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!

Online order form:

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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.

Labor Day Retreat

We are kicking off another school year with our annual retreat!!!

The Details…
when:
labor day weekend, september 3-6, 2010

who:
all college students (both undergrad and graduate)

what:
a weekend of fun, spiritual renewal, fellowship … not to mention time at the beach!

where:
San Diego, California (did I mention the beach?)

why:
it’s just too good to pass up…

the cost:
only $25! Not bad, eh?

What to Expect…
lodging…
We’ll be staying on the grounds of Foothills United Methodist Church in the San Diego, California area. Plan to sleep on the floor!

worship & discussion…
Saturday evening we’ll have a short devotion time, and Sunday morning we’ll join with other campus ministry programs from ASU, UofA, and NAU for shared worship.

fellowship and fun…
On Saturday, we’ll have the afternoon to enjoy the surf, followed by a beach bbq. We’ll have more free-time on Sunday afternoon, with the option of a service project, more time at the beach, a visit to Sea World, and more.

what Wesley expects from you…
We want you to come and have a good time. But this isn’t just a cheap road trip to San Diego. We expect that you’ll participate in worship and discussions, abstain from substance use/abuse, and have a good attitude…. mostly, we expect you to have fun.

Stuff you’ll need…
• clothes (remember how nice and cool San Diego can be!)
• a sleeping bag & air mattress (if you want one)
• pillow
• toiletries (the church does have showers)
• towels (for beach & showering)
• swim suit and other beach stuff (sorry, no room for surf boards in the church van!)
• sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen.
• camera & other extras, but please try to pack light!
• money (in addition to the $25, you’ll need about 3 meals on the road, as well as money for dinner in San Diego on Sunday night. Sunday afternoon options – like Sea World – are also your responsibility. We’ll make sure here’s a free option available… like the beach.)

If you’re not going only because of the cost, please see Rob. We expect folks to pay if they can, but we want everyone to come.

You can RSVP on the Facebook Event Page