Young Adult Council
Here you will find a list of name of the YAC members as well as minutes, updates of our our recent meetings.
Laura Lopez, Rev. Barbara Ruth, Whitney Hellums, Rob Sarbach & Rev. Leslie Tomlinson
seen above at the YAC meeting Spril 2006 at The Loft (www.loftcoffee.com).
List of Members
Erin Aufderhaar Seguin TX
Shelley A. Culbertson Austin TX
John V. Fletcher Bandera TX
Joi Harden (AL) Austin TX
Whitney A. Hellums (AL) McAllen TX
Laura Lopez Laredo TX
Michael Mumme (AL) San Antonio TX
Sarah E. Ritchea Corpus Christi TX
Rob Sarbach San Angelo TX
Kimberly M. Scharmann Beeville TX
Leslie Tomlinson (C) San Marcos TX
Jeremy Whitley (AL) San Antonio TX
Barbara J. Ruth (CL) Corpus Christi TX
Rusty Freeman (SL) San Antonio TX
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Annual Conference Pre-conference Report
Young Adult Council Goals, Plans & Purpose
The YAC is excited about empowering young adults and spreading God’s message of love, forgiveness and redemption to the young adult community in south Texas. The YAC would also like to extend a special thanks to all those who helped in the creation of this Council and for the leaders of the Southwest Texas Conference for their support, prayers, and desire to empower young adults for Christ. For more information please visit our website – www.grace2live.org.
The purpose of the Council on Young Adult Ministry is to strengthen young adults within the local churches, districts of the annual conference, and to empower young adults as world-changing disciples of Jesus Christ.
During the Southwest Texas Annual Conference 2004 a motion was made for the formation and creation of a Young Adult Council. The development of this council came during the 2005 Annual Conference when the Young Adult Task Force presented the necessary legislation to create and fund a Conference Council on Young Adult Ministry.
Since its inception, the Young Adult Council (YAC) has had several meetings, sent two representatives to a Young Adult Leaders Summit in Nashville, and hosted n young adult leadership event in the SWTC.
Young Adult Council Committees
The Young Adult Council continues to seek and pray about the direction to take in working with young adults within the Southwest Texas Conference. The establishment of the following committees will help us reach our goal of offerings God’s grace to young adults:
1) Advocacy Committee – theoretical level, social justice & education, Gen X & Millennial issues, statistics of YA in churches. Practical: Annual Conference rep and nominations, legislation.
2) Awareness Committee – Public witness, website, PR, Joshua Project, listening, Annual Conference presence and visibility. (see www.grace2live.org for more information)
3) Activities Committee - retreats, opportunities, redefine focus ministry of YAC, resources, conferences, find existing programs to join and help educate, Wesley Foundations, etc.
Annual Conference Dialogue Session:
"Youth and Young Adults: Building the Church of Today."
The YAC would like you to attend their annual conference dialogue session. Youth and young adults are not just the church of the future but the "church of today". In less than 10 years, this generation will begin to fill the pulpits, lead the laity, and shape the direction of the United Methodist Church. Now is the time to welcome and receive this new generation of leaders. Come join us as we explore and pray through strategies to reach the "church of today" and remind each other that Jesus was a young adult!
Bishops’ Week – “Reaching Younger Generations”
Several members of the Young Adult Council will be attending Bishop’s Week at Mount Sequoyah Conference Center on June 20-23. Keynote speakers, Bishop William Willimon, and L. Gregory Jones, Dean of the Duke Divinity School, will speak about connecting with young adults in a ministry at the intersection of faith and pop-culture. The conference hopes to bridge gaps and further understand differences as young adult leaders become the future (and present) leadership of our church.
Dive N Deeper, Nov 7-9, 08 (HEB Camp - Windsong) http://www.reachingyouth.org/dnd.html. The YAC is in its third year of co-sponsoring, Dive N Deeper, a student leadership retreat for youth and young adults ages 16 to 21. This retreat encourages students to further explore areas of leadership in the church and community. Those wishing to attend may visit the youth council website and contact Rusty Freeman (rhf143@aol.com).
Chairperson Pastor Leslie Tomlinson, University United Methodist Church, San Antonio
Conference Staff Liaison, Reverend Rusty Freeman, Dir. Of Youth Ministries, SWTC
