Dear Revolve - Take 1

Mark G, Derek R, Thadius, Mike G, Mel G, Brian H, Josh S, Zech M...

Do you recognize those names? Hopefully you know at least two of them.

Most of the names listed above probably have little to no meaning to you. But they affect you in ways you can't imagine. I'm going to tell you a story. Your story. As far as I can remember it. As we explore your past, maybe we can begin to understand the present a little bit better. The word "heritage" probably doesn't get you too excited, but this is the story of where you came from. And I don't think it hurts to look back every once in a while. It can help you to grow. I want you to know (as much as I am capable of showing it to you) the dream that is a part of who you are. If you only knew how desperately I want to see you become all that God would have for you...

I'm going to introduce you to these people in sessions. You will hear about what they did and how they changed the youth group. I won't be sharing a whole lot of my own perspective and experience. But I'll end the series with my story as far as it concerns the youth group at Cornerstone.

I will start with Derek R and Thadius and I'll tell you more about the others in later entries.

Derek R. His wife is named Lisa. Truthfully, I didn't know a whole lot about him. But what I do know, I will share.

When I first started coming to youth group at Cornerstone it wasn't called Revolve, it was called U-turn. I was 13. We didn't have the chapel to meet in. We met in what is now referred to as Room 8, but in my day it was called "C Wing". And Derek Rose was the youth pastor. Back then there was maybe 30-40 teens coming to youth group which met on, I believe, Saturday nights if I remember right. Pastor Derek was energetic. The youth loved him. He was very relational. He would often teach his messages while sitting on a stool. Almost conversationally.

The first retreat I went on was with him at Camp Carl in 2001. It changed my life and revealed my call.

While he was pastor, Derek and Lisa tried to adopt a little baby boy named Thadius. It was an exciting time. But before the adoption could be finalized, the birth mother changed her mind and decided she wanted to keep her son. This broke their hearts.

I don't know a whole lot about what went down after that. Details were always a little foggy for me. Mostly because I was still kinda young and people didn't tell me much. But I did notice the heaviness that came on Pastor Derek after that.

Eventually he was no longer youth pastor. It was all kind of sudden and, like I said before, I don't really remember details. This pretty much destroyed the youth group. I mean pretty literally. The kids who came were extremely loyal to Pastor Derek and were heart broken when he left.

Spiritually, their foundation was just beginning. It wasn't very strong or deep. Cliques were abundant even just amongst the 30 kids. But we can't discount the work that Pastor Derek did in helping to lay the foundation for where our youth group has come.

To help you understand how this affects you, maybe it would help for you to know some of the people who were around when Derek was and who he may have influenced. (Again, you may not recognize all of these names, but if you follow me in this story, you will meet many of them.) Justin Ryan, Amber Ryan, Jimmy (my brother), Mike Gardiner, Melanie C (now Gardiner), Gillian E, Sarah G, and myself.

I know this part of your story probably seemed a bit dry. I promise I'll try to spice things up for the rest of it. Its just a little hard for me to write about the beginning because I was only part of it for a short time.

Hope to see you back here soon.

Me off.