Bo Richardson and Ridge Thomas are both high school seniors and Watermark members who have grown up together and are now growing together in their walks with the Lord. In this week’s Watermark News, they sat down together to reflect on life together, serving at Watermark, and how the Lord has transformed their hearts over the last four years.
Bo: “Ridge and I haven’t always been close. We once grew very distant from each other and God, but the Lord has saved us both and given us new life and a very special friendship.”
Ridge: “To start, Bo and I are cousins. Our parents are strong believers, and they've been at Watermark since the beginning. So, Bo and I have grown up together.
“COVID-19 hit when we were in middle school, and we started spending more time together virtually; however, our relationship was very shallow. Despite being connected with each other online, we both isolated ourselves from God and our community. Each of us separately fell into deep sin and turned away from God. We chased the lusts of our flesh, which resulted in anxiousness, pride, despair, loneliness, and hopelessness. We were searching for life and love in this world, and it only left us more broken and wanting more.”
B: “Throughout all of this, we simultaneously felt God pulling on our hearts to run back to Him. He showed us our brokenness for what it truly was, but He also revealed just how great and sufficient His love and grace is. For the first time, we both started to seek God, be convicted of our sin, and turn away from the world.”
R: “Soon after we started to pursue the Lord, Bo and I went to Camp Barnabas. Camp Barnabas is a summer camp where students from Watermark volunteer each summer to serve other people with special and additional needs. Through our intentional time serving together, the Lord helped us to reconnect for the first time since COVID. We recognized that we both wanted to take our faith seriously and were in desperate need of a friend, so our relationship started to build back up.”
B: “After going back to Barnabas the next summer and struggling in our faiths, we decided to get baptized together in April of 2023. We both wanted to put off our baptism until we were spiritually ‘better,’ but God taught us that He wanted us to run to Him with all our brokenness. It is only through laying down our sin and shame at the cross that the Spirit can grow and heal us.”
R: “That same year, we both decided to go on an international discipleship trip to the Dominican Republic with Watermark Students. This trip left such a big impact on our lives and our relationship with God. It grew our love and passion for serving others and helped us grow in our ability to share the gospel. We learned the importance of having godly community who will encourage us to draw closer to Him, and we recognized our need for community in our own lives.”
B: “Coming home from the trip, we started a Bible study called C3:16 for high school students from various schools and churches across the Dallas area. Every Sunday, we meet to worship, pray, and read the Bible together.”
R: “After the Bible study was started, Bo and I decided to start serving at Watermark. We now serve in Kaleidoscope, Watermark’s ministry for people with special and additional needs. Bo and I get to care for and hang out with our friend Leo, and our time together typically consists of us playing in the mat room and having worship song dance parties.”
B: “Toward the beginning of last school year, we also started working at Kids Midweek to help care for kids whose parents are attending ministries at Watermark throughout the week.”
R: “Serving and working in these ministries with Bo has strengthened our spiritual bond as well as our overall chemistry and teamwork. I see Bo as my colleague, my cousin, my brother in Christ, and my best friend, and that is the biggest blessing ever.
“We have found immense joy in serving together and learning the importance of serving others by taking the attention off ourselves. Some days, we might feel like we don’t have the energy to serve, but when we depend on God, He helps us to forget about ourselves and care for others. Rather than feeling like a burden, serving feels freeing and takes away the weight of pride. It has taught us to have compassion for others and has shown us what it looks like to work with brothers and sisters in Christ to further God’s Kingdom.”
B: “It’s really epic to get to see each other in different aspects of our lives. We see each other at church, when we serve in Kaleidoscope, at Bible study, and when we work at Midweek. It’s truly special to have someone who was so clearly placed not just in my life but in my family. I’m thankful that we get to walk through life together.
“We were two prodigal sons who strayed, and as we both came back to God, He allowed us to come back together as friends and cousins.”