WORKING TOGETHER TO HELP STUDENTS

Rev. Brad Robson (second from left) leads IPC’s Student Ministry with the help of his enthusiastic assistants (from left) Maryanna Story, Mary Virginia Felker, and Stephen Felker.

Working together to help students see the beauty of Jesus

By Maryanna Story

To say the last year and a half has been challenging would be an understatement for most people. The global pandemic has been marked by loss, isolation, and changes both small and structural in multiple aspects of everyday life. As Senior Pastor Sean Lucas points the congregation to the promise of all things being made new in the second coming, the IPC Student Ministry team has taken time to reflect on the ways God has been visibly at work in their ministry, even in unprecedented times.

“From my seat, several things have been remarkable over the past year. One has been the way our Student Ministry team has exercised incredible creativity in continuing to carry out the mission of making disciples here at IPC,” Lucas commented.

Rev. Brad Robson leads the student ministry department, and Mary Virginia Felker, Stephen Felker, and Maryanna Story complete the rest of the staff working with 6th through 12th graders at IPC.

According to Robson, the staff dynamic has played a huge part in carrying out the mission of IPC. “A big reason things have

In addition to weekly gatherings on Sunday morning and Wednesday night for Word-centered teaching, fellowship activities and trips provide opportunities for our students to grow in their relationship with Jesus and each other, as well as offer avenues for inviting their unchurched friends.

gone so well is because of our team. We are different in many ways but kind to one another, and our gifts complement one another well. I am very thankful for this staff.”

The team operates out of their philosophy of ministry. Robson explains, “We think about ministry in large group, small group, and one to one meetings. We pursue students and want to come alongside their parents. For teaching, our curriculum in Junior High (grades 6-8) typically centers around justification, who God is, and how they know Him personally. In Senior High (grades 9-12), we focus more in sanctification and what it means to live out your faith. Simply put, Junior High is Gospel roots, and Senior High is Gospel fruit.”

The mission is carried out through Word-centered teaching

Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, in small groups with staff and volunteers, and by meeting individual students in their everyday lives, whether sharing a meal, doing “Since summer of 2020, an activity, or watching their games. “All of these things work together to we’ve had over 100 first-time help students see the beauty of Jesus and visitors show up at our want to follow Him,” says Robson. In the initial Covid shutdown, the staff programs.” The Rev. Brad Robson quickly shifted to Zoom and continued to offer large and small group meetings. When IPC reopened in May of 2020, Student Ministry had the opportunity to shape the summer in a different way, emphasizing outdoor meetings on Wednesday nights with food and games using Covid protocol. The students responded so well that meeting outside continues today. Because IPC was one of the only churches offering youth programs during the

pandemic, many new faces came and have stayed.

“Since summer of 2020, we’ve had over 100 first-time visitors show up at our programs,” reflects Robson. “That says a lot about what students think of our ministry. We’ve struck a good balance of being a welcoming place, an environment where students want to bring their friends, and that has created an opportunity for new people to stick around.”

Small groups used to meet indoors with meals, so those were paused at the beginning of Covid. Junior high girls pivoted to outdoor lunches with Maryanna at various houses with their specific grade. The boys met with Stephen for Sunday Afternoon Hangouts, enjoying outdoor activities with their own grades. In Senior High, both a girls and a guys group have continued to meet outside.

“That was really cool to have students interested in still meeting together,” says Robson. “It felt organic, not programdriven. Not only had these groups grown as friends, but they wanted to continue talking together about the Christian faith and praying for one another.”

The staff also offered summer discipleship, where students signed up to meet with a staff member and go through a book weekly — over 60 students have participated in the last two years. None of these programs could have been as successful without the help of summer interns and the regular volunteers.

“Tentpole” events are the trips. Junior High students attend the Buffalo Retreat weekend every fall at Victory Ranch and the weeklong Edge Conference every summer in Chattanooga. Senior High students have a weekend retreat in Nashville over President’s Day and the highly anticipated RYM trip every summer in Panama City Beach, Florida. (This past summer’s RYM trip filled all spots less than a day into signups!) “Students look forward to them all year and show up for them,” says Robson. “When they leave the familiar and are surrounded by relationships and gospel teaching, they are much more willing to think about their faith and how they live that out. “The hardest challenge is to develop a sense of community among students because they live throughout the city, go to

“When they leave the familiar and are surrounded by relationships and gospel teaching, they are much more willing to think about their faith and how they live that out.”

The Rev. Brad Robson

College students serve as summer interns assisting with chaperoning trips, teaching large groups, leading one-on-one discipleships, and playing games. IPC members Andrew Cofield, Sally Walker, Sarah Suddoth, and Kate Yelverton were joined by EA Hickman and Pat Bray as our summer 2021 interns.

IPC’s Student Music Ministry offers 6th through 12th graders musical training to glorify and enjoy God plus a chance to establish lasting friendships, beginning the year with a day at the lake.

different schools, and come from many different backgrounds,” Robson added. “RYM was great because students were connecting and growing together. We saw some of the normal barriers breakdown — students who would not typically be friends here, become friends there. The hope is that carries over when we come back. Some of these students might not ever be best friends or hang out on the weekend, but when they are here, they see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and want to be together. That actually reflects what the kingdom of God is like, because the only thing that many of our students have in common is the Gospel. For them to learn and see that they are united by the Gospel is invaluable.”

Lucas commented on the group dynamics as well. “It seems as though our older students, since I’ve been here, have increasingly been group-focused as opposed to self-focused. Obviously, parents have a lot to do with that, but I think the Student Ministry team has a lot to do with that as well. That it’s really about the group is not always been the way it has been here.”

The Student Music Ministry has also displayed creativity offering students opportunities to be involved. James Brown, Director of Worship and Music Ministries, and his team have expanded their musical activities beyond singing to include instruments and movement such “These activities develop listening as guitars, handbells, percussion, skills and techniques in playing and choreography. “These activities various instruments. We have also develop listening skills and techniques in playing various instruments,” says included more meals to encourage Brown. “We have also included more involvement and social interaction.” meals to encourage involvement and social interaction.” James Brown, Director of Worship and Music Ministries Junior High Choir meets Wednesdays, and Senior High Choir meets Sundays; both meetings include dinner as well as rehearsal. The student choir has also continued their “tentpole” trips, including traveling this past May to Panama City Beach to sing at First Presbyterian Church and enjoy time at the beach and a waterpark. In April, they take a weekend trip, and this summer will go on tour singing at many PCA churches in Alabama and Florida, also visiting . Disney World and Universal Studios. Even as the music ministry has pivoted in some ways during Covid, the mission remains the same for Brown: “My desire is to strengthen our number of participants and continue to train middle and high school students as they develop musical skills, grow in their abilities to worship the Lord in corporate settings, make lifelong friendships, and grow in their faith and relationships with the Lord.” “With all of these pieces, when you look at Student Ministry at IPC, it’s the most healthy, the most ministry intentional, really the most theologically driven it has been in my time,” Lucas says. “The things they are doing are vital and important, and by God’s grace have been remarkably successful as well.”