HISTORY & CURRENT

StoneWater Church, founded by brothers Jeremy and Joey White from Glen Rose, TX, 19 years ago, has grown from 12 families in a living room to a multi-campus community. Starting in a movie theater and then moving to local schools, the church now resides in a renovated building resembling a Cabella's. With a mission to reach their generation, StoneWater has become an influential force for the Kingdom, emphasizing real relationships and welcoming broken people to know Jesus. A Sunday morning can look quite ecclectic-- with some in coming in flanel and Cowboy boots, others in jeans and t-shirts to even some wearing their Sunday's best. All are welcomed and encouraged to plug in join wherever they are in their spiritual path.

Known for their impact through thousands of baptisms and a commitment to growth, StoneWater plans to expand further, adding campuses and ministries in rural communities across Texas and beyond. The church's student ministry reflects these values, offering a safe space for students from all backgrounds to be themselves. Empowering student leaders and emphasizing authentic relationships, the ministry seeks to impact not just the church but also local schools and communities. Volunteers and small groups are key to their approach, fostering genuine connections that help individuals grow closer to Jesus and make a Kingdom impact.

With six campuses, StoneWater sees a total of about 4,500 attendees on any given Sunday, with 2,700 at the Granbury Campus. The new Student Ministry Director role is specifically at the Granbury Campus (approx 250 students), reflecting the church's commitment to impactful ministry in its largest congregation.

StoneWater Church's slogan is "No Perfect People Allowed." StoneWater is known as a safe place for broken people to experience the redemptive power of Jesus in a real way. StoneWater is a go and do church, and therefore, is involved in so many aspects of community life. They focus on supporting the local schools as rural communities center around the young families.

The worship is often upbeat, modern and engaging. Pastor Jeremy (and others) teach in a very applicable manner while encouraging people to take their next step in their faith. Visitors who end up becoming family, have commented that they felt like family on their first visit to StoneWater.

STUDENT MINISTRY APPROACH

Elevate Student Ministry exists to equip students to be committed disciple-makers of Jesus Christ. They seek to create engaging environments for those in middle school and high school. The StoneWater (Elevate) Student Teams create large group settings where all can feel welcomed, engaged and ultimately connected. In addition they seek to move students into smaller group settings where students can grow in relationship with Jesus and friends while feeling known.

Elevate meets every Wednesday night (6pm) during the program (school) year. Elevate is for all in grades 6-12.

The Lodge is a Sunday morning gathering, which primarily focuses on the younger middle school students (though all students are welcome). This takes place in a venue called "The Lodge" and takes place during the Sunday morning services. It focuses on helping students to understand God's Word together.

REACH AND TEACH MENTALITY

Elevate seeks to focus on both reaching unchurched youth and building into and maturing those who have a relationship with Jesus. The programs are filled with a variety of games and activities designed to break down walls with teens and invite new students in. In addition to reaching the youth, Elevate seeks to challenge the students to grow in their knowledge of Jesus through the teaching of God's Word.

LIFE TOGETHER

The StoneWater Church campuses are equipped with resources/spaces to create a variety of environments where students can be met by loving leaders and grow together in Christ and in relationship with one another.

After the games and message students break into grade and gender-based small groups where they more deeply engage with one another and adult leaders who are seeking to stay involved in the lives of the students.

SERVING

Many of the students invest in other ministries of the church but are especially involved in the leadership of the kids ministry at StoneWater.

CAMP

StoneWater offers a couple events outside of the regular midweek program. However The students participate in Summer Camp and Elevate does change up programming some in the summer months as well (outdoor gatherings, etc.).

CHALLENGE & OPPORTUNITY

CLARITY OF ROLE FOR LARGEST CAMPUS

The "Central" model for ministry is still fairly new. The rapid growth of campues and attendance at StoneWater has created a need for the Central model. It has taken some time to understand the roles and functions for Central and the local campus.

The new Granbury Student Director will be leading at the largest campus and while he doesn't hold responsibility for what happens at other campuses, it is expected that the Granbury campus sets the standard as the largest youth ministry.

VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP

As Elevate Student Ministries continue to grow, it will be imperative that the new Director creates ministry structure that is scalable to grow with the church. This primarily happens through the recruitment, training and sustaining of the leadership team. Though strong in numbers, it was noted that leaders could be better trained for all aspects of student ministry life.

CATALYST & TEAM PLAYER

StoneWater Church has a fun work environment with many rewards-- however it is a driven environment as well. The new leader should come in ready to laugh, but also equipped and driven to work-- this role, will require the leader to be an inspirational person who can lead a variety of teams; which includes paid staff and a large (50+ person) volunteer team. Furthermore, the leader needs to be a team player who will contribute to the thoughts, ideas and direction of the other departments in the church. This person truly needs to be a team player willing to learn, listen and speak-into others on the team.

MODEL FOR RELATIONAL MINISTRY

Because of the size, scope and potential growth of the student ministry it is imperative that the new director come in with the knowledge that they must balance their time between the volunteers and students (modeling contact work outside of program times to the volunteer leadership base). Time with students is always a plus, but the realistic expectation for this new hire is that they will equip and empower leaders for relational ministry with students.

LOW HANGING FRUIT

Because the student ministry is going through changes there is an enormous opportunity for the new leader to grab the low-hanging fruit and gain fantastic momentum right away.

Student Leadership (especially for those in grades 11-12) is one area identified as low-hanging-fruit. Elevate has a history of drawing more middle school students than high school and some high school students seem to "fade away" a bit by the time they get their drivers license. There is an obvious opportunity to retain students by exploring leadership and growth opportunities.

Another opportunity would be to create partnerships between some younger leaders (young adults) and older leaders (parent-age and older) for each of the small groups. Students love the leaders, but some of the groups lack more mature leaders whereas other groups lack some youthful mindsets.

Because "change" is typically difficult on many, the new leader should come in with a mentality to build relational equity before making wholesale changes.