Light in a
dark place.
It’s the direction we point our students, in everything we do. A lot of them have already caught it.
We're not running a holding pen with pizza.
Wednesday nights our students worship, open the Bible, and get asked real questions — the kind that don’t have a tidy answer ready. We’ve found that junior high and high school students rise to whatever you actually expect of them, so we expect a lot.
Not because they have to earn anything. Because they’re already loved, already chosen, and already capable of more than most people give them credit for.
Not a separate church that meets down the hall.
Our students worship in the same room as everybody else on Sunday morning. They’re known by adults who aren’t their parents. They serve, they show up, and they carry real weight in the life of this church — not a junior version of it.
Youth group is where they grow up together. It isn’t a place we keep them until they’re old enough to count.
The weekly rhythm
Small group
Same hour the adults have theirs, so the whole family arrives together and splits at the door. Students dig into Scripture with people who know their names and notice when they're gone.
Then everybody's back together for the 10:30 service.
Youth service
Worship, a message, and time to actually talk. This is their service — not a side room off of ours.
Adults and kids meet at the same time, so the whole family can come on one trip. No dinner, but there are usually snacks — eat before you come and you'll be fine.
The weeks they still talk about in October.
Every summer our students go to church camp. And they go on mission trips — not sightseeing with a service project bolted on, but real work in places that need it.
Something happens on those trips that a Wednesday night can’t quite manufacture. Students come home different, and they stay different.
This summer
Dates and cost: TBA. We usually know by spring, and we'll post them here as soon as we do. We also fundraise through the year to bring the cost down — no student should miss camp over money.
Kingdom-minded students who see Miami as a place worth loving.
That’s the direction we’re always pointing. That the Kingdom of God isn’t only about someday. That it changes how you treat the kid nobody sits with. That being light in a dark place is something you can start doing at fourteen, not something you wait around for.
Plenty of our students have caught it and run with it. Some are still deciding. Both are welcome, and everything we do is built to keep pushing that way.
Parents, a few straight answers
My kid doesn't know anybody. Is that going to be miserable?
The first Wednesday is the hardest one, and we know it. Tell us they're coming and we'll make sure somebody's watching for them at the door instead of leaving them to find a seat alone.
Do they have to come Sunday and Wednesday?
No. Plenty of students do one or the other. Come to whichever fits your family's week.
What's the age range?
7th through 12th grade.
What does camp cost, and what if we can't cover it?
Cost for this summer is still TBA — we usually know by spring. We fundraise through the year specifically to bring that number down, so the sticker price isn't what most families end up paying.
And if it's still out of reach: ask. We've never let money be the reason a student stayed home, and we'd rather have an awkward conversation than have your kid miss the week.
Who's leading this?
Right now, that's me — David, our pastor. I'm in the room every Wednesday night. If you have a question about your student, you don't have to go through anybody to get to me.
Wednesdays at 6.
Bring a friend.
213 I Street NE, Miami. Come as you are — that goes for students too.