For the youth at Memorial Presbyterian Church, their time together Sunday evenings isn't just about coming together and having fun.

They have a congregation waiting to see what they'll do in a weekly service planned and performed by the youth.

Called "The Fount," it's a contemporary blend of music, scripture, skits and sometimes even a rap or two. And a group of pre-teens and teens are at the heart of all the work.

"They're the preachers," said Memorial Presbyterian Pastor Jim Burns. "They're bringing the good news to us every Sunday night."



Getting started

The Fount began in September, although the foundation for it began months earlier as Memorial Presbyterian Director of Youth and Children's Ministry Molly Rambur and her intern, University of Oklahoma student Kelsie Roche, spent time planning and praying about a direction for the church's youth.

"The Presbyterian Church has adapted a lot from Rick Warren's book 'The Purpose Driven Life' in the last few years, and we were trying to do something different," Roche said.

While the church already has been working in a purpose-driven direction, Rambur said the options for the youth to serve were not as clear.

She and Roche found information about a conference in Satellite Beach, Fla., they felt drawn to attend to get new ideas. They signed up and purchased plane tickets and hotel reservations only to get an e-mail a few days later from the Florida church telling them the conference had been canceled due to a lack of registrations for it.

"They weren't sure how we'd even been able to sign up," Roche said.

In spite of there not being a conference, the church invited Rambur and Roche to come visit anyway to check out what was going on.

"We spent quite a bit of time with them, talking with their leaders about ideas for the youth having a purpose in the church, thinking about our youth and how they can serve better in our church," Rambur said.

They came back to Norman with a lot of good ideas. They prayed for a month and decided on the idea of a contemporary evening service with heavy involvement from the youth. The name, "The Fount," came from various passages in the Bible.

"It was really a God thing how it all worked out," Roche said.

Faith and fun

On this night the group's theme for the gathered audience is that each person is a part of the body of Christ. On a large piece of paper, they've drawn a silhouette of a body and asked each person at the service to sign their name next to the body part they thought they most represented.

It's a fitting topic for this group of young people to form a body of their own spreading their beliefs while growing in their faith.

Each week involves music, readings and a theme often acted out in non-traditional ways.

The week before, 13-year-old Gabe Benson played the role of moderator Jane Snapple as the group put on "Inside the Saints' Studio," a knockoff of the Bravo TV interview show of almost the same name.

Among their interviewees was a pregnant Mary, talking about the pending birth of Jesus. Playing the role was the pregnant Rambur, who actually gave birth a few days later.

The group also has presented its congregation with a rap about Adam and Eve and other assorted performances with religious themes seen through young eyes.

"Another time we were doing a skit about a guy falling from a three-story building during the service," said Kenny Martin, 11. "And Gabe fell off the stage, but the pastor came over and raised her up."

"I was fine, we had practiced it," Benson reassured.

Group members got some of their inspiration from a mission trip they attended in Fort Worth in June, Rambur said. There they attended a contemporary service at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth that got them thinking.

"When we met with the kids about what kind of service they'd like to do, they talked about this mission trip, how the testimony moved them," Rambur said. "Hearing other people share experiences can be more powerful than being preached at."

Each week's message gets planned out during the group's Wednesday night youth group meeting. "It just kind of comes to us," Benson said.

With Rambur out for a while on maternity leave, Roche and fellow OU student Corey Fisher are the steady hands keeping the service going. Fisher, a music education major, plays guitar and leads the congregation in several songs.

While there is plenty of fun and many smiles, the group also is doing good beyond the walls of its church building. Half of the offering collected each month goes to youth group projects and the other half is donated to a chosen cause around Norman. Last month, they made a donation to Mary Abbott Children's House and now they're saving to help a young man's family after he was hospitalized for the swine flu.

"We just sent a check for about $400 to Mary Abbott," Burns said.

A real difference

Perhaps most relevant is the change the service is making inside these young people.

Tricia Martin, whose children Kenny and Kay are part of the group, had been a Sunday school teacher to many group members in the past and has faithfully attended The Fount since it started.

"It's a really meaningful way for the kids to take and apply the things they are learning in Sunday school," she said. "They're all here because they want to be.

"Coming out of teaching Sunday school and seeing them now, they're doing things I'd never thought they would be capable of. It's fun to see this group of kids come together like this."

And it's created a strong bond. The group members said they consider each other brother and sister, even those who aren't already related by blood. And they notice the growth in their faith, too.

"A few years ago, I didn't really feel like I had a relationship with God," Benson said. "Being in this youth group, and everything we've been doing, I feel like I've really found God this year."

"It leaves me in awe every week," Rambur said. "They are getting something out of it, but I don't think they realize how much they are teaching the rest of us at the same time."

Christian Potts 366-3544 cpotts@normantranscript.com