Leading Future Generations
Published August 17, 2023
Matt Lake, Executive Director of NextGen, shares the heart of his team and how they engage and guide our children and students here at Mt. Bethel Church.
NextGen is focused on ages birth through 12th grade. It’s broken up into two distinct groups: Kids Ministry – 5th grade and below; Student Ministry – 6th – 12 grades.
The vision is to make NextGen very personal. It’s personal to our ministry teams, and we want to model how to do the right thing and lead in the right way. It’s also about establishing personal relationships with every kid and student who shows up here.
As we lead these kids and students through the ministry we have, we focus on making sure we know everybody’s name, we know something about them, we know their parents, and we call them by name. When they show up for ministry, they know they are valued here, and they are a part of a community that is a loving community. There are people here who appreciate that they are here. Our goal is, through those personal relationships, they will trust us to lead them into a deeper relationship with Jesus. If we can get that trust established, we feel confident, when they leave our ministry into what’s next in their life, they will have a very great foundation of their faith, and they will be able to articulate and say what their faith is – it’s not their parent’s faith; it’s theirs.
When they launch into the next phase of their life, we want to be very intentional about being mentors in the next stage of their life. Everything we do from little kids
in preschool through our high school ministry, we very much focus on this personal aspect, and we want to know who they are.”
NextGen has a great team to serve you and your family. Please feel free to contact us and let us know how we can help you!
Students:
Natalie Lovingood, NextGen Administrative Assistant Easton Isbell, Student Ministry Worship Leader Hannah Wildes, High School Leader Garrett Shiplett, High School Leader Elley Lee, Middle School Leader Edwin Turnipseed, Recreation and Outreach Pastor
Kids:
Natalie Lovingood, NextGen Administrative Assistant Kimmi Lochner, Director Jenny Thompson, Kid City Leader Polly Jarman, Station34Leader Deon Willis, Director of Nursery Kristen Funderburk, Assistant Director of Preschool Ginny Mateer, Director of Preschool
Visit us online: Kids (Birth-5th grade) and Students (6th-12 grade).
NextGen is focused on ages birth through 12th grade. It’s broken up into two distinct groups: Kids Ministry – 5th grade and below; Student Ministry – 6th – 12 grades.
The vision is to make NextGen very personal. It’s personal to our ministry teams, and we want to model how to do the right thing and lead in the right way. It’s also about establishing personal relationships with every kid and student who shows up here.
As we lead these kids and students through the ministry we have, we focus on making sure we know everybody’s name, we know something about them, we know their parents, and we call them by name. When they show up for ministry, they know they are valued here, and they are a part of a community that is a loving community. There are people here who appreciate that they are here. Our goal is, through those personal relationships, they will trust us to lead them into a deeper relationship with Jesus. If we can get that trust established, we feel confident, when they leave our ministry into what’s next in their life, they will have a very great foundation of their faith, and they will be able to articulate and say what their faith is – it’s not their parent’s faith; it’s theirs.
When they launch into the next phase of their life, we want to be very intentional about being mentors in the next stage of their life. Everything we do from little kids
in preschool through our high school ministry, we very much focus on this personal aspect, and we want to know who they are.”
NextGen has a great team to serve you and your family. Please feel free to contact us and let us know how we can help you!
Students:
Natalie Lovingood, NextGen Administrative Assistant Easton Isbell, Student Ministry Worship Leader Hannah Wildes, High School Leader Garrett Shiplett, High School Leader Elley Lee, Middle School Leader Edwin Turnipseed, Recreation and Outreach Pastor
Kids:
Natalie Lovingood, NextGen Administrative Assistant Kimmi Lochner, Director Jenny Thompson, Kid City Leader Polly Jarman, Station34Leader Deon Willis, Director of Nursery Kristen Funderburk, Assistant Director of Preschool Ginny Mateer, Director of Preschool
Visit us online: Kids (Birth-5th grade) and Students (6th-12 grade).