Published September 28, 2017
Heritage Baptist Church, South Abington Twp., Pennsylvania
Luke
Ministry Highlights
I held a youth leader meeting on a Sunday night early in the month. I provided dinner and then we walked through mission, vision, strategy, expectations, job descriptions, etc. and then evaluated where we thought all of our students were spiritually. It was really encouraging to look back over the evaluations of last year and compare them to where we see the students a year later. We had a lot of encouraging spiritual growth in the lives of middle schoolers and high schoolers.
As a student ministry we participated in a global event called See You At The Pole. This is an opportunity for students around the world to gather at their school’s flagpole to pray for their friends, their school, their community, and their country. We initially met at McDonalds in Clarks Summit. We packed out McDonalds with middle school and high school students to eat some breakfast and then prayed with them for boldness before we shuttled them off to their schools. I was so encouraged by the turnout of students at this event as well as the boldness to talk to their friends about why they were around the flagpole before school.
We have had some tough situations with a middle school student who is in foster care and a middle school girl who comes from a non-churched unbelieving family. The encouraging thing is a non-churched family who sends their daughter to HSM has been in really close contact with one of our youth leaders during this difficult time. I have been so encouraged with how this family has embraced all that we do at HSM and has gone out of their way to get their daughter to engage and call this youth leader about everything that is happening. I talked with this mom at one point and she cried talking about the impact our ministry has had on her daughter. It was really encouraging to see some exciting fruit coming from this tough situation.
Key Prayer Requests
God would direct Shaelyn and I what He wants us to do next and where He wants us to do it.
Shaelyn and I would have tons of opportunities for gospel centered conversations with our unbelieving friends. And that God would save those people.
God would bless the ministry at HSM this year.
Prominent Lessons
I had a youth leader meeting this month. I provided dinner and then I walked through mission, vision, strategy, expectations, job descriptions, etc. and then evaluated where we thought all of our students were spiritually. Most of this came by way of review for our youth leaders but I do this regularly to keep us all focused on what we are trying to accomplish. Entering this year we have 13 student move out of town with their families. Because we don’t have a huge group as it is, I was convinced we were going to feel that drop in numbers pretty significantly. At our fall kickoff this past Wednesday we had a lot more students than I was anticipating which encouraged me. However, I was about to learn a lesson on Sunday that would really help me frame the year. In the time where we evaluated all of our students I was so encouraged with the spiritual growth that took place in students lives over the last year. For most of our students we could look at where we evaluated them the year before and then see where we would evaluate them now. This helps us see the impact or discipleship we are having on students (or lack there of). I was blown away with the growth we thought happened in our group. It felt like so many students were in a place where we could confidently say that they grew and were in a different spiritual category now.
This experience really helped me frame the year from the standpoint of numbers vs discipleship. It isn’t that I don’t care about numbers or that they don’t mean anything to me. This helped me see that God will bring the increase and I have to focus on helping our students grow or meet Jesus weekly. It has made me really excited to continue to push our students to see what God may have for us as a ministry in this upcoming school year.
This week I had an opportunity to go out with a guy who is a close friend of mine from high school and is also new believer that God allowed me to lead to Jesus around 2 years ago. We went golfing which gave us an opportunity to be in constant conversation for about 3 hours. He talked about some struggles he is having with living in Philadelphia and all that involves. We talked about the struggle with being a new believer and living around all unbelievers. It was an amazing work of God to have him come into visit this weekend which was the same weekend I was preaching in church on biblical community. It gave me a lot of opportunities to talk with him about the different people he has in his life and their role. It helped me frame our relationship and what I wanted to see from him as a man and as a future husband/father.
My biggest takeaway from this experience was the motivation and passion that was again sparked in me to see this happen all around my life. It was such a joy and a blessing to hear how God has changed him over the last couple years and compare it to the kid that he was in high school. It is such a blessing to see real, authentic, measurable life change in the lives of people I care deeply about. It has again caused me to commit to this pursuit. Experiencing this joy and blessing is a taste of the abundant life found in Jesus and Christlikeness that I want to experience constantly. Making my life about seeing people come to know Jesus and be more like Him is certainly a life worth living.
My dad teaches a number of classes here at Clarks Summit University. He also takes students on wilderness trips through the year for credit. This past week was one of those wilderness trips. Every time he is on one of those trips I fill in to teach his classes. I taught Youth ministry specific classes along with a new student class called Building a Biblical Lifestyle. By enlarge, the whole week went as usual which is positive. However, one specific youth class caused me to have a really solid learning experience. The class is called Youth Evangelism and the purpose of the class is teaching these youth majors how to create programs, strategies, opportunities, etc. to get your students to reach their classmates, communities, etc. This past week I taught through what I have taught our students at Heritage. We have an evangelism strategy that I just presented to that class. Before the week of teaching my dad told me that there is a solid group in the class but there is also a group of students who are super arrogant and think they know everything already when it comes to ministry and working with students/parents. This is obviously an ignorant position based solely on arrogance. As I went into this class I knew there was going to be some of these arrogant students but as the week progressed I was honestly stunned at the arrogance I saw in some of these guys. I seriously couldn’t believe that their position could possibly be that they are above any of this information and should literally be teaching youth classes not taking them.
Now, the learning I got from this was very impactful for me. I have a refreshed and renewed commitment to always be a learner in this life. Regardless of gifting, experience, etc. I need to always be humble enough to understand that I will always have things to learn and ways to grow in my ministry life. I pray that I never get to a place of callousness and blindness that I genuinely think I don’t need any help or input.
Key Goals for the Next Month
Continue in my reading plan!
Spend some significant time with a student a week.
Pray with Shaelyn every night about our future, unbelievers we are trying to reach, and personal decisions that have to be made.
Set up the teaching schedule for the spring semester.
Shaelyn
Ministry Highlights
Met with the high school girls and I was encouraged by how open they were with their struggles with doing devotions and staying faithful to praying.
One of the middle school girls has a disorder where she needs extra instructions at times and socially can be awkward. We heard when she gets overwhelmed that she will run away, but this past week at youth group she handled a stressful situation really well!
Key Prayer Requests
That our high school girls will stay faithful to their monthly commitments.
I would love to write encouragement cards, so pray that I complete that this up coming month.
Prominent Lessons
I learned the benefit of planning ahead. Every Sunday night we have Team Night with kids from the youth group that come out to serve and use their gifts to help better the youth group. Some play instruments on the band and others help me with the Café Team. We plan the snack for Wednesday nights, write encouragement cards to members of the church who may need it and help them understand what true hospitality looks like. This past week we planned the snacks for the rest of this year and it has been so much easier to think ahead and get organized. Some of the youth leaders and myself worked together to think of foods the kids love and it was nice having that time to discuss something so simple yet, it plays a big role on our Wednesday nights. I was able to see how much smoother things go when we take the time to think things through and not rush decisions. God is teaching me to think ahead and be prepared when the opportunity allows itself. The Café Team has been doing really well this year and I have been encouraged by how smooth things have gone since using our time wisely together and staying in touch.
Key Goals for the Next Month
Take time throughout the week and see how the other girl youth leaders are doing. Some have no family/friends in the area and I want to be an encouragement to them.
Take time to pray with Luke about next year, post-internship.
Take time to surprise Luke with the simple things.
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