The Youth Ministries’ Inheritance

When Carol Harrell approached the Youth Ministries staff about starting a new scholarship in honor of Ernst H. Harrell, she had an unconventional attitude towards how it would be awarded. I asked her about what criteria she would like considered, mentioned two other scholarships that evaluated GPAs, leadership in extra-curriculars, test scores…

She cut me off – “Oh, psh,” (if you know Carol, I’m sure you can hear this in her voice), “I don’t care about any of that. Just give it to someone who’s been active here.”

I asked her about why, and she mentioned how someone had done the same for one of her children, and about how she just wanted to pass along the gift and bless someone else the way some church members had blessed their family.

I thought of Carol when, at Revolution Weekend, Rev. Casey Orr included a tearful note in her wrap up message, about legacy. She told a story about how the Magrytas, including a 6th grade Trenton Magryta, had been the first family she had met during her interviews at First Fort Worth. She told the story of the community of belonging, inclusion, love and care that she witnessed that day, and, with Trenton’s younger brother, now a senior sitting in the front row, and his mother, still a youth volunteer, a few rows behind, teared up explaining the great inheritance this community passed along to each new generation of teenagers that came through it.

She explained the inheritance was in the way those teenagers interacted with each other. She explained they were the ones that made the Youth Ministries what it was: a place that had enough room for everyone, a place where you never had to earn your belonging, a place where you were safe, a place where you were loved.

Trenton now works in robotics and recently bought a house with his girlfriend. But when Casey met him and all those other 6th graders, they were living into a legacy, and they passed that legacy on, teenager to teenager to teenager. They passed on not just silly stories or jokes, but that same understanding of what it means to be the church, to be the Justin, together.

After worship, I saw Carson, Trenton’s little brother, a senior and pretty much an adult himself, talking and joking around with some of our 7th grade boys. Seventh grade boys like Henry Holman, who I know has several little brothers of his own. I couldn’t help thinking about how that inheritance would continue long after all of us had moved on.

Watching them, I thought of Carol. Carol’s boys received scholarships that were left by some donors who Carol didn’t know, who were likely much older than her and who didn’t have the faintest idea who the scholarships would go to when they established them.

Carol wanted to do the same. Carol’s children are fully grown, she doesn’t know these teenagers. She doesn’t even know that many of their parents. But she believes in passing along the legacy she inherited, one of generosity, of love without earning it, of just showing up being the only thing that mattered. Carol is one of us, not because she’s a teenager or a parent of a teenager, not because she is funding a scholarship, but because she gets what it means to be part of this inheritance. She gets what it means to pass along the love we have received, and to hold the doors open behind us for all that follow.

We are grateful for the Harrell family, the Baker family, the Beaver family, and the Good Neighbors Sunday School Class, for funding our scholarships. This year we will give away more money in scholarships than ever before, with a total of almost $13,000. We couldn’t be more grateful, and we can’t wait to see where this inheritance leads our community next.


Kat Bair
Director of Youth Ministries