Dear Bay Shore,
In our Strategic Goal to engage with the High school youth and possibly invite some of their peers to come with them to Bay Shore, I assembled and mailed care packages for them for finals week. It was a pretty simple package, a few small gifts, some gummy bears, water flavoring packets and a note from me letting them know about the work that the RIC team is doing as well as a prayer for finishing up their school year. We want them to know that this is a welcoming and accepting church and they are welcome to bring friends to check us out. We also have purchased Grad Grams for our graduating seniors that they will receive in a booklet from Whitefish Bay high school, congratulating them on their graduations.
While we have had some trouble getting our middle school and high school youth to attend outside church events, mostly due to busy schedules, I have been focusing a little more on church-wide fellowship and gathering opportunities. During Lent we hosted a Wednesday night Soup with the “Chosen” where we gathered to eat soup and watch a new episode of The Chosen every week and then discuss the episode. This was a big success and we plan on starting it up again in the fall. We also were able to put on an Easter concert for the community, inviting people from Laurel Oaks and other senior living communities to hear Bay Shore’s choir sing a selection of Easter songs as well as letting them join in on a few familiar hymns. We really loved this event and we plan on hosting another concert around Christmas time.
I am also very involved with the RIC team and we hosted two events this spring. A LGBTQIA+ youth theater group called Proud Theater performed at Bay Shore in April. While we were not able to draw a very large crowd, the people that attended really enjoyed it and it seemed like a nice change from the teaching series Pastor Sarah and I had been leading. It was great to see young people so passionate about sharing their experiences and helping people understand how challenging being a queer youth in today’s world can be. The RIC team also just recently partnered with Soup’R books and hosted a book discussion for the book Unclobber by Colby Martin. We had a large group join us and the discussion was very honest and gave people the opportunity to share things about their own reconciliation with homosexuality in the bible.
The RIC team is taking a break this summer, but we hope that you will connect with Pastor Sarah–like her recent blog shared–before October 1. If you have questions or concerns, let her know! If you support RIC, let her know, and if you aren’t sure about it, please make a time and talk to Pastor about it. We want to hear from you.
Recently, we have launched JOY (Just Older Youth) Club for those who are over 50. I hope to get some events and gatherings geared just to this group to build more community. If you can help, let me know.
Marissa Knopick, Director of Youth & Fellowship
Marissa has now been with us almost a year. While she is not technically an intern, we have asked her to set into roles that an intern would do–like leading worship, preaching, visiting, and more. Her main focus though has been building our youth and fellowship opportunities and programs. We encourage you to connect with Marissa to assist in either of these areas, and to bring your youth to events as they happen!