lafayette students

Student

Ministry

101

MEET THE STUDENT MINISTRY TEAM

PAUL WISDOM - STUDENT MINISTER

Hi, I’m Paul! My family and moved here in January 2022.

My wife and I have been married for 6yrs and have 4 AWESOME kids. I have a degree in Bible with emphasis on Youth and Family Ministry from Heritage Christian University and a Master of Ministry with emphasis in Minsterial Counseling. While my training in ministerial counseling is with all ages, my passion is working with teenagers. If I can help your teen in any way, reach out to our church office and we can get something scheduled!

When I’m not at the office or hanging out with our AWESOME teens from church, I love spending time with my family and watching Tennessee football! Go VOLS! I also love to play disc golf and go fishing in my free time.

KYLE SIRCY - YOUTH ELDER

RANDY BRAWNER - YOUTH DEACON

Jonathan Bell - YOUTH DEACON

GATHER - GROW - GO

The Purpose and Vision of the Lafayette Student Ministry, also known as Lafayette Students, is the same as our congregation, Gather, Grow, & Go.

GATHER

Gathering has always been a part of the Christian faith. Our desire is that as we gather for Bible Study or Worship we would be drawn closer to Christ and changed into His image. While spiritual growth is the primary focus, another important aspect of gathering is that it gives us the opportunity to invite our friends, neighbors, and family members.

GROW

Growing has always been the desire of God for the believer. We hope to offer opportunities to help our students grow in their faith. Sunday School, W.A.S.H., Monthly Devos, SOKYSYS, Camp, Retreats, and VBS are all opportunities for your students to grow deeper in their walk with God, and deeper in relationship with other Christians.

Go

When growth is happening, then going is a natural result. God has called us to go and make disciples of all nations, whether that be next door, in our own communities, or in other foreign nations, we are called to go.

The success of our ministry is dependent on our students growing in all of these areas throughout their time in the youth ministry. Based on studies, surveys, and experience some action steps that we believe help encourage our young people to best grow in these areas while participating in our ministry include the following:

Parent Involvement

Adult Mentors

Friends Within the Student Ministry

Worship/Class Attendance

Youth Event Attendance

The remainder of this page will help explain our activities, answer common questions, describe current involvement opportunities, go over various rules, and reveal our contact information. Whether you are a parent, guardian, church member, or student, we challenge you to go through the remainder of this guide while thinking to yourself, “How can I get involved within this ministry?”

Fall Events

DEEP Youth Experience

Deep is hosted by the Ashville Road Church of Christ in Leeds, AL and is typically the 4th weekend of September. Deep has quickly become a favorite to several of our students.

The vision of DEEP is to engage students in biblical discussions that cover culturally relevant topics, deepen their faith, and prepare them to share their beliefs in a secularized world.

SOKY Teen Retreat

The SOKY Teen retreat is a combined retreat with churches from Southern KY and Northern Middle TN, at Big Reedy Christian Camp. The SOKY Teen Retreat is the 1st Weekend of November every year. It is a fun weekend for our students to connect with other students from the church

Winter Events

Evangelism University (EU)

EU is an intense weekend of in-depth and practical evangelism training. Classes will equip students with skills to share the Good News with their friends, as well as increase their knowledge of mission works at home and abroad. Elective classes will give young people the opportunity to learn about areas of evangelism most pertinent to their lives.

EU is always the MLK Weekend in Savannah, TN.

Challenge Youth Conference (CYC)

CYC is the largest event our students attend each year, consisting of 14-15,000 believers under one roof. CYC is typically the last weekend of February every year.

Spring Events

Spring Retreat

Each spring we take our students and families on a retreat at Taylor Christian Camp. The purpose of this retreat is for our students to grow closer together as students and grow closer to God.

Summer Events

Work Camp

Each summer we conduct the Macon County Work Camp as a beautification project in our County. We take on projects at the homes of our members and others in the community.

SCYC at Taylor

We attend Simpson County Youth camp with the Franklin church of Christ, Fountain Head church of Christ, & Three Forks Church of Christ the week after Father’s Day at Taylor Christian Camp.

SOKYSYS

On Monday nights throughout June & July, we participate in the Southern KY Summer Youth Series. Different churches surrounding the Bowling Green and Southern KY area host these events each week.

Tribes

Tribe Nights are our competition nights. Students are divided into teams and compete all summer to win the covetted Tribes Tiki Trophy. Competitive events include athletic events like ultimate frisbee, capture the flag, color wars as well as less athletic events like trivia nights.

Students can receive points for other things such as attendance and bringing a friend.

Additional Events

Monthly Devos

On the first Sunday evening of the month during the school year we meet for food, fun, and fellowship at the home of one of our members. Watch the bulletin and youth announcements for details and location of these events.

W.A.S.H.

Held the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays during the school year from 3:30 until 7:00. We open up the Refuge for our teens to gather and hang out. It's a safe place for them to bring their friends for Bible study, school study, ping pong, or air hockey. It's a great time to invite friends to come and visit with other teens before our Wednesday night Bible Study.

5TH Wednesday

During months that have a 5th Wednesday, a special event will take place from 5-7pm. It could be a fast food fellowship with all our families, service project, activity with another ministry group & or a game night. Watch announcements to see what the activity is going to be.

How To’s:

Expectations:

DRESS CODE

The youth ministry team wants the youth of our church to be perceived in the best light possible wherever they are. One of the best ways to ensure this is to have everyone dress modestly and appropriately for youth activities.

On retreats, we play a wide variety of games and participate in many physical activities. To do this more comfortably, we ask that:

• Shorts are a minimum 3/4 of the way to the knee (No Running shorts or rolled waist bands to shorten the length).
  

• Shirts have to have straps that are at least 2 inches wide. Strapless and /or backless shirts or dresses are not appropriate for church activities.
  

• Bring shoes that you can play in.
  

• When water activities are planned, Guys are asked to wear dark t-shirts and long swim shorts. Girls are asked to wear: dark t-shirts and long athletic shorts over their swimsuits.
  

• Long and loose sleep pants are preferred for overnight events and retreats for both guys and girls.
  

Pictures from youth events that include anyone not following dress code are not allowed to be posted to any social media platform! (Examples include, shirtless boys, girls in swimsuits, etc.)

Everywhere our children go, they represent the face of Jesus to the rest of the world. They may provide the one and only impression of the Church of Christ to the people they encounter. Please help us to help them realize that real beauty comes from within and is not reflected by clothing.

We reserve the right to ask teens to change clothing if these guidelines are not adhered to. If they don’t have an acceptable change of clothes, we will have sweatpants and a t-shirt or sweatshirt that they may borrow. There is also the possibility that we may ask them to leave, in which case parents will be responsible for coming to pick them up.

TEENS DRIVING TO & FROM EVENTS

It is the policy of the Student Ministry Team that our young people do not drive to retreats/area wide events. We would like for all those attending to travel on church provided transportation or have a parent take them to/from an event.

As sophomores and juniors obtain their driver’s license, they frequently want to drive to the devos or out to eat from church sponsored events. It is our policy that the driver has to call their parents and let them know where they are going and make sure it ok to carry additional passengers. If you are going to be riding with a teen driver, you must also call your parents and make sure they are ok with your choice of ride.

Ways to Stay Connected

• Student Calendar
  
• Join the Student Ministry Remind:
  

a. Text @lcocsm to 81010

• Get the Youth Announcements via the Youth Ministry Minute
  
• Join “Lafayette church of Christ Student Ministry” Group on Facebook.
  
• Follow on Instagram @Lafayette_Students