Lawrence UMC Youth CORPS is awesome!

Since I was selected as the interim Executive Director of Metro Ministries, I have been blessed to visit several ministries in the Indianapolis districts. I recently had the chance to visit with the Lawrence UMC Youth CORPS. All I can say about this program is, "AWESOME!" The Lawrence UMC Youth CORPS is awesome.

Forty youth participate in the program designed to teach leadership and service skills. The morning begins with exercise followed by a meeting with the teams. Each team has a team leader which rotates each week. The leader keeps his/her team organized and on track. Team building games encourage interaction and relying on each team member. JoJo encouraged me during our memory game. Without all team members working together we would have had a difficult time finishing our task.

Pastor Joe and his team leaders led with quiet discipline. The schedule was to mow yards, weed the garden and more outside work during my visit. During our memory game it began to rain. Their outside work had been delayed several days already with rain. Nothing stopped the progress of the program. Plan B went into action. The city had a project for them -- all I can say is was a sticky job. Then came “butt ball” which is a version of volleyball sitting on your butt. The teams are still working together for a common goal. Next we got back into our groups to plan a day care program for younger kids starting with a theme, song, story or play and snacks matching the theme. Our group was planning to have a “green” theme. I wish I could have stayed to see the plans come together. At last the rain had stopped; the youth were headed out to the hard work in the yards, garden and guard rail work. I was really sad that I didn’t get to help my team pull weeds, but I decided that I had better get back to the office. In reality I felt like I had worked all day, and it was only 10:30 am. It was awesome.

Lisa