the more i get plugged into this ministry and seeing how things are done, its really interesting to me how many times i realize how different this is from the way ministry is done back home, and even more interesting is when i realize how different this is from when i was a student in a youth ministry.
for example. yesterday i was helping get people signed up last minute for our week of camp that CIY comes and puts on at Canyon Ridge. i had a mother come up and tell me with tears in her eyes that her oldest daughter needed to go to camp to get her mind off the fact that her dad (aka this woman's husband) just walked out on the family 4 days before this. and because of this, the mother wouldn't be able to pay anything for her daughter to be able to go to camp. we were able to help out and give this girl a full scholarship to come to camp. this was a really awesome thing to be able to give this woman some hope knowing that her daughter could come and be loved on during this week of camp, but the more i thought about it, this was a different perspective that i'm not used to seeing. i've always seen it from the daughter's side at CIY when she might get up during youth group time and open herself up to her brothers and sisters in Christ to share the hurt that she is going through, but i've never seen it from the side of the parent who was looking to us to be Christ to her and her family and help her daughter the opportunity to encounter God during this week of camp.
i've also been thinking a lot about what I want my future ministry with students to look like. i'm sick and tired of seeing students who don't think they can make a difference in this world because they are, "just a teenager." i feel this strong desire to help students realize the power they have to go above and beyond the expectations that society has placed upon them to do amazing things for Christ and His Kingdom. i see students stepping up and meeting the needs of the people around them and extending the love of Christ to the least of these in their world. i have a hard time with the fact that most of the time when people gather to come to a worship service they come at it with a mentality of, "what can i get out of this service?" when ideally i would love to see people gathering at a worship service to admire and worship God for who He is and what He has done and is doing in our lives and saying, "now how can we go and impact the world and bring justice and hope to those who don't know Christ?"
sorry for the quick vision-cast...but i think God is transforming my heart more and more to want to see this happen in whatever ministry i'm a part of.
"instead let there be flood of justice, an endless procession of righteous living."
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