Youth Ministry Update

Last month we shared how we are in a transition with our youth ministry and I wanted to share an exciting update to that ministry.

The elders have been engaged for months in working toward a solution for a healthy youth ministry that touches the lives of our youth and their parents. Over our time we have made numerous decisions that have been deeply difficult but prayerfully and cautiously led. In those decisions we came to a clear crossroads where we needed to make a transition with our (now former) youth director and consider what the ministry needs going forward. These issues overlapped a fair amount. Over the time we have prayed, sought counsel, and discussed our next steps. We also believed it was time to bring on a full time youth pastor for this position. So what has been a month’s long process we believe God has abundantly answered our prayers.

I am excited to share with you that we are bringing on a youth pastor for Summit Ridge! We will welcome Jeremy Cooper to the pastoral team here at Summit beginning July 1. This process has ended up being a little bit faster than normal in that we have already known Jeremy and his family very well. Jeremy’s wife, Tiffany, is our Communications Director! Jeremy was also in Joshua’s Men, been a small group leader and I have personally been in a discipleship relationship with him for some time. So we know him and his family very well! Jeremy has also gone through the same careful evaluation of Biblical qualifications (1 Timothy 3 & Titus 1) and rigors that we have all our pastors and elders go through.

I ask that you will pray with me and the ministry as Jeremy comes on board and begins to lead our youth and families toward “equipping the saints for works of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12) and Colossians 1:28 that says this, “We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” You can read more about the Youth Ministry plans below from Jeremy himself.

We are eager to continue watching the Lord lead us as a church as we grow in Him and our love for one another.

In His Grip, Pastor John

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Introducing Jeremy Cooper
What is your heart for ministry?

• First thing, before ministry, I love the Lord and want to know Him better. As I know Him better, I want to share Him. This has always been my drive to discipleship and evangelism and was what drove me to seminary.
• It’s been my greatest joy since coming to Christ ~17 years ago to pour my energy into souls, lives, discipleship, and study of the Word. Since getting equipped in seminary early in that life of faith, preaching and teaching have been a special way for me to worship God.

 Do you have any experience with youth ministry?

• I do! I immersed in youth ministry while I was still in seminary. I met kids then as Jr High and high school students who I have discipled through the years into career life, marriage and starting families. I’ve had quite a bit of opportunity to preach the weekly youth night, teach Sunday school, lead small groups, even to coordinate and preach camps.

What is your aim for youth ministry?

• In broad terms, my aim is to foster and create places and moments where saints can be fed good spiritual food, counseled through all that life brings, where discipleship happens life-on-life in the sacred and mundane. I want to teach from the Word and help students become familiar with their Bibles. I want to help them integrate into the whole of the church and develop a mature faith that replicates.
• My interaction isn’t just with the youth, though. I aim to disciple the youth staff and come alongside parents in any ways I can to help with their difficult roles.

What are the first things you need to tackle?

• We have a great devoted staff that loves the students, and a solid framework for the equipping and relationships and worship and fun that we want to enjoy. This is so encouraging to see!
• My first weeks will be a lot of prayerful thinking and planning to hear the Lord’s leading. I’m new to the group. I know where I want to take it but crave His guidance in how to get it there.

Do you have any Summer plans?

• Camp! I have seen students meet God in special ways -- camp “mountain top experiences”. Breakout times after teaching sessions at camp are just the best! The more bonded to our staff they feel and the better our staff are at asking the right questions and truly hearing the kids, the richer the times can be. We are making the best of our few weeks until camp to drive those goals.

How can we help?

• If you are a parent, please come get to know me! I will try chasing you down awkwardly in the parking lot but it’s easier when you come to me. This is a parent-friendly ministry. I want to hear your insights and stories from home, and I want to be available to pray with you, to lay Scripture open with you. I am here as a resource for you.
• Put me and my family in your PrayerMate app or on an index card at your dinner table or set a reminder on your calendar for Tuesday afternoons, or whatever you have to do, to please please pray for our sustaining joy in the Lord. Pray for our staff, for their energy and joy and growth in ministry. Pray if you have an inkling that this might be a place God would use you that He make it clear, and then come talk to me :)
• I know that some nights you will not feel like it and things get hard and the thought of getting your kid fed early and to the church or someone’s house sounds like a lot of work, but I encourage you to push through it, even when they don’t want to go. The word of God does not return to Him void; it accomplishes what He intends. My preaching always aims to hold God out as the greatest joy, full of unrivaled spiritual beauty; and I always aim for the heart so that students clearly know where they stand with God.