With her personal bar set high, junior Shayla Bogle has been called to be a leader of a small group of girls since August 2, 2017. Bogle hopes to be a youth pastor in the future.
She is currently striving to do everything she possibly can to accomplish her goal of becoming a youth leader, and one way she does this is by hosting a Bible study at her house.
“I started this group because I want to be a youth pastor in a church; working with teenagers in the future,” Bogle explains. “BJ Wall is a youth pastor, and I hope to do what he is doing today.”
Bogle’s inspiration is her own youth pastor, BJ Wall, of Thayer Christian. Wall has motivated Shayla to form her own Bible group.
“BJ Wall inspired and encouraged me to start this. I’ve always told him this was one of my goals and he is awesome for not letting those things get pushed to the back burner,” Bogle explains.
Bogle is making an effort to interact and make an impact on the high school girls going to the small group.
As the term “Bible study” suggests, they read the Bible together, focusing on analyzing and understanding the words of God. However, the Bible is not the only discussion point.
“[We] talk about life struggles, what you’re going through, how we can help,” Bogle mentions. “Also, I want all these girls to know that God’s goodness is not dependent on our own, thank goodness!”
These reasons make Bogle’s Bible study not only a reminder and knowledge base for religion, but also a place where one’s troubles may be mentioned and help and advice can be given.
Junior Baylee Dillman is one of many peers that attend Bogle’s bible study.
“So far I feel like I have become a better person and I have learned to love others. Also, I know I can go to these girls with whatever is on my mind and the bonding time we’ve had is amazing and so much fun,” Dillman said.
Another attendee, junior Hailey Shields, said: “It’s given me comfort to know that there are people out there that I can count on to be there for me throughout all my difficult times.”
Bogle is trying to make an impact on the girls around her. She has had a great turn out so far, but she is not stopping anytime soon.
“I’ve had up to 25 girls at my house for the Bible study. The numbers are pretty different every week but we’ve always had more than 5,” Bogle describes.
“I am still hoping to get a lot more involved,” Bogle said. “Any girl in Chanute High School is welcome to go to this group. They just need to get in contact with me.”