We’d like to announce a decision has been made with regard to our youth ministry.  As you may remember about 2 years ago we hired Don Green, a church consultant from Lincoln Christian University to work with us in evaluating our church.  One of his recommendations was to begin planning on hiring another minister.  Last year, we promoted Jarrod to Associate Minister and Clint Dickson became our intern Youth Minister.  Next we began to plan for the future of our youth ministry.  We met with parents to get input on how the youth ministry should be organized.  We talked about what things were needed and you told us you wanted a full-time youth minister to work with our Kindergarten through High School youth.  We took your advice and began to look at the feasibility of hiring a full-time youth minister.   

            After consultation with our Financial Servant Group and looking at many options, we realized that we could not hire a full-time minister at that time unless we increased our giving.  So we hired Clint as a part-time Youth Minister. 

            In May we challenged you to support this effort by increasing your contributions.  The majority of you have stepped up to meet this challenge and we are grateful for your sacrifice.  Many of you have experienced the joy of giving sacrificially and your giving spirit is greatly appreciated. Today we are happy to announce that we have come to an agreement with Clint coming on staff as our youth minister. 

            Here is how it will work.  Clint will be employed for 30 hours a week as our Director of K-12 Children's  Education and Youth  Ministries.  During our discussion with Clint over the past few months, he expressed a desire to spend time with his son Samuel.  We know that child care can be quite expensive and also realize the joy of bonding with your child is priceless.  This arrangement will allow him to do that.  

            He will be compensated with benefits including health insurance and expenses. We believe this arrangement will be beneficial to his family and our family.  In order to continue this arrangement, we prayerfully ask that you continue your generous giving.

         So today we want to celebrate.  Celebrate that God has worked in wonderful ways to bring forth this young man and his family who are willing to serve our youth.

         Clint has expressed many times to us his love for Northside and the young people of our church. And we have all witnessed his willingness to become involved in our children’s lives.  I want to read an e-mail we received last week.  

“We have seen firsthand that Clint is an amazing blessing and a necessity for the growth of our church.  He has been blessed with the God-given talents and skills essential for effectively teaching and engaging children in God's word.  To see how he is able to plan and teach the children key biblical truths in such fun and creative ways is truly a blessing. He is an amazing resource in working with our children towards the common goal of leading them towards Christ.”

 

            Clint, it has truly has been a joy for all of us to watch you mature into a man committed to your family, your church, and to Christ.