Mowtown Teen Lawn Care and Youth Ministry Innovators, Vancouver, Wash.

Mowtown Teen Lawn Care and Youth Ministry Innovators is a for-profit company in partnership with Columbia Presbyterian Church. Matt Overton serves as the associate pastor at Columbia and is the owner of Mowtown. Born out of his personal experience doing lawn care and construction projects alongside the youth of his church, Overton found the context rich with significant conversations about life, faith and God. Teens and adults work alongside one another doing yard work, with the teens gaining job and life skills as well as mentoring from the adults.

Mowtown is an example of traditioned innovation in cultivating not only a new way of doing youth ministry and youth formation, but a new economic model for youth ministry. The community created around work is diverse and provides conditions for deep relationships as well inviting participation from people of all economic backgrounds.

For more information about the Traditioned Innovation Award, please contact us at leadership@div.duke.edu.