Momentum Ministry Partners knows youth ministry can’t happen without faithful volunteers. Each year at Youth Conference they honor those who are committed to ministering to the next generation by serving the youth in their church.
They also present one person with a Volunteer of the Year Award. This person is selected by Momentum staff out of submissions from local churches. This year’s award recipient was Christine “Mama” Baer from Clinton Grace Brethren Church in southern Maryland.
Christine was nominated by Family Minister Josh Brumbaugh, who said, “Mama Baer has served with dedication and diligence for many years because she knows that God has gifted her this way, but also because she genuinely loves the students and wants to see them know Jesus and make Him known. If she is just a small part of that, she would do whatever it takes to see it accomplished.”
Dayne Carraway, current pastor of Church at the Well and former youth pastor at Clinton Grace, said, “If I were to ever teach a youth ministry class, lesson one would be to get yourself a Mama Baer. This woman has mothered the students of Clinton Grace Church for so long. When I heard she was receiving Youth Volunteer of the year, I thought how well deserved this recognition is. No matter what role she’s in, she refused to not be involved in the lives of students.”
Christine has volunteered with the youth at Clinton Grace for more than 40 years. A few of the things she has helped with over the last four decades are fundraising to attend Momentum, giving goodies to each student, event planning, weekend retreats, weekly youth group gatherings, running the cafe, giving hugs, and much more. Josh said, “Most of all she loves all of us leaders and all the students with Christ-like, unselfish love.”