Dear Parents and Students,

As 2014 draws to a close and the New Year is upon us, there is a transition in our high school ministry on Sunday mornings that I would like to bring to your attention. As many of you know, in the beginning of this past summer, we made the decision to remove Student Body (our high school gathering during the 2nd service) from Sunday mornings. We did this for two primary reasons: 

The first reason is that Fellowship Hall was being renovated. It was necessary for us to move out as they remodeled the space and there were no other rooms in the church building that were large enough to occupy all of our students at that time.

The second reason is that we were concerned that many of our high school students had made Student Body their sole form of involvement on Sunday mornings and were not participating in corporate worship with the rest of the Church body under the preaching of our senior pastor. It was, and still is, our desire that students would attend Student Body for one service and then join in corporate worship with their families in the next service. We made the decision to suspend Student Body as a means to encourage students to not only become involved in corporate worship, but also to utilize their gifts and abilities in a serving capacity in children’s ministry, life groups,  ushering, nursery, etc.  

As we head into a new year and have had time to evaluate and process things over the past months, we have decided that it would be best to reinstitute Student Body on Sunday mornings. Our conviction that students should be in worship with their families has not changed and we will still encourage all of our students to attend service. However, we realize that there are a significant number of students at Parkside whose sole involvement is on Sunday mornings. In the past months, the absence of Student Body made me aware of the fact that there were many students that I could no longer engage or connect with, because Student Body was the only avenue through which I would see them. We believe that through the teaching of the Bible and the relationship-building opportunities presented in the gathering of high school students on Sunday mornings, our student ministry and our church as a whole are better served with Student Body than without.  

Our plan is to bring Student Body back on Sunday, January 11th at 9:45am in room LL31 in the lower level of the Commons. I expect that there will be questions from both parents and students on this transition so I want to encourage you to email or call me with any of those questions and I will try my very best to answer all of them.  Along those same lines, we will be having a parent meeting on Sunday, January 4th in room LL31 at 11am where I would love to meet every single parent face to face and answer any questions that have about anything concerning our ministry.  

Please know that this decision was made with great thought, patience, and prayer. As we continue to make changes in our youth ministry, it has been a constant reminder to me that God does not require us to know all of the right answers or have the perfect formula for a successful youth ministry. He has simply called us to humbly, lovingly, and prayerfully seek out His will. I hope that you will join me in constantly and fervently praying for our students, leaders, and pastors. I look forward to the opportunities that I will have to come alongside you as parents and partner with you in seeking to see these students become committed followers of Jesus Christ.  

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8

In Christ,
Dan Schillero