Bridgeport Youth Council

Youth Council\Leadership Team '04-'05
There's really no explanation. That's just kind of how they are together!

( Yes they are wigs though!)

Figuring how to get unconnected with each other!

( Two months pregnant with Lydia!)

The girls have just always gone with us. We'll see how that works in the future!

Tomorrow is our youth council retreat so it has had me thinking back over all my years of being involved with Bridgeport Youth Group. I know several people who are against youth groups in general and if you are one, I in no way mean to offend you, I'm just sharing my experiences!

I started attending Bridgeport Youth group in the fall of of 1999. I was thirteen. I was a "good" kid, having been raised in a Christian home all my life by amazingly Godly parents. I thought that I pretty much had it all together. Guy Jones has been our youth leader for several years now ( at least since then). He is a single man, completely devoted to this group and only been receiving any sort of financial support since this past year. He has such an amazing heart for kids to know Christ and serve Him with their whole lives.

Our youth group is set up like this. The Leadership team are adults who oversee everything that goes on and are responsible for the direction of the group. Guy is part of the leadership team, yet he is the youth leader and all are accountable to him. Our support team is kind of a new addition to our group. They are kids who have come through youth group, mostly college age, who want to be involved still in helping. The youth Council are kids within the youth group that want to learn to learn to become leaders and servants among the group.
I joined the youth council my second year going to youth group at fourteen, and have been involved ever since. It kind of gets in your blood! I learned and grown so much through being involved there. Just a plug for youth groups. I completely agree with not wanting to separate out the age groups and thinking that kids should be mingling with the old and young alike. But through my experience and so many others that I've seen, there is something very powerful about having your peers around you serving the Lord and seeking His will in every area in their lives. I really cannot speak for other groups, but at Bridgeport we are not about fun! We have it to be sure ( see above pictures!!), but only because when people are unselfishly loving and committed to those around them, serving and reaching out, your going to have a blast! We also are very committed to being involved with the whole church body!

I was on the youth council for four years and then after getting married went right onto the Leadership team, where we've been for five years now. I've spent three youth council retreats pregnant. Last year I was two and a half months pregnant, in charge of the kitchen, sick as a dog, and yet we hadn't told anyone yet! The girls have so far just come along. They love being with the kids and thinks the whole leadership team are either aunties of uncles. I don't know how it will all work out in the future, but thankfully God does. We have considered many times stepping down, but never felt peace about it. we are both convinced that right now, this is where God wants us. It's crazy to think back to all those past years. There has been so much growth in my life, as well as those around me. I think I have been more challenged this last year in really making God my all in all and loving those around me than I have ever been!

Sorry if am just rambling on. Please pray for us as we start a new year with a new group. So much potential, and yet we have got to be faithful in setting them an example to follow!