Save the Date!

Sixth-eighth grade students, join us at the Encounter Retreat at Twin Lakes Camp in Florence, MS. We will join other churches from the MS Valley Presbytery for a weekend full of bible teaching, new and old friends, fellowship and fun! Austin Lenox, former FPCYM intern with First Pres, is an assistant pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Memphis. Prior to seminary he attended Mississippi State University and worked as a counselor at Alpine Camp for Boys in the summers. After college he worked as an RUF intern at University of Tennessee. Austin is married to Meredith and father to their daughter, Rivers. We are thrilled to have him join us in teaching at Encounter this year! Theme: Habits of Grace

• Youth Summer Retreat June 16^th- 20^th at Adventure Ocoee!

  • Who: All youth are invited, and youth friends are welcome too! Please let me know if you as a parent would like to be a chaperone as well – would love to have you! We will be meeting up with Lakeway Presbyterian Church from Morrisville, TN, led by Thomas Callen. Thomas is a very close friend of mine. We went to Belhaven together and we have dreamed of doing ministry together again! Thomas and I got to serve on Belhaven’s RUF servant team, as Resident Assistants, and did just about everything else together as well. Thomas is a RTS Jackson graduate and has been a youth director, camp director, and now just joined Lakeway Pres full-time as of January 1^st.  He is one of the best guys I know, and you all will love him, if you don’t already know him! He and his wife did attend Highlands for years as well, back in the day.

  • What: We will be enjoying Adventure Ocoee with many activities like rock climbing/ropes course, paintball and more! There will be different teaching times each day as well.

  • When: We will leave June 16^th and we will stop for lunch along the way. We will spend three full days there (four nights) and then head back after breakfast on June 20^th.

  • Where: Adventure Ocoee is located right outside of Chattanooga, TN and is about a 6-and-a-half-hour drive. 186 Hawkins Drive, Ocoee, TN 37361

  • Why: We all need breaks and fun! In addition to the fun though, we do want the students coming away to know that digging deeper into the bible and learning more is a high priority of this trip as well. I am so looking forward to having this time to get away as a group and hope that it is refreshing as we continue to draw near to our Lord and Savior!

  • How: The number of students attending will affect what kind of transportation will be needed. We will be driving there though! I will send a registration form to you all soon, so that we can start making plans accordingly.