Students who attend Young Life meetings may be seeing a familiar face these days as the new worship leader is Madison Neil a member of the school’s first graduating class.

“I’ve worked with youth ministries in the past, and I had this amazing fun time over the summer in Alaska and I thought to myself, ‘When was the last time I’ve had this fun?’ and it was working with kids,” Neil said. “I have a friend who is a part of Young Life and I called them up and we went out for coffee and I’m now doing something I love.”

With this being such a small community, it is easy to run into people from the past.

“The man who runs the Young Life organization here at Lovejoy I knew years ago, which I didn’t realize until recently, because he was an intern at my youth when I was in the tenth grade,” Neil said.

 However, when joining a group such as Young Life, it can be important to be able to build relationships with the right people.

“Before I became an official leader, I spent a lot of time with the other leaders and we just meshed well and our beliefs lined up and you never really know what chemistry people are going to have, but it was all really natural and seamless,” Neil said.

After only being involved with the program for a month and a half, Neil is already enamored with what the organization stands for.

“I love everything about Young Life,” Neil said. “But the big thing is the Monday Club night, where we play games and music and have a short message and that’s the big part.”

Unlike many youth groups, Young Life meets multiple times during the week in the effort to become a part of the students daily lives.

“The cool thing about Young Life is that it’s not a once a week thing, its a lifestyle and a relationship,” Neil said. “That’s what we are all about. Being there consistently, it’s not like ‘This is the person who does worship once a week and that’s when we see her’, no, we are building real relationships.”

Besides Monday night club meetings, Young Life holds Bible studies on Wednesday, as well as sleepovers on certain weekends. Many of the leaders are also at Friday night football games. However, the big thing Young Life is known for is its summer camp.

“[The summer camp] is about a week long and it’s just quality time with the leaders and the other members of Young Life,” junior Sarah Bower said. “I love it! I get to spend time with my friends and worship and it truly makes an imprint in your life.”

During the school year on Mondays, Neil takes the microphone and leads worship, something she’s used to and loves.

“Madison does Worship, and it’s really cool because she was in choir in high school and she now uses those skills to bring people to Christ,” Bower said. “It’s also really cool because she told me she did Opera and so she has this amazing voice.”

Besides leading Young Life worship, Neil has also been a part of a home based church in Plano where students and parents come on Wednesday nights to listen to Neil lead worship along with the family.

“Madison has led worship at my cousins house and so I get to see her every Wednesday for the last few years and she obviously loves that,” sophomore Caroline Brugge said. “Now she gets to bring that back to Lovejoy and that’s amazing, truly.”

Being the newest addition to Young Life is beginning to greatly impact Neal’s life positively, as well as those around her.

“It’s cool because I like leading worship and I like encouraging kids and I think that’s really important,” Neil said. “I wish I went to Young Life when I was in high school, it’s what my parents did, and people are able to make memories to keep for the rest of their lives.”