Youth Ministry Thriving at Pleasant Grove

Paul Klepees, ’16, and his wife, Margie, were pretty comfortable with their life. He was in hospital administration. She was a nurse. They already had their dream house. But that call to the ministry moved from the back of his head to the forefront.

They pondered. And they prayed. And together, they dove in. They put their house on the market and fell in love with a church that needed them.

Fast forward, and Klepees is now finishing up his fifth year as senior pastor at Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Hatton, Mo., just outside of Auxvasse. It is a rural church that is well-known across the state for its very large youth ministry. Klepees tells guests to prepare for up to 130 kids on any given Wednesday night. “It’s pretty rare to have that many kids in a youth ministry program,” said Pastor Bill O’Neal, a friend of Klepees’ and pastor at Linn Memorial United Methodist Church in Fayette. “It’s rare even for large, metropolitan churches.” The secret, Klepees said, is authenticity. “When selecting the people to work with our youth, authenticity is what we’re looking for,” Klepees said. “Sometimes, it’s not the people you would think. But they are authentic, and the kids respond.”

Klepees said that today’s society is always trying to persuade youth and adults to be someone else – star football players, models, etc.

“This and everything else going on in the world causes kids to struggle. . . with their identity, with anxiety, and other issues,” he said. “So, we focus on not asking them to be like someone else, and we try to provide a safe and comfortable space.”

And it is working. The kids come from all over mid-Missouri – from Columbia, Centralia, Mexico, North Calloway, South Callaway, and Fulton – to be a part of it. “If we grow any more we are going to have to start having some serious discussions here at the church about space,” he joked. “We don’t even have another closet available. All the space is taken.” Pleasant Grove even had strong Wednesday attendance during COVID. “At first we did Zoom,” Klepees said. “I loaded up some YouTube videos and did some dorky dancing. We basically provided the kids a chance to get together.” Klepees said his county “opened up” the second year, and the church produced proper health forms and voluntary quarantining to allow the program to occur in-person. “We took the approach that we were going to let the families decide what was best for their kids,” he said. “And we actually grew during this time period. Even then, and for sure now,

Paul Klepees, ’16, with “his kids” and Eddie the Eagle at Pleasant Grove. you’d be hard-pressed to be around them and not smile and feel their life and their joy.” Youth Ministry Thriving at Klepees, who has provisional status and will hopefully become ordained in 2023, doesn’t Pleasant Grove UMC take credit for the success of his widely-known youth ministry. He credits all the volunteers, BY SCOTT QUEEN the church, and his 20-hour a week Nexgen minister Kris O’Neal for two generations of people who “had an eye for this” and started a youth program to create biblical discipleship. Klepees says he merely guides the program. He credits his education at Central in the College of Graduate and Extended Studies program for shaping his hospital administration career. He said the issues he faced in rural Missouri hospital administration were “very transferrable” to his ministry life at Pleasant Grove UMC. “It couldn’t have been a better fit [going to Pleasant Grove],” he said.