C.S.I. Congregation of Hudson Valley
(United Church of Christ)
101 Pondfield Road West
Bronxville, NY 10708

Youth Fellowship

Officers:

President:
Rev. Jacob Chacko
(914) 771-9803

Vice-President:
Feby Phillip
(914) 358-7308

Secretary:
Asha John
(914) 963-8571

Treasurer:
Justin Cherian
(914) 376-9353

Program Coordinators:
Ajo Cherian
(914) 376-9353
Deepthi Kurian
(914) 965-9118

Public Relations:
Julie Ipe
(914) 268-7126

Adult Advisors:
Mr. Biji P. Ninan
(914) 738-2571
Annie Mathew
(914) 963-8571

Talent Show Coordinator:
Abey G. Mathew
(914) 375-2430

April 30, 2000

RE: Youth Fellowship Talent Program

Dear Achan/Secretary:

Greetings in the name of Christ! It has indeed been a long time since the youth members of the CSI congregations in our region have had any worthwhile fellowship together to worship our Savior. We believe that the youth of the CSI have many, diverse, God-given talents and these can be used for the glory of God to bring life into our churches. Therefore in order to provide a medium for displaying these talents, the Youth Fellowship of our church has decided to host a one night Talent Show program for the exclusive participation of youth members from CSI congregations in Regions 1 and 2.

We will be calling this program "All Praises Due" and it will be held on November 11, 2000 at 5pm sharp at Saunder's high school auditorium. The theme for this year's program will be "Praising God, Our Way." We believe that the theme is general enough to encourage creative acts from all participating churches whether it is singing (solo or group), dancing, instrument playing, skits, fashion show, etc. as examples. We leave the responsibility of coming up with original acts to the participating youth groups but it should be under the discretion of the corresponding church. The CSI Congregation of Hudson Valley will set forth guidelines as to what type of performances will be allowed and how they are presented. These guidelines and details of our screening process will be forthcoming.

In order to make the program ordered and efficient, we are suggesting a maximum time limit of 30 minutes for each congregation. You may provide as many performances as you want in that time frame. We expect the total run-time to be around 3 hours, but this may slightly change depending on the number of participating groups. There will be refreshments provided by our Youth Fellowship after the program. Our Youth Fellowship members also plan to participate in various programs and will follow the same guidelines and time allowance. We would like to make clear however, that this program is not a competition of any sort.

We will be expecting a large audience even excluding the participants. This program is held for performances by youth of CSI Congregations but your church as a whole is invited. All CSI Congregations in Regions 1 and 2 are invited. This includes parents, family, and friends. We are also inviting the Indian Christian Community in our area as a whole. We are performing for them. There will be an admission fee as specified on the flyer.

There will be more correspondence from our fellowship in the following months as the details and other aspects of this Talent Show become finalized. What we request is that your youth group and church talk about this program because we sincerely hope you can participate in any way. We ask that you tell us whether you plan to participate or not, within the next 2 months; for if you do you will need time for practice and such. Please contact our Achan, Adult Advisor, or the Talent Show Coordinator listed soon. They can provide further information as well.

This is the first time our fellowship is conducting something of this magnitude and the success of this program depends on your participation and earnest cooperation. We hope for a night filled with Christian-themed music, dancing, and praise as well as brotherly fellowship together. Let's do this together to glorify our God by praising him "our way." We hope that what we exhibit with the aid of our talents will show that the future of the CSI churches in this land will be a bright one.

Yours in Christ,