By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist
Four or five years ago, Tim Covin saw that his daughter, Lisa, and a few other teens at Lyeffion Baptist Church, Evergreen, in Conecuh Baptist Association really needed a youth group.
“We started out just having a time for them to get together and watch Christian movies on Sunday afternoons,” Covin said. “Six months later, we decided to do a service just for them.”
They started holding that service at 4:30 on Sunday nights — and it grew from there, he said.
Growing ministry
“We started out with five kids and now we usually have 25 every Sunday,” Covin said, adding that it was all the youth’s doing. “They just kept inviting their friends,” he said.
In November, Covin decided they should do something a little bigger — something to draw all the youth in the area together.
For the last few years, the church has held a peanut boil and horseshoe tournament, a challenge to all the churches in the area. A trophy even travels back and forth every year from winner to winner, said Pastor Larry Johnson.
“It’s nothing fancy — we just love on each other and be there for each other,” he said. “For the adults, it’s a day of fellowship. Our goal is to bring more and more people together.”
They have soup, sandwiches and s’mores, and they play games and just hang out.
“But for the youth this year it was a chance to get together and worship too,” Johnson said. “That gave the event a whole different aim.”
Before the outdoor festivities started, 46 youth from different denominations across Conecuh and Butler counties gathered for worship and to hear a message from Michael Holcombe of Brushey Creek Baptist Church, Greenville, in Butler Baptist Association.
They played games, sang worship songs and had a great time, Covin said.
It went so well that they have future plans brewing already — for starters, Lyeffion Baptist wants to make the rally an annual event.
But Covin is also helping to plan another rally for February 2018 at Old Town Baptist Church, Evergreen, that he’s hoping will draw 400 students.
Covin says he’s just a deacon who “took over the youth ministry,” but Johnson said Covin is a “tireless youth worker.”
“He brings them in, takes care of them and preaches the gospel to them,” Johnson said. “God has laid it on his heart to do these things and he just runs with it.”
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