The role of Youth Ministries at St. Luke’s is to help kids ages 12-18 develop a strong, deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
My name is Merchant Buchanan and I’m the Youth Director here at St. Luke’s for some really amazing kids. I’ve been honored, thrilled, exhausted, humbled, amazed, and blessed by the Youth at St. Luke’s and I can’t wait to see what happens next. I pray you will join us and experience all the exciting ways to find out what God has in store for you.
When not having fun exploring the deep spiritual meanings to be found in pumpkin carving, paintball, and chemistry experiments, I’m spending time with my wife and our two wonderful children. We like wakeboarding, skiing, tennis, football, t-ball, and chewing on things we aren’t supposed to. Prior to working at St. Luke’s I’ve been a Youth Counselor, Mental Health Worker, Youth Director, Tennis Camp Counselor, and, my first job at 16, housekeeping/janitor at a hospital (yes, being a Youth Director is more gross and messy than the hospital job). I am a proud graduate of Baylor University which has taught me much humility whenever the subject turns to college football.
This channel is your gateway to more information about the following topics [if there’s a live link, click on it for more details]:
Episcopal Youth Community [EYC]--We are the community in the church for 6th – 12th graders and the adults that volunteer their time and love for these great kids. Our purpose is to learn how Christ can be a part of our lives and how we can share that with those around us.
Christian Education for Youth 6th-12th Grade—Our amazing Christian Education staff and volunteers use engaging lessons to help our youth learn how to apply Biblical truths to their own lives in the 21st century. For youth, we have three classes on Sunday morning:
- 6th-7th Grade
- Confirmation [8th Grade and Up]—this class helps kids prepare to reach the next milestone in their faith journey by being “confirmed” as Episcopalians by a Bishop
- Senior High
Youth Music Ministry: “At His Feet” Praise Band--AHF are dedicated youth who put their time and talents to worshipping God with drums, guitars, vocals, and awesome contemporary and classic Christian music. Their performances are not to be missed, as they like to “amp the excitement level” at church.
Worship Support Ministry—The Acolyte Ministry provides support for all our worship services. Youth carry the crosses, candles, and flags so important in our worship tradition. They also help the priests at the altar. See the sidebar for this month's schedule.
Mission Trips--These are the journeys we take together to do the work that God has for us. Every summer our Jr. High and Sr. High groups go out with a heart full of service and dedicated to reaching out to those in the communities that we travel to. It is a time of service, fun, spiritual highs, and group bonding like none other. The memories from these trips are shared for years after, the impact you may have on someone else’s life may last even longer.
Vacation Bible School—St. Luke’s most over-the-top program of the year needs the energy and enthusiasm of our youth volunteers, who have a blast while helping us run this amazing summertime out-reach ministry. See you in 2010!
Volunteers in Youth Ministries—We can’t run Youth Ministries without the support of adult volunteers who “get” youth.
- Safeguarding God’s Children—this program insures that our children, youth, and adults are aware of and protected from abuse. All volunteers are required to take 6 hours of training on this topic and have a current background check on file with the church in order to serve in children’s or youth programs.
With questions, comments, or concerns, or to volunteer to serve in any of our programs,please contact our Director of Youth Ministiries, Merchant Buchanan, at 266-2455 or by e-mail.
