Young Life Banquet

This is a picture from an Oxford Middle School Young Life Club: The weekly meeting where volunteer leaders put on skits, games, songs and a talk for students, in order to show God's love.

Ren Turner

In spite of heavy rains and a tornado watch, over two-hundred members of the Oxford community gathered at the Oxford Conference Center last night where $30,850 was raised in support of Young Life, a ministry that reaches out to high school and middle school students.

Young Life is a national organization with one staff person in Oxford, Allen Hampton, who headed up the banquet efforts along with his wife, Reina Hampton.

“It was a lot of work,” Mr. Hampton said. “But the generosity of the community is what keeps Young Life going. We just wanted to show these people what we’ve been doing and where were going in terms of relationships in the Oxford community based upon God’s love for these students.”

The dimmed room was peppered with circular tables where people ate and listened to singer songwriter Alan Levi who came in from Hamilton, GA to help with the banquet. Levi, describing himself as a friend of Young Life, picked on an acoustic guitar and sang songs that spoke about life and God. Between songs, Levi described Young Life as a powerful ministry with an eternal mindset. “If you’re looking for a place to invest, let me suggest Young Life,” he said.

Levi brought two students from Oxford High School on stage to ask questions about their experience with Young Life. Juan Guerra, a junior, has been involved with the ministry since middle school. “Young Life has meant everything to me,” he said. “I became a Christian through it.”

Before and after Levi, Young Life committee members Ben and Robin Bolton and then Allen and Pamela Grafton thanked guest for coming and offered insight to how others can get involved. “You can jump in the boat and join us on committee, or provide a meal for leaders, or give as you feel called,” Mrs. Bolton said.

Pat Ward, Pastor of the Orchard Church in Oxford, closed the banquet with a prayer that reflected on the importance of the youth of Oxford.

Young Life in Oxford is headed by Hampton, but he relies on twenty-four college students who are volunteer leaders to meet kids on their turf and in their culture in order to form lasting friendships with them.

Jessica Burton is a senior education major at Ole Miss, the team leader of the Oxford Middle School team and has been a Young Life leader since her freshman year in college. “For me, middle school was a pivotal time where the decisions I made had a huge impact on who I would become. So that’s part of my heart for middle school girls, and I have great news for them: The God of the universe loves them.”

Burton detailed that Young Life works through several avenues. Club is a once a week meeting where leaders put on skits, sing songs, play games and talk about Jesus. Contact work is the time spent with kids building friendships with them. In the summer, leaders take students to one of the twenty-two Young Life camp locations around the country. And once back home, campaigners is a weekly bible study.

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