By Kyle Nolen

The youth of Fountain City Presbyterian Church have kicked off 2025 with a busy start!  It has been a time of “Spreading and Feeling the Love” that comes with fellowship, worship, and serving with one another inside and outside of our church community.  As we reflect on the past couple of months, we thought we’d share a few of the highlights where those lessons where felt the most.

Despite the snowy and icy weather that we experienced at the beginning of the year, the Youth of FCPC and our volunteer leaders made efforts to come and learn more about the Lord during our Sunday School time.  Pastor Carl and Denna Grogan were our guest teachers for January and February.  We had great discussion around what it means to love the Lord and to love our neighbor.  One of the most memorable sessions was a lesson by Pastor Carl.  He brought breakfast for the group (which was a big hit!), while we learned about and discussed the Holiness of God.  We learned how He should be the ultimate authority and standard over our lives instead of or own selfish desires.  We talked about the sins that separate us from God’s Holiness and how our atonement comes through our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection and our obedience in following Him.  These themes were discussed in context with the 10 Commandments, and the youth earned a Queso and Guacamole prize for memorizing them.  It turns out that Mexican food is a REALLY big motivator!!!  They did a great job!

Shelley Miller and I paid our Queso and Guacamole debts during our first youth outing of the year.  The group and parent chaperones had a night of bowling at Fountain Lanes followed by a meal at Señor Taco.  The scores were a bit low at the bowling alley, but good times were had by all.  We got to know each other a bit better, a few earned fun nicknames, and we all left the restaurant stuffed.  It turns out, that breaking bread together (or tortillas/chips & salsa) is a sure-fire way to “feel the love” and grow closer together.

As January ended with this fun evening of fellowship, the youth were approached and asked by Amy Ogden and the Congregational Care committee to help “show the love” to members of our church who aren’t able to gather in-person.  The youth stepped up to answer this call by sending Valentine’s Day cards to our homebound members.  A small summary letter of our activities were added to help keep these folks connected to the happenings of the church.  These cards and letters were then added to the Congregational Care packets that were delivered by the committee.

By February, the calendar became very busy with Youth activities.  As most of you know, the FCPC Youth have helped “show the love” for about 40 years through a partnership with the Volunteer Ministry Center.  Each month, the youth prepare, cook, and serve these hot meals to the residents of Minvilla Manor and do a great job!

There is something always special about breaking bread with another human being.  This month’s meal was particularly impactful, as we believe it was one of the most-attended in recent memory.  In fact, so many people showed up at once this time, that we were able to have a group prayer and blessing together with the residents.  Love was definitely felt and shown that day.  Tom and Tere McDonough were instrumental in helping us pull this all together and we value their leadership with this ministry.

Of course, Fountain City Presbyterian Church has faithfully sustained this ministry over the years.  Your love was felt in a big way when you showed up to support the Youth and their efforts at this year’s annual “Souper Bowl” fundraiser.  About 50+ of you stayed after worship, gave your donations, and shared the same meal that is prepared for the Minvilla Manor residents.  A special thanks goes out to Johnny Biddle and others who helped in the kitchen that day and worked alongside our youth.  Your donations are vital to this ministry, as they are used to purchase the ingredients for the monthly meals.  We sincerely thank you for your support.  Whether you were pulling for the Chiefs or the Eagles, we hope that you “felt the love” from our youth in the same way that we felt if from you!

As the month moved along, the Senior High youth members (and Emma on a chaperone’s guest exemption), attended the annual Youth Summit ski retreat that is sponsored by the Presbytery of East Tennessee.  This year’s retreat took place at the Holston Presbytery Camp in Banner Elk, NC with a theme of “Come and See:  Cultivating Holy Curiosity.”  You would have been extremely proud of our youth who attended.  They respectfully and enthusiastically participated in every aspect of the weekend.  They thoughtfully engaged with the scripture lessons and breakout sessions.  These texts were about how various folks throughout the Bible (Simon Peter, the Samaritan woman at the well, and Nathaneal) were not just told about Jesus, but were instead invited to “come and see” Jesus in order to experience Him for themselves.  Like the Israelites in the Exodus story, the FCPC youth “camped at the foot of the mountain” and were intentional about their reasons for being there and their desire to meet God.  It was evident to me that God showed up to that place, particularly during the times when the voices of about 40 young people from all over East Tennessee were lifted in worship to the Lord.

I want to sincerely thank this church for allowing our youth to participate in events like Youth Summit.  With the oversight and blessing of session, this church provided funding in the 2025 Youth budget that allowed us to sponsor each participant free of charge.  Your sponsorship tuition (along with Presbytery subsidies) covered all meals, lodging, and skiing at Sugar Mountain for our group.  Fun weekends like this one are draws that help attract and connect young people and their families to our church—both within and outside.  For example, our FCPC group this year consisted of 5 youth participants and 2 chaperones.  Three of the 5 youth attendees are FCPC regulars and 2 attendees were guests who had no previous connection to our church.  All were invited to “Come and See” without any financial barrier.  I believe that your generosity will help grow our program and increase opportunities like this for our young people to experience the Lord with their peers in meaningful ways—some for the very first time.

Our youth definitely “felt the love” from Fountain City Presbyterian Church and I hope that you’ll continue to partner with us in any way that you can.  We’ll continue to seek ways to spread the love and knowledge of Christ to the young people in our church and neighboring community.  Be sure to join us at worship for an upcoming report from our group, as they share about these recent experiences and what it has meant to them!