Servant Leader of the Year, Scott Sutton

On August 31st the YOKE family gathered at the Knoxville Convention Center for our annual banquet. More than 300 guests joined us, despite a pandemic and the remnants of Hurricane Ida, as we celebrated all that God is doing through the ministry of YOKE. With help from our sponsors and guests, we raised more than $106,000 for the programs that YOKE provides at 31 middle schools.

Our main story featured twin sisters Mikayla Moore and Makenzey Murr, who serve together as team leaders at Karns Middle School. Mikayla and Makenzey are only 27 years of age, but together have 30 years of YOKE experience, having started as 6th graders at Karns. We also introduced Erin Rasar, who impacted the ladies as their YOKE Folk at Karns, and Samantha Snyder, one of the sisters’ YOKE Kids at Karns who now serves alongside them as a YOKE Folk at the school. This type of intergenerational discipleship is indicative of YOKE’s ministry and one of the engines that propels us into the future.

This year we also inaugurated a new award, the YOKE Servant Leadership Award. YOKE was founded on the principle of servant leadership, and no one embodied that more than our founders, John & Helen Coatney. The way that they led this organization has become part of our DNA and we want to honor that legacy and those who continue to live it out. The award will be presented each year at the banquet and will honor those who demonstrate uncommon servant leadership while advancing the mission of YOKE. This year’s award was presented to Scott Sutton, a former YOKE Kid who now serves as a YOKE Folk at Carter Middle School. For more on Scott and his ministry, check out this video.

You can watch the event in its entirety on our YouTube channel and you can give anytime at yokeyouth.com/give. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this year’s banquet a safe and successful event. Special thanks to our sponsors:

Presenting Sponsor

 

Program Sponsors

Club Sponsors

Event Sponsors

Protomet, SmartBank, Stowers Machinery, Fulghum Macindoe & Associates, Wallace & Wallace Realty, American Church Group of Tennessee, Safe n’ Sound, Cedar Bluff Towing, Chestnut Street Transport & Recovery, Dealer’s Warehouse, Prompt Physical Therapy, UT Office of Diversity & Engagement.