Three years ago I was blogging pretty consistently. I had a tumblr that I used a lot and before that I’m sure I had a blogspot, livejournal; you name it, I’ve used them all. They were great documentations of the seasons of my life. I was able to put into words what I was going through as I waited through moments God had me in. I’m really glad I documented those moments. That I put into words what I was feeling during those seasons so I could look back and see how much I’ve grown or even how strong I was in those moments. They seemed silly at the time, but I’m glad I didn’t delete all of them so I could look back and remember snapshots of the past of where God has had me.

This is a new season, which is why I’ve started this writing again. While the season may have started over two years ago, I have remembered how important it is to document these moments. So here’s to being consistent in sharing what we are doing in ministry. Here’s to events that have failed and huge ministry moments I never thought I would experience. Here’s to praying over kids who are hurting and laughing on trips that I never want to end. And here’s to serving a God that trusted me with a Calling I never knew would take me to where it has.

So as some of you know, last February our Student Ministries program did an event called “Change for Change”. We had a night of prayer and worship as we educated our students about the Human Trafficking Industry. It was an incredible night, as we raised over $1,000 in change. We watched as students brought in their life savings for a great cause. While there was some motive (I had to get cornrows and Mackay had to shave his head. Let’s not ever talk about this again), our kids came through in a big way and I think it ranks as one of my favorite moments in ministry.

The money raised went to the A21 Campaign through the End It Movement. For those of you that don’t know, A21 prosecutes traffickers and strengthens the legal response to human trafficking. They also provide legal counsel to every victim that comes through their program.

We are switching it up a bit and have decided that we could outdo last year, especially if we had more time, so here’s what we are doing:

We’re still rolling with Change for Change (get it, because you “roll change”? ugh…nevermind), but through our small group ministry. Each group has received a container that will collect money for the ministry/nonprofit of their choice. One month from today, each small group will turn in full containers. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

So each small group will choose what they will be raising money for and collect change as they meet each week in February. PLUS the group that raises the most amount of money will win a dinner for their small group AND the ministry they chose will be blessed. Yeah, we’re excited too.

So here’s where you can help:

Know someone in a small group? Or know someone leading a small group? (isn’t that person awesome? they put a lot of time into that, so thank them even if you don’t have a student in the program. they’re working hard to make better disciples in our church) Or don’t know anyone at all, but really want to donate change?

You can help by donating to one of our small group’s “containers”. Maybe they’ll even invite you to the dinner if they win! Just kidding…kind of. Maybe, I don’t know.

Anyways, you get a chance to be involved. Some of the nonprofits our groups have chosen are Lowcountry Down Syndrome, American Cancer Society, and two groups will be raising money to buy clothes for children who are in foster care.

In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and caring for those in need (He talks a lot about that, but this is just the chapter on my heart right now). We aren’t perfect at doing this, but we are going to continue trying to live out the Gospel to the best of our ability. Bit by bit, we will be the change.

Last year, we launched a new program called Youth Worship Arts. The hope is that it will grow and students can use their various gifts to serve in youth group and church. Right now we have a youth band and a set design team. A mix of middle and high schoolers serve on both teams. The hope is that as we grow, we’ll be able to add a tech team and drama team.

Our band has come a long way in the year. We’ve gone from having students who *kind of* played an instrument, to having them play each week and even play in our contemporary service.

While I want to say that we are learning new songs each week, it’s taken us a while to master our current set list.

Here are our top five picks for worship:

Set a Fire (We don’t go this long, but  it’s definitely our favorite)

One Thing Remains (We don’t do the “ou”s, but we do about this tempo)

Come Thou Fount (that drum solo, tho…ouf)

Whom Shall I Fear

This is What You Do

Honorable mentions:

How He Loves (we can’t help it, we know it too well)

All My Fountains (this takes a little work, but we pull it off every once in a while)

This past Sunday we tried out a new idea for 2014 and we’re kind of loving it.

Lunch Raffle will happen each week and I’ve decided it’s basically the opposite of the Hunger Games.

So each student signs a nifty little piece of paper when they walk in the door. They put:

their name
their grade
their school

At the end of youth group, we’ll draw names and whoever gets picked will get lunch the following week from Mackay or myself. Um, super easy and super awesome.

PLUS: the more you come, the more your name gets put in the jar. KIND OF like how Katniss was bound to get picked because…well, you know.

BUT, no one dies during lunch raffle and you won’t go hungry because we’re bringing you food.

A bonus for us: sometimes it can be awkward going to a school where you only know one or two kids. But when you bring food, everyone’s happy.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

In October, we took about 30 middle schoolers to Orlando for a weekend of FUN. No homework, no projects, no phones (that was a new one…such a struggle). JUST FUN.

One of the reasons I really love this trip is because it helps the students bond with one another and hang out for three days. They build new relationships and it makes the transition for new students easier. We only had two 6^th grade girls (some girls were a bit cautious about a weekend away from home that involved rollercoasters…completely understood), but those two girls were responsible for one of my favorite moments of the whole weekend.

On Saturday, we spend the day in Islands of Adventure. The students can roam the park with a friend or with a group with the condition that they make their two check-in times throughout the day. The first check-in time was before lunch so they could pick up their meal voucher. Most of the students were there at 11:30 on the dot and several of them had been traveling with the leaders. The two 6^th grade girls though were running late. Not too late, maybe ten minutes? But still, I got a little worried. Mostly that they were lost or stuck in a line for some ride they weren’t quite sure they were ready for.

At about 11:40, two of the soggiest 6^th graders appeared before me, shaking, but grinning from ear to ear. They both explained that they were sorry they were late, but they were busy riding Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls SIX times in a row. Um, that’s awesome. I wasn’t even mad.

It got me thinking about the first time I really got freedom to roam a theme park freely. I grew up as an only child, so it’s not like I ever went with my family and told my parents I’d meet them somewhere in a few hours while I would ride every ride I could. And not that the times I’ve been to a theme park I’ve had to go without riding what I wanted to (or having to ride something I didn’t want to, ahem…everything). So I put myself in their shoes (which were sopping wet for the next 7 hours we were there). I’m at Islands Adventure as an 11 year old and I have finally gotten the freedom I’ve always seen on every Disney Channel show on the air right now (like, do those kids even have parents?). What do I do?! RIDE RIPSAW FALLS SIX TIMES IN A ROW. Wet hair, don’t care…right?!

I love watching the choices that our students make on their own. It helps us understand what is really going through their mind. The truth is, yeah, they can seem pretty complicated, but at the end of the day sometimes they just want to ride their favorite ride six times in a row! And why not?

SIDE NOTE: Other favorite moment of the weekend? Taking the same group of students to DisneyQuest, a five story interactive arcade and finding two 7^th grade boys in the lobby playing with a payphone. Seriously, dude? I could have taken you to a truck stop for that.

One of my favorite parts of my job is picking out books and leading my small group. All of our small groups are great. We have dedicated leaders who have full time jobs AND put in countless hours discipling our students. I can’t believe how blessed we are to have gone from one to NINE small groups over the course of two years. That’s a lot of recruiting and a lot of growth.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in all of our groups. To hear the things on their hearts, the laughter over inside jokes, the struggles they face as they navigate school, family, their paths in the future, and just life. I wish I could, but unfortunately I can’t. So I go off of what the leaders share. I love hearing the wins and struggles of their groups. It shows life.

All of our groups study different things. I like that. It shows diversity and caters to how each group of students may grow. Some may do lessons, while others do books. One group pulls bible verses out of a jar each week and talks about what that verse means to them. Either way, students are talking about Jesus on a weekly/biweekly basis. That’s pretty great.

My group typically does books. We recently did Speak Love by Annie Downs. If you haven’t read it, you need to go do that right now. Our girls learned what it means to speak love, about others, those around us, in our prayers and conversations with God, and about ourselves.

It’s going to be hard to top that. Our words are so important. They make up who we are. So what are we supposed to cover after THAT? I thought about the things that have helped me grow in my faith. The books that have helped shape my faith and who I am.

So we’re reading Crazy Love.

And here’s why:

Francis Chan has a great way of making us feel unworthy. Why? Because we totally are. At no point should we ever feel as though we DESERVE Grace. At no point should we ever feel entitled to be forgiven every single day because this was a gift. Not just our life. Not just the fact that every morning we wake up and complain about going to school or work or the weather or what menial tasks we have to accomplish every day. We get to serve a God that we sometimes can’t even come up with adjectives to describe because He’s just that awesome.

It will be my prayer that as we read this book, scripture will come alive and we will stand in awe before a God who is more powerful than anything and everything.