BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

Inspired by attending church camp this summer, six Cassville High School students brought the message home via a weekly Bible study group at the Cassville City Park.

Taylor Yarnall, Tomi Blankenship, Taylor Kennedy, Audrey Kennedy, Jaren Stearns and Wyatt Hollingsworth led the Disciples of Jesus Bible study, which had more than 40 in attendance at its final session.

“We got back from church camp and wanted to bring those feelings we had there back to our community,” Taylor Kennedy said. “We had this idea to all come together and grow our relationships with Jesus. We wanted people who didn’t get to go to church camp to have that experience.”

The group, all members of First Baptist Church, attended the camp at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar earlier in the summer.

“We didn’t want to let that spirit die down and wanted to be the light here,” Yarnall said. 

Stearns said toward the end of the summer, a focus on discipleship spawned the Bible study group idea.

“It was our mission to uplift people and not make school feel like a prison,” he said. 

The first group session was at the end of June, with 10 in attendance. By the final session, the group had grown to more than 40, including some unexpected participants.

“We had kids come from Southwest, Exeter, East Newton and even one kid from Republic,” Stearns said. 

“We hung up and handed out fliers, and we had an Instagram page,” Blankenship said.

Along with the youth participants the Disciples of Jesus attracted, they also brought in a few adults, including two from a local recovery group.

“Some guys walked up and asked if they could join us,” Taylor Kennedy said. 

“That was really exciting because every time someone walked by, one of the guys would say, ‘Come learn about Jesus with us,'” Hollingsworth said.

Bible study sessions lasted about an hour, typically including music, a devotional and prayer. Some sessions, however, lasted up to three or four hours when individuals were involved and asking questions.

“We did it at the park because we know a lot of people go there in the summer,” Audrey Kennedy said. “There was another group having Bible studies there on Tuesdays and Thursdays called Pickle and Praise, and they played pickleball. We also played pickleball before the Bible study.”

All six in the Disciples of Jesus group said the best part of the Bible study was watching it grow.

“It was amazing to see how many people showed up,” Taylor Kennedy said. 

“It was also great to see how we all grew closer to Christ together,” Blankenship said. 

“We go to see God’s work, and how some people were getting one thing and others were getting something totally different,” Yarnall said. “It kept us active through the summer and out of trouble, and it made everyone closer.”

“It also brought us closer to our classmates,” Audrey Kennedy said. “Some people you didn’t think would come did come, and it was amazing to see that different side of them than what we see in school.”

Feeding off their success, the Disciples of Jesus group aims to have more Bible study opportunities in the future.

“This went from an idea in a group chat to us all saying, ‘I guess we’ll all be there tomorrow,'” Hollingsworth said. “We just threw it together and hoped for the best.”

“We hope in the future to have more devotionals and to invite more people,” Taylor Kennedy said. “We want to double our numbers and also do it more days each week.”

“We also want to get better music, because some week, we didn’t have any,” Yarnall said. “And, maybe we can do something like free pizza on the last day.”

Ultimately, the Disciples of Jesus hopes to make an impact in the lives of member of the community.

“We hope it will impact their lives because of how much it impacted ours,” Audrey Kennedy said. 

More about the group may be found on Instagram at the tag, disciples_of_jesus9.