Night at the Diamondbacks

Join us for our third annual Valley Wesley night at the Diamondbacks on Monday April 19th when the Dbacks take on the St. Louis Cardinals at Chase field.

Tickets are $15 for non-students and $8 for students elementary school-college age. $7 from the $15 tickets will go to support United Methodist Campus Ministry at Arizona State University and Phoenix Valley Colleges.

The church or individual who purchases the most tickets overall will get to select one person to watch batting practice for both teams on the field before the game. This is a great chance to see your favorite players up-close! The event picture is of Rev. Rob Rynders with Diamondbacks coach Matt Williams last year during batting practice. We can’t guarantee you will get to be this close to players but this could be your chance!

If you have any questions or would like to purchase tickets for yourself or your church please contact aaron@valleywesley.com or rob@valleywesley.com.

You can also download a ticket order form here.

Check-out our Facebook Event
We hope to see you there!

New Wesley Foundation Building and Residence Hall Proposal

During these past two and a half years serving as the campus minister at Valley Wesley, student involvement has grown significantly in our ministry.  A number of students attend worship each week, participate in small groups and bible study, in service opportunities and mission trips, and in a number of social activities.  Every day of the week you can find Wesley students in our student lounge studying, socializing, praying, or just taking a break from their day.  Much of this is programmed by myself and our student leadership team.  However, many of our programs have grown naturally or organically through students who have become part of our community of faith.  What I have witnessed year after year is that our students want to be in continual “intentional” community together.  They want to extend their Christian relationships beyond a worship service or bible study, they want to help encourage one another and hold each other accountable.  They want that same sense of belonging that they experience within the “programmed” elements of our ministry.  At the end of each year of ministry, various groups of Wesley students, who have become friends through our ministry, have decided to live together the next school year.

Imagine then, a facility that allows students to be in this “intentional community” beyond our programmed events.  Imagine a facility where students, not only live, but study, hold social events, participate in prayer and bible study, discussions, and service projects.  Imagine a facility where students live in a place dedicated an environment of learning, service, and spiritual formation.  Imagine a facility that encourages dialogue around issues of life and faith, offers leadership opportunities for students, and creates creative space for writing, art, poetry and music.  Imagine a student community drawn together around a covenant of loving God and loving neighbor.

On the night of February 10, 2010, Valley Wesley, Tempe First United Methodist Church, and a student housing corporation called Newchapter entered into an agreement to begin exploring the possibility of building a new Wesley Foundation building and student residence hall on the grounds of Tempe First UMC. This was an agreement that has been in the works since October, 2009. Around that time I was on the College Union website and heard an interview with some of the team from Newchapter and how they wanted to partner with campus ministries to build student housing, providing a place for intentional community and also to help provide an income stream to ministries. What made Newchapter unique was their business model. In most cases, if you want to build a building, you have to raise all the money up front and find the experts to help you build a facility you want. Well, Newchapter eliminates both of these issues. They bring the funding up-front, as well as the expertise in building and managing student housing. This was enough to send an e-mail to Newchapter and get more info. Before I knew it I was having multiple conversations with Ian Clark, their Director of Business Development. Soon we were forming a joint TFUMC and Wesley Foundation committee to explore a partnership with Newchapter. We worked on a number of drafts of a partnership agreement that would allow Newchapter to get to work. After being approved by various committees at all levels of the church the partnership was officially formed following approval by the TFUMC church conference.

A quick side note- Valley Wesley is NOT a ministry of Tempe First UMC, it is a ministry serving the Desert Southwest Annual Conference. TFUMC, however, has always hosted our facilities, including the Baker Center building which was built for The Wesley Foundation in the 1960’s. As the campus ministry declined over the years the Baker building began to be used for TFUMC programs. Wesley is currently housed in another building on the TFUMC campus. TFUMC is crucial Valley Wesley partner and has been a gracious host of our ministry for many years. The new Wesley facility would be built on TFUMC’s property, which ultimately means they must approve of this project along the way.

So what’s next? Members of the Newchapter team have already been meeting with city officials and potential architects. They will also be working on a conceptual design that will give us an idea of where and how big the building will be. That design will need to be approved by the building committee and the church before we will move into a preliminary design stage where it will be determined if the project is feasible or not for Wesley, TFUMC, and Newchapter. If feasibility is agreed upon we will begin the final design and then hopefully the construction stage! We don’t have a lot of details now but I hope to keep everyone updated through valleywesley.com and Facebook and Twitter updates.

One area of the project that is not covered by Newchapter upfront is furnishings and equipment for the facility. This is something Wesley will need to raise money for, a task we believe is very possible. We will cross that bridge though when we get to it.

I hope you will join us in our excitement for what is possible with this project. We don’t know 100% yet if we will actually build a building so keep us in prayer as we sort all of this out. We could not do this without your continued love and support!

Stay tuned….

Rob

Bishop John Shelby Spong, February 20, 2010

Valley Wesley is excited to announce that we will be co-hosting, along with Tempe First UMC, an event on February 20th, featuring author and speaker, Bishop John Shelby Spong. The event is being sponsored by the Arizona Foundation For Contemporary Theology. More details about the event coming soon!

From Bishop Spong’s website:

John Shelby Spong, whose books have sold more than a million copies, was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. His admirers acclaim him as a teaching bishop who makes contemporary theology accessible to the ordinary layperson — he’s considered the champion of an inclusive faith by many, both inside and outside the Christian church. In one of his recent books, The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible’s Texts of Hate to Discover the God of Love (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2005), this visionary thinker seeks to introduce readers to a proper way to engage the holy book of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

A committed Christian who has spent a lifetime studying the Bible and whose life has been deeply shaped by it, Bishop Spong says he was not interested in Bible bashing. “I come to this interpretive task not as an enemy of Christianity,” he says. “I am not even a disillusioned former Christian, as some of my scholar-friends identify themselves. I am a believer who knows and loves the Bible deeply. But I also recognize that parts of it have been used to undergird prejudices and to mask violence.”

A visiting lecturer at Harvard and at universities and churches worldwide, Bishop Spong delivers more than 200 public lectures each year to standing-room-only crowds. His bestselling books include Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, A New Christianity for a New World, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, and Here I Stand.

Bishop Spong’s extensive media appearances include a profile segment on 60 Minutes as well as appearances on Good Morning America, Fox News Live, Politically Incorrect, Larry King Live, The O’Reilly Factor, William F. Buckley’s Firing Line, and Extra. Bishop Spong and his wife, Christine Mary Spong, have five children and six grandchildren. They live in New Jersey.

Alternative Spring Break

March 14-19, 2010

Valley Wesley will, once again, be taking a team of students to South Los Angeles to participate in service projects and to learn more about this urban setting. We will be led by the amazing staff of Sierra Service Project who will provide some great opportunities for us. The cost of the trip is $350, however, we will do lots of fundraising and scholarships will be available. Registration details coming soon!

Information from the Sierra Service Project website:

Sierra Service Project launched its Urban project in South Los Angeles in 2004. Since then, each summer has been bigger and more successful than the one before.

The Project Site. Our volunteers and staff are housed in the large Vermont Square United Methodist Church, located at 4410 Budlong Ave about one mile west of the Harbor Freeway. The church has a gated parking lot, large kitchen, bathrooms, showers, a gymnasium and several large rooms for sleeping. This is where we eat, sleep, do program and hang-out when we are not working or visiting sites in the City.

Learn More About South Los Angeles. Our South Los Angeles program site is based in the Vermont Square United Methodist Church. To learn more about the Vermont Square community, visit the Los Angeles Times’ very interesting “Mapping LA” website. This site contains a vast amount of information about the population, ethnicity, income and housing status of this neighborhood.

The work. Our projects are done on homes in the communities surrounding the church. Typical homeowners are elderly people who have lived in the area for decades. Projects include painting, building wheelchair ramps, installing hand rails and other projects that elderly people need. One of the things that volunteers always comment on is how gracious and friendly these homeowners are.

Learning about LA. A great deal of our non-working time is devoted to learning about Los Angeles and the people who live there. This starts with a bus tour of the city on Monday evening, where you will visit the Watts Towers, the downtown area, the area where the 1992 riots started, as well as other spots that serve as entry points into discussions of Los Angeles’ history and challenges. Rather than working on Wednesday, we devote the entire day to visiting social agencies which serve the needs of LA’s homeless and working poor. We finish Wednesday’s with an evening barbeque at the beach!

Is it safe? Yes. Our facility is very secure and South Los Angeles’ reputation for crime is greatly exaggerated. We have experienced no problems in the years we have worked in the area and expect none in the future.

Schedule:

Arizona State University’s Wesley Foundation

March 14 – 19, 2010

Spring Break Schedule

Sunday, March 14

Arrive and unpack

Snacks available

Welcome by Sierra Service Project staff

Time for showering and freshening up

Free time

Monday, March 15

7:30 Breakfast

8:00 Speaker Jennifer Gutierrez, Urban Ministries Director for Cal-Pac

9:00 Work day at Rakestraw Community Center

Lunch at Rakestraw

5:00 Return

6:00 Dinner

Evening speaker: local church leader or LAPD representative (tentative)

Tuesday, March 16

8:00 Breakfast

9:30 Depart

10:00 – 2:00 Toxic Tour

2:30 Lunch at Rakestraw

Work afternoon

4:00 depart for Pico Union Hispanic Shalom

5:00 – 7:30 Dialogue about Immigration at PUHSM

Dinner at PUHSM (SSP provide drink and cups)

Wednesday, March 17

7:30 Breakfast

8:00 Depart for Center

8:30 – 10:00 Meeting at District 9 Constituent Center

10:30 Work at Rakestraw rest of day

Lunch at Rakestraw

6:00 Return

7:00 Dinner

Evening open

Thursday, March 18

7:30 Breakfast

9:00 Work day at Rakestraw

Lunch at Rakestraw

4:00 Return

Barbeque dinner at the beach with LA District young adults

Sunset at 7PM

Closing Worship at church

Friday, March 19

7:30 Breakfast

Pack up and clean up facility

Toxic Tour: The tour begins at the CBE office at 10am with an introduction to Environmental Justice and Environmental Racism.  Then everyone will board the van your group will provide and will visit various locations in the area of Southeast Los Angeles County. This area is predominantly Spanish speaking and is one of the most polluted areas of the county due to the high industrial areas from manufacturing and food production in the county.  Here exists the major distribution centers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and this includes rail yards.  The main focus here is cumulative impacts (the numerous sources of pollution), Schools and Toxics (schools near toxic sites and bad planning) past campaign areas and current problems. We may also get to visit the South Bay area, which include the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the Movements of Goods that come from Asia.  Cities that are part of the Southeast Los Angeles are Huntington Park, Vernon, Commerce, South Gate, Maywood, Bell Gardens, South LA and Unincorporated Los Angeles.

Dialogue about Immigration at Pico Union Hispanic Shalom: Sit-down with the parishioners from the Casa Shalom UM fellowship in Pico-Union, a small congregation of Oaxacan immigrants who will sit with us, relate their experiences as immigrants, answer questions and engage in a conversation.

Relevance X

Valley Wesley invites you on a trip to Las Vegas for a United Methodist Young Adult leadership conference at University UMC, across the street from UNLV.

There will be dynamic speakers, workshops, worship and live entertainment.

Wesley will be renting vans to drive to/from Vegas.

Just $25 will cover your transportation, meals in Vegas, and lodging!!!

Relevance X is the official young adult conference hosted by Relevance:Real.Relational.Revolutionary. In 2010 Young Adults will travel from across the US as leaders of their churches and communities in an effort to make new disciples!

Young Adults from across the West will be invited to take part in this first ever leadership conference and you are invited. Visit relevancex.com for more information. E-mail rob@valleywesley.com if you have any questions.

You can RSVP now on our Facebook Event Page.

Rob Bell “Drops Like Stars” Tour

Valley Wesley will be taking a group of students to see pastor, author, and speaker, Rob Bell on Friday February 19, 2009 at The Tempe Center for the Arts. TIckets will be $20 and can be purchased through the Valley Wesley office or by e-mailing aaron@valleywesley.com.

From robbell.com -
We plot, we plan, we assume things are going to go
A certain way and then they don’t and we find ourselves
In a new place, a place we haven’t been before, a place
We never would have imagined on our own,

And so it was difficult and unexpected and maybe even
Tragic and yet it opened us up and freed us to see
Things in a whole new way

Suffering does that—
It hurts,
But it also creates.

How many of the most significant moments in your
Life came not because it all went right, but because
It all fell apart?

It’s strange how there can be art in the agony…

The Drops Like Stars tour is a two
Hour exploration of the endlessly complex
Relationship between suffering and creativity—
And I’d love to see you there.

Spring Sermon Series: The Lost and the Looking

“The Lost and the Looking”

Feeling lost? Looking for meaning in your life and in the world? Join us this spring as we journey with the stories of the Bible to discover where God is leading us and who God is calling us to be.

January 20- Guest Preacher
January 27- The Story of Adam and Eve
February 3- The Story of Jacob
February 10- Guest Preacher- Rev. Dr. Giles Lindley
February 17- Ash Wednesday- Rob Preaching
February 24- Students Preaching
March 3- Guest Preacher
March 10- The Story of Joseph
March 17- Spring Break
March 24- Jesus’s Stories of Those Who Are Lost: Parables of the Coin, Sheep, and the Son
March 31- The Story of the Last Week
April 7- The Story of Thomas
April 14- Looking For Jesus at the Tomb
April 21- The Story of the Lost Disciples and the Road to Emmaus
April 28- The Story of the Great Commission: Reaching Out to Those Who Are Lost and Looking For God
May 5- End of the Year Banquet (semi-formal)

Responding to Tragedy on Campus

On October 26, 2009, tragedy struck the ASU Tempe campus when 59-year old graduate student, David Solnick, took his own life in front of Design School professor Mookesh Patel. The incident occurred in Patel’s office in the Design School South building shortly before noon, while a number of students were in the building.

While neither Mr. Solnick or Dr. Patel were connected with our ministry we were still impacted by this tragedy with the Design School being located directly across from our campus ministry building at Tempe First UMC. As I was returning to my office from an errand at the main church office that day, I noticed a few emergency vehicles parked on Forest Ave., however, I did not think much of them since that was a common place for emergency vehicles to park if there was a medical emergency on that part of campus. After returning to my office, I soon realized the noise of a helicopter hovering. After a number of minutes., I realized something more serious must be going on. I exited the building and saw more emergency personnel and police officers had gathered, along with a number of news vans. At this point I also realized that police tape had been put up, blocking access to the walkway between the North and South Design Buildings. At that moment I recieved a Twitter update from the State Press, the University’s newspaper, that mentioned a shooting had occured on campus and it was suspected a student had committed suicide.

As I approached the crowd gathering near the taped off area to try and get more details, a random student approached me and asked, “So is class canceled for the day?” I replied, “Well, I think a student just committed suicide in there and I’m pretty sure everyone is dealing with that right now.” The student replied, “yeah, I guess class is canceled then” and he walked off.

The following day, with the help of Tempe First UMC staff members, we setup a prayer chapel in the Fireside Room of the Wesley building, whose doors open to Forest Ave., in direct view of the Design School buildings. We left the doors open and placed signs outside indicating that the building was open for prayer and that a pastor was also available. A number of students walked-in that day to silently pray and reflect and to read from the Bible. Our temporary prayer chapel also drew the attention of news crews who had returned to follow up on the story and I gave interviews for channel 3 and channel 5 news.

I also met with two of our Wesley students who are a part of the design program at ASU. While neither of these students knew Mr. Solnick they were both shaken by this tragedy. For one student, this brought back fears of campus shootings, such as those that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois universities.

As I reflect on this tragedy I am unable to remove the knot from my stomach thinking about something like this happening on campus, especially right in front of a professor, in the middle of the day, in a building full of people. I cannot imagine what Dr. Patel must be going through. I cannot imagine having to go back to class or work in that building. I cannot imagine what the family and friends of David Solnick are going through. Perhaps what disturbs me the most though is the comments made by the student outside of the Design School shortly after the shooting occurred. Maybe it was just a fluke, but I can’t help but wonder why this student was so desensitized to these events. Is the pressure on students so intense that they are more worried about missing class than they are about a tragedy that just occurred inside the building they are standing in front of? Or have we been so desensitized to violence that another university campus shooting no longer rattles us? Or was there a sense of denial and emotional defense? Was it something that is so tragic and unbelievable that maybe the only thing we can do is worry about our homework so we don’t have to process it and deal with it face-to-face?

This is where our faith becomes important. As God mourns this tragedy, God calls us to mourn. We hope and we pray that something like this never happens again but we also pray for all those affected, especially the family, friends, and co-workers of Mr. Solnick and Dr. Patel. We pray for the students, staff, and faculty who must return to that building each day with who are constantly reminded of what happened there. We especially pray for all those who may be struggling right now with depression and thoughts of hopelessness. May God help us reach out to those persons in love and compassion. May God open all of our hearts and minds to facing the tragedies and sufferings of the world so that we may respond, even if that response is to simply feel compassion, sympathy, and loss. As the Gospel story illustrates, our faith is not one that ends with tragedy, suffering, and indifference but with transformation and hope.

Worship October 28th, 2009

Worship October 21, 2009

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