Dear Parkway Hills Youth Ministry,
This past Sunday I shared at Baccalaureate that the best description of fishing I've ever seen comes from Jimmy Carter: Rivers & Dreams, in which one of the co-authors states that "[t]o catch a fish is to experience grace in its most indiscriminate form."
Folks, by that definition I've experienced a truly great catch with you since January 2020. In that time the youth ministry has seen:
• New faces, new growth, and amazing classes of seniors sent off to their next seasons of life
• New traditions passed down as younger students grow up and become leaders
• Lives changed through confirmation, baptism, joining in church membership, and the daily walk of following Christ together
• Some of the highest attended trips and events in this ministry's history
• The creation of the Bridge Ministry to better walk students through their preteen and early teen years into youth ministry
• The redecoration of the youth suite and the codification of our core values by our students coming out of the isolation of COVID
• The building of the youth suite kitchen
• A growing love for and ability to serve our neighbors (including a reputation for outworking other similar groups!), sometimes as part of long term needs through organizations and sometimes at the drop of a hat when a need arises like creating a wheelchair path for a neighbor in need
• This ministry's first summer mission experience in recent memory, with the desire to follow it up with another this year in Kentucky
• Students finding new ways to serve their church and God in worship through music, speaking, and broadcast tech work.
• Our students feeding several dozen on multiple occations, be it as a service opportunity or as a fundraiser offering a meal and community at PHUMC
• Trips, fun days, Bible studies, late nights, early mornings, inside jokes, and even some literal fish caught. In it all, Christ glorified.
I'm so proud of what we've done while knowing that everything I could write here is just another wave of the ocean's of God's grace. With literal fish, one constantly struggles between not wanting to leave a location when the fish are biting while wanting to be a good steward of a finite Creation. I'm thankful to know that on the other hand there is no limit to God's grace, and even though the tide is bearing me elsewhere there are others who will continue to ride the waves right here.
One of my prayers for Parkway Hills is that any legacy I leave creates the opportunity to outdo my legacy because we serve a God who is in the business of making sure the best fish stories aren't just in the past. That's why I want to strongly encourage every one of you, adults and youth included, to show up this Wednesday, May 7, for the PHUMC Mission & Ministry Evening at 6pm in the Garden Room. A light dinner will be served and a nursery is available by requestion. With so much change coming to PHUMC this summer I believe it's important for you all to have a voice in dreaming together, which is why we aren't holding any other events that night that could pull away adult volunteers or teens.
And youth: the adults there want you to share with them--some of our best conversations at these events have come from previous youth attending! Your faith and your voice matter. I love you, I'm proud of you, and Christ has big things waiting for you. He's inviting you even now to row out and cast your nets.
-Geoff
