Dear Church,
Very soon summer will be upon us. For Hanmaum youth group, this starts the beginning of the new ministry year. In the next couple of months before school starts, my goal will be to install new student leaders, train new teachers, and prepare everyone for their new roles to best serve God and grow our community to best achieve its purpose: to raise disciples who love God, love one another, and love the world.
If you are a new parent to Hanmaum youth group, I want to extend a warm welcome. My name is Danny Cho and I have been the youth pastor at Hanmaum for the last two years. I grew up in this church, met Jesus in this church, got married in this church, and, by God’s grace, will be welcoming a baby girl into this church as well this August. This community has a special place in my heart.
During the summer many students are visiting Korea or traveling. Often this means that some close friends are separated for a short time, and can be discouraging for students who are staying in town. If this describes your child, please do not let your child slip into dismay! This is a great opportunity for students to reconsider their reasons for attending church and the true purpose of youth ministry. For the children who are traveling, I want to encourage the parents to remind the kids to continue faithfully pursuing their spiritual disciplines. If you need reading plans or QT assistance while your child is traveling, please let me know.
New Classes
These are the new class arrangements for starting from June 9th. One of the big changes is that the present 7th grade class (rising 8th grade) which used to be split into two groups, is returning to a single, large group under Boram 선생님. Another change is that during the summer, Eunice Lee, will be covering the rising 10th and 11th grade girls classes. Eunice is a UNC graduate, a psychiatric nurse studying to become a Nurse Practitioner, and a member of the EM congregation. She has agreed to try out youth teaching during the summer.
|
박준화 |
6th and 7th grade |
|
Boram Kim |
8th grade |
|
이혁종 |
9th grade |
|
Eunice Lee |
10th/11th girls |
|
Danny Cho |
11th/12th boys |
|
John Kim |
12th girls |
There are one or two other individuals I have been trying to recruit as youth teachers, so these classes may change slightly during the summer. Please be advised.
Summer Prayer Nights
As part of our youth group’s 2024 prayer focus, this summer we will be holding a youth activity and prayer meeting every other Wednesday evening from 7pm to 8:30pm. Each meeting will feature an initial game or activity followed by a short reflection on a Psalm and an extended time of prayer. The dates are as follows: 6/19, 7/3, 7/17, 7/31, and 8/7.
Youth Retreat
This year’s summer youth retreat will be held July 22nd (Monday) to 25th (Thursday). The theme of the retreat will be “Taste and See” from Psalm 34:8. We will be going to Camp Mundo Vista (3140 Camp Mundo Vista Trail, Sophia, NC 27350). The guest speaker is Chris Lee, a Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Phd candidate, EM member, and former youth pastor. The cost will be $140 and the deadline to Register is July 7th.
Personal Updates
I have heard some speculation about my continued role with Hanmaum youth group now that I have graduated from seminary and been ordained. Admittedly, I was not sure how things would turn out either. As you all know, my wife works as a teacher. We are planning for her to stay home to take care of the baby, and so she will not be going back to work once her current school term ends in June. Looking for a full time Physical Therapy job was also difficult because it would not allow me to do the work of ministry, especially in regard to holiday and weekends requirements, as well as the logistics of taking the kids on retreats during the work week. I was actually quite worried about this and we prayed a lot. But thankfully, God has heard our prayers and provided me with a part-time PT job to sustain my wife and I for the coming season. They were even willing to honor my request to take a leave of absence during the summer retreat. Praise God!
Prayer Requests
- Transition of leadership – Every member of our youth SALT team except for two will be graduating this year, and so will our two praise team leaders. Please pray for our youth students to mature and grow into leadership roles this coming year.
- The Baby – At the time of writing, Jeanie is 28 weeks pregnant. We have settled on names – she will be called Abigail in English and 희진 in Korean. Please pray for the remainder of the pregnancy to go well.
- Balancing time – I was anticipating the ability to spend more time on youth activities and preparation after graduating, but now with the additional job, I will have to do some more learning and adjusting in my schedule. Please pray that God would give me wisdom on how to divide my time and manage it well to serve as best as I am allowed.
With love,
Danny Cho
