Introducing Stephen and Melissa Poindexter

God has great­ly blessed Mt. Zion UMC in a lot of ways and one of those ways is that he has giv­en us a good num­ber of chil­dren and youth. I tru­ly believe that the chil­dren and youth min­istries must be a pri­or­i­ty and I am glad that I am not alone in that belief. it is obvi­ous that all of yo feel this way as well, because you have tak­en the big step of hir­ing a part-time Youth Direc­tor. Stephen Poindex­ter will begin his duties here at Mt. Zion on April 1st. I am tru­ly excit­ed hat Stephen will be com­ing to lead our Junior and Senior Youth.

Stephen grad­u­at­ed from NC State with a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Agri­cul­tur­al Busi­ness Man­age­ment in 2006 and now works with Enter­prise Car Rentals as a Car Sales­man. He and his wife, Melis­sa, who is a 5th grade teacher, reside in Roxboro.

Stephen has been involved with the Methodist youth all of his life, first as a par­tic­i­pant, then as a coun­selor, and then as the Youth Direc­tor at Oak Grove UMC where he was raised. Stephen is 31 years old and has led that youth group for sev­er­al years, build­ing it into a vital min­istry. he has also been involved with Con­fer­ence Youth events, serv­ing as a youth coun­selor at ACS for Methodist Youth from 2001–2006. He and the Oak Grove Youth have par­tic­i­pat­ed in Pil­grim­age for the last sev­er­al years. He has proven that he has the abil­i­ty to lead a youth group that is well orga­nized. he has also proven that he can con­nect with youth and lead the into a vital and per­son­al rela­tion­ship with Christ.

As I sai, I am excit­ed to have Stephen com­ing to lead your youth group, because we share the same goals. We want our chil­dren and youth to expe­ri­ence Jesus Christ in a way that shapes and molds their lives and we want them to enjoy their rela­tion­ship with Christ. We want them to be hap­py and joy­ful per­sons who lead pro­duc­tive lives for the Lord and bring glo­ry to his name. We want them to under­stand where they fit into God’s plan and to see that they are an impor­tant part of the church. Anoth­er rea­son I am excit­ed that Stephen is com­ing to Mt. Zion is that Melis­sa will be assist­ing him in the youth min­istry. We will not be pay­ing her, but they do work as a team. They are a hap­py and vibrant cou­ple and I know you are all going to love them.

Stephen does have fam­i­ly con­nec­tions to Mt. Zion. He is Mrs Sara Poindex­ter’s grand­son. Stephen and Melis­sa have both told me and the SPPRC that they are not just com­ing to ful­fill a job open­ing; they are look­ing for a long term com­mit­ment with this church and they want to be involved in the life of Mt. Zion UMC.

Friends, I tru­ly believe that Stephen and Melis­sa are going to be a great bless­ing to this church and I trust ath we will be a great bless­ing to them. I know you will all wel­come then with open and lov­ing arms. I urge us all to allow Stephen to be the Youth Direc­tor. Allow him to do his job. Give him the author­i­ty he needs to do it and trust him to his job well and give him and Melis­sa all the sup­port they need.

Like I said to being this arti­cle, God has great­ly blessed Mt. Zion and I believe that God has even greater bless­ings in store for this church in the future.

Peace and Joy

Pas­tor Donald