Hi Parents,

WOW! SHINE 2025 was phenomenal! Students said yes to Jesus, made friendships, worshiped freely, and had much fun! My favorite moment was hearing students pray over their leaders with authority and God's mercy. One student prayed for Fathers to be led by God's spirit, and I thought, woah. This generation is special! Thank you for your prayers and support. It takes a village!

We are grateful for MLK weekend and the much-needed pause Monday provides. And we are eager to get back to Youth! Tomorrow, we have our first BRIDGE of the year! Dinner is served in the Garden Room/ Commons by Cari and her team from 5-6 pm. We will have Youth from 6:00-7:30 pm! We hope we see every student from SHINE at Youth tomorrow!

We have a church-wide bible reading plan that will take us through the entirety of scripture in 1 Year! If you are interested in joining or starting a small group that will walk with you as you read please visit www.firstwaco.com/walk

Starting January 29th, the Youth will go through an 8 week series on spiritual disciplines. The Youth staff will present the disciplines through the life of Bible Characters. We hope to get students excited about reading scripture, listening prayer, and speaking prayer, fasting, confession, sabbath, contentment, and worship!

We love being able to serve your families. If you ever have any questions please reach out, my email is Chris@firstwaco.com.

Blessings,

Chris Bell

Director of Youth Ministries