Youth Pastor Greeting

A Letter from the Youth Pastor, Luke Braddock

Greetings,

It's a personal blessing to me to say that I am the Youth Pastor at Harbor Chapel Community Church. I have been given such a wonderful opportunity to work with the youth of our community. God has blessed me with an awesome wife, Tonyisha and our six month old baby girl, Sariah Faith, both are an absolute gift from God. We are fortunate to live In Moss Landing across the street from the Church. Our family has been blessed to be a part of such an incredible body of believers who live out their faith in Christ Jesus.

I’ve been involved In Youth Ministry the last twelve years of my life. Being a Youth Pastor has been the most challenging yet. It’s been a honor and privilege for my family and I to grow close to the students, sharing with them good and difficult times along the way. We have witnessed growth in kid’s lives as well as our own.

Our heart is to see students take ownership of their relationship with God. We are stoked when kids see the life that God has to offer them through His Son, Jesus. We know that through Him all things are possible. Convinced that Jesus is the only way to experience true life, we have dedicated our lives to reaching others. My prayer is our family will demonstrate the hope we have with patience and diligence to the people in our community.

Our Youth program, “The Grove”, consists of events throughout the week. Tuesday nights, we hold our boys and girls Bible studies aka (GIBS and BIBS). My wife, Tonyisha, leads the girls’ study and I meet with the boys. We enjoy this time of growing in God’s word and fellowship.

Wednesday evenings we get to visit different skate parks in the bay area. This time is cut out for bike riding, skateboarding and fellowship. We enjoy being a blessing to each different park we visit by bringing bottled water for everyone and good attitudes as we "shred" together. Wednesday nights are set aside for the College/Career Age students, which is going strong under the leadership of my brother, Heath and his wife, Pricilla.

Thursday nights we have “The Grove”. This night is our actual Youth Group night in which we have about forty to fifty students come play video games, ride bikes, skateboard, play basketball and do other fun stuff. We end the night with a relevant message from God’s Word. We plan different events throughout the year like snow trips, "Mission to Mexico" and summer camps.

Sunday mornings we join together for Sunday school. It’s a time to reflect, grow and challenge each other in our faith. We rotate teachers and we are developing a series of teachings to keep it fresh.

My wife and I would like to take a few moments and thank the awesome leaders who work with us as well as the Harbor Chapel Congregation. It has been an amazing few years and we are looking forward to what God has in store for our Youth in the future. We appreciate all of the help and support throughout the Youth Ministry Program. Please continue to pray for my family and me, as we strive to work under the Lord’s leadership. Together with the help of Christ we can make a difference.

Sincerely,    

Luke Braddock