Summer Story, Future Glory
September 2024
Happy Autumn, NoCo Family!
With Labor Day in the rearview, The Novelty Collective has officially begun its ninth year of programming! When we look back to how it all started & see how far we have come, our whole journey has truly been a testament to God’s great faithfulness. His steadfast love for us & the community we serve continues to sustain us. We are excited to share our plans for this new season, but not before we talk about the thrilling summer we had!
Summer Recap
Even as we recount the events of these past couple months, we are still processing & reveling in the beauty we experienced. We traveled to a few different states to participate in a festival, take our students to camp, & gather with friends new & old. God has opened several doors we have been so stoked to walk through, & we hope you will enjoy hearing about some of our adventures.
Audiofeed Festival
As you know, The Novelty Collective is all about making art accessible & connecting people to our growing creative community. Many of the connections we’ve made over the years intersect with several other Christian art communities across the nation. Audiofeed Festival brings a large cross section of those groups together in July every year, & we were invited to help run the event this summer! Audiofeed has succeeded in providing a platform for hundreds of speakers & panels, writers & poets, bands, & singer-songwriters to share their talents over the last decade. While there has always been additional space for street vendors & other artists, a dedicated space for makers of every kind is a brand-new venture—& that’s where we come in! The Novelty Collective is becoming better-known for our warm hospitality & passion for empowering creatives, & that is exactly what we endeavored to bring to Audiofeed Festival.
It was an incredible four days of nonstop, high-energy interaction with people from all over the U.S. We hosted a room full of brilliant makers, met several amazing new friends, & shared our story with dozens of patrons. We also had plenty of opportunity to step out & witness some outstanding performances by bands from just about every genre. Audiofeed Festival has cultivated a welcoming environment that can best be described as a family reunion. That is definitely how it felt throughout the county fairgrounds, from each & every stage to our own humble space. We are so grateful to have had this opportunity to contribute our piece, & we look forward to seeing more fruit from this partnership in the future.
Surf City
Since starting The COVE: Afterschool, Surf City has been a big part of our summer each year. We bus our kids all the way to Western Michigan for a full week of water sports, rock climbing, laser tag, archery, epic team competitions, & much more. Students also have the chance to hear the gospel & deepen their walk with Christ through daily Bible study & nightly worship services. The camp is put on by The Pittsburgh Kids Foundation. We are so thankful for our relationship with this vibrant ministry & its passionate leadership team!
This year we are celebrating the largest group of students we have ever taken to camp in a summer! We had a total of thirteen kids—half of whom have attended for three years, with the other half being brand-new to the crew. Surf City 2024 was a momentous occasion for our students. Our boys went undefeated in the 3v3 basketball tournament, winning the championship! Our girls painted a flag & led a cheer that won our team first place in the Regatta Parade! On a more sombre note, this was also the last year of camp for a lot of our students since they just gradated middle school. We hope you will join us in praying for them as they enter a new season of life. High school years are tough & can be especially formative in shaping the course of their lives. Pray for their parents, for their teachers, & for us, as well—that in each of our roles, God will equip us with the wisdom & grace to guide them towards goodness & light.
If you contributed to our 2024 Surf City fundraiser campaign, you are a HERO. Thank you so, so much for making a way for us to bring these awesome kids to camp. We are certain that each of them hold onto the memories they made for the rest of their lives—& we are confident that God will continue the good work He started in them as the seeds of the gospel were planted in their hearts. May God bless your faith richly with an abundance of His perfect peace & boundless joy!
The COVE: Afterschool
It’s finally time to welcome our students back to The COVE on September 9th! Brittany & I are working hard to gather art supplies, make the space ready, & set up new art projects so we can start the semester off strong. In addition to our regulars, we expect a lot of new seventh graders to join us in the coming weeks. It is exhilarating & yet overwhelming to prepare for. We are moving forward in faith, trusting in God to expand our horizons & produce bountiful fruit beyond our own efforts. So many students have benefited from all the opportunities we have provided for them to learn, create, & grow in an environment designed to bring out the very best in them. We are leaning into the challenge with great expectation!
For this year’s biblical studies, it is with considerable delight that we will be introducing our Afterschool students to the Book of Ephesians. This letter from the Apostle Paul to the early church in Ephesus is rich in wisdom, exhortation, & edification to live in unity & holiness. To aid us in our studies, we have asked for help in purchasing Ephesians-only Bibles for each of our students. We are happy to report that so far, you have provided twenty-six of our kids with this special book. There are no words to express the depth of our gratitude. Your investment in these kids surely won’t go to waste. Continue to pray that Paul’s words will penetrate their hearts & that God will also give us greater knowledge & authority to teach them.
A Sustainable Future
In addition to Ephesians Bibles, we are also looking for help with our Amazon wishlist, & for missions partners who can commit as little as $10/month to move our ministry towards sustainability. For details, please visit the link below to read last month’s newsletter:
Autumn Event Schedule
The COVE: Afterschool isn’t the only thing we’re been planning for this fall; two of our BIGGEST events of the year are coming up soon, & we are inviting you to participate! Here is what we have to look forward to:
Halloween at The COVE
Halloween at The COVE is an all-ages event on October 31st. From 6:00 - 9:00pm, we will once again be hosting a themed costume party with hot food, candy, crafts, & games at The COVE Art Center in Pittsburgh. Families are welcome to bring their entire crew, small children included. This event is a lot of fun every year, & it brings in so many people from the community who have never found the opportunity to see our space. Whether you are looking to join us for a fun evening, or you have an interest in helping out (see below), we would absolutely love for you to stop by!
NoCo Fest 2024
If you never come to another one of our events for the rest of the year, The Novelty Collective Music & Arts Festival is one occasion you don’t want to miss. This will be our eighth annual festival, & we are absolutely amped for what’s in store. NoCo Fest is the culmination of our ongoing mission to make art accessible & empower artists to create. We invite dozens of poets, makers, musicians, & artists of every kind to share their art all under one roof at The COVE Art Center. If you have ever been to an art fair or a concert before, you will have some idea about what to expect—but ours is unique in a way that cannot be described, only experienced! Check out the link below for more details, photos, & a video highlighting the festival from previous years.
Get Involved
If you made it this far, we hope you’ve enjoyed this update so much that you want to know what it takes to get involved with The Novelty Collective! We still need volunteers for Afterschool & a lot of help with everything else coming down the pike. Tapping the link below will put you directly in touch with either Brittany or myself (Jordan). We can’t wait to start the conversation!
A Path Laid Out
It has been a pleasure delivering this summer recap & upcoming event announcements. We could never have dreamt that God would lead us down this crazy path in ministry, & there would have been no describing the beauty He has opened our eyes to along the way. Yet, here we are! Remember, you too have been created for an incredible journey in partnership with God:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
- Ephesians 2:10
We share in this adventure together. You are an important member of The NoCo community, but even more important is your place in God’s Kingdom. Thank you for reading, & be encouraged—believe for God’s mighty hand to guide your life’s journey according to His glorious purpose in Christ Jesus.
In His Service,
The NoCo Team
Article written by Jordan A. King
