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

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.

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)

Mission Trip to Ghana

Valley Wesley is excited to announce its first ever international mission trip! While details are still being finalized, a group of up to students and leaders will be headed to the continent of Africa during the summer of 2011 (postponed from 2010). Participation is based on those who get their deposits in before the available spots fill-up. If you are interested in the trip please e-mail Charla Lindley. Please check back here for updates!

The video below was created by Charla who went on what we hope will be a similar trip to Ghana with the Wesley Foundation from Mississippi State!

Leadership Development

Much of our ministry is student-led.  Our “Wesley Council,” student leadership team, meets throughout the year to plan, organize and lead programs and activities.  If you have any comments or suggestions for the Council please contact our president, Charla Lindley at clindley@asu.edu.

Wednesday Night Worship

Wednesdays (during the fall and spring semesters) at 7 p.m.

Ross Hall at Tempe First United Methodist Church
215 E. University Drive, Tempe

Wesley’s Wednesday-night gathering has long been the centerpiece of our ministry.

We invite you to join us after dinner each Wednesday for our weekly worship service at 7 p.m. in Ross Hall at Tempe First United Methodist Church.