Leading Lady – Cassie Ford

I should have gotten these to you sooner, but I had no idea covid would knock me down that quick. Anyhow, if you would please just answer these questions and send them back with a head shot photo and 2 other photos that would be great!!

CKG: Please give us a brief introduction including your spouse, and introduction to the ministries for youth at New Life Church.

Shane and I met in 2015 at a high school youth rally and started dating right away. We were married in September of 2016. I had previously coached high school basketball and volleyball and had a great connection with high school kids. Shane has always been great with kids of all ages. We both knew we were ready to serve in some way with kids, we were just waiting on the Lord to place us directly where we were meant to be! After a couple of years of praying for answers on where we needed to be Shane and I took on the high school youth group in 2018 and we have been busy since then!

CKG: What is the biggest challenge with keeping high school youth engaged?

Right now Covid-19 is keeping us from doing our normal thing! We are use to going to Falls Creek every year which was cancelled this year. We also take our kids for Sunday Funday once a month, recently we haven’t been able to go places because we have a larger number of people and public places with social distancing aren’t allowing us to do our normal thing. We believe a huge part of youth ministry is built outside of just being present Sunday and Wednesday. Which Covid-19 has put a damper on!

CKG: share about your ministry at New Life Church. Take this opportunity to share information about what your youth/high school ministry looks like at New Life Church.

Going outside our four walls at church is something we encourage our kids and youth leaders to do as well. We are encouraging our kids to learn how to serve anywhere and look for opportunities to serve whether it’s picking up trash or just telling a stranger “Jesus loves you” with a smile on your face. Sundays evenings are for small groups where we can really dig in with just a few kids at a time, Wednesday evenings we play games, worship, catch a sermon from Shane, and eat dinner!

CKG: What are you looking forward to as we go into a new year?

We are definitely looking forward to taking the kids to Falls Creek! Falls Creek is such a huge impact on our kids lives and every year our students bring in new kids that we may never have been able to meet if it weren’t for the one week of camp! That one week of camp where you are surrounded by every individual that is all about getting closer with God is such an amazing week without any type of distractions! Also looking forward to the new beginnings, the new kids and the new studies we will have. I think everyone is super excited for what 2021 will bring!