“WELCOME ZONE” . . . not just another silly program
I’m excited to report to you about the areas I manage under my job description:
Youth Director, Welcome Zone Manager, and AV / Tech Director.
As many of you know, I am entering my 20th year as full-time Youth
Director here at Bethel Lutheran Church. I will be celebrating my
20th anniversary this coming December and once again would like to share my
thanks for the privilege of serving God through this congregation. For
many years I have also coordinated the AV efforts of our church and this past
fall, these responsibilities were added to my primary task of my job
description. Also added to my job was the role of Welcome Zone Manager.
Let me tell you a bit about all three.
My calling as
your Youth Director is my greatest passion here at Bethel. I love
working with our Sr High Youth and families. To see how God is working in
these lives continues to inspire and move me. This past year, we did many
great events, did a lot of service, studied, talked, prayed, laughed, and
worshiped. A couple of the highlights included the Common Ground Tour to
Canada, our Mission to Mexico work trip, attending the ELCA National Youth
Gathering in Atlanta, and a great waterski trip up in Orland. We also
completed the transition to having Pastor Rick shepherd the Jr High Youth Group
and Laura is going great guns with the Kid Connection bunch. Bethel has
an awesome youth group: As we minister to 4th graders all the way through
college age, families and single adults, this is truly a place where “people
are accepted for who they are, not necessarily just for who they should be.”
Our Youth Group Mission Statement: “Love Like Jesus: To Provide a place
where youth are loved and accepted with Jesus as our example.”
Probably one of
my greatest Youth Group Highlights is the kickoff of Wednesday Night Worship.
Pastor Rick and I got together and decided to begin a worship service the
first Wednesday of each month geared to Jr High through College age. The
style is similar to “The House” and is getting great reviews from youth and
adults alike. I’m also proud to have my daughter Katlynn heading up the
band for these services. If you’re interested in checking one out, please
come around. The spirit is really moving in and around Torvend Hall on
these nights.
If you’ve been
paying attention, you should be totally up to speed on the Welcome Zone
Projects. If not, make sure to check for the weekly updates in the
bulletin and Bethel Website. It has been a great challenge to coordinate
these projects and I’m thankful for the chance to lead a great team in
fulfilling the wishes of the congregation. As I’ve mentioned to many of
you, I was hesitant about leading this project with such a small margin of
approval at last year’s June Congregational Meeting. But, it was the
desire of the congregation, and as we’ve progressed through the year, I have
seen a lot of growth in members of our church, plus I think we’ve made some
serious progress at taking care of our facilities (its been a long time
coming).
The other area
I’m excited about developing further is the AV/Tech Leader Role.
We have a great group of volunteers here at Bethel and so many
wonderful programs to support. If you are interested in being part of the
tech team, make sure and contact me. I think you’ll like it.
Bethel is a
profoundly caring community. Thank you for supporting me and my family in the death of my
dad. He was a great man and a super inspiration to myself and many
others. May we all continue to pray for God’s guidance as we strive to
make this the caring community we’re called to be.
Once again, we
have a great youth ministry team, an awesome youth group, and a great bunch of
volunteers. On behalf of our Children’s Ministry Director, Laura Leonard
- our Jr High Youth Staff led by Pastor Rick - our Common Ground Director,
Norita Hoegel - our Peer Ministers, Erika Arnold, Macie Klumper, Jeanna
Rogerson, David Emmert, Davy Fields, Debbie Johnson, and LaRissa Pierson - our
Youth Ministry Chairperson, Andrea Teed - and our Welcome Zone staff,
Paul Baldwin, Liz Barton, Mike Bruner, Joan Christensen, Ed & Karen Fox,
Dietrich Kuhlmann, Carol Mahoney, Euo Menezes and our many, many other
volunteer staff, thanks for giving us the chance to serve another year.
In Jesus' Service, Tom Hoegel