Let's Go!

Teagan Rayhill doesn’t see anything special about what she’s been doing the past couple of years—and that’s part of what makes it so special.

The 12-year-old began asking her friends to come to church with her while she was in elementary school. Teagan, now about to enter the 8th grade, is still inviting her classmates, those on her volleyball team, and pretty much anyone else she can to join her.

“I just started inviting my friends because I felt like they needed to know about the Gospel, too,” she said.

Teagan, who is active in the Middle School Ministry at Southeast’s Prospect Campus, looks forward to joining others each Sunday to learn about Jesus.

“I like how everyone is nice and comforting, how it’s easy to just go to church and be able to talk about feelings and actually talk about God with other people who actually understand,” she said.

Teagan wasn’t nervous the first time she invited her friends to church. They were sitting around talking about what they do on the weekend, when she shared what she was learning at church. She said they should join her—and they did.

“She filled up our 4th and 5th grade space,” said Jennifer Baumer, the Children’s Ministry Leader at Prospect, adding that each time someone new came, everyone joked that they had to be with Teagan. “It was awesome!”

It wasn’t long until other kids followed Teagan’s example and began inviting their friends. “That was really cool,” Jennifer said.

Teagan said that although many of her friends didn’t go to church, they believed in God and were happy someone cared enough to invite them. She has lost count of how many she has asked to come with her, but guesses the number is around 15. The overwhelming majority are still coming each week and some, like Teagan, who was baptized in the Fall of 2020, have decided to follow Jesus.

“One of the things that blows my mind is they will all sit on that second row together, and when they’re singing, their hands are up,” said Teagan’s mom, Michelle. “I love how they’re so freely praising God.”

It’s that spirit that has driven Teagan to be willing to put herself out there to invite her friends.

“The worst they could do is say no, but at least you know you tried,” she said.

Michelle loves that about the youngest of her three daughters, adding that when Teagan was younger, she would go up to strangers at a restaurant and say, “Hi, I’m Teagan Rayhill!”

“She’s always been just a very outgoing, fearless child,” Michelle said.

Teagan said it’s always worth reaching out to someone, because you never know the impact doing so could have on a person’s life.

Sometimes the impact is even greater than imagined. Jennifer shared that, because of Teagan inviting one of her friends, that friend’s grandmother started coming to church.

Jennifer added that she loves seeing Teagan take in what she’s been taught about God and letting the Holy Spirit guide her in sharing Jesus with others.

“That’s what we want for our kids,” she said. “That’s when we see faith become their own, when they start living it out.”

Living out faith by talking with others about Jesus can be scary—no matter your age—but it shouldn’t be.

“If you just put yourself out there and you’re willing to do anything, good things will happen,” Teagan said.