It is with great joy and even greater gratitude to God that we announce the hiring of three spectacular individuals for our Youth Mentoring Internships.

• Shelton Caldwell
• Courtney Romero
• Brent Gillespie

The Youth Committee nicknamed them the C.R.E.W. as an easy way to refer to this team and as an acronym for the Communion, Recreation, Evangelism and Worship they hope to experience with the youth.

They have been working with the youth for over a month and during this time have forged bonds through worship, fellowship, Dance Dance Revolution and a cookie dough fight, just to name a few of the planned and unplanned activities.

Each individual brings a wonderful depth of faith, experience and gifts to our youth. The selection of these individuals was based on a sense of their compatibility as a team, their ability to be positive role models and mentors, and the moving of the Holy Spirit.

Most of us know Shelton since he grew up at SOTV and little more needs to be said about his wonderful gifts and obvious commitment to his own faith journey and his response to God's grace in his life. Shelton is pursuing a career as a pharmacist, is an active member of the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship and working part-time in a pharmacy.

Courtney has been attending our church for a number of months. She grew up in Mora, where she and her family were pillars in the Mora Presbyterian Church. Courtney has a wide range of experience working with children and youth, and is currently enrolled at UNM in pursuit of a career in the dental field. She has been working in a program with APS that provides dental care for children. She also was one of our outstanding VBS leaders this summer.

Brent grew up in Covenant Presbyterian Church here in Albuquerque where he was active as a Deacon and a member of the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee. He is a member of the Presbyterian Student Fellowship at UNM where he is a pre-med student and president of the Lobo cycling club. He possesses a gentle and open spirit and sees this position as an opportunity to both assist young people in their faith journey and attend to his own.

Each will work in the range of 10 hours per week, plus periodic retreats, meetings, work-trips and other, program-related activities. Their time will be primarily spent on Sundays and be focused on direct interactions with our youth. They will be supervised and supported by Pastor Tom, the Personnel Committee and the Youth Committee who all were instrumental in the hiring process.

Join us in welcoming our new C.R.E.W. by becoming involved in our growing youth ministry at SOTV Sundays from 2 to 4 pm.
Ellyn Medrano