GOOTH Kick-Off 2008

GOOTH had our annual kick-off tonight and had a fabulous time! we had 46 youth and about a dozen adults! that’s a record high number of youth for clemmons presbyterian! we had a great time with an odd assortment of food: finger-food rolled mini-wrap sandwiches, watermelon, and cake. yum! we sang several songs, including bebo norman’s “I AM” that we learned and fell in love with at montreat. then did three energizers: sparkle, istanbul, and run around. that took most of our time. we rounded out our time with some fun noodle games outside and a nice rousing chorus of “bambera”!! (jarrett you’d be proud!)

we missed those youth who couldn’t be there tonight, for whatever reason. some had games, some were out of town, some were sick. we had a lot of visitors and we hope they come back! it was great to have some new faces in the group. i’m looking forward to next week and continuing this year with this great group of youth!

the one about the name GOOTH

*this is me recollection of the birth of the word GOOTH, while some of the details may be wrong or backwards, this is the general story. i apologize if its long, it takes time for such an amazing name to take root*

gooth. what a crazy word right? well we are a crazy group of youth, but where did this name come from and why is it such a big deal? it all started a long time ago ( about a year and a half ago) in a land far away (the high school room)….

In the fall of 2006 Jay, our newly installed associate pastor, threw out the idea of naming our fabulous youth group and so we took a Sunday evening to brainstorm among our separate middle and high school groups for possible names with the goal of coming together at the end and discussing our favorites. I personally thought that this was just a filler activity, something to keep us busy, little did I know how this fun brainstorming session would change our youth group forever (or at least the next few years). The high school room was particularly full that night and so there were a lot of side convorsations and very few serious ideas being mentioned…things like “cupcakes” and “frogs” i think made it on the board and I was starting to get frustrated when a few of the boys in the back started to talk about combining some of our favorites into one word. group of youth i think was already on the board and so they started playing with that…grouth….groyth….gyouth….and then gouth…wait no it’d be funnier to spell it gooth. I remember discussing the spelling of our newly invented word for a good 10 minutes. but there it was…GOOTH.

I’m not sure what it was about this word but the high school youth quickly became obsessed with it. Jay had told us that the name could not become official until everyone had a chance to discuss it and come to a consensus (jay later informed me that “it was an exercise of using consensus as much as it was a way to choose a new name”), but the high schoolers didn’t care. We had decided that this was going to be the unofficial name whether or not anyone liked it. When it came time for the actual “consensus session” we were able to convince everyone that gooth was the best choice for a name and it became official on january 14th 2007.

after that the name took off. Gooth became this wierd word that instantaneously bonded anyone associated with it. jay, who might have missed his calling into marketing director, ran with it and had gooth tshirts made, gooth magnets, business cards, postcards, even this nifty blog.

I truely believe that God cares about things even this small and so I think that God had a hand in the naming of our group because without some kind of divine intervention i’m not sure that a) our youth could have agreed on one name and b)it could have had this effect because honestly….GOOTH? its crazy word…but then again, we are a crazy group.

much love

Chelsey McElwee

the seventh one about nyc: final reflection

when I first proposed the idea for GOOTH to go to nyc for a mission trip, I never realized the impact that this trip would have on the GOOTH. I had hopes for the GOOTH to learn, grow, have fun, and be enlightened…but they surpassed my hopes and expectations. you can read all about their experiences in their own words in the previous nyc posts, but no blog can capture the experience of the “emotional devotional,” as chelsey called it, that happened on thursday night.

thursday’s devotion started like any other. we would let someone from each workgroup share their experience that day with the rest of the group. two simple comments were made that caught my attention in huge and complex ways. hannah platt, a graduated senior, commented that while we did a lot of “fun” stuff together as GOOTH, we needed to do more service stuff back in clemmons as a group. sarah hoyle, a rising 9^th grader, said that she and hannah had a deep conversation that day about their experience. sarah said that by working with people this week, it hit her that the once nameless homeless people now had names…and thus made more human in her mind. (you can read their own words in the sixth one about nyc.)

Hannah and sarah thought they were making simple observations…ones that, to them, were now obvious and “no-brainers.” they are simple observations. but, their comments hit me like a mack truck. their simple statements and the reactions, head-nods, and agreement of the GOOTH made me realize that they GOT it. these youth “got” it. there are many ways that youth react to such mission experiences, and many of them are self-centered or my-world-centered. but their reflections were NOT – they were neighbor-centered. since this was the first such experience for many of the youth, I expected to hear self-centered reflections, such as, “I learned that I’m very lucky to have what I have,” or “I learned that I’m fortunate to be born in clemmons and into a stable family,” or “It’s a shame these people don’t have what I have.” but, that’s not what I heard…not a single youth expressed these or similar comments to me or at the devotion. instead, the GOOTH saw Jesus in one another and the people with whom they worked and encountered during the week and their learning was truly neighbor-centered.

hannah’s observation about us doing lots of “fun” stuff was a significant observation, because that has been my plan all along. I came to CPC in august of 2006, but I had started planning for the youth group 7 years ago. in 2001, I learned my biggest lesson about youth ministry: It’s All About Relationships. over the years since, I began to be attentive to God’s leading for youth ministry and to make mental notes about ways that I could build relationships within the “youth group i would have one day.” we find a theological basis for relational theology in the greatest commandment: love God and love neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31; Luke 10:27). and if you love neighbor as yourself, then it is clear that you are to also love yourself as your neighbor. Calvin says to know God is to know thyself. the inverse is also true: know thyself, know God. GOOTH has spent the last 2 years building and strengthening relationships within ourselves and developing an identity. by knowing who we are, and by loving ourselves – both as individuals and as a collective GOOTH – we can in turn love our neighbors as ourselves, love God, and know God.

only after a group knows and loves itself can meaningful things be born from it. GOOTH now wants to work side by side more often. GOOTH now understands who their neighbor is, and what it means to love them. GOOTH is closer to God because GOOTH knows who they are. this is the point i prayed for over the last 7 years. even before i knew who the youth at CPC were, before i was called to CPC, and even before i went to seminary, i began praying for God’s guidance to lead the youth group i would one day work with. i asked God to help me find the way to build relationships and create a youth ministry program that exemplified relationship theology. God has done that. and the GOOTH are ready to lead themselves on their continued faith journey.

they have reached this point quicker than i thought imaginable. when i heard hannah, sarah, and others talk about their experience with this mission trip, it hit me. i broke down and cried with joy, amazement, wonder, excitement, love, and praise to God for all that God has done with GOOTH. The Spirit was definitely present that night at the emotional devotional. God only knows what is in store for GOOTH, but i am excited to find out what it is!

the fifth one about nyc: the spirit

greetings from the end of a looooooong evening. tonight was indescribable, but i’m sure some thing will be said in a future post. tonight’s devotion was spirit-filled and illustrated the movement of the spirit that paul describes when he says in romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

the following two posts were written before the spirit-filled events of the evening devotion, and no one had the chance to blog anything tonight. hopefully tomorrow will include some reflection upon tonight’s devotion.

Erica Chatham (10th grade)

Thursday was fun, but it was also very difficult. The Staten Island team split into different groups; some went to a Moravian church to sort clothes and to put them in boxes and others went to the soup kitchen. I, on the other hand, went somewhere totally different. Stephen, the Stovalls, and I went across from the church that we are staying at and went to the Hospitality House. It had stories of apartments for the clients staying there. We were given a big job. We were told to dust the whole lobby. Sure that sounds easy, but when we got there, everything was covered with dust, dirt and what seemed like mold. So instead of dusting, we ended up washing everything. We grabbed a ladder, buckets of water, and wash rags to get started. I am extremely short so it was difficult to reach high places like the pipes and the exit signs. We were so determined to get the job done that we hardly took any breaks. When we finally finished it was after twelve and the four of us were the first ones back to the church. We had our lunch and took showers early, because we were covered in dust and dirt. It might have been a hard and serious job, but there were plenty of jokes for us to laugh at and that is what was enjoyable. When we left it was cleaner and a little bit brighter. The color of the lobby was a dirt white color and I hope that they paint it a dark blue, because it would match some of the weird lights in the lobby.

Tyler Hinshaw (9th grade)

Today, my group of Sara, Patrick, Ian, Niki, the Tellers, and I went to the Bronx. We worked at the Food Bank of New York. To get there we had to ride the ferry, the subway, and a bus. We had a short orientation to Food Bank using videos. Our job was to sort water, vinegar, bleach, and other similar liquids into boxes and only have a certain weight of the product in each box. Then we taped the boxes shut, labeled them, and put them in stacks. Four people (Patrick, Sara, Niki, and Ian/me) put the products into the boxes, taped them, and sorted them. The other three people got the products out of the original boxes they were in and put them on a long counter for the others. In the end, we sorted 4,183 lbs of liquids, which equaled about 3,217 meals. We finished at 12:30, so we got to leave earlier than we thought. Since we had extra time, we went to Chinatown and Little Italy. All of us teens got I <3 NY shirts for $3! After walking around for a while, we went back to YSOP for our final meeting, where we filled out evaluations and talked about our week. For dinner, we had pasta. A group from Michigan and the leaders from PH joined us. Now we are cleaning up, and soon we will begin our shareholder letters. Tomorrow is our free day. Can’t wait!

the fourth one about nyc: the rainy game

Tonight was baseball night…there was a rain delay, but it was the best part! here are three more reflections from the GOOTH…

Adam Chatham (9^th grade)

Hi, during the baseball game it started raining badly. Lucky for me I was under a roof. Before the rain started we all went and got food and free baseball caps. Some of us went to get them signed but the hat was ruined by the rain. I think after 30 minutes of the rain me and two friends were getting bored. They had to cover the field and wait for the rain to stop. Stephen suggested we take a look in the gift shop. By the time we got there we realized that there was nothing there we could afford and the rain was still pouring heavily. So we played a game where we had to guess the prices of items. We first did the hat. I guessed 30 dollars and Stephen said 20. It was 15. Then we went to the t shirts. I guessed 25 and Stephen guessed 30. Well it was actually 40 dollars. We started to talk about how overpriced things are here. When we got to the jackets we made guesses and we were way off. The hoodys were 80 dollars. Finally we went to the replica Yankee shirts. They were over 200 dollars. We all started laughing. After that we went back outside and the rain had stopped so we took our seats and started watching the game again. The Yankees had a shutout going when we left.

Alyssa Brown (12^th grade)

Today was a busy day; my group went to a clothing bank at an old army terminal in Brooklyn. We sorted through tons of clothes, first men’s then women’s clothes. The clothing brand Chaps (for men) had just donated a boatload of shirts, jackets, sweaters, pants, etc. Most of the clothes that were donated were used as samples and were made in foreign countries such as Korea, China, and Taiwan. In order to get import taxes reduced, the factories cut minor holes in the clothes and we had to throw those clothes away because they sent a message of inferiority to those receiving the clothes. We also bundled a ton of women’s sweaters and on our break, we went down to the pier and saw the Manhattan skyline. When we got back to YSOP headquarters, two social workers talked to us about working with homeless people and how they lobby the NY State Congress to pass laws in favor of homeless/low income people. It was a pretty long seminar but also inspired me to want to help and volunteer more. Then we came home and went to the baseball game which you already read about and now we are about to go to bed to get ready for tomorrow!

Sarah Hoyle (9^th grade)

So, I guess none of you blog readers have heard from my group yet. But Jill, David, Hannah, Katie and our leaders Sam and Jennifer and I are all in a YSOP group on Manhattan. On Monday, we worked in a place called Food Change where we made food to ship out to different agencies that would distribute it to hungry people. Hannah, David and I chopped 250 POUNDS OF POTATOES! It was actually really fun. We also chopped some carrots and onions and celery and other vegetables to put in a delicious pot of beef stew. We had lots of fun. On Tuesday we worked in the Love Gospel Church…yea. It was defiantly a new experience, but there were WAY too many volunteers. 52 in a room half the size of the church fellowship hall. When we prayed as a group right before we served the food, there were lots of AMENS shouted. It was intense. We had the job of resetting the tables after they had been cleaned as the guests were leaving the soup kitchen. Then today our group worked in a place called Furnish a Future. Apparently it was on the Today Show, and for good reason. This two story warehouse building was filled with furniture and other necessary household items that had been donated and would be given to individuals who were starting in a new home from being homeless. I thought it was really great that there was SO much new/slightly worn furniture to give out. We had the job of putting the finishing coat of varnish on about 20 nightstands. During lunch break we walked around the neighborhood and it was very interesting to see the differences between each block we walked. We saw a VERY fresh poultry house that had chickens and rabbits sitting in cages to be slaughtered for meat. You definately don’t see places like that on your average street in Clemmons! This has been such an awesome experience for me and I’m really looking forward to these last few days!

the second one about nyc: first exposure

i don’t have much time to make any opening comments, because curfew is coming up…so, here is what a few of the youth had to say today…

Reva Manikas (12th grade)

Today was day two of our trip. The Staten Island group was assigned to Project Hospitality (PH). When we arrived; we were then split into three sub groups. My group and I stayed at the food pantry. Mondays at the food pantry/soup kitchen aren’t as busy as the rest of the week. Today we helped get the area ready for the chaotic day to come tomorrow. I enjoyed the volunteers at PH; they had a sense of humor and you could clearly tell they were truly New Yorkers. The only thing that was really frustrating was the big walk up the hill back to the church. After the PH group were reunited with the rest of the Staten Island group and were able to get some rest in before meeting the YSOP group in Manhattan. We took the ferry to Manhattan then walked around the LONG way to see Battery Park and on through NYC to go to the Stage Door Deli. The Sandwiches were extremely big, so I had to share. They were fabulous. After dinner, we visited the Financial Center and took pictures looking down at Ground Zero. That was the best part for me. 8 years after, there is still construction going on. It looked as if it had happened just a week or so before. After visiting the World Trade Center, we toured down Wall Street and downtown Manhattan. Lastly, we got onto the Ferry and headed to the Church. Although everyone was exhausted and tired from walking around, catching subways, and working hard, I know that we all are extremely excited to be in the Big Apple, NYC!

Kelly Norris (9th grade)

Today, after going learning about Project Hospitality, the agency The Staten Island group divided into three groups. My group went to help out at their summer reading program. When we got there we met some awesome kids who were there to learn more about reading. I helped some younger kids with their reading packets that they had to complete. It was really cool because they were all so nice and great to work with. I don’t think I’ll ever forget trying to explain fact and opinion using a piece of blue yarn I found on the table. It worked pretty well though. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the smiling and laughing kids there. Afterwards we had our free time in the city. We walked through Battery Park, ate dinner and saw Ground Zero. On the Ferry ride back to the island we stood out on the back deck. The view of the skyline was amazing! The work is hard and we walk, a lot, but all in all, it’s a great experience.

Ian McElwee (11th grade)

After waking up at 6 in the morning, boarding a ferry and the subway with the morning work rush, we finally arrived at YSOP and started our service adventure into New York City. We started with a breakfast orientation and talked about what it meant to be homeless and to serve. After the orientation and discussion, our three groups split up and went to different agencies all around the city. My group (Ian, Patrick, Tyler, Sara Morris, Niki, and Bill & Cathy Teller) went to St. Johns Bread and Life in Brooklyn, after getting lost in the subway. St. Johns is a soup kitchen along with other services (group help, library and homework help, Medical Aid, and Legal Aid just to name a few). We arrived just in time to serve lunch, and from 10:30 to 12:30 we served about 300 people. I helped cleaning the dishes while others in the group helped serve food, distribute drinks, clean tables, and clean up outside. The whole experience gave us an opportunity to really see that when the YSOP people said that 1 in 6 people in New York City go hungry every day, they weren’t exaggerating. Every day the agency serves 600-1000 people for breakfast and lunch. After talking about our day at YSOP, the whole group met at Ground Zero and walked around. We walked down Broadway and marveled at the buildings and how tall they are. The ferry ride back gave us a perfect view of the Manhattan skyline. The first day of service was a new experience even for those who have been on a mission trip before.

the one about nyc, day 1: getting there

the GOOTH mission trip started today! as promised, here is the first entry in the blog. three of our middlers wrote entries, so i’ll keep the intro short. it is 10:15. the lights just went out. we have an early morning tomorrow.

(from Sara Morris, 8th grader)

Hello! Today is the first day of our mission trip in NYC. We will soon be eating dinner and now we’re all just kinda lounging around, but we have had a really long-but fun day! This morning, we woke up really early, (or stayed up really late for some) and all arrived at the church really early around 2:00am. We left the church and started our journey, first going to the Greensboro train station. We were basically the only people in the train station so everywhere you looked you would see a GOOTH green t-shirt. Then we boarded the train. The train was a lot of fun. There was a lot of room and it was neat going through some of the big cities like D.C, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. It was a pretty long ride but we made the best of it. Then we went up and waited for Jay and our luggage at the amazing Penn Station. Jay quickly found us because us being in our bright green t-shirts, we were pretty easy to spot! We got our luggage, went up a few stairs and escalators and then were met with the hundreds of honking taxis and tall buildings of New York City! It was sooo exciting! We walked a few blocks and crossed a few busy streets then went to the subway station. We quickly got aboard and were much happier in the cool air conditioned cars. On my train a couple of New Yorkers asked about us and were really interested in what we doing. It was cool. After that, we walked a little bit more than went to board the Staten Island ferry. Today we have ridden all sorts of different things-cars, trains, subways, and now the ferry was just adding to the list but the ferry ride was really neat. We saw the Statue of Liberty up close which was cool. After we exited the ferry, and got through what seemed like a mob of people, we started towards the church. Through some of the Staten Island buildings you could see the church steeple. So the end was in sight! We didn’t know exactly how to get there, but we had a pretty good idea. My group decided that if we ended up in Manhattan, we knew we went the wrong way Then after a little walk we finally made it to the church. It is really nice here and I think we are all having fun after our first day.

(from Samantha Cooper, 8th grader)

Hey All!! Today was the first day of our mission trip we arrived got unpacked and we are settled in! The one thing I was worried about today was the subway. Everyone was making fun of me because they knew that the subway was no big deal and that I would be fine. But I did not know that; I thought that I was going to be left behind and no one would notice!! (Yeah right) turns out the subway are actually kind of fun. Because you are getting tossed around and you have to hold on or you are going on the ground! The other fun thing we had to do in order to get to Staten Island is we had to ride the ferry which went right past the Statue of Liberty; We were all excited about it!! I was afraid that Reva was going to drop her camera in the water but she did not!! Thank goodness!!All in all the first day was really fun and I am sure the rest of the week will rock our socks!!!

(from Tyler Hinshaw)

Hey everyone! Today has been great. We had such an early start this morning- we had to be at the church at 2 a.m. Once we got to the train station, we all sat around on the big wooden benches. One thing we could do during that time was work on a prayer shawl. Ms. Jean brought all the materials to make one that we could all work on together. The yarn is a very pretty mint-green. It was the closest to GOOTH green she could get. The train ride was a lot of fun, too. Most of us slept at first, but when we woke up, we moved around to talk to our friends. One thing I learned today was walking across a train is not the most pleasant thing in the world. It was very rickety, especially between cars. About halfway through the trip, our car became empty of everyone except for GOOTH. It was very nice because we could spread out and I got the two seats I had been sharing with Sarah to myself. When we got to New York City, we had to wait in the train station for the longest time, but after we got our luggage, we got to see the city! The city was AMAZING! There were people everywhere, but it was so exciting. We got to see the Empire State Building on the way to the subway. We had a bit of difficulty in the subway station because we had to get our luggage through the spinning things that you enter through. However, Jay came to the rescue and handed our stuff to us after we passed through. The subway was an experience that I enjoyed. Once we found where we were supposed to be, we had to hurry through the doors. There weren’t that many people on the subway- not many of us had to stand in our car. We also got to ride the ferry, from which we could see the Statue of Liberty. It was so cool to see her from the water. We could see the line to go into her, and it was so long! When we arrived at Staten Island, we hiked up this long hill to get to the church. After unloading the car with the sleeping stuff, we had some free time (I took a nap). For dinner, we had New York-style pizza. We also got to decorate new GOOTH cups- red for middlers and blue for high schoolers. We had a safety talk where we discussed what to do it certain situations. Soon after we had devotions. We talked about the burning bush story and how we are being called to “Take off our shoes” this week. We also shared our highs and lows of the day. Bye- I’m off to bed. <3

more to come another day…

peace, love, and chocolate,
jay