7 Things: Growing Up In Youth Group

I have spent a lot of time on this blog telling stories of my days as a youth pastor.  But I would have never become a youth pastor without my own youth group experience as a teenager.  Between 8th grade and the end of high school (1972-77) I was a part of a very special youth ministry at New Garden Friends Meeting.  You can read about how I wound up being part of the group in the 2nd post I ever made here, called Beginnings.  Today I remember some of the great people and few of the random events that still stick out in my mind some 35 years later...

Becky, Tammy, Lisa & Beth

1)  Our group was never huge, but we did have a fairly large group of people who passed through during those years.  My best friends were Steve & Carl Semmler, Beth Vestal, Tammy Doggett, Becky Meredith, Lisa (Ram-It!) Ramos, Tim Vail and Martha Ratledge- but there were so many more who made that group special.  I wrote about Andy Maynard yesterday, but great people like Julie Oden, Jeff Vestal, Melissa Meredith, Roy Parkhurst, Jane Reynolds, Joe Willlingham, MaryLynne Burris, the Ossman family and more were all part of the fun.  And we had incredible leadership from David Brown III, Beth Phillips, Rob Mitchell, Barb Brown and Louise Critz.  They all made an impact on my life.
2)  There was this kid named Gurney Kaufman who was also part of the group early on in my time there.  On one of my first trips with the group, to Camp Pla-Mor in Myrtle Beach, Gurney shot bottle rockets at unsuspecting civilians and threw a smoke bomb in Jeff Vestal's shower stall.  Somehow he was still alive when we returned home.
3)  For reasons I do not remember, at some point DB3 had us making up our own musical version of Julius Caesar, set in Rome, GA.  We all used our worst southern accents to day lines like, "Tis I, the sooth sayer!  And the sooth sayer say...Beware the Ides of March!"  At some point a couple of us had a scene where we skipped long singing, "Hanes makes me feel good all under..."  Thank God that there is no video of any of that...
4)  Every autumn we would go up into the mountains and spend a few nights at Sam Levering's apple orchards, just hanging out under the stars together.  Those were amazing times.  If I recall correctly, the evenings usually ended with us guys giving some of the girls back rubs, with a promise of reciprocation.  I am pretty certain I am still owed a TON of back rubs...
5) In addition to Sam's Place, Myrtle Beach and Quaker Lake, a number of us went with a group to New York in November of 1976.  I remember 2 things about that trip.  One, while we were there the Guyana Jonestown Massacre (in which cult leader Jim Jones poisoned hundreds of his followers with Kool-Aid) took place, and was a major item of concern at the United Nations.  Secondly, Lisa Ramos and Dan Moran met for the first time.  They are still married today.
6)  Roy Parkhurst had a friend named Annette Wells (I think?) who had an absolutely beautiful singing voice and wrote a haunting song about a female race horse named Ruffian who broke a leg and had to be put down.  Always wondered what happened to her...
7)  I learned everything I know about great games like Sardines, Secret Documents and Kick-the-Can (in the Graveyard!) from my days in the New Garden youth group. I learned to play guitar from Martha, Rob and Steve.  I learned to hold doors (and many other good manners) from Beth, Becky and Tammy.  I learned how to be both youth pastor and friend to students from DB3 and Rob.  I understood how to make bible study and programs fun and educational because I saw it modeled every week- by college students who were paid next to nothing for their work.  I could not have had better teachers.


There are so many stories to tell.  The night we carried a sleeping Carl Semmler out of a cabin at QLC without waking him up.  The afternoon at Sam's when Becky was sleep talking about saving a tree.  The New Year's Eve square dances and our wild rendition of the Virginia Reel. So many memories.  I love those people, and I still miss them. Outside of my parents, nothing had more impact on my life in those important years than the youth group of New Garden Friends Meeting.  I thank God that he placed them in my life.


Because of Jesus,