Reflections and Vision for Youth Ministry

Cindy Jackson

            When Pastor Laird asked me to give my testimony and vision as Youth leader, it really made me reflect on my life. In order to share with you what has lead me to Grace and focus on our youth, I feel that I need to take a moment to share a little bit of my background.

             I went to church as a young child almost every Sunday with my mom and dad for about two years. We were members of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth. After my brother was born, we stopped going. I was seven years old and in the second grade. I still went to various churches with family (cousins) and friends from school – visited Methodist churches, the Catholic church, Lutheran Church and other Baptist churches. This went on all through my elementary and Jr. high years. The thing was… I was always a visitor. I didn’t have a church home – a church family; I never felt that connection. I always felt, at that time, I was kind of on the outside looking in.

             During high school – 1983-84, for a brief time, I became involved with a little Baptist church just starting out. Hope Baptist Church met in the YWCA building down town Fort Worth. At that time I was a teenager and being pulled in many different directions, often times making a lot of wrong choices. When you’re a teenager you live for the day –  at least most teenagers that I have come into contact with, and I have met many in the past three years that I have been a high school teacher. Most teenagers don’t really see beyond today, and they need help and a lot of guidance in order to stay focused on certain things in life. I was a teenager back in 1983, and my parents didn’t go to church. So it was rather difficult for me to stay focused on my faith, and eventually, I stopped going to church.    

            I graduated from high school, worked in various restaurants waiting tables, tried Jr college. Then I got a job at TGI Friday’s. After about three years of bartending there, I met Mark in 1991. He was hired on as bartender when he came back to Texas to go to graduate school. We got married in the same year. We had Austin in 1992, Mark was working for a bank, and I continued bartending until I became pregnant with Andrew.

             During this time, I was back in school, and for the first time I was actually feeling success at meaningful things in my life – my marriage, my family and school. I couldn’t believe it; I was actually good at school. But…  there was still this void – an emptiness – a longing sensation for something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I looooved school with a passion. I loved my husband with a passion, and oh how I loved my kids. What was missing in my life?

             When Austin was six, just finishing his year in kindergarten, Andrew was three, and we had been living with my parents for just over a year. It was summer and I was gearing up for my final semester at UTA and graduation in December of 1998. I had been taking hours and hours of upper level chemistry and biology classes, and I began to realize how complex life really is. Just sitting in those classes – science classes – of all places, I began to realize there is more to life here on earth than what I was just experiencing at that time. There was more to my life, to my husband’s life, to my children’s life, and we needed to acknowledge it. Deep down, I have always had faith in God, I had always been a Christian, and believe or not, those science classes gave my faith validity. I know things don’t happen by accident. Despite the fact that they teach about serendipity in the sciences, because a lot of discoveries happen by so called “fortunate mishaps”, I know the truth…  now. There are reasons why we are faced with certain challenges and difficult choices in our lives.

 Mark and I have always talked about finding a church –  ever since Austin was born. We knew we wanted our children to grow up in a Christian environment. I became pregnant with Addie that summer before my last semester in college. At that time we new we needed to find a home of our own – get out from under my parents roof. I began to pray. For the first time in my life, I was praying on a daily basis. And something in me knew don’t pray for what you want or what you think you want, pray for guidance and pray that whatever happens is God’s will. It was at this time that I began to see the power of prayer. We found a perfect home on Forest Creek Dr. within three months.

             We moved in to our new home, and I was feeling good; I was happy. But, I knew that Mark, I, and the kids needed to go to church. I started praying that we would find a church. For six years we talked about going to church, and we weren’t doing anything about it. Then, one Saturday morning in spring of 1999, Pastor Paul Geisler came to our door and spoke to Mark. When Mark came into the kitchen and told me that we were just invited to a little church around the corner – Grace Lutheran Church – I knew that my prayers had just been answered.

             We became members in August 1999, and shortly after that all three of our children were baptized here at Grace. Since then Mark and I have thrown ourselves in head first, and my quality of life has skyrocketed. In the last couple of years I have realized that that void I had felt for so long has been filled. For the first time in my life, I have felt that I have a purpose, that I belong somewhere. I am truly comfortable here at Grace. I have grown to love so many people. I had no idea that I could feel a connection with so many people. It brings me joy to come to church and visit with our elderly members and to help teach Sunday school to our little members – to get so many hugs from people of all ages.

             I have found so much opportunity here at Grace – opportunity to do things I have enjoyed in the past that I thought would never get to do again. One example is singing. I thought it was over with after Jr. high school. I was never good enough in high school. Now I get to sing on Sunday and Wednesday with the Grace Choir – some really challenging pieces, too. You have no idea how that gets me through the week. Worship and singing is a great release for me.

             What I am getting at, here with all this, is that I do not want it to take half of a lifetime for my own children, as it has for me, to find the spiritual fulfillment, to understand the need to be close to God, the joy of serving others, and the comfort and sense of belonging to a family in Christ. That is what I have found at Grace.  

             Mark and I are truly blessed with three beautiful children, jobs we both truly enjoy, and with finding our family here at Grace. Since becoming members of this church, we have found the more we give of ourselves, whether it’s through tithing or service, God has given us back ten-fold. And it’s not about what we can get back out of Grace; it has just happened that God has blessed us in so many ways since we’ve become members of this church. It is through being at Grace that I have found my career in teaching, and my love for being around kids.

             Mark and I believe that the future of this church resides within our youth. Therefore, we have a vested interest in this opportunity, not because of our own three children, but because of all the children here. All the children at Grace are with whom Austin, Andrew, and Addie are going to grow up. They are their brothers and sisters in Christ. So I feel a love and a certain responsibility towards all of our children in this church.

             Mark and I have learned the joy and importance of, not only worship and knowing God, but serving others to honor God. And when I say service, I mean service in the church and in our community. Our vision is that we help all of our children to grow to understand the importance of service to others to glorify God.

             Most parents want to see their children grow up and be productive members of society. In my opinion, a productive member of society is one who is in service to others. What is a better way to serve the community than through a positive Christian environment. Through these opportunities of service, our children will hopefully find the joy of fellowship with one another as I have found with you. I want our children to look forward to getting up on Sunday morning and going to church because they will be fellowshipping, worshipping and learning the Bible with their close buddies. I see Grace as a safe place for youth to gather and “hangout”. In order for our youth to grow in such a positive way, it is our responsibility to provide these opportunities for them.

             My call to service is to focus on the youth of our church family and my vision is to teach our children to recognize their call to service for God.