140 Cereal • 140 Instant Oatmeal or Old Fashion Oatmeal • 170 Granola Bar • 158 Strawberry Jelly • 40 Granola Boxes • 100 Mac and Cheese • 123 Pasta Sauce • 180 Tomatoes • 180 Snacks • 75 Canned Tomatoes
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Abiding Presence's Re-Entry Ministry is supporting newly released inmates at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. If you are interested in being part of this new ministry, contact Wendy or Pastor Joe. We accept donations of the following…
NEW items needed for Men: Coats, Sweatshirts, Pants, Long-sleeve Shirts, Hats, Gloves, Belts
USED items needed for Men and Women: Pants & Shirts [larger sizes needed most]
NEW or USED working cell phones of any kind
Here’s what we need for the upcoming food pantry on August 14th:
Shelf-stable milk • Canned tomatoes • Paper towels • Granola bars • Oatmeal • Jelly • Crackers
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Hello 7th-12th Grade Families,
I hope you all are doing well and staying safe.
I want to highlight a few upcoming events happening at the church this week.
This Monday, November 9th, 12 - 2 PM, is our outdoor homeroom. This is a chance for 7th-12th grade students to get outside, be in the parking lot surrounded by friends and nature, and get homework done. It’s going to be a beautiful day to be outside! Plus, today we are going to be visited by a therapy dog set up by our amazing Abiding Fellow Laurel. Masks will be worn at all times and social distancing will be enforced. If you have never tried outdoor homeroom before, today is a great day to do so!
This Tuesday, November 10th, 4 -5 PM, our 9th and 10th graders have the chance to meet with Mr. Jon and Mr. Andrew for small groups. In small groups we explore how our lives and faith intersect and interact. It is a time and place to ask profound questions and think about them with the group. This is a time for everyone, no matter where they find themselves in their faith journey. We have had a great group of students joining us each week and we’d love to welcome a few more of our 9th and 10th graders to the conversation.
This Thursday, November 12th, 3 - 5 PM, I am back to doing driveway visits. If you want a chance to chat with Mr. Jon one on one in the comfort of your front driveway, please reach out (jon@abidingpresence.net) to set up a time.
This Friday, November 13th, 7 - 8:15 PM is Friday Night Lights. Please sign up in advance here at abidingpresence.net/youth. Parents, please sign up to volunteer as well as these events take a lot of parent support.
Our Abiding Fellows (11th & 12th grade) will be meeting two times this week, in person on Monday 1:30 -2:30 PM, and online on Wednesday from 7:30 - 8:30 PM.
We will continue to follow our safety protocol and ask everyone to wear a mask at all in-person events.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas as we head into fall, please do not hesitate to be in touch.
Blessings,
Mr. Jon
Wednesday, October 28 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Our annual “Trunk-or-Treat” event will look a bit different this year, but still provide opportunities for fun for the whole family.
In order to keep everyone safe, participants will drive thru the parking lot from the safety of their vehicles to view our display of trunks and characters. At the end, we will hand out a bag of candy from a safe physical distance. Feel free to make it extra fun by dressing the kids up in their costumes for the drive thru.
Volunteers are needed to:
Donate bags of candy (drop off in the designated bin in front of the church by October 21)
Sign up for a parking spot in the lot to park your decorated trunk, stand in costume or create a display. All parking spots will be physically distanced in order to keep participants safe. Everyone in your parking spot will be asked to please wear a mask and follow COVID precautions. You do not have to stand with your decorated trunk. We will ask all trunks to be in place by 5:15 p.m. and plan to stay in place through the end of the event.
We hope this provides a safe way for our community to celebrate Halloween and the opportunity for the whole congregation to be engaged in this outreach event.
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Hello, 7th-12th Grade Families,
I hope you all are doing well and staying safe.
This week Abiding Presence Youth Ministry will be kicking off our fall calendar. This week’s event schedule and the September calendar are below. Here’s a look at what is coming.
On Monday, September 21st 12 - 2 PM we will have our first-ever outdoor homeroom! Come to the church parking lot and bring your homework, laptops and/or whatever you need for asynchronous learning. We will have Wi-Fi in the parking lot so you can spread out and get some space or sit near your friends (8 ft apart of course).
On Friday, September 25th from 7 - 8:15 PM is Friday Night Lights! This is an event for students to come, have fun, play games, and be together as a youth group. This Friday we will be hanging out, playing games together, and talking about plans for the future. These will be happening ever 2nd and 4th Friday of the month.
Small Groups for 9th & 10th Graders and Abiding Fellows for 11th & 12th graders are opportunities for students to gather in small groups to connect at various times during the week.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas as we head into fall, please do not hesitate to be in touch.
Blessings,
Mr. Jon
We want to help 4th-12th graders participate in music and arts this fall! We’re launching a new music and arts ministry that will offer the opportunity for physically-distanced ensembles/small-groups outdoors at the Abiding Presence church property, with precautions similar to this summer's youth group activities. If you have a 4th-12th grader interested in music, dance, art, creative writing, production, acting, etc., we have a place for them in an Abiding Presence small ensemble.
We are inviting families of 4th-12th graders to tap the link below and fill out a brief, one-page survey to help us gauge interest in each type of group activity: AP Music & Arts Interest Form for 4th-12th Graders (Fall 2020)
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For the past few years, Abiding Presence has been involved in the Log College Project. One of our “pandemic pivots” of our Log College Project grant is to launch “Abiding Fellows,” a fellowship program for 11th & 12th graders connected to the congregation. Building on the success of our summer college-age internship program, the “Abiding Fellows” ministry will provide a similar opportunity for our 11th & 12th graders. Read more about this new ministry program and/or apply at abidingpresence.net/abiding-fellows.
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Early Bird Registration Due by December 4
This summer’s youth work trip will take us to Philadelphia, PA to serve with City Service Missions (CSM). The early bird registration was originally due December 1, but we are extending the deadline to Wednesday, December 4 in order to allow as many families as possible to take advantage of this discounted rate. Registration for the trip is now open and can be found here by scrolling down the page and clicking on the box "register for a trip." The $80 deposit can then be paid online here. If you need finanical assistance to make the trip possible for your student, please contact Pastor Keseley. We never want cost to keep a student from participating. If you have any questions, please contact Jon.
Who: current 8th-12th grade students
When: June 21-26, 2019
Where: Philadelphia, PA with City Service Missions (CSM)
Cost: $275 (if registered before Dec. 4), $350 (if registered before Feb. 1) or $400 any time after (Financial assistance is always available, so just talk with Pastor Keseley if that would be helpful)
Here are further details:
We will attend worship together at the 8:45 a.m. service on Sunday morning, June 21, and then leave immediately following the service. We will come Friday night, June 26.
While in Philadelphia we will be staying in CSM's housing. There will be shared sleeping (multiple rooms with bunk beds, and leaders will be separate from students) and bathroom facilities in accordance with our child protection policy.
We will be working for a group called City Service Missions (CSM), which is a short term mission organization that partners with local ministries, food pantries, summer camp and other great organizations. CSM works to give churches an opportunity to help partner with organizations in ways that allows the ministry to keep going after we are gone. It will be an amazing trip where we get to do some hard work, meet amazing people, experience life in the city, and eat delicious ethnic food.
During the week we are serving we will visit two community partner sites every day. We will go to one in the morning, take a lunch break and then visit the second site. At the end of the day we will have dinner at a local ethnic restaurant (Indian, Mexican, Vietnamese, Cuban, Middle Eastern, etc.). The night ends with a team debriefing. One day we will have free to explore Old Town Philadelphia where the famous Liberty Bell is located!
An $80 deposit is due at the time of registration, which will be credited toward the total cost of the trip. Please fill out the registration online and then pay the deposit either electronically through the church website here or bring a check to church. The trip cost is inclusive of all costs except meals during travel and incidental expenses. The total per student cost of the trip, including travel, is much more than we are asking families to pay. We will have several fundraising events leading up to the trip in which we will ask the students and families to participate.
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