A Look Towards the Fall

Dear Fellow Parents,

Good afternoon! I hope you have navigated the school year relaunch and that your kids have handled the transition well.

I’m writing to you today as both a priest and father. As a priest, I have a responsibility to oversee our Youth Fellowship and the staff who lead it, and as a dad, I have two daughters that participate in the ministry.

We have a truly incredible year lined up and there are a lot of changes we have made that we hope will bless and benefit your students and your whole family. Below you will find information on the following topics:

• Philosophy of Youth Fellowship

• New Youth Staff

• Sunday Night Youth Fellowship

• Fall & Spring Retreats

• Confirmation & Membership

• Summer Service Trips

PHILOSOPHY OF YOUTH FELLOWSHIP

We are convinced that meaningful relationships between loving, mature Christian adults and teenagers are the most effective and powerful means of communicating the good news of the Gospel to students.

The programs, the teaching content, the games, the retreats, the trips, the small group discussions… all of the activities of our Youth Fellowship rise and fall on the quality of the relationships our students have with our volunteers.

This year, we are fortunate to have an amazing group of 20-somethings who are volunteering with Youth Fellowship. The unique value-add of this group of volunteers, who are younger than our students' parents, is how they will help our kids catch a vision for what it looks like to follow Jesus after high school.

We want every teenager who grows up at Redeemer to have one or more of these young adult volunteers reaching out to them, interested in their life, helping them take the next steps in their faith, and inviting them further up and further in to the life of the church.

In the young years, parents are the primary influencers in the spiritual lives of their children. However, during the teenage years, a sociological transfer occurs (at varying ages from kid to kid) where peers and older students become the primary influencers.

Rather than fight this transfer, we want to equip parents to guide their teenagers through this transition in healthy ways and the multigenerational church can step in and help.

Our young adult volunteers serve as role models and bridges showing students what the next phase of life could look like for them and helping them step more intentionally into embracing faith for themselves.

NEW YOUTH STAFF

This year, our youth fellowship will be led by Nathan Horner, our Church Planter-in-Residence and Lauren Bleam, our new Youth Fellowship Assistant.

SUNDAY NIGHT YOUTH FELLOWSHIP

• When? Sunday evenings, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., starting Sept. 7

• Where?

  • Middle School (grades 6-8): Marotta’s Home, 1210 Palmyra Ave.

  • High School (grades 9-12): Paul’s Home, 1203 Laburnum Park Blvd

• What happens?

  • A typical evening includes games, dinner, worship, teaching, small group breakout discussions, and prayer.

• Who teaches?

  • Middle School: Tee Feyrer & Will Clark

  • High School: Nathan Horner

FALL & SPRING RETREATS

• Fall Retreat

  • Date: October 31 - November 2 (Yes, we know this overlaps with Halloween and there will be some fun elements incorporated into the weekend!)

  • Location: Smith Mountain Lake

  • Note: Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers will stay in separate houses and experience separate retreat activities.

• Spring Retreat

  • Date: March 20-22

  • Location: Sandbridge, VA - at the beach!

  • Note: This is a combined Middle School and High School retreat.

SUMMER SERVICE TRIPS 2026

For the first time, we plan to offer two service trips next summer - one domestic trip for Middle School students and one international trip for High School students!

While we have not yet finalized the dates or locations yet (stay tuned), we do know that we plan to work with existing churches and/or Christian organizations with experience hosting students.

Our heart behind these trips is to broaden our students' experiences of the kingdom of God and help them practice putting others before themselves.

We know that summer youth trips can sometimes devolve into adventure-tourism and occasionally do more harm than good to the locations they visit. And so we are committed to carefully researching these trips and ensuring that we are partnering with wise, established, trusted ministries.

Fellow parents, I know that the activities calendar is already filling up (or perhaps full!) for your family. I know that just getting a meal together at home can sometimes feel like a challenge. Let’s decide together that we want our sons and daughters to see our love for Jesus and his church reflected in our family calendar just as much as it is in our hearts.

Here are some ways that the Marottas are going to try this, and you’re invited to try with us!

• We are going to reserve Sunday mornings for worshipping together as a family with our parish. Out of the 52 Sundays in a year, we plan to be at Redeemer for at least 50 of them.

• We’re going to reserve Sunday evenings, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., for Youth Fellowship. It gets on the calendar first.

• We’re going to set aside the two retreat weekends in the fall and spring and the dates for the summer trips (when they come out). We won’t let family vacations or other activities compete with those dates. If something is going to get cut, let it be something else.

• We are going to encourage our youth-age kids to spend time with their volunteer leaders outside of program time by inviting those leaders over to join for a family meal, to our kid’s sports games, etc.

• We are going to pray regularly with and for our kids to develop great friendships with Christian peers and with their leaders, knowing that our role as parents is in a season of transition.

• We are going to trust God with our kids and not do anything out of fear or attempts to gain control!

Of course, here in our house, we won’t do any or all of these perfectly. We are pretty normal parents, but we are trying to make these things the norm in our house.

Worshipping together as a family is normal.
Participating in Youth Fellowship is normal.
Going on retreats and trips is normal.
Praying with Mom and Dad is normal.
Having intentional Christian friendships is normal.
Spending time with your leader is normal.
Parents, it’s rough out there and we’ve all got a lot going on!
I’m praying for YOU and I’m here for you if you need anything.
This year, I’m inviting you to join me in making these things normal in your house as well.

In the Father’s love,