Bethany Russell Thesis

The teenage years are a very important stage of life for all individuals because this is the period of life when they learn who they are and who they want to become. Since adolescents are especially vulnerable in this time it is important for them to have people in their life who can build into them and encourage them to learn and grow into responsible adults. One of the places that can teach students about life is the church. This should be a welcoming community where teenagers can create relationships with other students, but also with adults that can mentor them, and whom they can rely on when they encounter challenges in life. Bethany Russell is a woman who affects all of the young women in the Cherry Hills Baptist Church Youth Group by
Youth ministry was never something that was on her radar but she always loved students. She went to college to become a high school teacher and she believed that was going to be the extent of her interaction with teenagers. While Bethany was in college she interned with the youth ministry at her church, Cherry Hills, and enjoyed doing it but she was never overwhelmed by a call to ministry. She later remembered thinking that she did not want to throw away her degree to work at the church. It would have been too much of a change and it scared her. The youth pastor who she worked with, Pastor Pat, noticed that she had a gift for youth ministry and asked her to move to Tennessee. This was not something that she wanted to hear because she thought that she had her whole life planned out and she did not want to uproot everything. Bethany turned Pastor Pat down for six months but he finally persuaded her. She moved down to Tennessee and worked full time for a year and a half. When Bethany came back to central Illinois she started working as a math teacher at Williamsville High School and started working part time at Cherry Hills as the girl’s ministry leader. She has now been working there for five
As youth ministry grows the need for full and part time leaders is growing. Bethany was a part of youth ministry when she was in high school about ten years ago and she said that many of aspects of youth group are similar but the biggest change is social media. Bethany is someone who does not just accept stereotypes and clichés so instead of condemning social media as a work of the devil she uses it to reach this generation. Bethany has the skill of adaption. She uses the best means to reach out to the students. Even though social media can be used for many good things Bethany is always quick to remind the students that it can become an idol in place of God. Bethany’s biggest passion when it comes to youth ministry is teaching youth about idols and standing up for their beliefs. She says that our culture is quickly becoming an accept-all culture where if anyone shows an opinion where they believe in right and wrong they are labeled as judgmental. The culture of the twenty-first century is quickly becoming one that is corrupting theology. Christianity is becoming a prosperity gospel which means it is being changed to a feel good experience where nothing bad can ever happen. Since all of the students in the youth group have never lived in a time different from this Bethany spends a lot of her time