Covenant has hired Whitney Bell as our Mission Director. This new position is a key to growing our mission ministry. As such, the search committee was seeking a person who could both expand the ministry and get more Covenant people excited and involved in mission. Whitney is very qualified to achieve those goals.

As Covenant Director of Middle School, Whitney has been instrumental in growing Covenant Student Ministry in terms of number of students involved and depth of programming. During her six-year tenure, Whitney has spearheaded several mission trips and activities for the students including:

  • Establishing an annual spring break family mission trip to Belize.
  • Refocusing the student ministry in-town retreat to Love Austin, which now includes a strong service element.
  • Redirecting summer student experiences, including:
    • Sending middle school students to do urban missions in Oklahoma City.
    • Sending high school students, for this first time this past summer, to serve the city of Houston.

“My tenure in youth ministry at Covenant has allowed my passion for mission and service to grow. I have played a big role in creating opportunities for service opportunities for our youth in Belize, Oklahoma City and Austin,” Whitney said. “My calling to serve this city and the rest of Christ’s kingdom has been growing as I have served in this ministry and I am beyond excited to now get to engage not only youth, but our entire congregation!”

Senior Pastor Thomas Daniel said Whitney’s track record speaks for itself. “Whitney has demonstrated the heart for missions through the many changes she had initiated in our youth ministry. She has an amazing capacity to help grow our core values and to get people involved.”

Whitney will start her new role as Mission Director on January 1. During the next few months, she will continue to work with students. “I am so very excited for student ministry’s current health and the growth we are experiencing. God has used our incredible leaders, interns, parents and high school director Billy Streu to set us on this path. I am confident in where God is leading our student ministries and can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Moving forward, Covenant will evaluate the needs of our student ministry team and prayerfully discern the next steps for this important program.