Class of 2021 attends Sunday Baccalaureate service

By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press

Copperas Cove High School seniors will be graduating at the end of this week, and with that, a whole new world of possibilities is open to them as they make their first choices as adults.
To remind them of what is important and to give them a few last words of advice, graduating seniors were invited to the Copperas Cove ISD Baccalaureate Service Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Lea Ledger Auditorium. Approximately 50 of the graduating seniors attended the service.
The guest speaker for the event was Kevin Townsel, a history teacher and coach at Manor Middle School, and a youth pastor at Refuge-Ministries. 
Townsel offered advice and encouragement to the graduating seniors, encouraging them to rely on God and have faith.
He advised the students not to let their preferences rob them of paradise, not to just follow their heart but to inform their hearts, making sure their behavior follows their beliefs, and more.
“As teens, you guys are in a very cool situation because you are going to be graduating, people are not going to be telling you what to do, and you have to make a lot of choices for yourself and you are going to find out that it’s way easier to do what you want to do,” said Townsel. He emphasized that as an adult, it’s easy to just do what you want. If you want cotton candy for breakfast, you can eat cotton candy for breakfast.
“We can’t just follow our hearts,” said Townsel. “We should be following the GPS of Christ.”
Townsel talked about how graduating high school is a great opportunity to change their playmates and their playgrounds. It’s a chance to reset and give themselves a clean slate to make good decisions, make the right choices, and make friends who will support them and encourage their faith.
“As Christians, if we say that we believe, our actions should follow,” said Townsel.
“I challenge you guys, let your behavior show your belief. If you say you are a Christian, if you claim it—if you got that cross chain, if you got that cross tattoo, got those scriptures, got that thing in your bio—live it…I want you young people to be that generation that says we’re actually going to live out what the Bible says. We’re actually going to love the people that we come in contact with. We’re actually going to serve. We’re actually going to genuinely care…”
After Townsel’s message, CCISD Superintendent Joe Burns offered the students a prayer blessing the students and encouraging them to have the strength to seek God’s wisdom.
“I thought it was cool,” said Branden Jackson about the baccalaureate. “I’m just happy that they allowed it to happen. These days, some people get offended when Christianity is shared openly like that. I honestly felt the Presence in that room,” said Branden Jackson.
Jackson plans to go to UTSA to pursue a major in political science. 
“I came here because as we graduate it’s really hard to stay grounded…This is kind of a motivator for me to stay grounded in my faith as I go off to college,” said class president, Emma Miller. “I learned that—like he said about having the scripture in your bio—you have to pursue it and not just say it. You have to actually take it into action.”
Miller said that she plans on going to Texas State University for college to pursue a degree in science to eventually work with wildlife.
“With Covid and everything going on for the past two years, it’s been really hard to do events and it’s been hard to have a senior year, much less our junior year,” said Miller. “My faith in the Lord has helped me to be patient and know that something better is coming along.”
The Copperas Cove High School seniors will be graduating this Friday evening at the Bell County Expo Center at 7:30 p.m.