Two different congregations. Two new directors of youth ministry. Two places where God is clearly at work.

Speak with either Dan King, director of family ministries at St. Edward’s, Mount Dora, or Gariné “G” Adams, youth minister, Church of the Messiah, Winter Garden, about their work with students, and you hear both vision and passion. The two, both involved in the current planning for this summer’s Soul in the City diocesan youth event in DeLand (click here for information and registration), share a deep desire to see God move among the young people they serve.

“I really oversee everything from the nursery to the children’s Sunday school classes all the way through youth group,” said King, who moved to Mount Dora from Sarasota last summer at the behest of The Rev. Mark Lafler, St. Edward’s rector and a longtime friend. Until King’s arrival, the church didn’t have a staff member solely focused on children and youth. Soon after he came, he realized the young people lacked a firm foundation in the scriptures.

King went back to the basics, giving students what he called “a mini-introduction to the Bible,” sharing brief Old and New Testament surveys and Bible interpretation techniques. Now, he said, he can ask them about any given verse from a given Sunday’s readings, “and we really dig in,” he said. “We do some original Greek and Hebrew word studies and things like that and have some fun.”

The students have responded well, King said. “They’re building a really cool foundation just in how they interact and relate to the Bible, to the Word of God.” (Read more about King’s lessons here.)

But King doesn’t expect his students to become master theologians. Instead, he points to recent research about the many who lose their faith during college, saying, “I think it’s just because they have a shaky foundation. … Not on my watch. I don’t want that to happen with my group; I want them to have a strong affection and a strong relationship with the Word of God.”

Their newfound Bible foundation is moving the students to action, King said. “One of the things that’s coming up in our Bible conversations is that Jesus really intended us to do something. They’re getting challenged, so they naturally want to go and do stuff.” He looks forward to seeing how Soul in the City and other ministry projects will build on that firm Bible foundation.

Adams, who also began her service in youth ministry last summer, has a longer history with Church of the Messiah. She and her husband, Jeremy, who serves as the church’s facilities minister and assistant music minister, began its School of the Arts in 2018. “That’s separate from the youth ministry in general, but it’s bringing in a whole lot of folks to the church,” she said.

This Christmas, Messiah’s Activate! youth group helped with the annual Christmas party the church runs for Edgewood Children’s Ranch. “[Our youth band] did the music, and we brought the whole youth group in to just play for the day. We do an art project and hang out with the kids,” Adams said.

The church’s Virtual Youth Revival arose out of the pandemic isolation, initiated in 2021 as a way to connect area youth to one another and to Christ. “We invited as many churches as we could possibly get hold of,” Adams said, adding that in 2022, even more churches were involved with the event, which they hope to take live in 2023.

For this year’s revival, held on Feb. 18 from 6-8 p.m., the youth band from Messiah’s School of the Arts led in worship. Adams herself did the preaching on the topic of “Finding God’s Calling,” using the biblical stories of Abraham and Moses to challenge students to “do the next thing.” The evening also included an interactive game segment with prizes. View the revival recording at this link.

Like King, Adams looks forward to summer events, including Soul in the City. “We’re planning on having our own mission week as well, about two weeks after that,” she said. “Many of our youth kids are from our Haitian Creole service, and so most of them speak the language. We’re thinking about going to the Pine Hills area, where they have lots of Haitian Creole-speaking people in need of assistance. We’ll get together with the Haitian Consulate and our Haitian priests and put it together.”

Learn more about Soul in the City at this link, and find St. Edward’s youth ministry here and Church of the Messiah’s youth ministry here.