(9/19) Testimony, continued:

Karyn and I started volunteering to help with the Oakley youth group under the youth leader who was leading at our church back then. We had a really great time hanging out with the teens and just talking about anything and everything, laughing and playing games. The youth leader told us that he was seeking an administrative role at the church, but didn’t want to leave the teens leaderless. We told him that sometimes God provides a leader when the previous leader leaves, and the next leader may not even know that God was leading them in that way. We encouraged him to go do what God wanted him to do without worrying about the details of what he was leaving behind. We said we could substitute in the mean time.

We had a great time leading the youth group. There were some changes in format and focus, but our end goal since then has been the same. Our focus was to build a group identity through discussions, rather than lessons. We wanted to hear what the teens were passionate about, rather than just telling them what they should be passionate about. We figured that teens probably got enough lectures and lessons at school, and wanted to earn the attention of their ears by listening to them first. For the few kids that came into the group that complained that we didn’t dig deep enough into the Bible, we encouraged them to be an example for the teens who didn’t understand the basics. We invited them to church and Sunday school to learn and dig deeper into God’s word, but thought Youth Group should be a place where our friends who have never gone to church could feel welcome and not intimidated by their lack of Biblical knowledge. We wanted to have a place where we were interconnected to each other, and not just one central leader or teacher. We met on Tuesdays and had about 8-12 teens in this core group.

Small group discussion:

What ideas are you passionate about?

Do you prefer to be taught a concept, or to discuss ideas? Why?

Is it easier for you to remember a concept when you are an involved part of the discussion? Why?

Read Proverbs 1:5

Close in prayer.