I’ve been attending Sovereign Grace Church of Orange for about 11 years. I graduated from High School last week and there's one big thing I want to say:
Thank you for supporting me.
Whether it was being encouraged through the Pastors’ sermons, commiserating with my fellow high schoolers, or being renewed every Sunday through worship, you have all cared, not only for me, but for every young person in your church.
The youth mentorship program in particular was huge blessing for me. I was paired with Grace Wang and we spent our time studying the word and exploring how to apply it to our lives. If you are a high school student who isn’t sure if you want to take part in mentorship I would strongly urge you to.
Shockingly, I have found that older adults actually have some valuable wisdom.
Youth group has also blessed me. We take time to tackle and discuss difficult topics and we puzzle through them together. Through our discussion, we have all learned how to arrive at truth together. That is a lesson that I have found to be absolutely invaluable in adult life.
You all are accepting of high schoolers, who can be a bit much at times. Instead of asking us to watch others serving and to learn from them, you actually encourage us to take part in ministry. From the time I began attending Sovereign Grace as a squirrely 7-year-old, I have been urged to live out my faith by serving. I still remember Mike Davis teaching me how to plug all the cords into the soundboard when I was 10 years old. This practice has fostered a clear maturity in all the youth at this church.
I think one thing that sums up how I feel about you, Sovereign Grace Church, is that every time I have brought a friend to church with me, later, when I asked them what they thought, I invariably got the same response: “People actually introduced themselves to me…it was weird.”
Keep being weird.
Keep being welcoming and loving without limitations. Thank you for bearing with me through my many moody and awkward phases. Thank you for teaching me to, as Ecclesiastes 12:1 says, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come.”
