Meet Hatchaton 2015 alum Matt Overton, a PCUSA pastor whose vision for youth ministry starts…with mowing lawns. With the full support of his congregation, and the active involvement of members excited to learn that the church values their expertise outside a committee meeting, Matt founded Mowtown Teen Lawn Care, a for-profit missional enterprise that hires teenagers, earning fair market wages, for landscaping jobs. As Overton says, “[In youth ministry] we attract kids all the time with Cheetos, couches and games. Why not attract them with jobs and work and life skills?” Here’s the story on Duke’s Divinity’s Faith and Leadership:
Scratching the Surface
In 2003, two boys emerged from the woods into the general store of a small town called Vernon, in British Columbia. The boys, both teenagers, and one severely emaciated, claimed to have been raised in the wilderness (“the bush”) outside the town, with no access to...



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