Monday, May 18, 2009

Graduation

It has been four years since Jerry and I gave up being the youth ministers at the Auburntown Church of Christ. I cried for weeks when Jerry told me that he believed that it was time to retire. We were paid for part-time only - not full time. How do you "do" youth ministry part time? We never figured that out!

We worked so hard because we had/have a passion for young people and stretching their experiences past anything they have done before. We took them to Camp Barnabas and I got stretched. (Check out their website. You will be impressed by what you find. http://www.campbarnabas.org/ ) We went to Atlanta and St. Louis to serve in homeless shelters; we gave away coats, blankets and food to the homeless under the bridges of Nashville; we were mistaken for homeless people at the Spaghetti Factory; we camped out, we went to Winterfest (all 155 of us one year!) and we had teen retreats. Kids were baptized in swimming pools, watering troughs and in the stream in Gatlinburg in the freezing cold.

In the last two weeks we have seen the last of our youth group kids being honored at their home congregations in celebration of their high school graduation. Yes, they are sort of scattered now from place to place but that's okay. They are all bright, responsible young people going out into the world of the unknown. One wants to be an engineer, one a nurse and the list goes on. Some are going to Harding, some to Lipscomb, some to vocational school and one to Tennessee Tech.
Some are planning to get married and some are going to work. No matter where they go, we will always be proud of them. They gave us great memories and lots of fun times.

So to Abby, McKenzie, Nathan, Katie, Laura, Julie Anne and Lauren - Happy Graduation! May God bless you in your new adventure!

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