Filed under: Celebration Church, Religion | Tags: bartram trail, bths, jessy pitts, sr13 accident, taylor brennan
We lost so much more than flesh and bone….and on Wednesday night, over 250 people met up at our weekly high school youth gathering to remember Taylor and Jessy, 2 uniquely unselfish souls. This spiritual anguish is real… but somehow it was a chance for the students of Celebration Church to show their love not only for these 2 that we lost, but also for their family &friends.
Our students, volunteers, and staff were so blessed to be able to host both students’ families. Students were on the campus from 6-9. From 6-7, they wrote cards, cried together, and shared stories. From 7-8, we had a short time of worship, remembrance, and encouragement. From 8-9, they poured their love onto the families of our 2 we lost.
One of our bands led us in 2 songs…”You Deserve” and “From the Inside Out”, both by Hillsong. Lori Schumaker sang, “Hear You Me” by Jimmy Eat World. The lyrics are at the bottom of this post. Pastor James Price gave a word of encouragement as a representative of our 8 other campuses of Celebration Church, and students put together a slideshow of photos that we watched. My wife Rachel shared some words of encouragement from our other youth pastors, John Wyatt and Josh Turner.
I had the chance as our Element Pastor to speak a few words and say a prayer with the friends and family in attendance. I was blessed to share some memories of both students, and spoke from Mark 12:28-31. When asked what 1 thing we should do as Christians, Jesus replied simply that we should love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. I spoke about how Jesus doesn’t ask us for us to love God with as much heart as Dr. Billy Graham…or with a whole untainted heart…whatever pieces are left of our heart, whatever clarity is left in our minds, whatever vibrancy is left in our souls, whatever is left of our strength….to love Him with all we have left. Many right now have so little heart, soul, mind, and strength left…yet a majority there concluded the service by responding to Jesus by committing to love God with all that we have.
Funeral Services will be this weekend for both students . . .
Filed under: Religion | Tags: bartram trail, bths, jessy pitts, sr13 accident, taylor brennan
Sunday night on SR 13, Jessy Pitts and Taylor Brennan passed from earth to eternity. Taylor attended Element, our high school church youth group, over the past year with Chanin, Brittany, Marisa, and many of their friends. I taught Jessy when he was a Freshman at BTHS, before he moved to Georgia. I’d seen him a couple times the past year, as Chanin brought him to church. At Element this week, students will be watching home video, singing songs, writing notes and cards, and just ‘being together’ as part of a night of remembrance. Nothing can do justice to remember these 2….Jessy was 18…Taylor’s 18th birthday is January 20. Rachel and I had lunch with Taylor just a few weeks ago at Akaya on 210…she was such a trip…a kidder…and went on and on about her adventures in studyhall with “Lindsey Gaahhhhhdna.”
Over the next few days, so many people will tell stories about these 2 great kids. I hope to relay a couple of those stories, both here (in the comments under this blog) and in church services later this week. If you’re a friend of either (or both), feel free to leave comments/notes here, and we’ll be sure to get them to the families. For now, I’ll leave this note about Taylor, and will say more about her and Jessy in the blogs and comments to come.
Taylor- your friends sat around last night at Chanin’s watching videos of you singing songs wit her and Brittany together. When you sang, “I’m leavin” by Jesse McCartney, I just sat there in disbelief. You’ve left. Your absence was so obvious in that room…a gaping blank place in that circle of your friends, a missing laugh in each round of chuckles as you and Chanin sang even when Brittany fell asleep. Every room of your friends is less vibrant, less alive…
“Someone said that you know a saint
By how alive they make you feel
Not by how much they show to you
But by how little they conceal
You left us with broken hearts and souls
Our hope is feebly attempting to temper it
We lost so much more than skin and bone
You are the world as best as I remember it.” -Steve Stockman
Filed under: Celebration Church, Youth Ministry | Tags: bartram trail, cr 210, creekside, high school, julington creek, mandarin, nease, roberts road, st johns county youth ministry, st. augustine
After tropical storm fay and her whackiness, our school calendar finally began this week. i can’t express how relieved, excited, nervous, anticipaitious (is that a word?) I am.
We begin our ‘Urban Legends’ series tonight at St. Johns Element, our high school youth ministry reaching the Bartram Trail and Creekside High Schools (and a few students from Nease High and Mandarin too!). If you haven’t checked out our weekly ministry, here are a couple fast facts
-Celebration Church is 10 years old, and has a weekly attendance of 6000-7000 on average
-We have 6 youth services on Wednesday nights, scattered across Northeast Florida. There are some 450-550 students attending these services.
-The idea behind a localized ‘campus’ youth ministry like St. Johns is that our students who love God and their friends can find a local expression of the worship, messages, fellowship, fun, food, etc that is geographically easier to bring their friends to….and also helps keep students from getting ‘lost in the shuffle’.
We meet in 3 counties on Wednesday nights. Duval county- at our Midtown Campus near the town center. Clay Count- at our O.P. Campus on Kingsley, and St. Johns Campus, at Cunningham Elementary School at 7pm. You can find more information at www.element633.com.
Lookin forward to speaking tonight. Schools in for fall! (cue Alice Cooper sequel song to school’s out for summer)….
