Hall of Fame: Jamie Robinson

Is there someone you think belongs in my youth group Hall of Fame?  E-mail your suggestions to youthguy07@aol.com today!  Previous inductees include Terri Johnson, Jennifer Wood, Heather Beggs, Mike Mercadante, Charles Freedle, Ken Hill, Amy Simmons and Todd Farlow.  Search "Hall of Fame" to read their stories.

Every youth ministry is special to the people who are a part of it.  When you choose to give your time, effort and energy to a group of people, it becomes important to you. There are a number of levels of participation, ranging from those who are just on the fringe to those who are part of the very core of the ministry.   But even within the core group there are a few people to whom the group becomes their family.  The relationships they form at church are the relationships that sustain them through the rough days of middle school and high school.  In turn, those youth become very special to their youth pastors.  Jamie Robinson was one such student.

Jamie was the shy son of a single mom when I arrived at Springfield Friends Meeting in 1986.  He was smart, witty and a lot of fun to be around, but not people realized any of that.  He had friends, but he didn't have any true confidants.  That changed as the youth group became his family.  He was among the few who spent the night with us after the Super Bowl blizzard on 1987.  He was among those playing the game that shall not be named at the leadership retreat in Asheville later that same year.  He achieved further fame during the infamous incident in which Jennifer Wood beat him over the head with a Bible.  He was the DJ (see picture above) at the unforgettable Christmas Dance in 1988, when absolutely no one danced!  As he became more connected with us, his personality blossomed and he became more outgoing at school as well.  He began to date and bring girlfriends to youth and on trips.  On one New York trip I actually thought I was going to have to talk to him about public displays of affection- too much kissing going on!  James was loved and respected by everyone in the group, and he loved being a part of it.

Jamie left us to attend North Carolina State University, where he was an honor student in the computer science field.  He also met and married a beautiful young woman while there.  As he became a man, he preferred to be called James, which is what many of his peers called him at Springfield.  He had always been "the man" to them.  When James left us, he really left us.  He seldom came home from Raleigh, and when he did, he was not the type to call me every time he was home.  The last time I saw him was when Marilyn and I met he and his wife-to-be Stacy (I think?) at a Jimmy Buffett concert in Raleigh.  We have not been in touch in many years now.  But that does not, for one minute, change the fact that Jamie Robinson was a key part of the youth group at Springfield- so key, in fact, that he belongs in my Hall of Fame.  Thanks, James, for helping us become a family.

Because of Jesus,