125 young people begin exploring call to full-time ministry

Discovery Zone meals
in Austin, McAllen
draw biggest turnout

More than 125 young people began exploring a call to full-time ministry last month.
They attended Discovery Zone dinners, sponsored by the Board of Ordained Ministry and Council on Youth Ministry, in six of the seven districts of the Southwest Texas Conference.
The McAllen District—with 38 participants—and the Austin District—with 37—had the biggest turnouts.
Attendance in other districts ranged from nine to 13.
“I was so pleased at the level of participation for the events,” said the Rev. Rusty Freeman, conference youth ministry director. “The numbers are a great indication that we are meeting a need in the church.”
The Southwest Texas Conference has reawakened to the need to recruit and encourage young people to enter full-time ministry, Freeman said.
“I was praying that if we could have only a handful of youths at each dinner, then we would exceed our goals,” he said. “As it turned out, we had many more than expected.”
Participants, ages 12 to 22, attended a free dinner and heard a presentation on “Discovering My Call to Ministry.”
Each young person received a ministry packet containing a letter of encouragement from Bishop Joel N. Martinez, information on current conference youth ministries, a guide for discovering spiritual gifts and fliers from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry on different aspects of ministry within The United Methodist Church.
“The Discovery Zone dinner was a great opportunity for youths to learn more about their call to ministry,” said Trish Perdue, Tarrytown UMC, Austin. “All the speakers gave kids a bigger picture of discovering their call and the ordination process.”
Different presenters attended each dinner. Presenters included:
> The Rev. Virgilio Vasquez-Garza, San Antonio District superintendent, and the Rev. J. Michael Lowry, senior pastor, University UMC, San Antonio, and chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry, in the San Antonio District.
> The Rev. David Edgar, San Angelo District superintendent, and the Rev. George Lumpkin, senior pastor, St. Luke UMC, San Angelo, in the San Angelo District.
> The Rev. Rusty Teeter, director, Wesley Foundation, University of Texas at Austin, and the Rev. Robert Hall, Austin District superintendent, in the Austin District.
> The Rev. Bill Stegemueller, pastor, First UMC, Medina, and the Rev. Fred Martin, Kerrville District superintendent, in the Kerrville District.
> The Revs. Ken Harrison and Cathe Alexander Evins, associate pastors, First UMC, McAllen, in the McAllen District.
> The Rev. Damon Relder, pastor, Wesley UMC, Corpus Christi, and the Rev. J. Keith Wyatt, Corpus Christi District superintendent, in the Corpus Christi District.
The next Discovery Zone event is scheduled for Nov. 13 at Coker UMC, San Antonio.