My head is spinning. Or maybe that is just my calendar. After a wonderful week of Vacation Bible School we went on a mission trip to the Baptist Children's Home. Both adventures were well worth the energy we spent. Neither one could have been completed without the faithfulness of our youth group. As a matter of fact, it has served me in a personal sense as a reminder of the talents these people posses.
In VBS they decorated, acted, directed, taught, and cleaned up. During the mission trip they repaired volley ball courts for a fundraiser, cleared brush, pulled weeds, and even split firewood. Much of this work was done in the heat of the day.
It seems to me the older guys most enjoyed displaying their muscular wielding of axes and mauls in the firewood splitting work. Wood flew left and right and it was a pure display of testosterone.
Over the course of these last ten days it seems to me that everyone participated by displaying servant hearts with great attitudes. It is the markers of life like these that make a pastor proud of his flock.
After reflecting on these events today three important truths come to mind.
1. Given the opportunity to lead and the encouragement to do so, most youth will exceed expectations and muster up participation in other youth where adults may have failed.
2. If youth are not given the opportunity to serve they perhaps never will. Youth love to serve and strongly desire to do so. Serving brings them into an identity of belonging to the church body.
3. If adults do not step back and let youth lead, direct, and maybe even fail, then we have harmed both the youth as a future in the church, and ourselves as a humble servant experience would provide.
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