The Blog

A Judicial Journal

It’s finally summer! My friends are sunburnt and applying for seasonal jobs, and today I finished my Judicial homework. My mom gave me this notebook and suggested I jot down some thoughts at the end of each day.   Day 1 – Sunday Today I flew by myself for the first time. At the Richmond […]

The Stories of National Convention

There’s nothing quite like arriving at National Convention.   After surviving those last few minutes of driving (which are the longest part of the trip), you swing your car door open, and you’re greeted by a hot Tennessee breeze and hundreds of excited strangers. Even for the most extroverted of us, this sea of faces […]

To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate

Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s a friend. Maybe it’s someone on television or a viral video on Instagram.   There’s a lot of hate for the President of the United States.   Everyone has their favorite and least favorite presidents. President Reagan is adored by conservatives, while President Obama is heralded as one of the […]

Burn Brightly

This year, Alex and I have been incredibly humbled and blessed to serve as your TeenPact President and Vice President. As your elected officials, we have sought to take full advantage of the incredible platform that has been entrusted to us. Over the past semester, we have been blown away by that each elected official […]

Find Your Favorite Alumni Event

By Our Love

They will know us by our love.   Never has this sentence made more sense in my life than this last semester of my life.   I have been blessed. I grew up in a Christian family and was involved in our local church, speech and debate, and of course, TeenPact. Each of these groups are […]

For the Dreamers

I had it all planned. I knew exactly what I was going to write, but God placed something new on my heart very recently, and I need to share it with you.   I have been a dreamer my entire life.   There is so much in this world that I want to see and […]

Apart from Christ, We are Nothing

Suitcases in hand, dog-eared staff manuals stuffed into bags, and hearts full, staffers headed home today with the theme of Staff Training 2018 fresh in their minds –– apart from Christ, we are nothing.     As the week opened, Serena Walker and Johnny Leifheit, Directors of Staff Development, inviting staff to “ask questions, think […]

Staff Training Begins

  Staff Training 2018 has begun! Staff arrived from all across the country, and TeenPact buzzwords were falling like the East Texas rainstorm that hung over the camp in Tyler, Texas today.   Staff Training has become a cornerstone event for TeenPact since its inception seven years ago, and on Wednesday, over 170 staff members came together […]

Stay Salty

If you’re like me, you probably heard at least one sermon about “salt and light” growing up. And if you’re like me, you probably don’t recall the “salt” part being addressed nearly as much as the “light”.   Around nine months ago, I noticed that while I could tell you all about being “the light […]

Show Me

Since last October God has blessed me with a job as a barista at Starbucks. I love my job because the work environment allows me to be creative. I enjoy getting to know (most of) the regular customers that come in, and I really like working with and getting to know my co-workers.   Recently […]

Through a Lens

Every day, Alan traveled with his father down to the southern coast a few miles outside the town of Dundee.  His family was entrusted with the task of caring for an old lighthouse that stood out on the rocky coast of Scotland.  There, his father taught Alan how to maintain the equipment, refuel the lamp, […]

Irrefutable Love

As a Christian in this culture, it is easy to become lukewarm or even doubtful of our faith. Our school system teaches an absence of God and we are faced with constant distractions. Our country has become increasingly indifferent to the gospel and is rapidly drifting away from the Christian ideals that America was founded on. It is a sad truth […]

Life Together

In 2007, a platoon of soldiers left for a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan. They were headed to outpost Restrepo in the remote Korengal Valley. Named after a brave Army medic who had given his life defending the outpost, Restrepo was considered one of the most dangerous outposts in the entire country. The soldiers stationed there […]

One Step at a Time

This was me. A 9-year-old going to my first TeenPact One Day Class. Wrinkled shirt, clip-on tie, and a nervous smile.     Adorable… I know….   Like many, I was so, so nervous as I approached the lectern to start reading my funny bill (pretty sure it was about ice cream). My hands were shaking as I […]