We’re Weird, But God Loves Us!

Wanna know how St. Nicholas’ Youth Retreat at Camp Mikell went last weekend? Watch this and find out!

Many thanks to our adults for the weekend Cami Fanning, Chris Lintner, and Terry Lyn Noonan!

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FOCUS Volunteer Retreat

REMEMBER, RENEW, & RECHARGE

Those who are in ministries of service and outreach know that it can be easy to forget why it’s important to help the poor and hungry in our community. With a seemingly endless stream of people in need, where is our hope to come?  All current FOCUS volunteers, and those who are interested in volunteering in the emergency service office, the food bank, or the thrift store are welcome to join us for a day of inspiration as we renew our commitments to serving even the “least of these.” Fr. Jeff, who is also this year’s FOCUS chaplain, will lead the retreat at the Hamilton Fire Station from 9:30 to 3:30, and we’ll hear meditations from other area ministers like the Rev. Martha Dye of Pine Mountain United Methodist Church and Todd Sullins from Hamilton Baptist Church. To sign up for the retreat, contact Lynda Frerichs at 706-663-2726 or lyndafrerichs@bellsouth.net by Wednesday, February 9.

For more info on FOCUS, click here.

Congratulations to Our 2011 Vestry!

A quick word of congratulations to our new Vestry for 2011!

This past weekend, the Vestry, Rector, and Staff met at Dave and Sue Halmrast’s house for a Vestry Orientation day. We learned a lot and made plans for leadership in the next year. The Vestry hope to grow together spiritually this year as they exercise the leadership of the parish in teamwork with the Rector. This is a very strong group of leaders, so this year should be a great one! Vestry meetings this year are going to be on the 4th Monday of the month, starting January 24 at 6:30pm. Remember that Vestry meetings are open to anyone who wants to attend unless in executive session.

Here are the areas of ministry our Vestry will be working with:

Dave Halmrast: Senior Warden & Stewardship
Chris Butzon: Buildings & Grounds
Michelle Moody: Youth & Children’s Formation
Drucye Robinson: Communications
Sheila Dixon: Parish Events
Anne Simpson: Hospitality
Connie Blackmon: Outreach
Lynn Hall: Adult Formation
Linda Sawyer: Worship

Also, congratulations to Chris and Jackie Lintner, who were elected as representatives of St. Nicholas to Diocesan Council in November. Michelle Moody and Anne Simpson were elected to serve as alternates.

Pray For Our Youth!

This weekend, Peggy Martin, Graham Horne, Heather Roper, our new youth intern Cami Fanning, and I are taking 16 youth (ages 10-18) to Camp Mikell in Toccoa, Georgia. This is going to be a wonderful opportunity for our youth, many of whom are new to St. Nicholas, to spend time getting to know each other better and building community as a group.

We will be leaving Friday afternoon at 4:00pm, which will get us to Camp Mikell pretty late. Please pray for safe travel and little traffic as we go through Atlanta.

At Camp Mikell, we will be participating in the ropes course, which is designed to give groups an opportunity to get to know each other, break down barriers, and establish trust. Our theme of the weekend is “Building Community,” so everything we do, including our drive up, our worship, and all our activities will be about starting this school year off with building long-lasting friendships. Read more

Youth Cheer on the Cottonmouths

This past Sunday night, the youth of St. Nicholas headed down to Columbus for the Cottonmouths game against the Fayetteville (NC) Fireantz. We had a great time, with 6 adults and 17 kids! While our hometown hockey team ended up losing the game 6-3, we all still had a great time and even got to witness a rare brawl between the 2 goalies! We don’t condone the violence, but it sure made the game interesting! Thanks to Chris and Jackie Lintner for bringing coupons which got us in for FREE, Michelle Moody, April Avery, Matt Hinnant, and Jessica McComb for chaperoning and Heather Roper for suggesting the idea to go!

Our next youth event is our Winter Retreat at Camp Mikell in Toccoa (northeast Georgia) January 29-31. If you haven’t already signed up, you need to do so soon!

Congratulations to the 2010 Vestry!

This past Sunday, we had a wonderful Annual Meeting with great food, great conversation, great reports from our Vestry, and a great election of our new Vestry and Diocesan Council Representatives. Thank you to everyone who brought something for the potluck!

Congratulations to Sheila Dixon, Dave Halmrast, and Anne Simpson on their elections to the Vestry!

Congratulations to Peggy Martin and Michelle Moody on their elections to represent St. Nicholas at Diocesan Council in November, and Graham Horne and Drucye Price as alternates!

The Vestry will be meeting this Friday and Saturday on retreat to plan out the year, review goals from 2009 and create new goals for 2010, and begin to create a shared vision for St. Nicholas. We will have with us DaAnna Stringer from Atlanta, who is a teacher and coach who has worked with many Vestries and churches on create a vision. Please keep the Vestry in your prayers this weekend!

Your Week at St. Nick, 10 - 16 January 2010

Sunday, 10  January (Combined Service)

9:45am Adult/Youth/Children’s Education

10:30am Holy Eucharist and Annual Meeting/Election of Vestry Members

11:45am Potluck Lunch

12:30pm Annual Meeting/Results of Election and Annual Reports

Usher/Greeter

10:30am Dave and Sue Halmrast

Reader

10:30am Blackmon/Dixon

LEM

10:30am P. Martin

Altar Guild

10:30am Sawyer/Tomlin

Flower Guild

10:30am Suzie Eidson

Sunday School Teacher

Marci Horne

Cider

Liz Dixon

Acolytes

Table:   Abby B.

Crucifer:  Abbey A.

Gospel:  Abby B.

Offertory:   Dalton

Torch:   Abby B./Dalton

Tuesday, 12 January

Week 2 of 6

6:30pm St. Nicholas Academy:  Listening to Scripture

Wednesday, 13 January

6:30 - 7:45pm Choir Rehearsal

Thursday, 14 January

6:30 - 8:00pm Strategic Planning Committee

Friday and Saturday, 15 & 16 January

Vestry Retreat

From Balance to Rhythm

This past weekend, Michelle Moody and I attended the Diocese of Atlanta’s Youth Worker’s Retreat at Camp Mikell. We had a great drive up to Toccoa, even though it was more eventful than we had wanted.

It was very rainy on Friday and we had just gotten on I-85 North when a car ahead of us hydroplaned, spun, got hit by the car behind her, and spun some more. Of course, we pulled over immediately. Michelle called 911 and I went to check on everyone. Thanks be to God, no one was seriously hurt. The girl who hydroplaned was hyperventilating and her muscles locked up. The guys in the other car weren’t hurt at all. We stayed with her, held her hand, and prayed with her until the police and EMTs showed up. It was certainly a scary moment for her, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to be there.

We finally got to Camp Mikell, a little late, but there nonetheless. Immediately, we were into a workshop on team building with youth groups. We had a small group task of balancing a bunch of nails on the head of another nail connected to a block of wood. A seemingly impossible task, but one we completed!

Perhaps the most interesting workshop for me was the second one. Pam Drisell, a Presbyterian minister from Athens, led a workshop on finding a rhythm to life rather than always trying to balance everything. Balancing takes all our focus, and once we do find a balance, we can immediately lose it. Pam suggested viewing our lives more as a dance, and finding the rhythm therein. When life gets busy, the tempo picks up, when life slows down, so does that tempo. If we can look at our lives like a dance, we are less likely to find ourselves over-stressed and burnt out. I have a CD of her entire talk if anyone is interested.

We did a variety of other workshops, including sculpting clay blindfolded, taking pictures to get a sense of looking at things from various perspectives, being quiet for 20 minutes during a session in contemplative prayer and Lectio Divina, and learning new music for youth.

We met new friends, rekindled old friendships, and simply had a wonderful time.

I encourage any of you who are parents, grandparents, youth leaders, or anyone who has contact with teenagers to attend weekends like these. They are so much more than learning the newest and coolest tricks. They are all about feeding your own soul in the midst of your ministry. Literally, these types of retreats are helpful to finding the own rhythm of your lives. The Diocese of Atlanta does a great job of being a resource to us. Even if you’re not a youth leader, there many other such retreats and programs to help encourage you in your specific ministry and gift.

Below are some pictures that Michelle took in the photography workshop.

Youth Workers Retreat

This may be short notice, but the Diocese of Atlanta is sponsoring a Youth Workers Retreat at Camp Mikell July 31-August 1. I am thinking about going myself, and would love some company on the way up. Here’s a link to the registration form if you’re interested. The keynote speaker is great…I’ve seen her at the conferences I’ve attended at Princeton.  Please let me know if you’d like to go. St. Nicholas will pay for your tuition if you need assistance. This is for teachers, youth group leaders, parents, or anyone interested in helping us grow our youth program at St. Nicholas.