Youth

My name is Alisha Burger and I am currently the Youth Director at California United Church of Christ. My husband and I have lived in the California area most of our lives. We have been married for 20 years and share a 17-year-old son, Garrett. My passion is kids. I love spending my spare time watching Garrett and all of the other kids do the things they enjoy – whether it be sports, singing in the choir or other activities they can find to do.

I wanted 6 kids, but was only able to have 1, therefore, I do whatever I can to look after all of the other youth in my life. On many occasions, you will find our house full of youth and that makes me proud. I also cherish my family. We are a tight-niched family that spends as much quality time together as we can.

Professionally, I have worked for Missouri Care for the past 12+ years providing Marketing and Outreach to community partners/ organizations who provide services to low- income families and children in the State of Missouri. I love my job because I get to spend it helping families, especially children. I have been working for Managed Care for 20 years. I also put my time in at Moniteau Co R-1 School, helping my best friend, Susie, in the Central Office.

I find myself doing lots of community work, such as sitting on the boards of the Quarterback Club and Boys Basketball Club and in the past on the California Stingrays Swim Team Board. Our family is actively involved in 4-H and FFA as well.

I joined California UCC as a member when Jeremy and I got married in 1999. I was baptized at that time too. In 2018, I accepted the position as Youth Director at the church and though I feel like I don’t do enough, I love seeing our youth grow as Christians and learn about the importance of faith in everyday living. Spending time with these kids is an honor and I find myself learning from them most of the time. Youth Group is what you make of it…It consists of the youth within our church as well as others ranging from 6th grade to 12th grade.

We work to have some type of activity each month, some months more than one activity. We also meet as a group every Sunday night at 6:30 pm at the church to learn and have discussion using Right Now Media. I am excited to get up every morning to see what each day holds and I look forward to being with youth every day. I look forward to working with our youth in the coming years and connecting those children with God through fellowship and worship!

I’m Connie Bestgen. I have been a member of the United Church of Christ my entire life. My husband, Jay and I have two grown children, Morgan and Wyatt. We live on a farm east of California and we raise beef cattle besides both being fulltime employees of the State of Missouri.

I have been directing God’s Singers for two years and I really enjoy it. I actually directed the youth choir for a couple of years when I was in high school. So now I have children in the choir whose parents were in the choir I directed years ago. God’s Singers is for kids from first through seventh grade. We meet on Wednesday nights during the school year and sing one Sunday a month. The kids are very enthusiastic and they are a joy to work with.

I joined the United Church of Christ of California in 1990 when I married my husband Steven. I am originally from Iowa and was living in Columbia when I met Steven on a blind date! Over the years, I have spent my time as a stay at home mom raising our two sons (Grant and Luke), along with 1st volunteering and then working part-time at the Elementary School along with volunteering for and also leading many different church programs at the church.

Now that our sons are grown and our family has grown to include our daughter-in-law Bailey (married to Grant), I am a housewife and volunteer my time at church. My favorite things to do are spend time with family and good friends, travel, fish, read and jigsaw puzzles. I love the outdoors and working in my yard. Along with leading these two groups, I also teach Sunday School and sing in the Senior Choir.