I want to take this opportunity to add more of my own reflection and final words on the trip, as a sort of bookend to the journey we went on.

On Wednesday, June 24th, we had seven students (Adrienne S., Betsy K., Caleb U., Carter R., Emma H., Laila K., and Rachel B.) and five leaders (myself, Ben Teninty, Britt Teninty, Darci Church, and Heather Potts) leave on our annual summer youth group trip. This year, we were excited to once again be going on a Community Live-In (CLI) discipleship trip to Orlando, Florida. The purpose of these discipleship trips is to create space for building community as we learn and grow together through service and opportunities for fun, life-giving experiences. These CLI trips focus on three key areas: we LIVE in community, SERVE together in community, and PLAY as a community. LIVE, SERVE, PLAY. And that is what we did down in Orlando in June.

Now, these trips are planned and organized by me, with the help and advice of student leaders, the other trip leaders, and partnerships with one of our fellow Covenant Church’s in Orlando, FL: Audubon Park Covenant Church. While this is a lot more work than if we went with an outside youth group trip organization, the benefit is we get to customize the entirety of the experience around our students and leaders specifically. For example, working towards our goal of experiencing healthy Christian community, we wanted everyone to live under the same roof, sharing common areas, chores, and especially, meal times. Proximity and time are key to building community, and though it can present plenty of challenges, this team of students and leaders were extraordinary. Every step of the way, they displayed a genuine spirit of care for one another, respect for one another’s space, and an intentional push for unity as we experienced the week together.

Now, as I mentioned, living in community together was just one part of the trip. Learning to serve in community together as we partnered with others in the community that do it well… THAT was perhaps the most transformational thing we did that week. Audubon Park Covenant’s Pastor, Sarah Robinson, helped me plan much of this. She has been a good friend and colleague in ministry of mine since I first met her while working at Covenant Harbor together back in 2006. Her heart for ministry and her gifts as a host and leader helped develop the opportunities we had to learn about serving in community from some well-established and impactful non-profit organizations and ministries down in Orlando. Again, see what our students had to say about those experiences from the spotlight in last week’s worship service… but I will add to that in saying that I’ve done these CLI trips down to Orlando with Pastor Sarah several times now. While she’s always been impressed by the students, she made a point this year to tell me that this group was something special. She was so impressed with their maturity, their willingness to jump in, to serve, to learn, to ask questions, and to represent Christ well… Again, not saying anything ill of previous groups, but it was truly a blessing to witness how great these teens were able to walk through these service days as a team together.

As we close the book on the CLI 2026 trip, I’m overwhelmed with appreciation for the support and love the community of The Grove Covenant showed throughout the entire process. From your support in the planning process, to your participation in all our fundraising efforts, to your prayers all the way up to and through the trip… “Thank you” just doesn’t seem strong enough. The fruit that grows from this experience in the lives of each student and leader is just beginning to show, and I can’t wait to see how God takes this experience and draws our youth ministry deeper in our love of Jesus, for one another, and for our neighbors as we move into a new school year together.

Now, one last thing I want to say is just a quick look forward and an ask for prayer. We are in the early stages of planning our Summer 2027 High School Youth trip, and if you’ve been a long-time attender, you’ll know what I mean when I say we’re in a “CHIC” year. Every three years, our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, has a long history of gathering the youth groups from our churches around the country and even around the world for a one-week conference of worship, learning, and fun together. Unfortunately, COVID had a significant impact on the legacy of this experience, which is why the youth group from here at The Grove has not attended since 2018. Not only was it in the process of being rebranded as “Unite” in 2021, but it was cancelled because of COVID and has since struggled to rebuild back to what it was before. In 2024, they attempted a Split event, with half the country going to an East conference, and half to a West conference… but the timing didn’t work out for our group to attend.

UNITE is back in summer 2027, and it’s coming back to its old form as a single-location event, this time taking place at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 18-23, 2026. While we are excited for it’s return, the scheduled dates are currently our biggest concern, as it is taking place about a week later in the summer than it has historically.

That said, please be praying as we determine the best plan, as we know already that these dates may present challenges for many of our high school students and leaders, and we will need to discern if it is possible to commit to attending in the coming weeks.

Again, thank you to all who support the student ministry here at The Grove, and to all who gave at fundraisers or through their donations to help make this trip possible. Thank you to all the parents who entrust their students to go on these amazing experiences with us. Thank you to the students for making my job easy by being so committed and so amazing through all the fundraising, training meetings, and throughout the trip itself. And though she may never read it, a personal thank you to my mother-in-law, Janet (who some of you know as she’s come and helped cater the food at our community Picnic the past couple of years)… thank you for taking a week to come out and watch our kids so Heather and I could go and serve on this trip together!