Special to The Message
It All Started at TEC
Editor’s Note: Members of the Teens Encounter Christ leadership team will periodically provide articles to The Message to share some of the impactful stories of how TEC has made a difference in lives across the Diocese of Evansville.
Meet Terri Bell. She is a wife, mother of three grown children and grandmother of one beautiful baby boy. She spent her career as an exemplary teacher at Cedar Crest in Bretzville, kicking off each year by leading the first day of school prayer for the teachers and continuing to bring Christ’s light to the classroom each day until she retired in 2023. She now works with her husband in their family business, which also allows her to serve as a volunteer client advocate at the Trotter House.
In addition, Terri teaches first grade religious education classes at Christ the King Parish in Ferdinand, serves on Parish Council, volunteers with youth ministry, hosts prayer groups and loves helping wherever she can. Her service also extends outside her own parish as she helps with Thanksgiving meals for the community at St. Mary’s in Huntingburg. For many years, she also helped prepare and serve meals for Dubois County Community Meals and recruited others to join her in that ministry.
Terri dedicates herself to serving others within her family, her parish and the greater community, and this desire to serve was ignited on Terri’s first Teens Encounter Christ weekend.
The Diocese of Evansville had recently had its first ever TEC weekend, and Terri was a senior in high school when she attended SWITEC #2. She said, “It certainly changed my life for the better! I truly encountered Christ in the many loving people serving as team members as well as the other TECites attending the weekend.”
She notes that at that first TEC weekend, she truly felt Christ’s presence as she experienced Eucharistic Adoration for the first time, and after the weekend, she began to look at other people differently, wanting to love others as she had felt loved during the weekend.
“I wanted to serve as I was shown how to serve,” she said. “Even though I have not done so perfectly, loving and serving others has been something I have been striving to do since that encounter with Christ.”
The TEC weekend is centered on encountering Christ specifically through the Paschal Mystery, and Terri says that that focus has helped her to understand that her way of doing things and her decisions are not always God’s will, and she must be willing to let go of her ways so that she can rise with Christ for eternity.
She added, “I also understand that I am made in his image, and that my purpose for being here is to share Christ with others. I realize that I cannot do these things without him.”
In spite of the transformative experience she had had, Terri was not able to go back as a team member until after she was married and had her first child, serving as an adult table leader on TEC #29. Over the years, she has also attended several reunions, donated requested items and helped in the kitchen one evening.
Terri said, “I will never forget and have never regretted my TEC experience, and because of that positive experience, I have been willing to attend other faith retreats, such as CRHP and Cursillo. Each of these experiences have enriched my faith journey. I absolutely recommend that others make a TEC weekend because it has had such a positive effect on my life and many others’ lives. I have never known it to hurt anyone. So, why not?”
In spite of the name “Teens” Encounter Christ, TEC is an intergenerational movement where adults are a vital part of the community, providing mentorship and friendship across generational boundaries. An important aspect of each TEC weekend is the Adult TECite table where adults experience the TEC weekend for the first time alongside the teens, illustrating the importance of continual growth and conversion throughout life. Whether you are interested in making a TEC weekend for the first time or you have been away from the community and would like to get back involved, we would love for you to join us for an upcoming TEC weekend!
The next TEC weekend is July 18-20.
For more information about Teens Encounter Christ, to apply to make a weekend retreat or work one, visit www.switec.org.