Youth Staff

Intern for Youth Worship

Arthur Contreras

I was born here in the valley on August 26, 1988. I have grown up in a Christian family going to Eason Presbyterian church my whole life. My Dad is a musician and so I grew up watching him and wanting to follow in his footsteps. I started music early in church, singing on special days like Easter, Mother’s Day, etc. I was involved in many activities, I was always in a children’s choir called Sweet Sounds, I participated in vacation Bible school, summer camps and more.

Growing up, youth group at my church was something I looked forward to, something I couldn’t wait for each week. going on mission trips at a young age, I experieced the atmosphere of youth group and saw how much fun they had. Being at a public school, there was a lot of pressures and hard stuff to go through, Youth group was something I could always turn to, a safe place where I really felt in my element.

I was very involved in sports, playing baseball from T-ball up to high school going all over California for tournaments in the summer. When I got into high school, sports became less important and music took over my life. I was in the band for all four years of high school. I played the snare drum and was section leader as well as the center snare. This led to other activities within music such as Jazz band, Concert band and Winter Percussion.

I started to get more involved in doing music in church and led some worship services also. With my previous experience with youth group, I saw how important it was for others as well as for me, and I wanted to be involved. So when I graduated high school, Adam Knudson asked me to be a part of the youth leadership team making me a worship leader. This led to an understanding for me of what I wanted to do with my life. When I went to Urbana, a huge mission conference in St. Louis, it became even more clear. I wanted to lead people in music, worship and singing to God. Worship is such a big way to connect with each other as well as God, and I wanted to lead people in that.

Youth are very important - they are the future, and if I could make an impact on some kids like I was impacted, I couldn’t ask for anything else. God is the center point of my life and I want that to show and for kids to see that I can be a Christian and have fun. So here i am living my life for God. Adam and the church of Hope Lutheran have been gracious enough to give me the opportunity of making this impact on the youth here.

Youth Intern for Relational Ministry

Alison Quinn

I was born in Fresno, CA on October 12, 1989. My life is pretty calm; I’m not one of those people that have had many crazy experiences of living in different counties and experiencing outrageous things (at least not quite yet). Traveling the world is on my “to do” list. I hope that in a few years when I sit down to write a short bit about my life, it will be far more interesting than this, but here are a few things you might like to know.

The things that keep me smiling every day are my family, friends, and myself! I’m a huge goof ball at times. I just love to laugh and act like a kid even though some people tell me I need to grow up. As for now, I will grow up when I’m ready. I graduated from Hoover High School in 2007. I was on the Varsity Swim team all 4 years and team captain as a senior. I loved High School and so far it’s been the best 4 years of my life. I am going to be a sophomore at Fresno City College this fall. My major is nursing and I plan to transfer to a California State University by the Fall of 2009.

God is my strong-hold of my entire life. God keeps me going in situations that make me scared, situations that challenge me and in situations where I don’t know what is right or wrong. I have spent my entire life growing up here at Hope and it’s become a huge part of my life. I was baptized at Hope Lutheran Church, went through Confirmation here and now I’m a Youth Intern. To be honest with you I didn’t see my life going in that direction, but for some reason God did and I’m trying to follow his lead. My life is going great and I have so much more to learn in my faith and in my everyday life. Working with the youth at Hope has been a blast, and I’m really attached to these kids! They are full of life and so open and willing to learn, they make me smile and now I have the opportunity to be a part of each one of their lives. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect opportunity to show them who God is and to help guide them in the right direction.