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Posts Tagged: young adult volunteers

May 23, 2023

Pentecost Offering: We Are All Builders

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You may never have thought of yourself as a builder, but you are — we all are. Some people you know actually do build solid things like houses and bridges or maybe roads and highways. But we all build things that support our future. Perhaps you build a garden each spring or a menu plan… Read more »
May 16, 2023

Pentecost Offering connects youth in the body of Christ

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Fifteen-year-old Grace Reck usually can’t wait to try new things, but when given the chance last year to attend her first churchwide youth conference at Montreat, she dragged her feet — for a minute. “For both Grace and her twin sister, Emma, the Montreat Youth Conference was a pivotal experience in their faith journey,” said the Rev…. Read more »
May 3, 2023

Pentecost Offering Helps Young People Challenge the World’s Injustices

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Yuriko Beltran wants to change the world — which is exactly why the 23-year-old entered the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program. “I like the fact that I actively contribute to change, which is what the YAV program mainly seeks to accomplish,” she said. The YAV program is an ecumenical, faith-based year of service in sites across the U.S…. Read more »
April 26, 2023

Pentecost Offering Sets At-Risk Youth on the Road to Success

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Everywhere he looked, the Rev. Allen Shelton saw tremendous gaps — gaps keeping high school-aged young people of color from succeeding in life. Rev. Shelton, a veteran educator, community advocate and pastor in New Jersey, was determined not to watch promising youth fall through the cracks of an increasingly broken educational system. He wanted to… Read more »
April 11, 2023

Pentecost Offering: How did they do that?

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“… building up the Body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12 How many times have we seen a modern building, an historic landmark, a great cathedral or a monument and thought, “How did they do that?” Regardless of when it was built, the skill and craftsmanship needed to not only imagine it, but to make it sturdy… Read more »
May 23, 2022

Pentecost: Living a Life Through Faith

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The branches of their family trees are filled with Presbyterian pastors and elders, so it’s no wonder that Akilah Hyrams and Noah Westfall — both alums of the PC(USA)’s Youth Adult Volunteer or YAV program — have lives rooted in their faith-building experiences. The YAV program is an ecumenical, faith-based year of service for young people ages 19–30 in sites… Read more »
May 16, 2022

Pentecost: More Than We Can Plan

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From the day they are born and even before they are born, we are busy making plans for our children. Some of our planning is about the really big things, like the name they will carry or finding the college that will help them fulfill their dreams. Some of our planning is much smaller, like… Read more »
May 21, 2021

Pentecost: Who are our teachers?

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The Psalmist says, “God from my youth, you have taught me…” Psalm 71:17, and that is true. But it could have also said, “God from the youth, you have taught me” and stated something almost as true. With a foundation in faith built in the early years, our youth can teach us something about leading… Read more »
May 18, 2021

Building faith connections that last a lifetime

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By Lynne Foreman In the late 1980s, when I was serving as a youth group leader in my local congregation, my pastor invited me to attend a gathering that I recognize now as the early stages of a new movement for youth in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Even as I was being drawn headlong into… Read more »
May 14, 2020

Pentecost: One YAV’s Journey of Faith

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From Northern Ireland to Nashville Rev. Ashley McFaul-Erwin would not likely be a pastor for the Presbyterian Church today if she’d stayed in her homeland of Northern Ireland, and especially if she had never found the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program. From Northern Ireland to the U.S. seems like quite a big leap, but it’s… Read more »

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — Luke 23:42

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