Hall of Fame: The Class of '95

Standing:  Me, Jennifer Johns, Angie Whalin, Chris Hanbery and Matt Schmidt

Kneeling:  Becca Smythe?, Carrie Morrell, Todd Willis and Brian Watson

Time can be a funny thing.  I have already written on this blog about my Youth Group Hall of Fame Class of 1996 from Springfield Friends Meeting.  Now we have moved ahead to my Kissimmee years, but we must go backwards in order to honor my newest Hall of Fame inductees, The FUMC-K Class of '95.  Confused?  Good!

By the time I arrived in Kissimmee, the students in the Class of '95 were late in their junior years, and they had been through a great deal when it came to their church.  They had begun their journey as middle school students who were part of the ultra-successful youth ministry of Jorge Acevedo.  Jorge, a brilliant youth worker and pastor, had focused primarily on high school students, a group to which the Class of''95 was just moving into when Jorge was moved by the Florida Conference in 1992.  The next guy was an excellent pastor named Kelly, but he was only at FUMC-K one year before getting married and moving on, and his primarily focus was middle school youth.  The next guy, Jim, was only around for about 6 months because he was just not very good at the job set before him. He wanted to be a pastor, not a youth worker, and it showed.   My arrival marked their fourth youth pastor in three years, and needless to say they were frustrated.  But more than that, the core of their group wanted the youth group to thrive again, to be important again.  They offered love and leadership, and as much as anything or anyone else, they brought the student ministry of FUMC-K back to life!

So who were these incredible youth?  The very active core group conisisted of Brian Watson, Matt Schmidt, Matt Wheeler (pictured with Todd on his shoulders), Jennifer Johns, Angie Whalin, Todd Willis, Brook Teoli, Becca Smythe (that may or may not be her last name!) and Steve Hollingsed (pictured).  Others, like Carrie Morrell, Sarah Dykes and Chris Hanbery were often around as well.  Brian, Matt and Jennifer were childhood friends to whom this group was of tremendous importance.  They were in my ear from day one, offering insight and opinion as to what needed to be done.  Todd was the pastor's son who fit right in with that group, and he was a true leader.  All of them helped me re-create the feeling that every week something special would happen at youth.  It was Jennifer, of course, who had changed my life with her words at my interview for the position in Kissimmee.  Brian, Todd and the two Matts were on that first epic trip to Mountain Top.  They didn't have time to wait around for me to "grow into" the job; they would be graduating in a year.  It was their faith, their desire to grow in Christ, and the urgency they brought to ministry that helped me get things up and running so quickly.  And it was their examples that set the tone for what students expected out of me and out of themselves over the years that followed.  For this and so much more, they are all deserving of a place in my Hall of Fame!

Their urgency made a major impact in another way as well.  I knew that Pastor John Willis and several of the youth and adults involved in my hiring had been very excited about the United Nations Seminars to New York I had led in the past, but I was planning on waiting until November of 1995 to plan one for my new church.  The Class of '95 let me know in no uncertain terms that November of 1994- before they graduated- would work much better!  I now had a huge trip to plan, very little time to do it, and all new transportation issues to deal with as well.  Looking back now, I know that the NYC trip happened because of how much love and respect I had for the Class of '95!  The stories of that trip begin tomorrow!

Because of Jesus,