Westminster Fellowship
8th Grade “Welcome to WF” Night
Apr 13th
Tonight we had the first WF where the 8th graders (almost incoming freshmen!) were invited to join us! We had over 20 8th graders show up and a particularly large group of High Schoolers came to welcome them to the WF family! We started out with a few ice breaker games, one of which paired each 8th grader with a High Schooler who would be their partner for the night. Pretty soon, the 8th graders fit right in! Beth Stremel and Allison VanOss shared a great message about the value of prayer and the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and we broke into small groups. Feedback so far indicates that both the 8th graders and High Schoolers had a great time with one another and are looking forward to summer WF events when we will be together again (after Youth Sunday ). Hopefully, this will be the first step toward the 8th graders becoming permanent members of our WF group!
Our 2007-2008 theme is “The Vine & The Branches: Depending on God”
It is often easy to believe in God, but the Bible calls us to more than that. God’s word tells us that we should place our trust in God and depend on Him. Often times, in our culture, the idea of dependence is easily forgotten because we have so much that we don’t have to depend on anything to meet our needs. On the other hand, all around the world there are a billion people that don’t even have clean drinking water. There are 800,000 people that won’t eat today, and meanwhile, the amount of money that we spend in the United States each year on ice cream would provide clean water and basic health care for the world for a year.
This year our focus in WF is in realizing that our spiritual life is connected to our physical self. God has a plan for each of us, but it requires us to place everything we are and have in Him. To live life to it’s fullest, God seeks our dependence.
A Letter From the Interim High School Ministries Coordinator:
Dear Parents,
Hello! I am your student’s new Interim High School Program Coordinator at First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton! I would love to get to know you soon, so feel free to give me a call at (630)668-4147 Ex. 16, drop me an email at atirone@firstpreswheaton.org, or introduce yourself to me at WF. In the meantime, let me tell you a little bit about myself…
I grew up in a loving family in Milpitas, California (that’s near San Francisco). My father is a Presbyterian pastor and my mother is a homemaker who is actively involved in many church ministries, including Sunday School, ESL, Women’s Bible Study, New Believers’ Class, and the Senior Citizens’ Club. I have one brother who is twenty-eight years old and works as a policeman in California. He is getting married this summer!
I was blessed with many experiences and opportunities growing up. I participated in sports including soccer, tennis, and lacrosse, played in the church band, and took part in a few of my high school’s drama productions. But the experience I loved most was working with students at my home church’s youth group and at summer camps. I began to feel God’s call on my life to pursue youth ministry in junior high and, from that point on, I became involved in any youth ministry job I could get my hands on. I served as a leader for two junior high missions trips to Arizona, interned for my youth pastor for two years in high school, and worked as a camp counselor at Mount Hermon Christian Camps in California in the summers during college. I received my B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College, studied the Bible in Israel, Turkey, Italy, and Greece, and also took some youth ministry-specific courses.
Some of my favorite activities include playing frisbee, snowboarding, surfing, camping, lacrosse, swimming, drawing, cooking, and playing board games, watching hockey games, or seeing movies with my closest friends. I also enjoy a good chai tea latte from Starbucks. 
I look forward to getting to know you and your student in the coming months. Please, don’t hesitate to contact me with joys, concerns, suggestions, etc. Let me know how I can best serve you and your student. God Bless!
Allison Tirone
(630)668-5147 ex.16
atirone@firstpreswheaton.org