Special to the Star-Herald
United Methodist high school students had the opportunity to grow in their faith over this past summer as they attended the United Methodist Youth 2007 Conference. The gathering was held in Greensboro, N.C., over a period of five days this past July. About 7,000 people were at the event, 30 of them coming from the Aroostook County area. Twenty-one high school students and nine chaperones from Grant Memorial United Methodist Church in Presque Isle, Lidstone United Methodist Church in Washburn and the Mapleton United Methodist Church worked over the last year raising money to attend the quad-annual event.
The theme for the week was SPLAT: Seek, Pray, Learn, Act and Teach. Each day there was a morning and evening worship that covered each of those topics. The services included speakers, bands and even comedians. Speakers included Bishop Minerva Carcano who is the first Hispanic woman to be elected to the episcopacy of the United Methodist Church and Reverend Kathleen Baskin-Ball is senior pastor of Sun Creek United Methodist church in a northern suburb of Dallas, Texas – just to name a few. We enjoyed concerts by some of the best Christian artists today like: Fusebox, the Katinas, Superchic(k), Kutless and Stellar Kart. The music kept us on our feet singing and dancing. Other entertainment included: 321 Improv; Taylor Mason, a ventriloquist; and Don Washburn, known as the man with the ‘crazy dances.’
Outside of worship, various workshops were available covering different aspects of faith. Some of the workshops attended by the Aroostook County youth were” Diving Deep: How Life with God is Like Synchronized Swimming, Nothing But Nets, The Spiritual Journey of Harry Potter and liturgical praise dance classes.
For many local teenagers the trip was life changing.
“I enjoyed the worship services and being able to get together with kids our age to learn about God,” said Whitney LaPointe, one of the conference attendees.
That same feeling was shared among all of those who went on the trip. The group would like to thank everyone who contributed to the fund-raising efforts over the past year and the chaperones that brought the youth to Greensboro.
The trip would not have been such a great success without the assistance from the surrounding towns and the participating church communities. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support of our dinner and auction, Aroostookopoly game, discount cards, cookbooks and donations. We are truly blessed to be a part of these communities and church families.
Photo courtesy of Tammy Wheeler
A RECENT youth trip to North Carolina included the following participants, pictured from front to back: Kayla Pike, Julea Gorneault, Sarah Gorneault, Amy Reed, Deidre Dicker, Alyssa Huston, Elizabeth Wright, Amber Reed, Kailee Ireland Whitney LaPointe, Caleb Mathers, Jenice Jarvis, Emilee Currie, Sadie Romano, Kelsey Park, Keenan Eaton, Cole Brown, Jackie Abar, Emily Wright, Danni Anderson, Rilee Currie, Tammy Wheeler, Kim Embelton, Sheila Currie, Kimberly Wright, Wes Levigne, Rev. Dave Williams, Rev. Dot Matson, Sue Brown and Lisa Reed.
