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Pastor Ken Tonnesen was our first
STW TEC Spiritual Director. He traveled with us to Pass It On
TEC in Atlanta to experience the retreat as a guest. He served
as our spiritual guide as we developed our program in Eastern
NC and served as Spiritual Director for many of our weekends.
He now participates in the Hand in Hand TEC community in Western
NC. We are very
grateful to Pastor Ken for his dedicated service to the TEC community!
Reflections from Pastor Ken:
"TEC is the finest tool for
Lutheran Youth Ministry that I have seen in my many years of parish
experience. If you want something that will help your young people
to grow in the Gospel, I believe TEC will fill that need. The
theology of the weekend is soundly and solidly Lutheran from beginning
to end. The weekend is led by youth who have previously participated
as guests on a TEC weekend with the assistance of Lutheran clergy
(ELCA and Missouri Synod) and lay people. The weekend is non-threatening
and includes opportunity for worship, small group sharing, instruction
from talks as well as recreation, fellowship and 'goof off' times.
Young people from my previous congregation (Grace Lutheran, Raleigh,
NC) who have attended TEC are excited about their faith in ways
that I have not seen happen through Confirmation Ministry and
traditional Youth Ministry.
The TEC weekend is designed to
give the youth an individual encounter with Christ while experiencing
the support of Christian community. That is to say, it is not
a "group event" for your youth group en masse. On the
weekend, youth are encouraged to take the presence of Christ back
home with them and look for their own opportunities for ministry
in their congregation, home, and school. (Your kids will not return
home as robotic obnoxious Christian types!)
Those young people who attend the
weekend will be able, should they desire, to serve on the leadership
teams for future TEC weekends.
I encourage you or one of your
youth leaders to personally approach several youth in your congregation
who you think would benefit from the TEC experience (baptized
believers seeking to deepen their walk with Christ) and encourage
them to attend a TEC retreat. It is preferable to have at least
two youth and an adult from your congregation attend a TEC weekend
if it is your congregation's first experience with the program."
Pastor Ken
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