Seniors’ Parting Thoughts

If you joined us in Cornerstone on May 1 at 11 am, you may have found yourself a little teary-eyed. That’s because this past Sunday we celebrated, blessed, and recognized the class of 2022.

Every time we bless the children in our church, we are practicing the words of Deuteronomy 6:5-7 which says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children, and your children’s children.”

While they’re still young, our students now enter the phase where they’re not quite children, yet not quite adults. They’re learning what it means to love God with their whole heart, their entire soul, and their full being. Our hope is that they go into the world and, in moments where they don’t know what to do, where to go, or even who they are, that they can hold firm to the faith they declared before their church.

We will always be here to welcome them home, to celebrate them, and to cheer them on. We love them because God loves us. I am so proud to know them and to have walked alongside them as their pastor. Will you continue to pray for this class as graduation approaches? Will you continue to live into our baptismal covenant? If you have ever witnessed a baptism in our church you repeated these holy words: We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a church to show them Jesus.

Whether you served in the ministry, were a constant presence in HPUMC, tithed, prayed for your church occasionally, or watched them grow up through their different phases of church life, the Youth Ministry thanks you.

You have an impact on this church by simply being who you are! As our students have shared their testimonies with us this week, it has been powerful to see how our church has come alongside them.

Read their testimonies, hear their stories, and let’s give praise to God for the privilege it has been to walk with them as they learn who they are and who God has created them to be!

Senior Meredith Wolfe

My name is Meredith Wolfe and I've grown up at HPUMC. I was in the daycare occasionally, I watched them remodel the second-floor kids area, and obviously saw the Tolleson Family Activity Center develop in all of its glory. It has meant so much to me to be a part of the HPUMC Youth family. I joined the Youth Choir in the sixth grade under Associate Director of Music, Arts & Traditional Worship, Susanna Miller and absolutely fell in love with it. I made some lifelong friends in choir as well as Bible Study. I’ll never forget doing what is lovingly referred to as “High Low Buffalo,” where we share a high, a low, and a “buffalo,” which is just a funny story from the week.

My faith development over the past few years was anything but a straight line. Freshman and sophomore year I felt like I followed along in Bible Study. I participated by volunteering to read verses and answering questions, but I wasn't absorbing much and wouldn’t necessarily make a point to apply what we talked about throughout the week.

I sat comfortably with my faith for half of my high school career. Then, I started asking some harder questions junior and senior year. I wrestled with it junior year as we came back from the initial shock of COVID, and was ultimately left with no option but to put all my trust in God. I was tested when COVID jeopardized the seat saved for my dad at graduation. COVID put not one, but both of my parents in the hospital at the same time. My dad was in the ICU and my mom was a floor above him. What I learned about myself, God, and the relationship between the two, was that He can give you the absolute worst and, with His help, you will have no other outcome than to be a stronger person on the other side.

Now, I work to apply what I learn as well as absorb all I can as my time as a high schooler comes to a close. HPUMC has always been a place I go to reset my week and focus on something other than myself. I had incredible leaders throughout my senior year, and they attended some choir performances of mine and invested time in each of our lives. I’m so thankful for them. I love the community here and will always appreciate everything I have learned and the way my faith was challenged. I can confidently say I would not be the same person I am today if it weren’t for HPUMC Youth.

Senior Jack Tatum

The first thing I have to admit when speaking about my faith is that I’ve never liked to be public about it. I never generally liked to talk about God, heaven, and death with other people. I have always prayed to God about life, and kept that relationship secret. However, things started to change last summer during the 2021 San Antonio Mission Trip with HPUMC Youth.

Looking back, it’s embarrassing to say that I was just going to collect some service hours and hang out with friends. I really tried to stray away from faith. You could imagine just how successful I was on a church mission trip. Each night on the trip ended with worship and I began to soak in the lessons from all of the sermons. I would often look around and observe a unique bond between all of my school friends that constantly made me jealous.

By the end of the trip, I became instilled with a newfound affinity towards sharing my faith with others and continuing to learn the word of God as a means to live life. Unfortunately, the first semester of senior year didn’t allow me to come to WOW, but I could not thank the circumstances more when the HPUMC Youth pastors were up at the high school coming back from winter break. I was encouraged to go to WOW, but remained somewhat shy toward sharing my faith with others, especially since everyone else had already been doing this for so many years before. I ended up going with my buddies, Alexander and Zach, and the rest became history.

Not only have I learned so much about Jesus over these past couple months, but also myself. I’ve been able to solve problems that I don’t know how I would’ve attempted to get at without others. Meeting and getting to know our Youth pastor, Sean, has been a blessing recently in my life. He’s the dude all of us older guys can just talk to and it’s something I wouldn’t trade away for anything.

Most people assume senior year is easy. That could not be more untrue for myself at least. I think I’ve changed in every way possible: physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I’ve been thankful for this change, but I don’t think it would’ve been possible without this opening up of my faith with close friends, HPUMC, and Sean (still a close friend). Because of everything that has happened this year, I believe I’ve become better as a person. I can’t wait to continue my faith journey next year and help achieve the potential I know I am able to unlock.

Senior Ellie Hopkins

I started coming to WOW my freshman year and absolutely fell in love with it. I loved the other students, the staff, the way I was growing in my faith. I loved everything about it. I had grown up going to church but my faith was never my own thing until HPUMC Youth. HPUMC has made my faith journey more meaningful and independent. Being a part of HPUMC Youth has impacted me in many different ways. It has taught me many life lessons and skills that I will use throughout my life, and helped me grow in my faith tremendously.

I started going on mission trips that combined fun and faith into one. The mission trips were really the areas I felt closest to God as we would worship and hear sermons every night, do devotionals in the morning, and have fun with friends while doing the Lord’s work during the day. HPUMC has given me some of my closest friends that are like family and given me the confidence to share the Gospel with others.

Senior Ali Rogers

For the last few months I have had the opportunity to intern for the high school staff here at HPUMC. Freshman year, when I started coming to Sunday Bible Study, I didn’t know many people, I was shy, and I kept to myself and the people I already knew. As the years went on, I started to be a little more active in Bible Study, but it wasn’t until junior year, when I came to WOW, that I truly started investing in my faith and making connections with other Christians like me.

Throughout Sundays and WOW, I have made connections with other high schoolers of all ages that I know will last a long time. HPUMC helped me grow from a shy freshman that was scared to participate in Bible Study, to an outgoing senior that somehow built up the courage to preach in front of my peers at WOW. I want to thank Rev. Chelsea Peddecord, Pastor to Youth and their Families, and Sean McDonald, High School Youth Pastor, for always pushing me to go outside my comfort zone to spread God’s Word and teaching me how to love others through God’s love. I am nowhere near the same person I was at the start of high school and it is truly because of all of the people at HPUMC.