This is the 2nd year that Horizon Student Ministries at Living Hope Worship Center has participated in the New Jersey Assemblies of God Fine Arts Festival and I have to say, it has been such a blessing to be involved.
For those of you who are not familiar with the program, Fine Arts Festival is a ministry in our denomination that's main goal is to see students discover and grow in their God-given gifts. There are a number of different categories in the program, from being able to write a story or a poem, to being able to perform a skit or monologue, and so many other categories as well. The program is held on a state level all throughout the nation and those who advance from the state level are invited to participate in the National Fine Arts Festival (this year being held in Columbus, Ohio).
As a student, I had participated in the Fine Arts Festival in four categories (Short Sermon, Short Story, Poetry, and First Person Essay) and so, I've had some background in the program in a number of categories. Even so, we decided this year to really step up and step out in a number of ways.
One of the biggest things that changed this year was our group entries. In our practices last year, we had three different group entries (Children's Lesson Group, Human Video, and Worship Team), with the first two being the first time that many of our students had ever been in something like this. We ended up doing incredibly well in the Children's Lesson category and because of that, we decided to do two Children's Lessons this year for our group entries. For our third group entry this year, we really thought about stepping out in a new direction and the one category that we kept coming back to was Vocal Ensemble. A Vocal Ensemble gives the opportunity for students to not have to worry about instruments, but to fully focus on their vocal performances as a group. These three entries ended up being very different than last year and all three of them turned out fantastic!!!
Looking at the categories themselves, we saw students step out this year in new areas and in new categories that we hadn't done last year. I shared about the Vocal Ensemble, but some of the other categories included Digital Photography, Female Vocal Solo, and a First Person Essay, which was so encouraging to see.
Another massive change this year was found in our results. With last year being our first year in Fine Arts Festival, as one would it expect, we anticipated some "hiccups" in figuring out how things would work and what to look forward to throughout the day. This year, we saw a massive increase in the overall scores in our group, with all of our scores being in the top three scoring areas (Superior, Excellent, and Good)!! Every single category that Horizon was involved in this year did so well and the judges comments definitely reflected this statement.
Looking at the Superior category (this is the one that has students advance to the National Level), Horizon has five entries that are advancing to the National Youth Convention this year. We had a few entries that were so close but the entries that did advance are:
Overall, it was such a great day and I can't honestly find a way to express how proud we are of all of our students who stepped out and put themselves in front of an audience of their peers in this medium. I have been so blessed being a part of this experience and can't wait to not only travel to the Nationals, but as we continue to develop the program right at our home church in Swedesboro.
Have you been involved in Fine Arts Festival before? If so, what categories were you involved in? I would love to hear about them! Feel free to comment here on the blog or drop me a line on Facebook/Twitter: @solidschultz! Also, be on the lookout for some of our Fine Arts entries to be uploaded onto our Horizon Youth Youtube page located at: Horizon Student Ministries! Have a great week and be blessed!!!
For those of you who are not familiar with the program, Fine Arts Festival is a ministry in our denomination that's main goal is to see students discover and grow in their God-given gifts. There are a number of different categories in the program, from being able to write a story or a poem, to being able to perform a skit or monologue, and so many other categories as well. The program is held on a state level all throughout the nation and those who advance from the state level are invited to participate in the National Fine Arts Festival (this year being held in Columbus, Ohio).
As a student, I had participated in the Fine Arts Festival in four categories (Short Sermon, Short Story, Poetry, and First Person Essay) and so, I've had some background in the program in a number of categories. Even so, we decided this year to really step up and step out in a number of ways.
One of the biggest things that changed this year was our group entries. In our practices last year, we had three different group entries (Children's Lesson Group, Human Video, and Worship Team), with the first two being the first time that many of our students had ever been in something like this. We ended up doing incredibly well in the Children's Lesson category and because of that, we decided to do two Children's Lessons this year for our group entries. For our third group entry this year, we really thought about stepping out in a new direction and the one category that we kept coming back to was Vocal Ensemble. A Vocal Ensemble gives the opportunity for students to not have to worry about instruments, but to fully focus on their vocal performances as a group. These three entries ended up being very different than last year and all three of them turned out fantastic!!!
Looking at the categories themselves, we saw students step out this year in new areas and in new categories that we hadn't done last year. I shared about the Vocal Ensemble, but some of the other categories included Digital Photography, Female Vocal Solo, and a First Person Essay, which was so encouraging to see.
Another massive change this year was found in our results. With last year being our first year in Fine Arts Festival, as one would it expect, we anticipated some "hiccups" in figuring out how things would work and what to look forward to throughout the day. This year, we saw a massive increase in the overall scores in our group, with all of our scores being in the top three scoring areas (Superior, Excellent, and Good)!! Every single category that Horizon was involved in this year did so well and the judges comments definitely reflected this statement.
Looking at the Superior category (this is the one that has students advance to the National Level), Horizon has five entries that are advancing to the National Youth Convention this year. We had a few entries that were so close but the entries that did advance are:
- Jesse Learns to Obey! (Children's Lesson Group)
- Jessica and Issac (Children's Lesson Group)
- Hannah Hill (Short Sermon, Sr. High)
- Hannah Hill (Visual Art, Three Dimensional)
- Olivia Szymborski (Digital Photography)
Overall, it was such a great day and I can't honestly find a way to express how proud we are of all of our students who stepped out and put themselves in front of an audience of their peers in this medium. I have been so blessed being a part of this experience and can't wait to not only travel to the Nationals, but as we continue to develop the program right at our home church in Swedesboro.
- Photo taken by Stephanie Fusco, 2014 -
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