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Mel Lacy was invited to become the first Executive Director of Growing Young Disciples in late 2017. Having been involved with the Growing Young Disciples conference for many years, as well as being significantly committed to both doing and training others to do children’s and youth ministry, she was thrilled to accept the invitation.
Mel has been doing children’s and youth ministry in various ways, countries and contexts for over twenty years. She has had extensive experience in church based children’s and youth ministry and has, more recently, been the Director of the Children’s and Youth Ministry Course at Oak Hill College. She remains passionate about theological training for those in children’s, youth and family ministry and is now on the faculty of Crosslands, heading up the Youth and Children’s Ministry track.
Right from her early ministry days Mel has given much of her free time to serving in various children’s and youth ministry ventures. She was instrumental in establishing a movement in Ireland called Soul Truth, has served at the Keswick Convention in the youth ministry for many years and has also been involved with the youth ministry at Word Alive for over 15 years.
Mel was the author of the New City Catechism Curriculum, published in 2018 by Crossway in partnership with The Gospel Coalition. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with friends, or being on or in water!
Caz moved from the North Coast (NI) to the North West in 2011 to study her Masters in Occupational Therapy, and hasn’t wanted to leave. After 2 years as a ministry trainee in Carlisle she studied Theology (for Children’s and Youth Ministry) at Oak Hill College, before returning North and working as the Families Worker at Church by the Bay for 3 years.
She met her Welsh husband Ben at Oak Hill and they are now back in Morecambe where Ben is Assistant Pastor at CBTB, while Caz continues to serve in and support the ministry to families. Caz has been involved with training others in families, children, and youth ministry for several years and loves being able to continue serving the local church in this way with GYD. She also enjoys being by the sea, finding the best spots to eat and reading the Wingfeather Saga, which she hopes to share with their first child, arriving very soon.
Jane Watkins joined Growing Young Disciples as Director of Mentoring in January 2022. She was Head of Children’s Ministry at Above Bar Church, Southampton, for over fifteen years, having previously been a teacher. She loves working with children’s and families workers and volunteers, as well as parents, to encourage and equip them in their roles. She benefitted greatly from Growing Young Disciples conferences and training over many years, and is grateful for individuals who encouraged and equipped her in her role. She sees it as an immense privilege to now be in a role where she can encourage and equip others.
Jane is studying for the Crosslands MA in Christian ministry. She is married to Tony, and they have three adult sons.
Peter joined Growing Young Disciples in September 2021. Prior to this, he spent 12 years in local church ministry in Northern Ireland working with children, young people and families. He is passionate about helping local churches to raise the next generation for Jesus and is particularly burdened to help people teach the Bible creatively and clearly to children and teenagers. Peter has taught on youth ministry at Union Theological College in Belfast, Moorlands College (NI), Irish Baptist College and is currently a tutor with Crosslands Seminary.
He holds a Bachelor of Divinity degree and a Masters in Theology, both from Union Theological College in Belfast. He is married to Linda, Dad to Tobias and Eden and in his spare time enjoys reading, playing golf, good coffee and watching his beloved Leeds United!
7:00pm – Dinner
8:00pm – Evening Session
9:15pm – Ice Cream Social
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – Praying & Planning in Teams
10:30am – Coffee
11:00am – Morning Session
12:30 – Lunch
2:00pm – Seminar & Workshop Programme
4:30pm – Afternoon Session
5:30pm – Farewell