1. Great leadership. With my increased worship responsibilities in By Design, a new baby in April, and a new worship facility in June, our student ministry would have suffered greatly without some amazing volunteer workers and staff leadership. (Face it…our student ministry would’ve been on life support!) So much success is greatly attributed to the volunteers who constantly gave of themselves, sacrificed time and energy, and poured their lives into our students as disciplers and followers of Jesus. Without their commitment, it simply wouldn’t have happened. I’ve never served with a finer group of parents and adults. Ever.
2. Corporate worship. This whole ‘worship gig’ still has that new car smell. I have a crazy privilege of leading our church body each week in adoration, proclamation, and confession through song and scripture. It’s an amazing blessing to watch families worship together. To hear the songs of multiple generations fill our building. To be one voice in a multitude…to proclaim truth and hope to our community…all for an audience of One. You guys bless me each week as you bless Jesus.
3. Monthly serves. We no longer do our annual, huge-mongus Project SERVE event every April. Instead, we do something a bit more realistic every month. It actually involves more people in our student ministry and has connected us more with the larger church. Kinda the way it should have been all along…
4. Beach Break. This year we plugged back into Global Youth Camps and spent a week in Laguna beach, FL. The bus ride was brutal, but it provided a life-changing mile marker in our students’ spiritual journey.
5. NOT doing DNOW. We tried something new instead this year…and decided it was mistake. The substitute event was a good experience, but it forced us to realize how effective our old school DNOW weekend still is. This February, our ministry will be joining with several others in our area for a city-wide DNOW. I can’t wait to see what God will do!
6. Studying the scripture with our students. No frills. No goofy games. No flash except Jesus. In a day where student ministry seems to depend on flash and technology, I love to see our students gathering to read and discuss Scripture without some kind of bait and switch in order to get them to hear some snack-sized parable. I’m all for technology (some say too much..), but it is always the Word which endures forever.