The end of these seasons marks 2 years since attending the church and 1 year officially on staff and as a missionary! The time passed by so quickly but every second has been a little piece to the big picture God has been painting with my time here, and it is a beautiful sight to reflect on.
YOUTH GROUP
Our studies have shifted in the youth group to going through the book of Colossians, verse by verse, looking at every detail the Spirit calls us to. This has allowed for deep reflection on what living kingdom minded actually looks like and why it is important. We are happy to provide guidance, encouragement, and tender correction as kids with a desire to know God more confront what holds them back from deeper surrender.
RECENT EVENTS
With the colder season calling us to stay more indoors, we have done so many events for the kids to celebrate the holiday seasons together and get ready for the fun to come in the summer! Click below for details on each event.
YOUTH CAMPOUT
The kids pitched tents and played games through the night on the church property for a fun night of camping and activities like painting pumpkins, mini-games, and campfire worship.
HALLOWEEN OUTREACH
We shared the gospel to families trick-or-treating in Culpeper while handing out hot cider, food, and candy with gospel tracks and church flyers.
TACKY TURKEY TALENT SHOW
The church body and youth group shared skills and funny skits after a chili and soup cook off. I got the chance to play a piano piece with one of the middle school girls and judge the food!
CHRISTMAS WHITE ELEPHANT
We enjoyed a night of Christmas worship, snacks, and funny gift giving – someone even walked away with a rotisserie chicken!
CHRISTMAS LIGHT HANGING
The youth volunteered at Our Father’s House to install festive lights on the houses and lampposts to bring holiday cheer to the residents (yes, that is me in the slideshow as the Grinch AFTER his heart grew three sizes bigger)
ALL THINGS NEW: NEW YEARS LOCK-IN
4 teams of kids spend the night on the property to celebrate the new year in worship and compete in fun challenges for a chance to dunk the leaders in a dunk tank. The theme was based on the verse Revelation 21:5 – “And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new,’ and He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.'”
GIRLS HIKE
We took a couple middle school girls to hike at Mary’s Rock and share a reading in Psalm 104 together at the peak with kind strangers and beautiful views.
DISCIPLESHIP
I have continued to meet with two girls on a weekly basis and 2 other girls occasionally. Some topics we have covered recently include reviewing the Gospel, starting to read through the Old Testament, guidance and support with big life changes, accountability, and learning different methods of spending time in the Word and in prayer that works best for each girl. It has been beautiful to see them open their eyes more to how God is working in their lives and answering their prayers.
BRANDING
During this time, I also got to develop branding for the youth group ministry under the title ABIDE Youth Ministries based on the verses John 15:1-11.
We found inspiration from these verses to inspire kids to consider ways to grow roots into the Word and grow fruits out to the world with a center of remembrance, gratitude, and sufficiency from Christ and what He did for us. Below you can find the finalized brand design and our first T-shirt design that I made.
HFA MISSION TRIP
Similar to their Spring trip, Hope For Appalachia goes back to the Appalachian area to share the Gospel and warm goodies with the local communities before Christmas time. This trip tends to be smaller, but the positive impact the Lord inspires is BIG!
Our days consisted of going to a couple schools to either drop off warm clothes and blankets whilst meeting the faculty as well as reading the Christmas story and spending time with the younger classes.
This trip was a great example of God as Emmanuel – “God with us”
The most impacting testimony from the trip was God answering our prayers and stopping the snow from preventing us from visiting the communities that needed a glimpse of His comfort and provision that day. While every other team was impacted from the weather, ours was able to still navigate the roads and bless the schools new to the program.
WORSHIP & MEDIA
WORSHIP
As our head worship leader was out of town for a couple weeks, I had the opportunity to not only lead worship on Wednesday nights for youth group but also for the congregation on a couple Sundays! This was definitely a challenge of confidence and trusting the skills God gave me to bring Him glory, but this beautiful opportunity allowed the church to get to know me more, and it surprisingly allowed me to get to know myself more as well.
MEDIA
Click below to view what I have been working on for the church media production including Sunday slides and branding design.
FUTURE PLANS
With the warm weather coming, we have so many exciting plans coming up to prepare for including scheduling more events for the middle school girls to come together for fun fellowship, concerts and conferences to take the kids to, and our beloved summer camps! My personal goals into the new season is to focus more on media services and AV/Tech team that I am dedicated to.
The church is also preparing for taking more congregants outside of the youth group to join HFA in Kentucky as our own mission group, and the leadership is also in prayer about branching out internship and discipleship opportunities for the congregation.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Preparation for the HFA Spring Trip with the whole church
- The hearts of the middle school girls to cling to God and shape their desires on His wise and caring direction
- Balancing personal work responsibilities with ministry responsibilities better
- Going into the new year with goals of pursing more spiritual support
DO YOU NEED PRAYER? SEND ME YOUR REQUESTS!
Dayna Shea Design & Ministry
“Soli Deo Gloria”
Creating to glorify the Creator. When we see the love the Lord has painted into His canvas of the world, we can reflect and embrace it within our own work.
