Greetings!

Just wanted to say Thank You to EVERYONE who came to Winter Meeting 2008 in Washington DC! Big shout outs to the Phili/Balt Conf, Programming Chair, EVP, T-Shirt Gurus, Video Man, the entire VCYCEC, GA, and every young person that came through, did right, and had a blast!

From the bottom of my heart – THANK YOU.

Here’s the challenge… the interim! Allow the momentum to continue. There is work to be done! I will blog a more detailed evaluation in a few…

Love you,

Vajaah
VCYC President 2006-2010

Who: VCYC 18-21 & YACM 22-40

What: Comedy Night Featuring Sean Sarvis

When: Saturday December 27, 2008 @ 11:00pm

Where: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

Cost: $7.00 – Table Seating, First Come First Serve

SEE YOU THERE!

So this is just a little list of things I felt many of the youth in Zion could identify with.  So let’s get started!

You know you’re a Zionite when:

1. You had close friends in more than 2 states as a teenager because of the Winter Meeting
2. You had close friends you only saw once or twice a year because of the Winter Meeting
3. Even as a teenager, you had a favorite hymn (“It is Well”, “God of Our Fathers”, “Blessed Assurance”, “What a Fellowship”)
4. Every time you see a biblical or musical reference to Zion, you think about the denomination
5. You’ve had several pastors in your lifetime at the same church…and you’re still just a teenager.
6. If you’re a PK, your life is similar to that of an Army Brat.
7. You wished all your friends were members of the AME Zion Church so you wouldn’t have to explain so many things.
8. Your male friends refer to their significant others as Missionary Supervisors or First Ladies
9. You visited more cities than all your friends by the age of 15 because of the various Christian Education meetings you have attended.
10. You pretend like you don’t know if you’re going to the Winter Meeting even though you’ve already purchased clothes for every event of everyday.
11. You look forward to the Winter Meeting as much as Christmas, if not more.
12. You wonder why Bishop McCoy doesn’t wear purple
13. You know Rev. George McKain’s nickname
14. Imitating the Board of Bishops is a regular form of entertainment
15. You and your friends know the exact year you will be eligible to run for Bishop
16. You rock or have rocked Winter Meeting t-shirts in public
17. You have several totes, bags, & backpacks with The AME Zion Church logo on it
18. Your heart started pounding when you found out a resolution about discontinuing the Winter Meeting was going to be heard on the floor of the General Conference
19. You have arguments about why your bishop is cooler than someone else’s
20. You have sung the Wesleyan Grace in public (with harmony)
21. You jazz up the traditional worship songs found in every AME Zion Church service (All things come of thee, The Gloria Patri, The Threefold Amen, etc…)
22. You randomly quote snippets of the Communion Ritual (“Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven…lol”)
23. You wonder why Rev. George Maize IV hits his stomach when he sings.

If I missed anything or you think of something that should be included, add your ideas to the list by commenting below.

Ruth D. LaToison

Executive Vice President, VCYC

On November 22nd, Vajaah posted an entry called “An Investment Worth Protecting.”  One of the questions she asked in that blog was “Are we brave enough to sin less…”

I still read that line over and over again thinking to myself, “Wow!”  When I think about “my walk” I’m often soooooo stressed out because I’m not where I think I should be.  I take little me and compare it to Big Him and I sometimes get so discouraged that it would be easier to forget about my relationship with God and all that it requires.  Next to perfection, we all look so horrible.  I’m not suggesting that we become Trump Card Christians: feeling like our walk with God is better because we’ve overcome a particular sin that the next guy hasn’t.

But the idea that we can focus on Sinning Less instead of giving up because we’re not Sinless is an amazingly simple concept.  I’m not sure where the theologians stand on this, but I think its something Youth and even Youth Workers should look into.  No human is perfect.  The Bible says we were created in His image, not that we were exact duplicates of Him.  Which makes sense because when I look in the mirror, I swear up and down that my hair has a mind of its own.  I stand in front of the mirror everyday working on my hair trying to get it to do what I originally planned for it to do.  That’s what God does with us.  He stands before us all the time, working on and with us attempting to make us look the way He intended for us to look.

Sometimes there are stray hairs, and sometimes the curly ponytail won’t lay straight down.  Although the image in the mirror doesn’t match the original image in my head, that mirror image is still beautiful and I’ll continue working on it everyday.

(…not just because I’m fly LOL!)

-Ruth D. LaToison
VCYC Executive Vice President