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Barry Osborne had been thinking about joining one of those social networking sites on the Internet. But the notion of actually doing just that was foreboding.

"The idea of getting on Facebook seemed massive," confessed Osborne, who is minister of small group and spiritual formation at Wesley Memorial United Church in High Point.

Before you get your feathers ruffled worrying about what business a married, 62-year-old minister has messaging faceless strangers from Lord-only-knows-where (pun intended) in that vast and intimidating world of cyberspace, let me explain.

From 1971 until 2001, Osborne served as Wesley Memorial's youth minister. He literally has hundreds of youths, whom he calls his kids, out there, and he simply wanted to reconnect with them -- even if it was for just a couple of sentences over the Internet.

"I had one of my youths who thought I ought to get on Facebook," Osborne said.

Left to his own devices, Osborne probably would still be off-line. But one day co-worker Pam Hill registered Osborne on Facebook. Hill has known Osborne since she was a youthster at the church.

The next thing Osborne knew, he had an account and a password. Hill covered those details in seconds.

Next Osborne needed a photo. Another Wesley Memorial co-worker and alum of Osborne's youth ministry, Bonnie Wallace, uploaded Osborne's photo onto the site.

Before he had time to jot down his Facebook password, Osborne was connecting with old friends. Within two weeks, Osborne had connected with 290 of his former youth group members.

People such as Erin Brundage Berg of Oregon, Colby Walton of Texas, Laura Brummell of Illinois, Doug Wagner and Lindsay Coughlin of New York City and Mary Anderson Riddick of Kinston.

Many youths from the '70s, '80s and '90s reconnected with their former youth pastor. And then Laurie Mendenhall Tester of High Point asked the big question, "Can we have a big reunion?"

For decades now, a staple of the student ministry program at Wesley Memorial has been its youth workshops -- three-day spiritual retreats usually held at a rustic conference center in Valle Crucis.

A reunion would mean that all the kids from Osborne's youth leadership years could potentially get together. Osborne's head was filled with numbers -- staggering numbers. A Wesley Memorial Youth Reunion could number 1,400 to 1,500 and the Valle Crucis center holds only 150.

Osborne couldn't help wondering what sort of behemoth he'd started. But his kids kept him in check.

Tester volunteered to take charge of plans for the reunion. Bill Coble, Wesley Memorial's current director of student ministries, put together a registration form and linked it to the church's Web site. Yes, Coble, too, counts himself among Osborne's kids.

But these youth -- who now range in age from 23 to 53 -- needed a name. While Osborne is comfortable referring to them as "my youth," these 20-, 30-, 40- and 50-something kids needed something more distinctive. Osborne, a self-proclaimed Dead Head, has fans of band Grateful Dead are known, christened this burgeoning association of the "forever young" as the "Grateful Kids Workshop Reunion Tour."

Nearly 150 have signed up for information for the reunion.

"We have this large, large, large family, and we have something in common," Osborne explained. "God, church and friendship."

And, as Osborne suspected and all the newly dubbed "Grateful Kids" are discovering, the impact of those teenage spiritual journeys remains strong.

Kennedy McGovern of Winston-Salem wrote, "My wife and I were on vacation last year in Linville Falls. Heading to Boone, we took a wrong turn and landed in Valle Crucis. There I was, a 37-year- old man . . . tearing up behind the wheel of my truck. My wife asked, 'What is wrong with you?' LOL . . . I answered, 'In this place, something is very RIGHT with me.' So, since we were there, I found the Mast General store and told her all about workshop while we perused around. Oh, you bet I am in for this! I can't wait!"

Just a couple of weeks after launching his presence on Facebook, Osborne sounds like something of a social networking expert. If you want to sign up for the reunion, scheduled for Aug. 21-23, and you have a Facebook account, you can log on there. Or you can go to the church's Web site at www.wesleymemorial.org and download the registration form.

Osborne said you can contact him by plain old e-mail at BOborne@wesleymemorial.org or call him at 884-2204.

Contact Cathy Weaver at cweavernr@gmail.com or at 883-4422, Ext. 243.