Michelle Goebel
TCG: Everyone meet Michelle Goebel, Director extraordinaire of the TCG Club called Girls Club of Wausau, WI.
Michelle has been a TCG Club director for 11 years.
TCG: Michelle, what was it that made you want to become involved in the ministry of Todays Christian Girl?
Michelle: Debbie Sanders asked me to help with her TCG booth at Wisconsin Ladies Retreat. I had never heard of TCG, but after watching the promo video at the table over and over, I knew God wanted me to start it at our church.
TCG: 11 years is a long time to invest in a ministry. You must believe strongly in the need for investing in our young girls. How is the TCG ministry different than, say your typical youth ministry and why is it necessary in your opinion to have a ministry that is specifically for girls?
Michelle: TCG is a ministry that goes beyond the four walls of the church every time we meet. It goes where the girls live, in the real world.
TCG shows the girls how to live IN the world and not be part of it, but to be a light!
TCG: Can you name a few meetings that you felt had a great impact in establishing your girls in God?
Michelle: Our annual sleepover at a cabin in the woods is a wonderful time when we do devotions every morning and campfire talks at night. We always feel little closer to God and each other at those times.
A few themes we have had are:
Clothed - by Lois Greene
Hinds Feet in High Places - (children’s version) by Hannah Hurnard
Live Loved - God’s unconditional love
beYOUtiful - Being who God created you to be
TCG: We would imagine that the parents are grateful for a safe, fun place for their girls to go. Have they expressed to you appreciation for what you have done through the years?
Michelle: Parents and grandparents have been supportive and helpful over the years.
I would not have been able to have done this without them. My church family (even parents with no girls in TCG) have made TCG possible with their words of encouragement, financial support, and even hosting events at their homes.
TCG: A common concern is financing. How have you financed your club meeting endeavors through the years?
Michelle: We have had a booth at our local fall festival selling nachos to pay for the next year’s cabin sleepover. The church donates the food and drinks and the all the income is profit for the girls. We have had a walk-a-thon in which girls get sponsors per mile and we walk around town picking up garbage. The town is all too happy to give us garbage bags.
TCG: Would you have any advice to give to someone that is considering starting a club?
Michelle: Be ready to have the time of your life! Don’t be afraid that you don’t know how to do this. Start by seeing who’s interested and have a meeting in a park or after church. Get to know your girls. Be consistent, even if only 2 or 3 girls show up. Pray for them and Jesus will love them through you. He will show you how to reach them.
TCG: Can you tell us a little about the involvement you and your club have in your community and how people have recognized you and your girls and are grateful for the work you do in the community?
Michelle: I went to city hall and asked the public works director if there was anything a group of girls, ages 10-18 could do. He responded by giving us red paint and paint brushes. He said that any fire hydrant that needed painting we could paint. So we divided up into groups and took a section of town and painted. People stopped and asked if we were Girl Scouts and when we told them, “No, we are part of a girls club from our church,” they wanted to know if anyone could join.
Another time we did mother/daughter scavenger hunt on citywide thrift sale weekend and when people found out what we were doing, they helped us by going into their houses and finding stuff on our list!
We also sing at local nursing & group homes at Christmas time.
TCG: Thank you, Michelle, for the excellent work you have done through the years in TCG and for all of the lives you have touched. You inspire us all to do more for Jesus and for our girls!
Share anything else that you want to!
Michelle: I have been honored with the privilege of showing girls how to know Jesus and find their identity in Him.
Thank you, Sis. Debbie, for investing in my life when I was a teen.
Now I give back out of the overflow of what has been poured into me.
