What Our Teenagers Were Doing Yesterday

I have always challenged parents to get their teenagers involved in our student ministry as much as possible. In today's culture, teenagers need more than just an hour on Sunday. They need a place to be encouraged in their faith, challenged to not give into common traps, learn what God says about life and to also serve others in God's name......all of this while having fun that is designed for their age and sometimes gender.

What was your teenager doing yesterday afternoon? playing video games? texting? watching TV? "just hanging"? Sleeping? complaining about being bored?

Here is what I witnessed a bunch of our teenagers doing yesterday afternoon:

* I went with a group of 6th grade Middle School boys and their Home Team to the Howell Center. They spent two hours cleaning, tearing down old stuff, throwing it in the dumpster.....and "sweeping" to get the indoor pool room ready for our church to renovate it this Spring as one of our anniversary service tour projects.

* On our church campus another group of 7th & 8th Grade boys had their Home Team far back in the woods of the new church property. They had their Bible study and discussion time mixed with exploring the woods, jumping over the little river back there, doing crazy things in the woods that boys like to do and planning a camp-out.

* Our High School band was practicing for Wednesday night at Pursuit....where they use the entire stage, lighting, multimedia and everything else we use on Sunday morning for a great service each Wednesday night. It is amazing to watch all of this technology being used.....by teenagers. Moreover, the entire band and tech crew is made up of Teenagers. Four different kinds of guitars (I have no clue) drummer, keyboard and a few singers. They are awesome!

* After the band rehearsal they actually had student auditions to play or sing in the band. A group of high school boys and girls were sitting in the atrium area waiting for their time to try-out. Very professional..very American Idol.

* In other areas of the building other Home Teams were gathered too. Each Sunday they may do something different...but when they meet it is a great time to be together and accomplish what I talked about at the start of this BLOG.

Today those middle school and high school students will go back to school. They will be faced with pressures that you and I cannot even imagine....because our culture has made a huge swing away from the morals and values we hold true as Christians. They are growing up without implications of authority and they are being raised in a culture that lets them believe they are entitled to the best with out having to earn it. Moreover and most alerting is that what is common now in the minds and actions of teenagers is different because of the technology that was not here when I was in High School 2 years ago. If you think "oh, it is the same." you are kidding yourself or very uninformed. More than even when we started (CSF) Team Church teenagers need constant involvement in that which is pure, good, and godly. They need a place that loves them but won't let them settle for spiritual mediocrity. They need a place that challenges them to rise far above what is now common in their culture.

Academics, Athletics and other pursuits should be gone after.....but should never be seen as more important than their pursuit of God's best. Parents are the ones who set the tone and more importantly set the weekly schedule.

So....what was your teenager doing yesterday afternoon?

"Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it." Prov 22:6