Published Saturday, April 07, 2012 in Religion
From Staff Reports
religion@newnan.com
Thomas Stearnes Fretwell Metzger was the guest preacher during Youth Day at the Cathedral of Christ the King near Sharpsburg.
Metzger, who lives in Peachtree City, will be 15-years-old on May 4. He has been homeschooled since the third grade.
Metzger began public school in New York where he skipped first grade after the first six weeks. By third grade it had become too big a challenge to stay ahead of him academically and he was quite bored in school.
The school tested him and found him to be reading, at age 5, beyond a 12th grade level. The reading specialist said, “He tested 100 percent in the 12th grade reading. I have no further means to evaluate him.”
His parents, Richard and Sallie Metzger, took him to a psychologist to have him tested and to seek some guidance. His IQ tested in the top .7 percent, and the psychologist suggested they may want to home school Thomas.
By age 6, Metzger had read books by almost every prominent paleontologist. He was able to articulate dinosaur names, their periods of existence, their strengths and challenges and their geographical range.
It was only in the recent years that he has come to be involved with the Institute for Creation Research, which is a group of scientists seeking to prove that creation happened exactly as the Bible says it did.
Academically, Metzger loves history, geography and psychology. He says he still hates all math and anything to do with it.
Metzger loves music and dabbles with the guitar. Mostly loves the piano and singing.
Metzger sings with the Joyful Praise Home School Choir and is planning to attend Youth Cue along with some other members of the ensemble from the Joyful Praise Choir in July. He attended Youth Cue last year, also, in Tennessee. Youth Cue does mission work for the Smoky Mountain Children’s Home and then brings together a 250 member choir from all across the country.
He also works with his father at their family-owned business, Brooks Vacuum Shop in Newnan.
Metzger was named as 2009’s Boy Bishop” in the Charismatic Episcopal Church’s Diocese of the Mid-South by Bishop David Epps and preached on St. Nicholas Sunday two years ago at Christ the King. At Christ the King, he serves as an acolyte and as a member of the church’s prayer team.
He also is involved in youth ministry. Metzger says he does not know what the future holds but trusts God to lead him. His interests include psychology and ministry.