New Direction Youth Ministries leaders (from left) Gary Williams, Pam Caudill and Mike Caudill pause for a photo in the ministry's building.

Non-traditional ministry in Sparta continues its work

"I am a bridge, but I have to be honest," said Pam Caudill, pastor of New Direction Youth Ministries.

She describes part of the ministry function as building bridges with other ministries, along with local and regional agencies.

While citing scripture as the basis for the things New Direction does and the way it does them, its ministers admit the organization takes a rather non-traditional approach. "We may be a little bit more radical than what most traditional churches are used to," said Mike Caudill, Pam Caudill's husband and another of the ministry's leaders.

Pam Caudill said, "We were working in churches, but it was not profiting, so we decided to take it to the streets....We're changing the community. We're strengthening it and filling the gaps, and God's the only one Who could do that."

Gary Williams, New Direction's assistant pastor, said of Caudill, "She'll drive down Main Street and see a bunch of kids on the street, and she'll drag them in."

Williams realizes that his own look — T-shirt, beard, ponytail — is part of the non-traditional approach that helps fill gaps. "I may not look like a minister, but I minister to people in their teens, 20s and 30s....They see me like they are," he said. "I can relate to people, because they'll listen to me, but they won't if I go in a suit and tie."

Mike and Pam Caudill and Williams are all licensed ministers. Technically, however, New Direction is not a church but a non-profit organization. Pam Caudill said they applied for a charter in 1996.

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