This page is intended to keep everyone updated. If there is a change, cancellation, update, or instructions you can look here for that information. I will also be posting information on what we talked about in YoFam and what scriptures we looked at so that parents will know. There will even be times that I post what has been on my mind.
September 18th, 2019
What a sprint September has been so far. I have been trying my best to make it to as many extra curricular events as possible, so please remember to send me your youths schedules.
September 10th, 2019
September 4th, 2019
Tonight we will officially begin our normal YoFam!!!
For our first lesson I will be sharing my testimony with the youth and sharing a multitude of scriptures that have been important in my life.
One of my goals is to get the youth to start bringing their Bibles to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Think about your own Bible, first off where is it??? Second once you find it how much dust is on it??? Third when was the last time you opened your Bible???
I have noticed that even in my own life I have gotten so used to using biblegateway.org or the Bible app on my phone to read scripture instead of using the Bible on my desk, shelf, or next to my bed. Now dont get me wrong its not bad to use these resources, but I feel like I was using it as a crutch to get what I was looking for quickly, and then I would tend to just read that one scripture and not really study it or the scripture around it.
That being said I am challenging and encouraging the youth to bring their Bibles, to use their Bibles, to yes even write or highlight in their Bibles. I want the youth to see the Bible as more than just a dust collector this year, but as a vital part of their everyday lives.
That being said if your youth does not have a Bible please let me know I would be honored to give them a Bible to use and study.
I know I have said this a lot lately, but I am so excited for this school year and what God has planned for us.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
August 28th, 2019
The summer has finally ended and YoFam is finally back to its regular schedule!!!
Tonight is going to be a special night as some of my friends who are missionaries, that our church supports, from all over the world will be at church speaking about what they do and their faith.
Think about this, one family created their own business (in a country that does not allow Christianity), as a way to be able to teach people about God. Tonight we will get to see their business and hear stories about how they have been able to spread the news of Jesus Christ. They have even brought items that they make and sell.
This week after H.O.W. dinner will begin at 5:30pm so that we will have enough time to hear from each missionary. In case they are not done by 7:30pm and parents need to pick up we will be down in the Fellowship Hall feel free to come down and get your youth.
If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call or text.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
August 2nd, 2019
I can't believe that the summer is almost over, good news is with the end of summer starts all of our normal YoFam!!! I am super excited for this year to start I have some new ideas and fun things planned for this year. Make sure you check with our activities page on the website frequently as I may be adding more events as time goes. Below is some new things we have for this year:
Lastly dont forget I need Tshirt sizes for all the youth.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
July 19th, 2019
INFO
I hope your summer is going well. Feels like to me it has been blowing by. I want to invite any new families I have added to this email as I am preparing for the start of the fall!!!
For those that are new, I try my best to constantly send out emails to parents with information of events and special things happening. Honestly I probably send emails too much, but I never want a youth to miss an opportunity to do something because they didn’t know about it.
Growing up I know my parents didn’t share with me everything they got on email, so if you are the same and your youth want to know what is happening or stay up to date with things there are two other options for them.
I am currently working on finding some more help with volunteer leaders, figuring out high school YoFam, and working on the fall calendar.
With the start of school quickly approaching, I want to let our new families know about H.O.W. so if their youth want to participate they can make sure they have the proper accommodations. H.O.W. stands for Hang Out Wednesday. After school on Wednesday (one school has started) 6th-12th grade students are allowed to come to the church and Hang Out. I do ask if your youth have homework and if so I try to have them do that first. After they have completed their homework we just hang out till dinner. We have a Wii U that we play, I occasionally will bring my Nintendo Switch, play frisbee, basketball, soccer, card games, board games, sit around and chat. I try to have snacks and our pop machine (50 cents per can) stocked, but I could use some help with providing snacks. If your family wants to donate snacks we can set out each week just to tide youth over till dinner please let me know.
STILL TO COME THIS SUMMER
I know our new 6th graders are so excited to be joining us, but we still have a few more things before they can join us. The first event below they can start attending (besides the all church pool party) is on August 21st.
If you did not know we have a tradition that every year our seniors get to pick the color of the YoFam shirt. This year our two seniors (Sasha and Matt) have chosen the two colors. So I am ready to start getting sizes so we can get them ordered before Shirts Plus gets too busy with school orders. If you could send me what size shirt your youth wears that would help me out a lot.
Also the high school wanted a group chat, so I have started a High School group chat in text and lets just say they love texting each other on it, but there are a few youth I don’t have their numbers. even if your youth isn’t in high school would you please send me your youths phone number. I will start an all youth chat too.
THANK YOU
Lastly I want to say thank you to all the parents, grandparents, and guardians who help get the youth to all our events. I know sometimes it feels like we constantly have an event or a meeting, but this summer I have seen a huge growth in our youth in the terms of our family aspect. This is due to the flexibility of families and the willingness of the families to get the youth to all these things. We have almost (besides Sunday School) had an event or meeting at least one time per week this whole summer. Some days we even had multiple things. Thank you, if there is ever an event your youth want to go to but you are struggling to find them a ride there or home please let me know, most of the time I can pick up or find another parent to pick up.
As always if you ever have any questions please feel free to text/call 316-214-4410 or email mgutzmer01@gmail.com me anytime.
I can’t wait to get this fall started!!!
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
P.S. Don’t forget I need T-shirt sizes and your youths phone numbers!!! The sooner I get all the shirt sizes the sooner I will get them ordered!!!
July 7th, 2019
I am excited for this week!!! Starting tomorrow July 8th we will begin VBS at the church. I can always use help from the youth, so if your youth are willing and available have them come to the church at 8:30am this week. VBS will get over at 12:00pm.
Also this week, we will be going to the Derby Theater on Wednesday, July 10th to see Spiderman Far From Home. I know there are several youth who have already responded that they are coming for the movie. Because the movie just came out last week, we will meet at the theater at 12:40pm so that we can all get tickets. Tickets and snacks will need to be paid for by the youth this time. If you have any questions please let me know.
On Sunday July, 14th we will be having our Mission Trip Sunday!!! If your youth was on the mission trip please have them at the church by 8:30am on the 14th so we can get an order of who is speaking first. Everyone will share a few minutes of their favorite parts of the mission trip.
That is all for today I hope to see your youth this week helping with VBS!!!
June 27, 2019
I have spent many months debating on making a YoFam app for phones, or to make a website. After discussing it with some people I decided to make a website for these reasons.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
Director of Youth and College Ministry
What a sprint September has been so far. I have been trying my best to make it to as many extra curricular events as possible, so please remember to send me your youths schedules.
- Thursday will be our first Forged Bible study night. Here is some more info and instructions.
- Senior High girls: Please show up to your location between 6:45-6:50pm. You will be getting started just a little early so that when you are done your teachers can bring you to my house for your parents to pick up.
- Jr. High Girls: If you have a notebook please bring it with you to your class.
- All students should take their Bibles, and a writing utensil.
- The locations for the studies have been emailed, texted, and put up at the church if you missed any of those please give me a call and i can get you the addresses
September 10th, 2019
- Wednesday, September 11th schedule:
- H.O.W. after school
- Dinner 6:00pm (Sloppy Joe Sandwiches)
- YoFam 6:40pm
- YoFam Movie Night Friday, September 13th 8:00pm (your calendars say 7:30pm I have moved it to 8 due to lighting)
- Movie Facing the Giants here is the preview for the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMh_yldxs0
- I will be providing the snacks: candy, popcorn, nacho’s, and pop
- all your youth need to bring is something to sit on to watch the movie.
- Around 8:00pm I will be blocking the North and East entrance into the parking lot to protect the kids. If your youth is driving and will be running late or you are dropping your youth off later than 8:00pm please pull up to the north side of the church and drop the youth off there.
- If it rains we will sill have our movie night, we will just be moving it inside.
- Forged Bible Study: Thursday, September 19th 7:00-8:00pm
- Forged is a new once a month Bible study, in which we will be separating in to gender specific studies.
- Middle School Girls: will meet at Megan Preedy’s
- High School Girls: will meet at Lana Schlegel’s
- When the High School Girls are done with their meeting Lana and Tiffany Ray will be bringing the girls to Michael’s house so that parents can pick up there.
- High School Guys: will meet at Michael Gutzmer’s
- All your youth need to bring is their Bible and something to write with
- Please remember to get me a copy of your youths extra curricular schedules. I want to come and support our youth when possible.
- One thing I, Zannah, and Pastor Ben are trying to hammer home is the importance of using your Bible. I will be taking an attendance of those youth that bring their Bible to Sunday School and YoFam. There will be incentives for bringing them. If your youth does not have a Bible please let me know I would more than happy to get them a Bible.
- I know several of you have given me the consent forms I handed out a few weeks ago, tomorrow your youth will be given a new one for you to fill out. I will be shredding the old ones, as we needed to make an adjustment on them for our policy.
- I will be emailing this information out again this week as a reminder for the Movie Night!!! Please make sure to check our Website YoFam.org and our Instagram page. These are two ways for the youth to always be in the know of what is happening.
- As always if you have questions please give me a call or text 316-214-4410 or shoot me an email mgutzmer01@gmail.com
September 4th, 2019
Tonight we will officially begin our normal YoFam!!!
For our first lesson I will be sharing my testimony with the youth and sharing a multitude of scriptures that have been important in my life.
One of my goals is to get the youth to start bringing their Bibles to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Think about your own Bible, first off where is it??? Second once you find it how much dust is on it??? Third when was the last time you opened your Bible???
I have noticed that even in my own life I have gotten so used to using biblegateway.org or the Bible app on my phone to read scripture instead of using the Bible on my desk, shelf, or next to my bed. Now dont get me wrong its not bad to use these resources, but I feel like I was using it as a crutch to get what I was looking for quickly, and then I would tend to just read that one scripture and not really study it or the scripture around it.
That being said I am challenging and encouraging the youth to bring their Bibles, to use their Bibles, to yes even write or highlight in their Bibles. I want the youth to see the Bible as more than just a dust collector this year, but as a vital part of their everyday lives.
That being said if your youth does not have a Bible please let me know I would be honored to give them a Bible to use and study.
I know I have said this a lot lately, but I am so excited for this school year and what God has planned for us.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
August 28th, 2019
The summer has finally ended and YoFam is finally back to its regular schedule!!!
Tonight is going to be a special night as some of my friends who are missionaries, that our church supports, from all over the world will be at church speaking about what they do and their faith.
Think about this, one family created their own business (in a country that does not allow Christianity), as a way to be able to teach people about God. Tonight we will get to see their business and hear stories about how they have been able to spread the news of Jesus Christ. They have even brought items that they make and sell.
This week after H.O.W. dinner will begin at 5:30pm so that we will have enough time to hear from each missionary. In case they are not done by 7:30pm and parents need to pick up we will be down in the Fellowship Hall feel free to come down and get your youth.
If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call or text.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
August 2nd, 2019
I can't believe that the summer is almost over, good news is with the end of summer starts all of our normal YoFam!!! I am super excited for this year to start I have some new ideas and fun things planned for this year. Make sure you check with our activities page on the website frequently as I may be adding more events as time goes. Below is some new things we have for this year:
- YoFam on Wednesday Nights: this year Wednesday Nights are going to be combined Jr. and Sr. High YoFam. I know there will be a lot of us in that room, but it will be great for us to continue to grow as a family.
- Sr. High YoFam: For 9th-12th grade we will meet the First and Last Sunday of the month from 4:00-5:00pm in the YoFam room.
- Forged: This year we will be doing a once a month Bible study for girls and guys. We will meet the Third Thursday of the month, the guys will meet at Michael's house and the girls will meet at the Preedy's house.
- How did I come up with the name forged??? My favorite scripture is Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." I was thinking about what the purpose of this Bible study would be, and it hit me that it is so we can Forge young men and women in the name of God. So why call it Forged well to Forge something is to mold or create it. So the purpose is to mold our youth into stronger Christians.
- Destination X: Through out this year we will have a few Destination X's. The purpose is that the youth will not know what we are doing, or where we are going. (Parents I will let you know for safety reasons)
Lastly dont forget I need Tshirt sizes for all the youth.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
July 19th, 2019
INFO
I hope your summer is going well. Feels like to me it has been blowing by. I want to invite any new families I have added to this email as I am preparing for the start of the fall!!!
For those that are new, I try my best to constantly send out emails to parents with information of events and special things happening. Honestly I probably send emails too much, but I never want a youth to miss an opportunity to do something because they didn’t know about it.
Growing up I know my parents didn’t share with me everything they got on email, so if you are the same and your youth want to know what is happening or stay up to date with things there are two other options for them.
- Instagram: We do have a YoFam instagram account that I control. During the school year I post every Wednesday on it with the schedule for the evening and the menu for the Wednesday Night Dinner, I also add in if the youth need to bring anything specific. Usually I like to leave things about the lesson kind of vague so they don’t know everything about it. Our instagram page is fpc_yofam
- Website: Because I know not all of our youth have a phone or use instagram, I have created a YoFam website. If you, or your youth goes to www.yofam.org they will be able to see pictures from events, calendar (which will be updated regularly), and also during the school year I will post information about our lessons.
I am currently working on finding some more help with volunteer leaders, figuring out high school YoFam, and working on the fall calendar.
With the start of school quickly approaching, I want to let our new families know about H.O.W. so if their youth want to participate they can make sure they have the proper accommodations. H.O.W. stands for Hang Out Wednesday. After school on Wednesday (one school has started) 6th-12th grade students are allowed to come to the church and Hang Out. I do ask if your youth have homework and if so I try to have them do that first. After they have completed their homework we just hang out till dinner. We have a Wii U that we play, I occasionally will bring my Nintendo Switch, play frisbee, basketball, soccer, card games, board games, sit around and chat. I try to have snacks and our pop machine (50 cents per can) stocked, but I could use some help with providing snacks. If your family wants to donate snacks we can set out each week just to tide youth over till dinner please let me know.
STILL TO COME THIS SUMMER
I know our new 6th graders are so excited to be joining us, but we still have a few more things before they can join us. The first event below they can start attending (besides the all church pool party) is on August 21st.
- July 24th: H.O.W. (Hang Out Wednesday) 2-4pm
- July 31st: Love Does Book Study 9:00am @ church
- August 7th: Love Does Book Study 9:30am @ Derby Donuts
- August 7th: H.O.W 2-4pm
- August 7th: Church Pool Party @ Mulvane Community Pool 7:30-9:30pm $5 per family
- August 21st: Parents & Youth meeting (this is the first event for our new 6th graders) 5:30pm important for youth and parents/guardians to be here
- August 21st: YoFam Welcome/Welcome Back Party after parents meeting. (bring clothes to get wet, soapy, possibly muddy) 6-8pm
- August 25th: Promotion Sunday one service with Sunday School.
- August 28th: H.O.W. after school & YoFam combined 6:30-7:30pm
If you did not know we have a tradition that every year our seniors get to pick the color of the YoFam shirt. This year our two seniors (Sasha and Matt) have chosen the two colors. So I am ready to start getting sizes so we can get them ordered before Shirts Plus gets too busy with school orders. If you could send me what size shirt your youth wears that would help me out a lot.
Also the high school wanted a group chat, so I have started a High School group chat in text and lets just say they love texting each other on it, but there are a few youth I don’t have their numbers. even if your youth isn’t in high school would you please send me your youths phone number. I will start an all youth chat too.
THANK YOU
Lastly I want to say thank you to all the parents, grandparents, and guardians who help get the youth to all our events. I know sometimes it feels like we constantly have an event or a meeting, but this summer I have seen a huge growth in our youth in the terms of our family aspect. This is due to the flexibility of families and the willingness of the families to get the youth to all these things. We have almost (besides Sunday School) had an event or meeting at least one time per week this whole summer. Some days we even had multiple things. Thank you, if there is ever an event your youth want to go to but you are struggling to find them a ride there or home please let me know, most of the time I can pick up or find another parent to pick up.
As always if you ever have any questions please feel free to text/call 316-214-4410 or email mgutzmer01@gmail.com me anytime.
I can’t wait to get this fall started!!!
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
P.S. Don’t forget I need T-shirt sizes and your youths phone numbers!!! The sooner I get all the shirt sizes the sooner I will get them ordered!!!
July 7th, 2019
I am excited for this week!!! Starting tomorrow July 8th we will begin VBS at the church. I can always use help from the youth, so if your youth are willing and available have them come to the church at 8:30am this week. VBS will get over at 12:00pm.
Also this week, we will be going to the Derby Theater on Wednesday, July 10th to see Spiderman Far From Home. I know there are several youth who have already responded that they are coming for the movie. Because the movie just came out last week, we will meet at the theater at 12:40pm so that we can all get tickets. Tickets and snacks will need to be paid for by the youth this time. If you have any questions please let me know.
On Sunday July, 14th we will be having our Mission Trip Sunday!!! If your youth was on the mission trip please have them at the church by 8:30am on the 14th so we can get an order of who is speaking first. Everyone will share a few minutes of their favorite parts of the mission trip.
That is all for today I hope to see your youth this week helping with VBS!!!
June 27, 2019
I have spent many months debating on making a YoFam app for phones, or to make a website. After discussing it with some people I decided to make a website for these reasons.
- First reason is I don't just want our youth and parents to see this. I hope that with this site, that someone who is looking for youth groups in Derby, Kansas would come across our site and be intrigued to come visit us.
- Second I wanted to make something that anyone could see and use even if they don't have a cell phone. By having a website someone could get on our page from their computer.
- Lastly I wanted to be able to share more information with pictures, videos, and stories of all the fun things we have been doing together.
God bless,
Michael Gutzmer
Director of Youth and College Ministry
