Youth B.E.A.T. Celebrates Nine Years! - St. John's Episcopal Church

By Caroline Devitt, Interim Director of Youth Ministries
(Originally published in the Diocese of Florida’s Bishop’s Institute Newsletter, V. 41)

Final plans are in the works for St. John’s 9th Annual “Youth B.E.A.T.” week of service, coming up June 6-10, 2022. A committee of staff and lay leaders has been hard at work coordinating with local community service agencies, to identify service opportunities for the more than 80 local youth who will be taking part in this summer’s camp.

Earlier this month, Caroline Devitt shared the background on Youth B.E.A.T. in Q&A form with an electronic publication that is distributed throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. We invite you to learn more about this long-running week of service, that was miraculously able to sustain its mission throughout the pandemic. This year, we are excited that Youth B.E.A.T. will return to its traditional format, and work alongside local agencies to serve the Tallahassee community in better and better ways than ever before!

What is Youth B.E.A.T.?

Youth B.E.A.T. Week stands for Youth Being Extraordinary Around Tallahassee. It is a week that happens each summer where our youth come together to serve throughout the Tallahassee community. This year, it is scheduled for June 6-10, 2022.

Each day of that week, the youth arrive at church by 9 a.m., and, after checking in with their group leaders, packing a lunch, and a devotion, split up into assigned groups of 8-10 and head out to their designated service sites, accompanied by two adults, via bus. Youth work at their assigned service sites from roughly 10 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. each day. Busses bring the youth and chaperones back to the church from their service sites where we have a closing devotion and wrap up until parents pick up their youth at 2 p.m.. Service sites range from homeless shelters and food banks to nursing homes and schools.

Is this a new summer event for young people?

Youth B.E.A.T. has happened every summer since 2014! It was started by a small group of St. John’s parents and has turned into an incredible week-long event with over 80 student participants this year! In 2020 and 2021, Youth B.E.A.T. had to look different due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but St. John’s was still able to orchestrate a virtual week of service for our youth. This is the first year since then that we’ve been able to return to a more traditional model.

Is this camp based at St John’s?

Our service sites are all over Tallahassee, but we begin and end the day at St. John’s.

What are the goals of Youth B.E.A.T.?

The goal of B.E.A.T. Week is to love God, love others, and to see the face of Jesus in every person we encounter. Each organization that we are partnering with has different needs, so our mission is to meet the needs where God has called us to serve. Our theme verse for the week, Matthew 25:34-36,40, spells this out so beautifully.

Each day, our devotion time will focus on one aspect of our theme verse, and we will have guest speakers touch on each of these topics, allowing the youth to tangibly see how we can apply scripture to our daily lives.

What attracts young people to attend Youth B.E.A.T.?

I think there are a lot of aspects that attract youth in Tallahassee to participate in B.E.A.T. Week. Our youth group is incredibly service oriented. Summer mission trips and community service projects are two of the things that our youth look forward to the most while growing up in the church. My predecessor, Caroline Allen, now serves as a missionary in Quito, Ecuador, so our students have experienced a culture of service threaded throughout St. John’s.

Community is also a huge part of what draws people in. We all like to do things with our friends and ending the week having earned 25 hours of community service certainly doesn’t hurt either.

However, though that may be the initial draw for some folks, B.E.A.T. week has proven to be a way to bring in and engage families. B.E.A.T. Week is entirely run by volunteers, so not only are the students engaged, but their parents are as well. We’ve seen many families join the church from their initial involvement in B.E.A.T. Week which has not only grown our youth ministry program, but our church and community presence as well.

For some of our young people, our morning devotion time could be the first time they’ve thought about God and what a relationship with Him might look like. B.E.A.T. Week is a wonderful way to open that door and provide students with a safe space to explore those questions and a community of other students and adults to love and support them through their faith journey.

How will the young people benefit from this camp?

I hope the students who participate in B.E.A.T. Week take what they learn during the week and apply it in their everyday lives. They don’t have to wait until next summer to serve others. They can serve others in their schools, at church, even in their own homes. When we are living in Christ-centered service to others, we live out what we say in the Lord’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

I also hope that this week is eye-opening for them and that they realize that there are a lot of different people that live in Tallahassee. The week is ultimately about seeing the image of God in every person and coming alongside others to love and support our community in a way that is helpful.

Finally, I hope the youth see that they are part of the church, and that their presence is welcomed and wanted no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. I hope they leave knowing that St. John’s is a place of them to come and learn about Jesus and have fun with their friends. I was so blessed by my experience in my home parish in Sarasota, FL as a youth, and I hope that they leave wanting to come back, knowing that they are loved and prayed for just as I felt as a young person in the church.

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