Wednesday, January 23, 2013

What Up?

This weekend I was preaching at a camp in the San Bernardino Mountains.  I have had a great time teaching at this camp for the last couple years and I am very thankful for the ministry of Pondo.
The theme of the camp was "What Up?" and all weekend we used different UP themes to help students grow in their faith.  I don't have the messages recorded to share with you but I do have some thoughts after being a student ministries pastor for almost a decade.

Ministry to Students Matters
This weekend I hung out with a bunch of student ministries pastors, adult leaders, camp leadership teams and a great worship team.  All of these people invested HOURS into making an amazing camp experience for this camp.  Students came to camp because their youth pastor believed in them.  Students found Jesus at camp because their leaders had been praying for them and God worked in their hearts.  If you are not working directly in student ministries you need to figure out how to have a finger in their because it matters.

Ministry to Students is Time Consuming
When you work with students on a full-time basis or as an adult leader it is time consuming.  This weekend I saw many adults staying up way past my bedtime.  I had conversations with leaders who had students that stayed up late (and most of them were because the kids just had massive amounts of energy).  Leaders helped carry bags, stack chairs, clean up cabins, and take kids snowboarding (suffering for Jesus).  For me; I took many nights sitting at my kitchen table writing messages with the intent to help students find Jesus.  I left my family for the weekend and took time to make the camp happen.

Ministry to Students is Worth It
Ministry to students matters, its time consuming but in the end it is all worth it.  On Saturday night there were many students that made a profession of Christ as Lord.  Students trusted Jesus with their entire heart.  Students took a step of faith, got out of their comfort zone and placed their trust in God.  As a former student pastor I can say that its all worth it!

I say that because this weekend I met up with some of the boys who were in the student ministry I lead and went snowboarding.  They are young men now and I had a great time with them as freshman boys, senior boys and now young men who are living for Jesus.

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