This year, a team of 20+ youth, young adults & youth workers self organized a planning team for our Spring Jr. High Retreat CONVO 2013. They met over a weekend in October, another in January, and through the technology platform “Basecamp” throughout 2012 & 2013 to collaborate, plan & execute plans for both events. These events, with the joint theme “Bare Faith” and mini-sessions were led by St. Paul’s UMC Rev. Tyler Amundson, Brian Johnson of Family Promise/Interfaith Hospitality Network of Helena, Young Adult Leader Abbie Thompson a student at University of Montana, St. Paul’s Youth Director Meg White and Yellowstone Conference Youth Coordinator Janna Lauver with her husband Bobby Lauver a 6-12 educator in Three Forks. The theme was centered on the concept of being able to Bare & Bear our faith while living in the earthly world.
· CONVO 2013 was held at St. Paul’s UMC February 17-20 2013. 94 youth registered/22 adult volunteers/12 young adult volunteers.
o Had 35 First Time YAC Retreat Registrants
o 54 Females, 40 Males
o 25 Freshman, 19 Sophomores, 22 Juniors, 28 Seniors
o Largest groups came from Helena, Great Falls, Billings & Livingston
o Smaller groups came from Laurel, Miles City, Three Forks, Bozeman, Townsend, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Corvallis, Stevensville, Havre, Missoula, Boulder, Dutton & Butte.
o At CONVO 2013 we celebrated our current young adult leaders who are members of campus ministry organizations, active in their local United Methodist Churches, serve as deans/staff at our UM Camps & serve in local & international missions through the United Methodist Church. We also celebrated our “aging” group of Youth Ministry Team leaders as almost all of our current leadership team will graduate after serving 2 years or more on the team. We took time to promote opportunities to serve including applying for the Youth Ministry Team by March 15th, joining a United Methodist Campus Ministry, working or serving as a volunteer at United Methodist Camps, attending a Chrysalis event & continuing to raise money for the Youth Service Fund & Imagine No Malaria in their communities.
· Jr. High Retreat was held at Butte Aldersgate UMC on April 12-14 2013. 31 youth registered/13 adult and young adult volunteers/9 high school volunteers.
o Had 20 First Time YAC Retreat Registrants
o 21 Females, 10 Males
o 10 - 6th graders, 5 - 7th graders, 16 - 8th graders
o Largest groups came from Helena & Havre
o Smaller groups came from Cascade, Butte, Corvallis, Miles City, Billings, Bozeman & Great Falls.
o At the Jr. High Retreat we took time to promote opportunities to serve our communities and our world, attending our United Methodist Camps, attending a Chrysalis event & continuing to raise money for the Youth Service Fund & Imagine No Malaria in their communities.
· Youth Service Fund
o Held fundraisers at junior high retreat, annual conference & CONVO.
o Held three fundraisers at Senior High Camp at Flathead Lake UM Camp this past summer.
o Fundraisers included: Candy & pop sales, nametag coloring, prayer rock sales, live auction, silent auction & pie in the face competitions.
o Raised almost $1700 at two events.
o The money raised will be split 2 ways:
§ 2/3 to the Yellowstone Conference Imagine No Malaria Campaign
§ 1/3 to the National Youth Service Fund to fund projects through the Advance & help grow youth-led mission initiatives nationwide.
· 2013 Officers of the Youth Ministry Team
o YMT has filled delegate positions & team positions through nominations. We continue to seek youth , clergy, lay and youth leaders throughout the conference to participate in leadership events & retreat planning core teams.
Youth Leaders: Derrick Persson, Sandy Brown, Meg White
Clergy: Jeremy Scott, Mark Calhoun, Nancy Slabaugh-Hart, David Andersen
Lay Person: Bryan Moreland, Tom Skerritt, Bonnie Hale
High School Delegates & Alternates: Amber Rice, Shane Mann, Dani Stout, Quinton Kirkwood, Jennifer Samsal
Young Adult Delegates & Alternates: Zach Nell, Brittany Spencer, Abbie Thompson
Pages to the Bishop: Samantha Bartlett & Molly King
Youth President/Chair: Molly King until Fall 2013
Young Adult/Adult Chair: Abbie Thompson until Fall 2013
Youth Service Chair: Zach Nell until Fall 2013
Other Members of the Youth Ministry Team (No Vote): Janna Lauver, Youth Coordinator; David Burt, Assistant to the Bishop/Director of Connectional Ministry; Tyler Amundson, Technical Support; Dawn Skerritt, Camping Ministry; Sally McConnell, Missions Coordinator; Kay Lansverk, Bozeman UMC Christian Education; Brittany Spencer & Ann Dickensheets Campus Ministries; Deb Olenyik, Wyoming District Superintendent (Exploration).