Several years ago, Richard Ames-Ledbetter noticed two girls in Towson High School t-shirts with a volleyball walking by his house and asked them about their team. Because of COVID, they told him they could no longer practice on the indoor courts at Towson High. As it happens, Richard had built a volleyball court at Central (by the pavilion) for different Central groups to use and offered it to the team.

They told their coach, and soon the team was practicing at Central. “I set up the net, so it’s a chance for me to talk to the parents and get to know them,” Richard said. “They were very appreciative that this church on York Road had provided a place for their girls to practice.”

The team has continued to use the Central volleyball court each summer, and last year held their annual banquet at Central in the Courtyard. At the end of the banquet, volunteers from Philemon Ministry came up to move the tables from the Courtyard to the Worship Center for a Student Ministry dinner that was happening the next day. Richard was able to tell the volleyball families about Central’s support of the Philemon Ministry, a mentoring community that supports men from incarceration into stable living. The parents decided to send home all the leftover food with the Philemon men. 

“It was a great opportunity for people who already appreciated what our church was doing for them to see another one of our ministries in action,” Richard said. “This is a group of parents and teenagers who have a very positive view of what our church is about—helping others.”