1. Chandler McCall
Senior Project Speech
Miss. Tillery
April 19, 2012
Senior Project Speech
When I say the words teenage boys, what do you think of? A group of kids being obnoxious and
not making the smartest of decisions, but does that mean that we really have to expect our youth to act
this way? Not at all. Hi, my name is Chandler McCall and my senior project was a high school guys
Bible study named Cornerstone. Our main focus was how we are to become the leader that most adults
say we can't become.
The topic I chose for my research paper was “Youth Today.” I researched some of the most
common problems that youth face in today's world. To me, this was necessary so that I could begin
forming ideas on what I should base the lessons I would be teaching on. Once I was done with my
research, I found that it really did not help me as much as I though it would. It did not tie in to my
project very well, but it did give me a place to start. I found that the politicians in our nation’s capital
have decided that this generation is a lost cause and has no hope of success. They say that we are lazy,
under appreciative and will not make sufficient leaders. When I found this fact, I decided on what my
lessons would be about. I was going teach the guys what the Bible had to say about leadership.
My project was 4 weeks of teaching a guys Bible study called Cornerstone. I chose this because
it would give me an idea of the process I would be going through every week when I am a youth pastor.
The first step to my product was to research topics to discuss during Cornerstone. My research paper
did not really help me with that, but it did give me a good place to begin. I started looking into different
aspects of leadership and what I would focus on most. I began by finding scripture that I felt would
teach the guys how to be responsible, honest, hard working and polite. I read through scripture that I
already knew of and talked to my project facilitator Chris Page, who is also my youth pastor. He gave

2. me some ideas to use and I went on from there. The next step was to get the ideas together and organize
them. Once that was done, I began researching the scripture I had. This was the most time consuming
process. I had several tools that helped me with this, including both technology and books. I used the
fifth and sixth volumes of Matthew Henry's Commentary. I also used a couple of apps on my iPod that
were very useful. One was called Blue Letter Bible, which gives me access to the original Greek or
Hebrew that the scripture was written in. It also has a database of other sermons and commentaries on
the scripture that I used. Another app that I used was the Strong's Greek Index, which gave me tons of
insight that I never would have been able to get with reading the scripture by itself. Once I completed
this, I composed my notes and was prepared for teaching the lessons. Now I had to plan what we would
be doing for the four nights. I decided for the middle school and high school guys to join together for
the first hour. The first week we would have a cookout to bring everyone together and the other nights
we would play a sport, depending on what the guys wanted to play. For the cook out to happen I had to
gather a grill, the food to cook and most importantly, cook the food. I was assisted with this by the
adult leader of Cornerstone, Chris Gould. He provided me with a grill, hot dogs and buns and took over
cooking the hot dogs when I had to prepare the room for that night. Once everyone was done eating, we
split up with the middle school guys going with Chris and the high school guys going with me. Once
we were separated we would spend another hour to hour and a half doing the actual Bible study. This
would be me teaching my lesson that I prepared, but the main goal I was looking for was good
discussion between all of us to get different ideas and opinions. In the end, this did happen, but not as
much as I would have liked because attendance was lower than usual. I will discuss this later in the
problems that I encountered. My project facilitator was Chris Page who is my youth pastor. I chose
Chris as my project facilitator because I have been working with him as an intern at my church sense
the beginning of the summer last year and have known him for 7 years now. He was helpful by
showing me tips and tricks to help me get through some of the hardest parts of this project. Some of the
problems I encountered during my project was the fact that February break was in the middle of the

3. four weeks that I was planning to do my teaching. This brought attendance down a considerable bit and
caused the guys not to discus as much as I wanted them to. Also, I had technical problem where my
camera did not work out, which cause many of my pictures not to come out correctly. I overcame these
problems by compensating on the amount of time we spent outside with the cook out and playing of
sports. I knew that the hour to hour and a half I had planned for would be too long, so I changed the
plans to be outside playing sports a little longer and plan for about forty five minutes. This seemed to
work out well and good discussion still happened.
From this project I have learned that planning a group of people meeting together is not easy.
There are many details that most people don't think of that must be prepared for such as food, back up
plans in case of inclement weather and how much work goes into preparing a lesson. I also learned that
just because you are teaching someone, you can always learn yourself. The whole time I was going
through this process, I kept and open mind to others ideas and that really helped me improve specific
details throughout my project. Now that I have completed my project, I have decided to continue
pursuing the topic. After graduation, I will go college at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia. I will be
majoring in Christian Studies. After a bachelor’s degree, I will go to New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary to get a master’s in divinity and possibly a doctorate degree. I will also find a job as a youth
pastor at a church near where ever I am.
The process of my project has taught me some of what I will need to know to write weekly
lessons when I become a youth pastor. I feel that the project has helped me and it was an enjoyable
experience. I will be able to use what I learned from my project for the rest of my life and also I have
hopefully encouraged the guys in my youth group to rise up and become the leaders. As a wise man
once said, don't tell someone how they do something wrong, but show them how to do it right. Thank
you for being here and have a nice day.