I probably don’t have to tell you that Westminster’s youth group, Veritas, has had to adapt a lot in the last two years. We had a global pandemic, staffing changes, and last year we graduated a large core group of kids. Coming into the fall of last year, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but we knew we wanted it to be great. Veritas has an amazing values list (I’d love to share it with you if you ask) and we use that as a guide for everything we plan and do. Unsure of what events we’d be able to have and who would even show up, we started our year at the end of August and knew, no matter what, God would walk beside us.

Every year we have a theme that inspires the “vibe” and helps us frame our lessons month by month. If you listen to our podcast, Veritalk, you might be familiar with this. (If you don’t listen to our podcast, you should – we review our lessons from the past week and share insights from the kids. It’s pretty good). This year’s theme was Rejoice inspired by 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. To our delight, we have a new and solid core group of kids. They are fun and hilarious and caring and compassionate and talented and deep thinkers. They inspire adults every single week. We have a strong group of volunteers who help us on Wednesdays. Do they come to support Ed and me? I am sure that’s some of it. But they really love spending time with those kids and exploring their own faith in conversations with teenagers. I think the average adult would be amazed at the insight they provide, which is what inspired me to start the previously mentioned podcast.

Our weekly Veritas meetings end at the beginning of June, but this summer we have big plans. We will see a lot of smiling faces helping out with Barefoot School in June. We are taking students to Elkview, West Virginia, in July for a mission trip. Later that month we will enjoy the crowd favorite event “Charlie” where we do a different fun activity every day for a week, including one day of mission when we will replenish our QuicKits. In August we have a mini-golf pro tour to compete for the title of champion. The kick-off for our new program year is at the end of August, and we will start all over again.

This ministry is beyond a blessing. For the kids, for the community, for the church, for the volunteers, and for me. If you ever want to know more about the next generation of this church, call me – I’d love to tell you more. Listen to our podcast – you’ll get a good glimpse of our weekly life. Sign up to volunteer – no commitment required. Pray for us – we’ve been entrusted with a lot, and we want to serve the kingdom well.

– Laura Ecklin