Lauren Partridge. It's a name that you may or may not know.
Let me take you full circle. Around 1990, a teacher named Glenda Dawson was part of starting some Christian Activities at her school: Pearland High School. There were several other teachers: Linda Theusen, Annette Lowe, Mrs. Juul and of course, me. And a student: Brandon. Together, we started a morning CSU – Christian Student Union – a Christian Club at Pearland High School and Pizza@Lunch – the outreach branch. I loved Pizza@Lunch – it was a lunch time on campus program. I did Pizza@Lunch at Pearland High School for 14 years. We eventually expanded to the 9th Grade Center as well, doing 2 schools and about 500 students each week!
Fast forward several years. Glenda Dawson tells me that her granddaughter is coming to Pearland High School and she is so hoping that Lauren will attend Pizza@Lunch. I tell Glenda I will pray for Lauren and I will look for her.
Just as a note, Glenda always told me that starting "Youth for Christ" at Pearland High School was one of the things she was most proud of in her life. When she ran for state representative, it was in her bio.
Lauren did attend Pizza@Lunch. She was part of the "Upside" movement. Upside was this wonderful student lead, Saturday night worship service at the Y. It went on for about 6 months – around 2000 or 2001, but it was a tremendous part of our community. What an addition!
A few weeks ago, Ms. Partridge came over to me. "Do you remember me?" I'm thinking: of course, how could I forget? I told her I thought it was so cool that she was teaching at the school that bore her Grandmother's name. And she told me that she thought it was neat that I was still involved in student ministry in Pearland.
Me too.
I also thought it was cool that a former student was still growing and shining for Jesus, involved with students as a teacher and as a leader.
