MILTON, Pa. — Pastors in the Milton area are used to working together. Around 60 religious leaders from different denominations make up the Milton Ministerium. This group has held a baccalaureate service for Milton Area High School seniors for more than 30 years.
"We usually have about 300 to 400 that come to the baccalaureate services every year," Pastor Jilline Bond said.
Baccalaureate is a Christian service to celebrate graduates. This one has been hosted by Revival Tabernacle Church near Watsontown for the past few years. But due to COVID-19, this year will be different.
"Because of the pandemic, we've now been forced to kind of catch up with the game and do things online and have a real presence there," Pastor James Bond said.
"It's going to be a stream of a really great time of pastors talking to the students, and we have a keynote address, and the theme this year is 'Seeds of Hope,'" Pastor Jilline Bond said.
Instead of the typical baccalaureate ceremony, the pastors are recording segments that will be made into a video. The video will be streamed on Milton Area School District's Facebook page on May 31.
"The really cool thing about the baccalaureate service is that everything is virtual and yet very accessible," Pastor James Bond said.
Pastor James Bond of Revival Tabernacle Church is giving the keynote address from his greenhouse, as this year's theme is "Seeds of Hope."
"They've done an amazing thing by going through 13 years of school now and now off to bigger and better things. This virus and pandemic is not going to hold them down," Pastor James Bond said.
"A lot of the pastors in this area have been part of these young people's lives since some of them were born, so we're very excited to celebrate them even though it will be a little different," Pastor Jilline Bond said.
The ceremony will stream on Facebook on Sunday, May 31.