Ignite! That?s the buzz at Hope Church in Brunswick.
Youth Pastor Tom O?Connell explains that Ignite is meant to convey the idea of ?Lighting the way for students to know Christ, to follow him and to live for him in a fun, safe environment.?
It was O?Connell?s own experience with a youth group that took him into the ministry, he said. ?I grew up in Massachusetts and my parents brought me and my sister to church. I was probably in seventh grade when the church hired its first youth pastor and he had a profound effect on my life. I was not the easiest teen to be around,? he said, ?but for six years he spent time with me and helped me.?
He pointed out that there are about 4,000 middle and high school students in Brunswick. ?It?s our desire to reach out and help them become ?different,? from others. We don?t treat each badly other the way other people might ? we live like Jesus would want us live. We want to affect their decisions and the way they use their time and talents.?
Ignite meetings are from 7 to 8:20 p.m. Wednesdays, and except for special occasions, the sixth- through eighth-graders meet in the modular units adjacent to the church at 1905 Pearl Road, while the young people in ninth through 12th grades meet at a rented office at 1930 Pearl Road, Suite 3 in the Rito?s Bakery Plaza. Right now, each group has about 25 regular attendees each week.
Ignite meetings are coordinated by O?Connell and the newest pastor on the Hope staff, David Trainer, with the help of 18 adult volunteers. They plan trips ? the middle schoolers are going to a conference in Cincinnati this month and the high schoolers are headed to St. Louis for a conference in July. They attend retreats, have parties and help out in the community.
The youth ministers of several of Brunswick Churches meet each month to share ideas and plan events. Four times a year, O?Connell said, the young people get together at one of the churches for a special event. Each of the past three years on a Saturday in October, the pastors coordinate a ?community Plunge? where groups of students and adult supervisors head out to provide help in different areas of the community. It?s become one of Brunswick?s most anticipated activities.
Ignite members also have helped at the Brunswick Food Pantry, The Oaks, and some of Cleveland?s inner city churches. In addition to Wednesday meetings, smaller groups meet for Bible study and other activities.
O?Connell?s journey here took a slightly different turn than he expected, however.
Because of his own youth pastor?s influence, in high school, he decided that was what he wanted to do, and began looking for a Bible college. He attended Nyack College with the intent of going into youth ministry. It was there he met his wife, Laurie, a native of Canal Fulton. When they graduated and married, they were asked to help start a church in Lodi. After praying about it, they decided to give it a try and for the next nine years, he was senior pastor at that church.
Then came a call from the Rev. Gordon Meier, senior pastor of the fairly new church in Brunswick. Meier told him that Hope was hiring a youth pastor. ?Gordon and I were friends,? O?Connell explained, and the youth ministry was what he had been trained for since his own youth pastor was such a great role model. In January 2011, he joined Hope as its youth pastor.
Hope Church is one of the most recent additions to the religious scene in Brunswick. In the fall of 2007, the congregation of Grace Church in Middleburg Heights decided to reach out to Northern Medina County by ?parenting? a church in Brunswick as part of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, which has 20,000 churches around the world.
The official launch of Hope Church here was Sept. 20, 2009 at Brunswick High School. In that relatively short period of time, Hope Church not only has its own worship center and office complex, it now has more than 700 members. There are three services: 5 p.m. Saturday, 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday and there are now four pastors on the staff. The church is in the former meeting hall next to St. Stephen?s Church and the offices are just north of St. Stephens.
The O?Connells have four children: Lilly, 9, Thomas, 8, Nathan, 7 and Elsie, 3. They and the other ministers live in Brunswick.
?We welcome all students to come to Ignite,? O?Connell said. More information about the church, its history, staff and Ignite is available at hopechurch.org.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/brunswick/index.ssf/2013/02/brunswick_churchs_youth_group.html
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