Printer Friendly
Email to FriendEYE Design Team will welcome church's youth to San Antonio this summer
That group, the 2008 Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) Design Team, along with members of the Support Team, met in a suburban Minneapolis hotel February 15-18. It was the third such four-day meeting for the Design Team, which will oversee every aspect of the triennial gathering.
EYE 2008 will take place on the campus of Trinity University, San Antonio, July 8-13. The theme will be "Sown in the Heart of Christ."
The Episcopal Youth Event was established by the 1982 General Convention. Its purpose, according to the EYE website, is to be "a gathering of young people and their advocates from throughout the Episcopal Church to inspire and empower youth as Christian apostles. EYE is designed to be an immersion experience in the Baptismal Covenant to extend the mission and ministry of the Church."
According to Thomas K. Chu, the Episcopal Church's program director for ministries with young people, EYE is the second-largest "delegate event" in the church, smaller only than General Convention.
"The event has evolved over the past quarter-century, but continues to lift up the leadership of our church's high school-aged youth and demonstrates a ministry ‘of' and ‘with' much more than ‘for' young people," he said.
Youth leadership in the forefront
Chu also said that "each successive event has witnessed deeper and greater leadership from young people." Such leadership was very much in the forefront during the Minnesota meeting of the Design Team with youth acting in creative and logistical leadership positions on the team's four ministry sub-teams: hospitality, program, worship and communication. Much of the weekend gathering was spent in individual sub-team meetings.
Each ministry sub-team will be introduced to EYE through a welcome video produced by the communications group. Filming was carried out over the weekend. On camera, the members of each sub-team will describe the purpose of their group and be introduced to the gathering as the leadership team that made it all happen. The video, conceived and written by the communications sub-team, is humorously based on a familiar children's television program, sure to be recognized by all in attendance.
The Design Team is supervised by Betsy Boyd, staff officer for youth ministries of the Episcopal Church. She is assisted by Monna MacLellan, program assistant for youth ministries, who will participate in EYE for the 10th time this summer. The Rev. Katherine Tate, director of youth, young adult and higher education ministry in the Diocese of Southwest Florida, serves as chaplain to the team.
Discovering the width and breadth of the church
Chu said that the EYE experience is an opportunity to "leave a familiar environment to take part in creating a new sense of being part of the Body of Christ and God's mission."
"The youth who attend will discover a welcoming and safe community that embraces diversity of every kind and embodies the values and teachings of the church that they have learned at home and demonstrates a foretaste of what God's reign might be like," he said.
Members of the design team echoed Chu's sentiments.
"Sometimes we feel alone in our own places," said Ryan Benitez, from the Diocese of Upper South Carolina. "EYE is going to show people that we are not alone at all in this big church. People are going to feel a lot of acceptance and have a lot of fun," he said.
A. J. DeWalt of the Diocese of Newark said the EYE experience is truly about seeing the diversity of the whole church.
"You get to see the church as a whole, not just your little corner of the world," said DeWalt.
"This is going to be an awesome experience to see just how big and widespread our church is," said Ian Miller from the Diocese of Delaware. Miller, who will attend his first EYE this year, said he wanted to join the Design Team so he could meet new people and break out of his "little world in Delaware." He'll get that opportunity in San Antonio because he was selected to serve as one of the on-stage emcees by the program sub-team, on which he serves.
EYE employs strict registration guidelines to insure the diversity that Chu describes. Dioceses are asked to recruit youth delegates that "include proportionate numbers of persons of different racial, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds, people with disabilities, and people representing the geographic and theological breadth of the diocese," according to the website.
Initially each diocese is allowed to register 15 people, 12 youth and 3 adult chaperones. However, dioceses that have recruited "a balanced and diverse group of young people and adults to attend the event" will be able to register additional participants as long as space allows.
The next meeting of the 2008 EYE Design Team will be in May at Trinity University in San Antonio.
Members of the Design Team are:
Zibby Allen, Northfield, Minnesota
Carlos Bahamundi, San German, Puerto Rico
Lisa Bailey, Columbia, South Carolina
Ryan Benitez, North Augusta, South Carolina
Katie Berner, Irvine, Kentucky
Betsy Boyd, New York, New York
Cookie Cantwell, Wilmington, North Carolina
Jessica Daly, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Dent Davidson, Medina, Washington
A. J. DeWalt, Montclair, New Jersey
Rachel Downs, New York, New York
Sophie Erskine, Vancouver, Washington
Lauren Guillory, New Iberia, Louisiana
Moki Hino, Honolulu, Hawaii
La'Tonya Johnson, New York, New York
Monna MacLellan, New York, New York
Ian Miller, Lewes, Delaware
Abi Moon, Augusta, Georgia
Billy Readdy, Chatham, New Jersey
Austin Roe, Bellport, New York
Kep Short, Trenton, New Jersey
Slvestre Silvas, Kansas City, Missouri
Joren Skov, Hastings, Minnesota
Katherine Tate, Sarasota, Florida
Karen Teague, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sandy White, Bradenton, Florida
Members of the Support Team are:
Beth Crow, Raleigh, North Carolina
Jamey Graves, Wilmington, North Carolina
Jonathan Graves, Wilmington, North Carolina
Sandra Montes, Sugar Land, Texas
-- Joe Bjordal is Episcopal Life Media correspondent in the dioceses of Provinces V and VI. He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
» Respond to this articleSearch
Browse by Topic:
