Column: I'll go anywhere but there

Welcome to my blog! Again, thanks for checking it out. This week's newspaper column is near and dear to me. I don't have much else to say about it, because I think I cover it pretty well in my writing. Read it, enjoy it and share it with others. Much love!

original publication date: Friday, October 17, 2014
Random Writer
I'll go anywhere but there

Almost a year and a half ago, I was asked to go as a counselor for church youth camp. I said I’d think about it and would see if I could get the time off. I knew I was needed, that’s why I was asked. But in my heart of hearts, I had just jumped off into an abyss that I always told myself I would avoid.

My previous work in children’s ministry showed me one of many things. I would tend to cringe when students got older, because I felt like their attitude and behavior crumbled into this mess known as the teenage years. I struggled to connect with them and as a result, I would tell myself, “I’ll work with babies, kids, college students and even the senior saints, Lord, but I’ll never work with youth.”

I thought about it, and I was able to get off. I took that as meaning that God wanted me to go for some reason. I didn’t know the group that I would go with, but I had already clumped them into my stereotype of teenagers. (Insert Debbie Downer face.) When I would ask myself why I was going again, I would remind myself I was needed. The girls and all of the students needed someone they could go to. And honestly, it was giving me a way to get out of town for a few days.

All of these reasonings and scenarios played out that week. But I never imagined that I would walk away from that week with a changed heart in regards to youth ministry.

I loved getting to hang out and know the students, especially the girls. Whether we were talking in the dorms or walking to the lake, a week away from everything (the camp is literally in a giant hole in the ground...you can’t even get cell phone reception) gives you the chance to get to know about the students. Who they are, what makes them tick, why they do what they do. The different backgrounds give you only a glimpse of their lives and their mindsets. And you’re reminded that the teen years are bad enough, and with the way that society has played out, it’s even harder. They NEED someone to go to, someone to be there for them. And if that person is a female youth group counselor, who can not only listen to their struggles but try to offer grace and truth through the Scripture and be an example to them, then I wanted to be that person. My heart was softened in a way I never thought it would be, all thanks to a God who shifted my vision toward an area I never wanted to see, but He wanted me to look toward.

Since that year of camp, God has allowed me the chance to work with our youth on Sundays and Wednesdays. We’ve had fun activities, fundraisers, gone on a winter retreat and this past summer embarked on yet another awesome year of youth camp. God even granted me the opportunity to teach our youth girls and if they never got anything out of the lessons, I know I surely have.

But who am I to be used in this capacity? I’m just a single twenty-something female who has fallen short so many times. But my marital status or age or gender don’t dictate whether I can actually take part in a God-honoring and/or “successful” ministry. The God-given desire to see our students saved from spiritual death to life everlasting is what motivates me. To one day see that the students want to come to church to spend time in the Word and learn something that can change their lives, not just hang out with their friends.

And in comparison to so many others, I’m such a newbie in youth ministry. I still ask my oldest brother and his wife, who spent around a decade in youth ministry, about how to reach out to our students--what I can do to show that I’m available to them, that I want to help them. I still walk around on so many Sundays and Wednesdays unsure of my role. But something I’ve learned from the beginning always comes at me: God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. And as long as He’s given me this enthusiasm to serve sixth through 12th graders in our church, then I want Him to lead and guide me so He can show me how I can do that while glorifying Him.