#25 Youth Group!

Without question my absolute favorite part of my teen years was my youth group at Fairfield First Baptist.  It was the best youth group ever.  Again I'm sorry if you think you have or had the best youth group, unless you were a part of the youth group I'm talking about, I don't think you did... Okay I know that sounds arrogant and maybe I'm reverting back to the very egocentric mentality teenagers are known for, but I really did have a great youth group, it wasn't perfect, but it was still pretty great.

Unforgettable night at camp!

It's interesting being in ministry for a number of years now I've gotten to see what many parents and teenagers look for in a youth group.  Usually they want a  group of kids who love the Lord and desire to honor Him with their lives.  That is definitely something I desire for my children and it is definitely a good thing to look for in a youth group.  The other thing I often hear that people think it is important to have a good youth "program". They want fun activities, exciting youth worship times, and full time youth pastor to make all those things happen.  I'm not criticizing those who want that, I can understand why they are looking for that.  However my youth group had none of those things in the beginning except a very small group of kids who loved the Lord and wanted to honor Him with their lives.

When I started in the youth group as I said it was very small.  There were between 3 and 5 kids who were really committed and then another 5 who were there on a more irregular basis.  My class brought up the biggest influx of students there had been in awhile and we had about 6 in our class. So the youth group grew about 50% when we moved up!  It was kind of a similar breakdown in our class as well, a few were really committed the rest were semi-regular attenders.  We had a part time youth pastor, who I mentioned earlier was my brother Rob.  He was pretty young at the time, maybe 21 years old and being only part time, while he did a lot for us he definitely did not have time to do everything.  So you know what he did? He had us plan many of the activities. We came up with ideas and he said okay you plan the event and let me know how you need me to help you.  And you know what happened? We actually did it.  We put together youth Sundays (where the youth lead the service), costume parties, valentines banquets, talent show fundraisers, sports camps, 3 act plays, and I'm sure there were more things but those are some of the ones I remember.   You see I think one of the things that made this youth group so great was that we were deeply invested in leading it and making things happen.  We didn't have an adult doing everything for us,  and while Rob and other adults helped us along the way we did a good deal of the work in planning and executing our activities.  You know what that produced?  Some really strong leaders who have gone on to lead in ministries all over the US and even in some foreign countries.

We missed Becky a lot when she moved!

Another thing that I think made this youth group so great was that we did not have a lot of "wow factor". We did not have a cool name, we did not have a worship time with cool lights and live music and we didn't do crazy attractional type activities.  We had a few kids who loved Jesus and wanted to show others that love, a youth pastor who had a passion and gift for teaching youth the Bible, and we had worship cd's we sang along to while we looked at the words on overhead projectors.  The biggest "wow factor" of our early youth worship times were the nice speakers Rob bought off the back of some guy's truck. I know what you're thinking, that sounds a little shady, we thought so too, but he assured us it was okay.  It's crazy though even without the "wow factor" the group grew from running 3-5 students to about 20-30 on a regular basis over the next two to three years. 

Classic Justin in our "chalet: in Gatlingberg!

Looking back I see one of the reasons we grew was that we had some students (I could probably specifically point to four, Brandon, Justin, Becky and Kristy) who invited their friends all the time.  Their friends came, we made them feel welcome and many of them came to know the Lord and started growing in their faith.  It just became this ripple effect, you know how its suppose to be, making disciples who make disciples.



The other reason I think we grew was that we were all genuinely really good friends who cared about one another.  We hung out all the time.  In the summers we would always have a plan for what we were going to do after youth group was over because we just couldn't get enough of hanging out with each other.  In high school I remember we would all meet in this one area to talk at the start of every school day. Now that meant we must have gotten there early which is saying something about how much we liked each other since our school day started at 7am!  For awhile we even met once a week to pray a half hour before school.  Those of us who had the same lunch period would also usually eat together.  

Now as I said it wasn't perfect, we definitely had our share of teenage drama and there was probably way to much dating going on (I admit I personally dated way more boys than I should have in our group).  However when I look back on that time in my life I mostly remember the good things. The pool parties, the car washes, talent shows, Christmas and New Years Eve parties, concerts, Gatlinberg trips, youth retreats at Bullittsburg, vacation bible schools, the "This World" play (nothing like a group of suburban teenagers doing a play about gang wars), sports camps and of course the mission trips.  There is something about getting away from normal life for a whole week and serving other people that forever impacts you and changes your life and perspective for the better.  It also gives you a special bond with the people who experienced those things with you.

So if you are reading this and you were a part of that group, I just want you to know that I treasure our memories and I pray that each of you have continued to grow in your walk with Christ and that whatever you are doing you are serving Him and leading others to know Christ personally.  I also hope that one day we can have a reunion because I would love to all be together again and get the opportunity to talk and laugh about those special times we shared and to hear what God has been doing in your life since those days.  May God bless you my friends!