Although much if not most of what we do in our Children’s and Youth ministries is rooted in depth and meaning, a lot of it is also experienced by these young church members as just plain fun.
Thinking outside the proverbial box is what these two ministries do best, and these challenging times are no different as they continue to find ways to engage the minds, hearts, and spirits of our children and youth — and their families.
Thanks to our hardworking Youth ministry leaders Kat Bair and Matt Britt, our church offers Fort Worth teens all kinds of boredom-busting ways to stay connected, using technology as the means for study, games, meaningful conversation, service projects and all kinds other ways to keep our teens and tweens thoughtfully engaged with our church and one another.
And for the children, our good old friend, Mister Mark Burrows, former Director of Children’s Ministries, has stepped up to offer his own unique brand of help with a series of made-for-children videos. Released once a day, these short but impactful messages combine familiar songs with a story, a brief message, and a prayer to help children not only giggle and wiggle and sing, but also to listen and learn — and especially to process and cope with the feelings and events going on around them they may not understand. “Children are concrete thinkers,” Mister Mark observes, “and what’s going on right now is anything but concrete — for any of us!”
So to address this gap, Mister Mark has written and is still in the process of recording “Together Time with Mister Mark” with his daughter, Grace, bringing to children and their families a daily message of hope, encouragement, love, compassion, and joy each weekday at 10:00 am; in addition to our children and families, via Facebook this message will reach out to every family in Tarrant County with children, with love, from Mister Mark and First Church.
“Each Together Time video,” Mister Mark explains, “will focus on something to help our children (and us, too!) as we do our best to remember that no matter how big our worries, God’s love is bigger.”
First Yoga — online — this coming week!
Linda Blanchard, FUMCFW Yoga Instructor, has agreed to teach her regular FUMCFW yoga classes via Zoom starting this Tuesday. Class times will be the same; and these Zoom classes will be free for all participants as Linda’s generous gift to our church during this highly stressful time.
Linda says that these are basically the same classes, she teaches at the church, with three important differences: first, you’ll be in your own home and she’ll be on the screen of your smartphone, tablet, or computer; second, you can have your video camera on or off (so you can see her but she can’t see you); and finally, you can mute your microphone (and she can’t hear your smart remarks).
Classes will be Hatha Flow Yoga | Tuesday-Friday at 9:30 am
Adaptive/Chair Yoga | Wednesdays at 10:45 am.
“Join us!” Linda urges. “Wear some comfy clothes and I’ll see you (or not!) in your living room! “ And, she adds, “If you’re one of those who has always kind of wanted to try yoga but didn’t want to go to a class — and yet need the help and interaction with an instructor to help you get started, this is a way you can enjoy the best of both opportunities in the privacy and comfort of your own home.
Here’s how to get started:
- Go to Zoom.com on the device you are going to use for this class. You don’t need to set up an account — you just need to download the app from the App Store.
- Click https://zoom.us/j/8173367278
- When it asks for Meeting ID, enter : 8173367278
You’ll be asked to join with or without video (with means we can see you), and you may be asked to grant access to your video camera; and with or without audio (with means we can hear you — unless you mute your microphone.) It is recommended on most Zoom meetings that you keep your microphone on mute unless you’re talking to minimize background noise. When you want to unmute, you can either click or tap on the microphone or use your space bar like a walkie-talkie button (hold it down to talk, let it back up to mute)
If you have questions or need help learning to Zoom, please feel free to reach out to our communications team for a guided tutorial and a practice session!
Happy Zooming, Yogis and Yoginis!
