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Dear Youth of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast, Hopefully, over the past couple of months, if not longer, you have heard about a program called Happening. Maybe you have wondered about it, maybe you haven't given it a second thought, either way, if you are a 10th-12th grader, we would love for you to consider participating in this fun and exciting weekend.
Happening is a youth retreat weekend filled with fellowship, worship, games, music, great food, and more, kind of like summer camp, but condensed into 48 hours. Happening helps strengthen relationships and build new friendships, it seeks to provide room to explore one's faith, and to ask the hard questions about God. Most uniquely, Happening is youth led, meaning youth are the ones leading the activities, groups, and conversations throughout the weekend. The youth leading Happening have gone through a Happening before, which means, after you have attended, you will have opportunities to give back and lead as well if you feel so moved. Maybe you feel extremely certain about your faith: we would love to have you join. Maybe you have a lot of questions about your faith; we would love to have you join. Maybe you aren't really sure how you feel about any of it, but maybe you want to know more; we would love to have you join. Some of the head staff for Happening #53 are Mary Pratt Byrd-Lay Rector, Joseph Price-Head Gopher, Philip Iversen and John Talbert-music, Alyson Jackson-Big Sis, the Rev. Mary Alice Mathison, the Rev. Ben Rockwell, and the Rt. Rev. Russell Kendrick. Along with our other youth and adult staff, we invite you to help make Happening #53 a remarkable experience, and we invite you to help build this ministry for those who come after you. If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of please consider Happening #53, Friday, February 3 to Sunday, February 5, at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, FL. Online registration is at www.diocgc.org/happening and please indicate if you need financial assistance. We are excited about all who have register already, but we would love to see how many people we can get registered by THIS FRIDAY! God's Peace, Mary Pratt Byrd, Lay Rector Alyson Jackson, Big Sis The Rev. Mary Alice Mathison, Head Spiritual Director Rachel Iversen, Happening Steering Committee Chair