A look back at the history of Open Youth Room
Published on December 5, 2023 at 7:34pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0To the Editor,
I recently enjoyed reading the excellent article on Trinity Lutheran Church’s Open Youth Room nights. Thanks for covering it. Here’s a little more background I am happy to share.
OYR began 15 years ago in 2008-09 and was the excellent idea of Charlene Norton (then a volunteer youth ministry advisor). She coordinated it for many years, followed by Holly Gudmundson, before Lorilee and Jeff Krosch took on the role. All of them have done a tremendous job enlisting the help of other parents/adults, making sure there is enough pizza and food, and publicizing the events. In 2022-23, there was a very strong group of H.S. senior leaders who helped invited teens in morning announcements at school and also prepared and led devotions for each event. This continues with current teens.
When I served at Trinity, my role was simply to equip and support these wonderful Christ-like servant leaders, lead a devotion or music as needed, and welcome teens at events.
I just wanted to share that history.
Gary Bach
New York Mills