Our church has been blessed greatly to have an incredible role model like Pastor Kevin be our Family Life Pastor. I have been blessed to work alongside Kevin in the junior high ministry over the last year. Kevin has helped to develop a junior high ministry that includes a great core of excited teenagers and a leadership group that enjoys the kids as much as the kids enjoy each other. The following is the story of how Kevin has helped me to get involved and develop as a leader through his example and his encouragement.
I have been attending CVC since early 2001 and became a member in 2002. Although I have been a regular churchgoer for several years, I had never really found a ministry role prior to attending CVC. But late in 2002, God led me to help with the Jr. High ministry at CVC. I had no idea what to expect from the group, but I just decided to go and do whatever was needed. God provided me with a unique circumstance in that there were two other new leaders that started the same day I did, and several new students started with the group that day.
The other gift God provided me with was a pastor that got me involved from day one. Pastor Kevin immediately injected me into the games portion of the ministry by having me participate in the games and help to make sure the games stayed on track. By getting me in the middle of the action, Kevin overcame my natural tendency to stay on the sidelines until I felt very comfortable. Within a few weeks, Kevin asked me if I would like to start organizing the games portion of the Wednesday night Program. I was very apprehensive about getting involved because I didn’t know if I would be very good at organizing games. But Kevin encouraged me to give it a try, and to my surprise, it was fairly easy to do, and the kids seemed to respond well. Kevin constantly stood by me no matter how the games went (and believe me, there were some real train wrecks) and gave me helpful advice on how to be successful.
Kevin seemed to know just how much to challenge me as a leader and the right timing for presenting me with additional items. After several months, Kevin presented his testimony to the Wednesday night ministry and really opened himself up to everyone. As this was going on, I was thinking it would be just about kill me to reveal myself in front of everyone like that, but a little part of me was saying that I needed to take the next step. After the group, Kevin approached me about doing my testimony in front of the group—the next week while he was out of town. I couldn’t have been more scared, but God was with me and provided me with the strength to do my testimony and overcome a barrier that may have never been broken. Without Kevin’s support, example, and ongoing challenges, I would have never taken on some of the steps that expanded my relationship with God to levels I never thought possible.
Today I am enjoying leading Sunday morning Flipside with the junior high students and have led the Wednesday night group on multiple occasions. (Just a couple of other opportunities that Kevin has provided me to further my development. And with his support and the help of God, I have enjoyed success with the kids.)
Jerry Meyer
