Youth Group of the Month (A Vintage Post)

This post originally appeared on December 9, 2009- back when 10 readers a day seemed like a lot!   It is re-posted here with minor changes.  Enjoy!

Twenty years ago this month (1989) I received a phone call telling me that because of our new TNT program, the youth ministry at Springfield Friends Meeting was receiving an honor.  YOUTH! Magazine, a publication of the UMC, was going to feature our little Quaker group in the May, 1988 edition as their Youth Group of the Month.  There would be a full page article and two pictures.  This news created a great deal of buzz in our church and our community.  The following is a reprint of the article, written by Mariellen Sawada of YOUTH!  The pictures are from TNT, but are not the same ones that accompanied the original article.  The first photo features Jennifer Simmons, Jeff Byrd, Heather Beggs, Keri Vinson, Patrick Tillman and Geoff Coltrane.  The second is of Todd Farlow in one of our famous pie eating contests.  The last pic is just an average night at TNT.  Enjoy this piece of history!

TNT explodes each Monday night at the Springfield Friends Meeting in High Point, North Carolina.  TNT or "That New Thing" is "an outreach program to the local high schools that has our group growing," wrote Carl Jones, Director of Youth and Christian Education.

Each Monday, the Springfield Young Friends Youth Fellowship hosts an evening of singing, skits, devotional time- and perhaps a little pie-throwing.  "It's a time to get away from school and all the pressure," said sixteen-year-old Todd Farlow.  "It helps get the books off our minds and that time together makes it easier the rest of the week."  

Sixteen-year-old Amy Simmons describes TNT as "a social outreach for other high schools students in our area.  We try to get them involved.  We want them to know other people care."  Caring has been a big factor in the group's growth.  TNT started with a core of fifteen to twenty youth.  After only 6 months, the group has "exploded" to sixty or seventy participants.  "It's been exciting to watch as more people have gotten involved.  The kids are responsible for that," said Carl Jones.  "We can advertise events, but the real publicity is from the kids."   "It's like a chain reaction," explained Amy Simmons.  "Our friends that we brought in have started bringing in friends."  Why do the TNT youth involve others in their fellowship?  Amy Simmons responded, "We want everyone to experience the love and family-like atmosphere we have at TNT.  We care about other people."


Because of Jesus,

"Jesus, You & Me"

Shortly after my arrival in Kissimmee and my introduction to John Willis' muppet Hollywood, John informed me that they were making a video of family devotions called Family Living With Jesus.  This project was being headed up by Pat Pribyl, a church member with extensive background in TV and video production. They were filming John and Hollywood interacting with church families and learning more about Jesus.  As part of this enormous undertaking, they had begun a nationwide contest for a theme song.  John knew I had written some songs and told me that while the contest was almost over and they had a number in entries, he thought I might want to give it a shot as well.  Actually, it was more like he wanted me to give it a shot.  So I did.

I wrote the song Jesus, You & Me in a couple of hours in my new office at FUMC-K, and I submitted it to the committee that was picking a winner.  I was very surprised when I was informed I had won the competition.  The prize was $100 (which came in very handy!) and a chance to record the song for the video.  I thought "record" would entail sitting in front of a microphone and a cassette player and singing.  I was so wrong.  I still didn't understand the scope of John's vision for this project.  John, Hollywood, a choir of about 30 children and I were going to a professional recording studio in Orlando.  I would play guitar and sing, backed by the children's choir on the chorus.  John and Hollywood were taping an introduction.  The song would be released on cassette in advance of the video to try and stir up interest in the project.  The session took a couple of hours and was one of the more interesting things I have ever done.  It was pretty amazing to hear the chorus with the kids singing behind me after it was professionally mixed.  The chorus had a very simple message:

We're family, Jesus, you and me

walking side by side and hand in hand

Yes we're family, and Jesus holds the key

Families  living with Jesus in God's plan.

The song and the tape were both pretty well received at church, but did not make much of an impact anywhere else.  We took boxes of the video to a Christian Education conference one time and set up a booth in the resource hall to sell them.  We returned with boxes of the video...  My only professionally recorded song did not earn me a gold record- it was more like an aluminum record-  something to wrap up leftovers in!  But it was certainly fun.  The real impact on me was the realization that John Willis wanted all of us on staff to pursue excellence and to be as creative as possible with our ministries.  I was only a few weeks into my ministry at FUMC-K, and I had already done things I had never done before.  That list would get much longer in the years to come.  Working for this church and this pastor was going to be inspiring...and fun! 

I still have the video and the cassette.   I sold the rights to the song to Hollywood, but I think he has retired now.  Maybe I should update the song and see if the Veggietales need me...

Because of Jesus,

So Long...Farewell...Amen!

On March 30th, 1994, Springfield Friends Meeting honored Marilyn and I with a farewell dinner in the Fellowship Hall of the Meeting. It was quite a night. We had been so busy with packing, making plans for the move, trying to get things organized for our arrival in Kissimmee and doing all of the youth events we had planned that the emotions of leaving had not really hit us yet. Both of our families were there, along with a couple of hundred members of our Springfield family. It was a very emotional night, but it was also a lot of fun.  And it even had a Disney theme!

Many of the different groups that we had been involved with showered us with gifts. The children's ministry sang us a song to the tune of The Mickey Mouse Club theme. Marilyn was presented with a quilt made by the toddler Sunday School class she taught and put together by our dear friend Karen Chester. Our own Sunday School class honored our contributions to the annual Ham & Egg Supper by giving Marilyn an autographed apron and me a plaque with a golden spatula recognizing my talents as "The Egg Wizard."  Lewis Farlow did a one-man skit in which he spoke with God about our moving, and it was both touching and hilarious. Lewis, the late Toland Swaim and I also got to perform as a bluegrass trio one last time. I received a Hawaiian shirt and a Mark Rumley-style pink hat from the youth. We got a Mickey Mouse alarm clock from the Family Life Committee.  Marilyn was made "Secretary for Life" by the women's circle she had been of. Tim Terrell presented me with a portrait of myself dressed as a woman from a fundraising Womanless Beauty Pageant we had done a few years earlier. And then there was the youth group. They took about an hour of time, doing skits, singing songs and telling stories. As usual, they were neither organized or prepared. But they were awesome. Erin Moran, Jill Gilbreth, Mandy Beggs, Beth Brown, Mary Mercadante and others told tales of youth group events.  My two favorite moments were very different in tone. The kids used a skit to hit both Marilyn and myself in the face with whipped cream pies and cover us with "silly string," as we had done to them so many times over the years (although we never did use silly string...but whatever!). It was great fun and we loved it and understood it as an act of love.  Many of the older folks there that night did not, and thought it was terribly disrespectful.  Such is life in student ministry- often the rest of the congregation doesn't get it! I'll tell you about the other moment- my lasting memory of the youth of Springfield- tomorrow.

The event ended with Max Rees sharing with us an official "minute" drafted by the monthly meeting recognizing Marilyn and I for our contributions to Springfield. If you aren't Quaker, you may not appreciate what a big deal it is to have this done for you- it means future generations will read of your ministry. That was followed by the presentation of a very generous love offering from our adopted church family. The tears flowed freely all over the room as we prayed together and said a final goodbye and amen. We stayed around a long time that night and hung out with some of the youth, which is when we took the picture on the right. Marilyn and I still have the video of that night, which also included personal messages from many of the students. We have shown it to our son Will, and we watch it on occasion to remind ourselves of the amazing 8 years we spent sharing life with Springfield Friends Meeting. We were blessed in so many ways, and we praise God for that time. See you Saturday for one final Springfield blog.

Because of Jesus,

Youth Group of the Month

Twenty-two years ago this month (1989) I received a phone call telling me that because of our new TNT program, the youth ministry at Springfield Friends Meeting was receiving an honor.  YOUTH! Magazine, a publication of the United Methodists, was going to feature us in May of 1988 as their Youth Group of the Month.  We would be featured in a full page article and two pictures.  This created a great deal of buzz in our church and our community.  The following is a reprint of the article, written by Mariellen Sawada of YOUTH!  The pictures are from TNT, but are not the same ones that accompanied the original article.  The first photo features Shelley Godwin, a mummy, Jon Moran and Robin Simmons.  The second is of Todd Farlow in one of our famous pie eating contests.  The last pic is of a 60's Revival Night held a few years later.  Enjoy this piece of history!

TNT explodes each Monday night at the Springfield Friends Meeting in High Point, North Carolina.  TNT or "That New Thing" is "an outreach program to the local high schools that has our group growing," wrote Carl Jones, Director of Youth and Christian Education.

Each Monday, the Springfield Young Friends Youth Fellowship hosts an evening of singing, skits, devotional time- and perhaps a little pie-throwing.  "It's a time to get away from school and all the pressure," said sixteen-year-old Todd Farlow.  "It helps get the books off our minds and that time together makes it easier the rest of the week." 

Sixteen-year-old Amy Simmons describes TNT as "a social outreach for other high schools students in our area.  We try to get them involved.  We want them to know other people care."  Caring has been a big factor in the group's growth.  TNT started with a core of fifteen to twenty youth.  After only 6 months, the group has "exploded" to sixty or seventy participants.  "It's been exciting to watch as more people have gotten involved.  The kids are responsible for that," said Carl Jones.  "We can advertise events, but the real publicity is from the kids."   "It's like a chain reaction," explained Amy Simmons.  "Our friends that we brought in have started bringing in friends."  Why do the TNT youth involve others in their fellowship?  Amy Simmons responded, "We want everyone to experience the love and family-like atmosphere we have at TNT.  We care about other people."

Because of Jesus,