The idea for TGIS was one of divine intervention. While in the morning church service one morning, I was praying and I heard the voice of God. It may not have been a literal voice, as much as a powerful feeling that nudged me in the direction. By the end of my prayer, as I stood up frorm the kneeler I knew that I was to start a contemporary service at St. Dunstan’s.

I originally got a few other youth group friends involved because I wanted to model it after the closing services at so many renewal retreat weekends. I felt that those worship services spoke most to me and gave me the best forum for worshiping Jesus as my Lord and Savior. They also gave me the most renewed sense of community and security in God’s family.

Over the first few months after that Sunday, I tried to figure out what to do and who to get to help me. Luckily, our priest, Fr. Russell, was there to support me in my endeavor. He pitched my proposal to the worship team at church and we got the go ahead. Jason Waller and my sister, Mandy, helped me work out the details, taking my broad ideas and my general vision and assisting me in guiding it and molding it into a viable service. We got so much support from the youth leaders at the time and the youth group. At first, we held the service once a month on Sunday evenings. We helped young musicians hone their talents and lead music. We developed youth and young adults into leaders of a ministry group.

With the loss of Fr. Russell, when he got a call from St. Timothy’s, we thought it might be a bad time for TGIS. Instead, we received a large blessing in the form of Fr. David. Fr. David helped us further improve TGIS and helped us move from a monthly service to the third weekly service. Now we have a young adult led contemporary service, designed for all those young at heart (youth, college students, families, etc).

- Amy Weaver, Founder TGIS