Upstream

Student Ministry at Currey Creek has grown and evolved considerably over the years. Austin Lawrence, pastor of The Well in Abilene spent his formative years in this role growing a youth group from the ground up. Pastor John even spent a season meeting with students for weekly Bible study. Stuart Head spent five years as student pastor bringing organization, vision, and growth. As Stuart’s leadership role in the church continued to increase, I was hired on to lead our growing group of students.

Over the last five years, I have seen God move in incredible ways. I have seen him save students, parents, adult volunteers, even passers-by on the beach. I have had the privilege of seeing an army of volunteers help guide our youth into relationship with Jesus Christ. I watched as our students from public, private, and home school reached out to their friends, inviting them to worship and hear God’s Word. I watched as those same students began to reach out to their friends to share their faith and disciple others. I have seen how God can transform a student’s heart and mind over the course of their adolescent years. In short, I have seen God’s faithfulness.

Our student ministry has seen fruit over the years for one reason alone, God’s Word. As pastors, we simply rest in the fact that God’s Word accomplishes what He purposes it to do. It is living and breathing, active and useful, and it never comes back void. We know that if a student can personally taste and see that the Lord is good, faithful, and true, they will continue to feast on His Word and never hunger or thirst again.

God has now provided Currey Creek with Logan Talamas to serve as Student Pastor. I have had the privilege of serving alongside him for two years now. His love for God’s Word and his ability to communicate it well will provide a solid foundation for continued health and growth of the Student Ministry. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store!

For the full version of our May Creek Life Newsletter, click here.

Bret Williams
"Our student ministry has seen fruit over the years for one reason alone, God’s Word."

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John's May Article:

Back in the summer of 1976 our country was celebrating it’s bi-centennial. As a kid going into the eighth grade, I was celebrating summer by hauling hay and working with my dad. Sundays, however, were when we went to church as a family. Sunday school then worship, then back for training union in the afternoon and finally, Sunday evening church. I really looked forward to Sundays. No joke!

That summer the big news at church was that we were going to hire a young man full-time to serve our youth group. His name was Ed Wright, but we called him Eddie. Eddie took us to camp, teased us, encouraged us, came to our sporting events, befriended us, influenced us. When I got to High School, we gathered on Wednesday evenings in an upper room at the church. We would sit on the floor and were instructed to open our Bibles. We were challenged by Eddie each week to read it for ourselves chapter by chapter, line by line. We were shown the beauty and power of God’s word. I accepted Eddie’s challenge to read the Bible from cover to cover as a senior in high school. I would read a chapter a day, nearly every day. Now, there are 1,189 chapters in the Bible so this was going to take me awhile! That commitment carried me into my college years. God’s word was there when my heart was cold and far from Him. It was there when my life looked more like that of an unbeliever than a believer. More from pride than desire for truth, I finally finished reading the Bible from cover to cover. In spite of myself, God’s word bore down into my heart. It’s convicting power, its promise of life, its exaltation of Jesus and God’s grace worked to bring me to the end of myself. God’s word!

I want our students to have the same type of relationship with Bret, Logan, and Kristene, that I have with Ed. Forty years later he is still my friend and still impacting my life. Second, I’m so glad that our Student Ministry pastors have that same commitment to God’s word that Eddie had. My desire is that our students will receive God’s word and be transformed by it for the glory of God and his eternal kingdom. Pray for our Student leaders. Thank God for them and encourage them. We may never see the fruit of their ministry, but then again, we might. Thanks Ed.

-John Free