The North American Division Youth and Young Adult Ministries department started their Momentum (#momentum) series on Tuesday, March 10, 2020, at 7 p.m. EST. This grew into weekly Sabbath programming that continues to “go strong” through summer, with viewership in the thousands and scheduled programming through August. Starting August 1, the “No Backpacks: Back to School” series will feature discussion on mental health and students.
“Our goal was to remain relevant, though we would be home for at least a week. To our surprise, being home for the first week “progressed” into being home for the last 4.5—5 months,” said Tracy Wood, Youth and Young Adult Ministries director.
“Our office wanted to make an impact on youth leaders and teens who exemplify leadership qualities. The nightly momentum meetings focused on what to do while home from school and work,” explained Vandeon Griffin, associate director for Youth and Young Adult Ministries. “Momentum means ‘strength gained through progress.’ We wanted our leaders and teens to continue to progress even in this unique time of COVID-19.”
The division team, which includes Wood, Griffin, Armando Miranda, associate director, and Gael Murray, administrative assistant, decided they’d use the resources produced to advance Youth Sabbath School, and promote them online in a weekly church service to include having Youth Sabbath School. They wanted to share with a wider audience how to use the Sabbath School materials being produced weekly, and how the materials can impact the teens in the local churches as well as the leaders of teens. They learned through this process that more people were accessing the Youth website, their Facebook page, and their YouTube channel than other access channels. And early on, they looked for young leaders to present the materials during the online services.
“Since the inception of hosting our first weekly worship service, we have connected with so many talented speakers for church services, musicians for musical selections, as well as facilitators for Youth Sabbath School,” said Griffin. “We have intentionally remained diversified in our selections of speakers, musicians, and facilitators. This has proven to be a model for our leaders around the NAD.”
The August Youth and Young Adult Ministries Momentum series will feature virtual discussion on mental health and students, as well as preaching from five female pastors.
The Youth and Young Adult Ministries team reported that “statistics are encouraging … and we give the glory to God.” They shared that as of late July 2020, 1,000 likes, 1.8K comments, 450 shares, 26.2K views, 56.5K reached, and 8.7K engagements through their social media pages. They’ve hosted 68 speakers, presenters, musicians, and facilitators, along with a special social justice conversation with seven Generation Z teens leading the discussion. The team also hosted a virtual graduation for the class of 2020.
As they prepare for the month of August, they hope their Back to School series, which delves into mental health, will help teens and leaders be successful in making the unique pivot of this new normal.
Speakers for August will be Darnisha Thomas, Jesskya Dooley, Nashonie Chang, Sandra Wall, and Chelsy Tyler. “For the entire month we will feature all female pastors to share the preached Word,” said Griffin. “Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are actually experiencing #momentum—strength gained through progress!”
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