Nate Parks, The Andy Needham Band, UNITE Cape 2013

Uniting students to strengthen, encourage and equip their faith in Jesus Christ, 4:00 to 8:00, September 7, 2013

Two years ago the Cape Cod Youth Ministry Network was brainstorming ways that we could bring Cape students of faith together and reach out to their friends, and the ideas for Unite Cape began.

In 2011, we hosted 100 students and their leaders from seven Cape churches at BBC for outdoor games and a barbecue, followed by a worship service led by a small Boston-based band and one of our Cape youth pastors. Due to scheduling conflicts last year we weren’t able to have it, so this year we wanted to make it bigger and better.

The Cape Cod Youth Ministry Network has reached out to many more churches and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

We will be extending the time from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. on September 7 and for the worship portion we will welcome special guests Nate Parks and Andy Needham Band, both well-known to many of our students from our annual retreats at Camp Berea.

This event is free to our students.

Nate Parks, the director of Berea, is a dynamic leader and speaker. He is also a dedicated consultant and mentor who enjoys meeting with leaders to support them in their lives and ministries. Nate loves to talk strategy and vision and his personality is defined by energy and enthusiasm. Many of the churches from the CCYMN go to Berea’s Deep Freeze events every winter; BBC has been going annually for more than a decade and Nate has joined us here on several occasions over the years and will be a great draw for our students.

Andy Needham Band is at the forefront of New England’s burgeoning Christian music scene. The group’s national debut, “Lifted High,” produced by Grammy Award-winning Mitch Dane (Jars of Clay, Bebo Norman, Brandon Heath), is a combination of original proven favorites and fresh new offerings.

From the buoyant debut single, “Open Arms”—a bright reminder of God’s unfailing love—to earnest, guitar driven title track, Needham and bandmates Joel Rousseau, Jonathan Mason, and Andrew Picha deliver a smart and accessible modern worship collection. In addition to touring around the country, Andy Needham Band has been the worship band at Berea’s Deep Freeze weekends for the last two years and each member of the band spends time hanging out and getting to know our students during meals and free time. They have done many other events with Nate Parks, so their combined effort will flow together seamlessly. For more information about Nate Parks or the Andy Needham Band, you can see their websites: www.berea.org and www.andyneedhamband.com.

It is our hope through Unite Cape that by bringing students together from across the Cape they will see that they’re not “the only Christians in their schools.” It will provide a fun and exciting event that they can be excited about bringing their friends to, to hear about the love of God.

How can you help?

Pray: Pray for our students and leaders and God’s continued work in their lives and that Unite Cape will be a great event bringing students together for God’s glory.

Invite: If you know any students that you think would be interested, or any organizations where we could put out fliers, please let me know and I will get you more information.

Volunteer: We will need volunteers in three main areas. Hospitality: many of the people helping to lead this event will be from other churches, so having BBC people around to help people find things and feel welcome would be very appreciated.

Food: we will hold a barbecue as one of our outdoor activities so we will need help setting up the food and cleaning up after. Also if anyone would like to bake cookies or brownies that would be appreciated as well.

Games: during the outdoor time we will offer different games set up around our property and would appreciate help overseeing and organizing these different stations.

If you would like to help out in any of these areas or would like more information, please contact Sharon Kautz, sharon@brewsterbaptistchurch.org.