Pictured: Christina at camp enjoying messy games and at Halloween club
With what seems like a lifetime of YOKE ministry in her background, YOKE’s Blount County Coordinator should probably be sick of us by now. Lucky for us, she’s not!
Christina began as a college volunteer in 1994, serving right up until graduation when she took a full time position at YOKE. She left for a short time to have babies (two beautiful girls), and she returned in 2006 to coordinate the program in Blount County. In her years at YOKE, she has served as a YOKE Folk and Team Leader at eight different schools and even changed career paths completely, giving up her goal of teaching to accept a position at YOKE. Her excitement for full time ministry and service led her on an adventure only God could design.
While she has had her share of fun and crazy memories, from mattress surfing with YOKE leaders, staying up too late with YOKE Folk at leader retreats, and seeing her husband entertain crowds in skits, she has an even deeper reason for loving YOKE and sticking around.
“My favorite thing about being in YOKE is when you have a kid who never misses club and then goes to camp and really opens up and shares and asks questions,” she said. “Where you share how incredible God is and the personal testimony of things He has done in your life that always seems to be so relevant to the kid. … I have had those moments with a handful of kids, and it has been worth years of serving just for those times.”
Christina is thankful for the spiritual encouragement she receives through YOKE to “continue practicing God’s presence daily.” She is a living testimony to the praiseworthiness of God, often weighing in with a word of Scripture to encourage the staff.
Christina’s faith in God is evident in her conviction that Scripture is our best way to communicate with a student or leader in need of guidance. She encourages her YOKE Folk that desire to enter into ministry jobs to take hold of the truth of James 4:7-10 — Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.