Youth Group
Grades 6-12 (Middle and High School split during Small Groups). Every other Wednesday Night from 6-8pm.
We meet at VHC (115 Rockdale Ave, Swannanoa) for worship, teaching, small group time, mixers/ games, and dinner provided!
High School Huddle
Grades 9-12. This meets on the off weeks of youth group...so also every other Wednesday Night from 6-8pm.
We meet at the Church (unless otherwise posted somewhere else) for intentional community and conversation amongst just our high schoolers. Dinner provided!
Here's how you can stay in the Loop!
Interested in serving in our youth ministry?
At Valley Hope Church, we can't shake the profound significance that takes place when adults show up in the lives of teens. If you are interested in ministering to our students, we would love to connect with you and see how you could be plugged in at VAHO!
Contact Daniel:
Upcoming Student Ministry Events
HIGH SCHOOL CAMPING TRIP
June 21-23, 2024
This trip is intended for all students who just finished grades 9-12. It’s for both guys and gals. We’ll be heading back to Panthertown Valley (about 1:45 away in Glenville, NC) off into the woods…hiking a little bit…bonfiring and smore’s-ing a bit…swimming a bit under the waterfalls…and hopefully sleeping a bit. We’ll also go through a study together…all in all with the hope of this being a restful & peaceful, yet fun outing for our older gang. We’ll give more specifics regarding a packing list and the exact time to meet and anything else as it gets closer…but signups are live currently!
How To Sign-Up: You can sign up by clicking the button below. If you have any issues, reach out to Sully (
Price: Suggested donation to offset the cost of the trip is $30. Just bring the cash or check with you at dropoff (we aren’t gonna fiddle with online payments for this one!). If money is tight, then don’t bring any money to drop off. We aren’t gonna be checking who brought any, so feel freedom there.
SUMMER RETREAT
AUGUST 11th-13th
This summer we’ll be heading to Awanita Valley Retreat Center where we’ll make use of: A Lake with a zip line, waterslide, paddle boats, kayaks, canoes, swimming area, volleyball court, basketball court, archery tag, ping-pong, team building challenge course, gaga ball, basketball court, hiking trails, horseback riding, 4WD Mountain-top Rides, Bonfire, worship center and a bunch more that I won’t write!
THEME: We’re going to have a ton of fun doing all of these activities, but we’ll also spend some time focusing on spiritual rejuvenation individually and as a group. We’ll be working through some of the stories in Acts and what it means for us to follow Jesus as a group going out into the world taking broken things and making them beautiful; turning the upside down things rightside up. There will be times for individual study and reflection, as well as worship and teaching as a group that we pray will revitalize students as they head into the next school year.
LODGING: As far as lodging goes, we’ll be staying in a lodge right on the lake side. There will be 2 separate wings, with separate rooms in each wing for middle school boys, high school boys, middle school girls, and high school girls with leaders staying in each.
FOOD: As far as food goes…we are in super good luck. There is an on-site kitchen and kitchen staff that will be cooking us breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. All we have to do is crawl out of bed and we get served…it’s incredible; and accommodating for food allergies.
THE NITTY GRITTY STUFF:
Ages: This is open to all rising 6th graders through those that have just graduated HS in 2024. High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers will have separate sleeping arrangements, and breakouts for small group discussions, some activities etc.
How To Register: Sign up on our website at Valleyhope.church/students
You do not have to pay right away, you can simply fill out the short form to let us know you are coming, and then pay whenever is most convenient at a later date.
Price: The total cost is $190, which includes all activities, transportation, t-shirts, meals, etc. NOTE: If money is the only reason you are not attending, please let Daniel know and we’ll still get you there. We do not want that to be the holdup for anyone.
When Do I Pay?: You can pay where you register, or you can pay by check or cash anytime between now and the day of the Retreat. If paying by check, simply write “Youth Summer Retreat” on the memo.
OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
Can You Invite Friends?: Yes! Absolutely! You may invite anyone to join in for this retreat. They simply need to fill out the registration, and they are in. NOTE: If money is prohibitive for you to invite a friend, we’d still like them to be able to join. Let us know, and we can scholarship them so that they can still be blessed by these few days.
Safety Notes: The Retreat Center has full-time staff that will operate the kitchen, help us with lodging accommodations, and lifeguard and supervise all the activities we’ll be doing. We will also be bringing staff members, and a number of volunteers (both male and female) who have all passed background checks to supervise our students and we’ll all have a first aid kit on hand with each activity we go to.
Packing List: In the weeks leading up to the event, I’ll send one out to ensure you bring everything you’ll need (pretty much just clothing, swimsuits, Bible if you have one etc.).
Where is drop-off and pickup?: You’ll drop off your students at Valley Hope Church (115 Rockdale Ave, Swannanoa NC, 28711) at 1pm on Sunday, August 11th and you’ll pick them up on Tuesday, August 13th at the same place at 12pm. Note: If you attend the 11am church service at VHC, you can of course just drop them off after that ends (approximately 12:30pm).
Purpose of this event: Ultimately, our hope is that students grow closer to Christ, develop lasting relationships in a loving Christian community, and feel the presence of God by slowing down, walking at the pace of Jesus, having fun, and enjoying His creation.
MIDDLE SCHOOL MEETUPS
We'll have 2 middle school meetups this summer.
The first one will be on June 26th, and will be for all those that just finished grades 6-8.
The second one will be on August 7th, and this will include all rising 6th graders!
More details to come on these two events.
We only hold Youth Group every other week...here's why:
- It allows families to have more time together & we believe the home to be the primary place of discipleship.
- Less youth-specific events allows students to be able to attend Church wide events a little more easily. We want students to be able to attend something like a Night of Worship or Church-wide Service Project alongside youth events, and a weekly event makes that very hard for students and families. Churchwide events are vital for our students to be developed as lifelong worshippers.
- We want to prioritize relationships over programs. This will allow volunteers to have time back to put a higher emphasis on relational ministry.
- We want to offer something specific to HS'ers as they are at a different stage spiritually and relationally than our middle schoolers...and we couldn't do that on top of youth group each week. So on some off weeks, we have a "High School Huddle" that is only be for HS'ers.
- We are partnering with WyldLife. Many of our Middle School students are deeply involved in WL, so we want to lean into that. What this looks like is, every other Wednesday is Youth Group, and on the opposite W, there will be Wyldlife. There are several Valley Hope members (including myself) who will be leaders present.
Youth Events
Youth Group
This is for all students grades 6-12. During these gatherings we have mixers and some fun, dinner, worship, teaching, and small groups where our students can break off with their peers closest to them with volunteers that will help them dive a little deeper into the Scripture and the topics we’re covering. This is our main hub for all of our students and volunteers to come together throughout the semester.
High School Huddle
These are designed for our high school students; both guys and gals. These are in the evening, on Wednesday Nights Every Other Week from 6-8pm on the off weeks of Youth Group! These are more conversational in nature, and a chance for our older students to dig a little deeper, and grow closer in their relationships with one another.
WyldLife
This is a parachurch ministry that we partner with for outreach and connection with our students. This ministry is geared for all middle school students in our area, and provides events every other Thursday night (generally) with the occasional bonus event. This ministry is a great place for our middle school students to meet with other middle schoolers from different churches and to encounter Jesus in a fun environment full of trained leaders that will care for them. WyldLife also does something called “Campaigners” which are essentially small groups where students can meet with leaders to work through topics and passages of Scripture. This also makes for a fantastic place for your students to invite their non-believing friends to hear about Jesus. Reach out to Daniel if you have any questions!
Meet Daniel
Daniel Lancaster serves as both our Director of Church Operations and Director of Student Ministries. Daniel graduated from Montreat College in 2018 where he studied Bible & Religion with a particular emphasis on Student Ministry and Worship Arts. Daniel is currently working towards his MDiv at Reformed Theological Seminary. During his time at Montreat, Daniel was a part of starting the Student Ministry program at Valley Hope along with a great team of volunteers and parents. Daniel served as the Director of Student Ministry at Valley Hope Church for 2 years from 2017 to 2019 and during that time began to work with teens at the Black Mountain Home for Children and later served as a Transitional Living Coach and the Cafe Lead supervising youth in the Apprenticeship program.
Before returning to Valley Hope Church, Daniel spent some time serving with the Creative Department at Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, FL and learned about the intersection between faith and beauty. Daniel returned to Valley Hope in 2022 excited to work with students and help them see what God is orchestrating behind the scenes in their lives.
Daniel accomplishes things only via the help of his wife Emily, and gets distracted from doing things via the help of his two kids, Elliot and Theodore. Aside from the above, Daniel also drinks excessive amounts of coffee.
