Gearing Up to Make an Impact
I love summer for so many reasons. It gives me a chance to be outside more frequently (always open to a counseling session on the golf course), the warm weather (yes, hot summers are better than cold winters), hot dogs on the grill (dare I say a good hot dog rivals a steak), and a small break from the grind of weekly youth ministry throughout the school year. We intentionally take time off from our weekly ministries to give our volunteers a chance to rest and recharge, and we fully acknowledge that summers are busy for families.
But there’s usually something that shifts in my mind in August. I start getting antsy and energized to kick off our fall youth ministries again. I miss seeing our youth leaders and students every week. I miss teaching them important Scripture lessons each week. I miss the silly games and relationships that are formed from the start to the end of the school year. Long story short, it’s time to ramp up for fall youth ministry!
We recently got together to say farewell to long-time youth ministry volunteers, Joe and Carrie Simon. They are packing up their Parkersburg home and will have moved to Nashville to be closer to family by the time you read this. They have put so much time and effort into leading youth small groups, mission trips, and most recently, our newly formed College Age Grad to Growth ministry. They have gone above and beyond to build relationships with students, and we will miss them greatly.
Thankfully, many of our youth volunteers have served for years and will come back to serve again in the fall. But the absence of the Simon’s reminds me that there are more of you who might be amazing volunteers in our youth ministry. And there are definite needs within our ministry! We for sure have 2-4 openings in our high school ministry (Wednesdays from 8:00-9:30 PM) where you will get to meet some of the most fun H.S. students around, which will include a new group of freshmen! We also have several openings within our M.S. ministry, which meets from 6:30-8:00 every Wednesday. What would our M.S. small groups look like and what could we accomplish if we were able to have 5 students in a group instead of 10 or 12?
One of the things I’ve been encouraged with over the past 6 months is all the visitors who come to our church and keep coming back. If you haven’t found a place to serve yet, maybe you’d be open to grabbing lunch some day or sitting down to chat on a Sunday morning to hear about some possibilities within youth ministry.
With Pastor Harrison’s time here at SRBC coming to an end shortly, it is super important to continue the mission and vision that we have been striving for. In a small way, we hope to continue to fan the flame of reaching the next generation with qualified adults who love Jesus and want to pass that love on to students.
Blessings,
Bryce
