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| Sandusky Life Teen teenagers on the way to Life Teen Camp Covecrest in 2013 |
“'Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.' Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.” Mark 10:14-16
Six years ago today, I walked into my first ever Life Teen
life night. For months, three of my
friends had been “nagging” (my word, not theirs) me to join them on a
Sunday. Time and time again, I came up
with excuses. I really didn’t think I
had time to spend at church on a Sunday evening when I had school work to
do. I also really did not want to enter
into the stereotype of being the “youth group kid” - the weird kid who goes to
church and enjoys it, going because
he or she wants to be there rather
than going out of obligation.
I experience a taste of that same stereotype towards youth
group even today, probably by nature of my involvement with ministry. The guys I live with will occasionally tease
me when my old youth group worship dance moves make their cameo appearance, and
rightfully so. Nothing quite screams
“youth group kid” like alternating a thumbs up and making an “L” with your hand
to the tune of “I’m Trading My Sorrows”.
“Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, yes, Lord” might bring back a few memories. God bless all youth ministers for their
humility in reaching teens!
Despite the reality of having cheesy youth group dance moves
in my blood, I’m eternity grateful for high school youth ministry in all of its
awkwardness. Without those experiences,
I wouldn’t have some of the friendships that last to this day. More importantly, I may never have
encountered Jesus and found my way onto the path that has resulted in a deep
and lasting relationship with God the Father.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that first night at Life Teen and all
those moments of cheesy dance moves altered the direction of my life forever.
Relationships by their very nature tend to be messy. High school relationships are the epitome of
that. More often than not, they’re only
temporary and are frequently built on a foundation of sand. Once graduation hits and the full
responsibility of adulthood is laid, friends who were once close are separated
by the divergence of career paths and futures.
Even well-intentioned friendships will slowly fade as life diverges into
different paths. In all honestly, I
would say the same about the relationships I had with my youth group peers as
well. Pride, jealousy, and desire for
recognition often stood before generosity and service in my approach to those
relationships. Relationships that were supposed to be centered around Christ
were somewhat broken under the surface.
In the midst of those messy relationships, however, God was
bringing about a purification in my own heart and helping me to grow in charity
towards my peers, just as Jesus came into the world in the midst of a messy
stable to bring about salvation and a unification of God and His people. Underneath the emotion-packed praise and
worship songs and the awkward dance moves, the Father was revealing Himself to
us and opening a place in our hearts in which to dwell. I have to believe that is why those same
relationships that were marked with an underlying brokenness have lasted even
to this day.
During the Christmas season, several of us got together for
daily Mass and “Breakfast Club”. It’s
somewhat of a tradition we started a few years ago to reunite at least once per
year and see where God has been working in our lives. This year was especially blessed as we were
welcomed into the home of a couple that were on the CORE team when we were
active within Life Teen. Updates led to
reminiscing as we all recalled some of our favorite memories together – lock-ins,
summer camps, conferences, praise and worship nights. They all seem a bit more juvenile now, especially
our teenage drama, but we wouldn’t trade those memories for the world. Our relationships today are a testament to
God’s ability to overcome human weakness.
Moreover, God has done so much through the small “yes” of a
group of imperfect teenagers. To date, here
is some of the fruit born from God’s faithfulness to our “yes”:
4 Full-time
missionaries
4 Life Teen summer
missionaries
3 Franciscan
University of Steubenville students/alumni
2 CORE team members
1 Full-time youth
minister
I’ll be the first to admit that high school youth ministry
is not for everyone. It’s easy for those
experiences to be all about the emotion, and emotion-centered worship prevents
an authentic encounter with the Father. Like
relationships built solely around how an individual feels, emotion-centered worship eventually loses its luster.
When it does, the lack of real conversion underneath makes it easy to
walk away from the faith.
As someone whose life was irrevocably changed by experiences
in youth group, I maintain hope that our youth group programs and retreats are
the future of the Church. Moreover, they
already are the Church. Despite the immaturity present among even high
school seniors, I’ve seen what God can do when a group of teens gives a united “yes”. I’m sure the Blessed Mother didn’t fully comprehend
what her “yes” meant when she was asked to bring Jesus into the world. Regardless, God had prepared her to be the vessel
necessary to do just that. He used imperfect
circumstances and relationships to bring His Son into the world. He will use Matt Maher and Chris Tomlin songs to continue converting thousands of teenagers.
Ultimately, I don’t know why God decided to work so
powerfully during my years in youth group, but I’ll forever be grateful for the
way it has changed my life. The
experiences I’ve had, the relationships I’ve developed, my relationship with
God the Father…none of these would have happened if God’s hand wasn’t in the
midst of them. My old youth group dance
moves don’t always come out, but when the time is right, you better believe I
cherish the moment. It brings me back to
that childlike faith I once had when I first encountered the Lord and which, in
some ways, I long to regain.
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| Visiting our former pastor, Fr. Dave |
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| (Left to right) Jacob, Cory, Alex, and Austin joining a life night before heading to various Life Teen summer camps to serve as summer missionaries |
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| (Clockwise starting from left) Josh, Ryan, Austin, Jacob, Cory, and Alex on their way to John 15, a college retreat hosted by Life Teen for all past missionaries |
