded.

The scholarships are restricted to full time students at any undergraduate level at Niagara University and to high school seniors who are considering entrance to Niagara University for the fall of 2011. Students must be residents of the Diocese of Western New York and have their clergy or church warden submit a short letter of recommendation to the Deveaux Commission.

Letters of recommendation should contain the following:

• Student's name, address, and phone number.
• Present high school/present year at Niagara University ( Freshman, Sophomore etc.).
• Attributes that make the student a worthy candidate for the award.
• Contributions the student has made to their school, church, community.
• Parent's name, address, and phone number.

Letters should be mailed to the DeVeaux Commission at 1159 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, New York 14222.

The deadline for all recommendations is January 15, 2010. When all procedures are completed awards will be granted by this commission through Niagara's Financial Aid Department and Admissions Office.

Big News about Camp!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EYouthWNY

Newsletter of the youth ministries of the Diocese of WNY
September 27, 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Early word is that our Journeys #1 Weekend was a big success. More details on that to come.

For this week I'm dedicating the entire newsletter to changes coming in our camp programs. Youth Commission and I have been working on some ideas for quite a while now. At the September meeting some decisions were made. I don't want to just drop them on people but to give some background on them as well. We'll be back to our usual format next week.

All the following changes will take place starting in 2011.

For All Camps

Two Week Rule - From now on cancellation-of-camp decisions will be made two weeks prior to the start of that program. We have bent over backwards trying to avoid cancellations. This meant hanging on to the last possible minute trying to scrounge up the campers needed. In the end this was grossly unfair to the families, who had made plans based on camp going forward, and our facility partners. We also believe it encourages folks to wait to the last minute.

No more. We either have the applications in hand by two weeks in advance or the camp will be canceled. Note that it is "applications in hand". We have been victimized in the past by folks who made promises that they were coming but never did.

Therefore we need everyone to push hard for families to fill in the applications and get them in AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Our camp minimums are quite modest now. There's no reason why we shouldn't have put those behind us every year in the Spring.

A Focal Point for Programs - As part of our ongoing process of creating a cohesive diocesan youth ministry that supports the needs of our young people and their congregations I am asking all our camp programs to place two concepts at the center of their work. I believe that the diocesan ministry can best meet the needs of our constituents by helping our young people to go deeper into their faith exploration and by helping our young people to develop as leaders. In that way we can return to the home congregation a young person with a deeper understanding of who they are as a person of faith, and a better idea of how their gifts may best be served in the community of faith.

A congregational ministry has the advantage of developing a deeper relationship with the youth because you see them weekly (or whatever). In general however that is only for a short period of time. We believe our best effort can be spent by taking our longer period of time, once a year, to dive deep on specific issues. In that way the diocesan and congregational ministries can mesh together for the benefit of our younger brothers and sisters.

For Sleep Away

Date move - LCLC has shortened their program year by a week. This forces us to move our camp as well. It will now take place a week EARLIER in August than in the past. Probably the week of August 7 next year (tentatively)

Start Day Change - As we discussed other issues with LCLC they asked us to consider changing the days that Sleep Away runs from Wednesday thru Saturday to Sunday to Wednesday. The old format created a "dead time" for their staff and increased their costs (paying staff for just hanging around). We consulted with Deacon Cathy Basile the camp director and determined that it presented no major obstacles.

The Sleep Away staff will be examining their program and goals this winter in preparation for re-launching Sleep Away better than ever before in 2011.

Junior High

Junior High has just completed a major overhaul of the program (which was very successful) and no further changes are anticipated in the immediate future.

Senior High

After a long process (that actually began several years ago) and much passionate discussion Youth Commission has agreed with my recommendation to move the Senior High Conference from SUNY Fredonia to LCLC.

This move was based on a single simple criterion - what would be most advantageous for the program? We have rejected this move in the past because we didn't see LCLC having the facilities we needed to do our program. After discussions with Lee Lindeman, director of LCLC, it became clear to me that by using the Retreat Center we would indeed be able to use the camp. Lee looked at what we would need and came back with a price that was better than our current cost at the college.

But this was not primarily a financial decision. SUNY Fredonia hosts many camps and conferences the same week as ours. Additionally Freshman Orientation is going that week and Summer School is in session. Over the last several years our access to facilities has become more and more restricted. The campus environment gives very little for our youth to do when not in worship or classes. With restricted access to facilities like the pool or the Williams Center I believe our program has suffered.

At LCLC we would be the primary program for that week. We would have access to many more activities. The environment at the camp will be more conducive to our work in helping our young people go deeper into their faith experience. At the same time we would continue the "graduation" experience of moving up towards more adult style experiences by using a facility that is NOT used by Sleep Away.

LCLC is very excited to have our conference and in fact moved one of their long time programs to make room for us.

I don't anticipate any major changes to program because of the move. We will have to make some functional changes. By adopting the program focus challenge I wrote about above I believe we can make next year a very exciting change.

I also acknowledge that change can be painful. We have several "generations" of young adults for whom SUNY Fredonia is synonymous with Senior High Conference. We must remember that for other generations it was St. Bonaventure and before that Thiel College or even Alfred University. Change of location is part of the history of this conference. That doesn't diminish the pain. The camp and conference center that I "grew up in" was sold by my diocese just before my senior year. There is still a pang in my heart when I drive by it each day (curiously I now live just a few miles from where my own faith journey really began). What I can offer to the current youth who are unsure about this move and the "graduated youth" with the same concerns is that the decision was made carefully, thoughtfully, prayerfully and with full consideration of all alternatives. This is my recommendation. Before I made it I've done my best to insure that the voices of our young people, both pro and con, were heard. The discussion at Senior High this year was very passionate.

One of the deciding factors was that a long time argument in FAVOR of a university experience was disproved by our own young people. I had a variety of college age youth come back to me, independently of one another, to say that the Senior High experience in fact did NOT prepare them for life in college. While the physical environment was the same the experience was completely different. If you'd like a quick tour of our facilities at camp check out this video on YouTube "Senior High Tour"


In the end I looked at what I thought was in the best interests of the Conference long term. I believe that once our young people have settled in at LCLC they will agree that a great experience will continue.

I am excited about the future of our camps. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. This information and more will be sent out to camp parents, clergy, congregations and anyone else interested over the next several months. But I am always willing to talk with anyone - electronically, on the phone or in person.


So till next week!



Thanks.

EYouthWNY store

This is a way for us to show everyone our involvement in our church and to help support all the youth ministries. The money raised by the stuff at our store is used by Youth Commission to help make camps, and Happening, and mission trips and the Bishop's Ball a little bit better. If you haven't checked out what's available recently please do.

2010 camp t shirt

Get the 2010 camp t-shirt for only $10. If you'd like to get something else with the camp logo on it let me know and I'll try to arrange for it!

The EYouthWNY store

*All "surf report" internet links and "potent quotables" are provided for informational purposes, and do not imply endorsement by Youth Specialties or the Diocese of WNY.

copyright 2010 :: Youth Specialties
300 S. Pierce St. // El Cajon, CA 92020

Contact Information Jay Phillippi e-mail - EYouthWNY@gmail.com Diocesan Youth Missioner Phone - (716) 483-6405 410 N Main St, Jamestown NY 14701 cell phone (716)432-1946 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (716)432-1946 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Diocesan Youth web site - EYouthWNY.org

Diocesan Youth Ministry Blog