1st United Methodist Church

1st YOUTH

We are a community devoted to God, excited to serve, open to new and different people, ad eager to make anything fun.

Youth Fellowship

*NEW YOUTH FELLOWSHIP TIME

5:30 TO 7:00 PM

We meet on Sunday nights from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. All youth meet together for dinner and games, then break into Echo groups for spiritual formation and accountability.

For more information on 1st Youth and how to get involved contact:

Nathan Irwin (Director of 1st Youth Ministries)

at 982-1273 or email him at nirwin@1stchurch.org.

Sign up here for email alerts from 1st Youth.

If you would like to receive text updates about youth events, you can either download the Remind App and join the group @1stumyouth, or text @1stumyouth to the number 81010.

Scroll down for a look at upcoming opportunities for youth fellowship

and information about the leaders of the Echo Groups .

SUMMER FUN 2019

Cost for the trips and registration deadlines:

Jr./Sr. High Assembly

Cost is $150 - Deadline to sign up is June 12th

Summer Impact Mission Trip

Cost is $150 - Deadline to sign up is June 12th

(limited spots available)

Myrtle Beach Trip

Cost is $150 - Deadline to sign up is May 13th

SAVE $75

Sign up for all 3 trips for $375!

Deadline is May 13th

Day trips will vary from free to $25 depending on activity and will not require sign ups.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR ANY (OR ALL) OF THE TRIPS

myrtle beach summer kickoff
june 1st - june 4th
cost is $150 (by may 13TH)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
This is a quick trip to Myrtle Beach, SC to give our youth a fun start to the summer. We rent beachfront condos and have a couple of days of fellowship and to soak up the sun before they have to worry about summer reading and homework.
smokies baseball game
june 7th
5:00 to 10:00 pm

Come join youth from 1st UMC and Broadway UMC for an evening of minor league baseball over in Sevierville.
day trip
june 20th
Main Event & Culver's
jr./sr. high assembly
emory & henry college
june 24th - 28th
cost is $150 (by june 1st)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Assebmbly is like summer camp for those who don’t care for the outdoors. You get all of the comfort of staying in air conditioned dorms and eating in a college cafeteria, but you also get a week of fun with good friends, good music, and time to grow closer to God.

Students are placed into groups according to their grade for “family group” time, but also have plenty of free time to meet and fellowship with other students.

Assembly is open to those who have completed 6th-12th grades.
summer impact mision trip
cincinnati, oh
july 7th - 12th
cost is $150 (by june 1st)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
This summer we are returning to Cincinnati, OH to work with Summer Impact @ Hyde Park UMC. We will be working alongside youth from Wesley Memorial UMC in Johnson City, TN.

This program gives us ample opportunity to serve in various ways from home repair to working with a summer program for inner city kids. This will be our 4th consecutive year at Summer Impact and we always have fun and learn so much about the issues facing Cincinnati while serving the community there.

We have 13 spots available for this trip so register early!
day trip
july 18th
Tubing in townsend
back to school blast
august 11th
details coming soon

UPCOMING EVENTS

Hang tight while we look up scheduled events...

ECHO GROUP LEADERS

Rev. Nathan Irwin
- Director of Youth Ministries at 1st UMC.
- BA in Religious Studies, University of South Florida
- MA in Christian Ministry, Asbury Seminary
Nathan has been a Youth Minister for nearly a decade, and hopes to stay in the game for a lot longer. He has been married to Crystal for 11 years and they have two kids. Isaac is 8 and Alara is 5. They live in Springbrook, and have an old cat named Norris. Nathan likes to read, watch football and Netflix, alpine ski, fish, and take naps. He could eat pizza for every meal and his spirit animal is a donkey.
cathy finney

Cathy is a mother of three grown children. She began regularly volunteering with the Youth when her youngest was 16, about 12 years ago. Cathy taught Special Education at Maryville High School for 18 years, including 10 years in the alternative schools.
She retired from there and now teaches English Language Learners (ESL) at Whittle Springs Middle School in Knoxville half days.

This is Cathy's fourth year doing that.

An interesting fact about Cathy, is that she lived in Belgium and the Congo for a while as a child because her parents were missionaries for one term. She still keeps up with some of the “missionary kids” she knew back then.
John Kerr

John lives on a farm in Rockford where he raises cattle. He was a teacher for over forty years, most recently teaching English and coaching boys and girls soccer at Maryville High School. He enjoys playing the guitar and singing. Over the years, he has worked with the youth at 1st on Sunday nights and has been a chaperone at both Resurrection and Assembly.
Charles Brinkley
- Electrical Engineer in the Quality Assurance department at DENSO
Charles has been married to his childhood sweetheart, Tonya, for 25 years and they have 3 kids. His older kids, (boy/girl twins) Katie and Preston, are Seniors at William Blount High School. His youngest, Jackson, is in 8th grade at Carpenters Middle School.

Charles is an avid Science Fiction fan and self described "geek". He loves Star Wars and attended a convention years ago in his own Jedi uniform.
beth kyburz

Beth Kyburz is excited to be working with our youth. She is a School Counselor at Carter Middle School, and she has worked with children, youth and families for over 20 years. Her son Adam recently graduated from high school and loved his time with the 1st UMC youth group.

During this time, she helped with youth group meetings, chaperoned the Resurrection trip, and even learned how to drive the church bus. She enjoys traveling, reading, going to the theater, and kayaking. She is looking forward to getting to know our youth even better, and is very excited to be part of Echo groups.
Phil Wilks
Retired teacher and coach:
Chesapeake High School in Ohio
Marshall University in WV
Oxford College at Emory University
Georgetown University
Wofford College
Maryville College
Powell High School
Phil is married and has 5 adult children. He served as the head football coach at Maryville College from 1988-2002. Over his career Phil has taught grades 1 through college mostly teaching physical education and driver’s ed. Phil is active at 1st UMC in many adult bible studies and Celebrate Recovery and is excited to work with our youth.