Thanks to a dream and dedicated volunteers, several churches near Medford, Oregon, have joined forces to create a new Pathfinder club: Rogue Valley Pathfinders!
For more than a decade, Trudy Beckner has been working with the group as a volunteer staff member, teaching honors and classes. “I think I got started working with Valley View Pathfinder Club in 2013 when my two youngest kids were in Pathfinders,” she recently shared. “Since then, I’ve been just kind of a staff member but not serving in a leadership role.”
Over the past couple of years, several unforeseen circumstances left Valley View without a director. “I’ve been working on my Master Guide training,” Beckner continued, “so I went to the club ministries training weekend. Another staff member, Steve Dahlin, mentioned that his vision was to have a Pathfinder club that isn’t just attached to our church, but would include the whole valley. Our area clubs are small, so having a valley-wide club could bring in more staff and allow the kids to do more things.”
Area leaders met to dream about the possibilities, but by the end of 2024 they still didn’t have a director in place. “I was thinking, ‘I really don’t want to be a leader,’” said Beckner. “But it was clear that no one else was going to step into the role. So I kind of said, ‘Okay, Lord, if you want me to do this, you have to give me the strength to do it.'”
They decided to meet twice a month — once on Sabbath and once on Sunday in the Rogue Valley Adventist Academy gym. The next challenge was finding dedicated staff. Seka Vaeono, who had been helping with another Pathfinder club for many years, came to help. At first, it was just Beckner, Vaeono and Dahlin, and they wondered if the experiment was going to work, but as time went on volunteers began to show up. Several didn’t know exactly what they could offer, but they were willing to try.
Although they are still looking for more volunteers, Rogue Valley Pathfinders have already set to work serving their community with a group of 17 Pathfinders!
“I think Pathfinders is a very valuable learning experience for kids. We teach them about God, community and serving," Beckner concluded. "My goal is to try to inspire in these kids a love for God and a love of service, and I just think that Pathfinders is a very valuable way to do that!”
Rogue Valley Pathfinders share sermons, special music and more at Medford Church.
