Remembering the Youth

Undoubtedly the hardest part in moving from Michigan to Uganda has been having to bring closure to the youth group I served as pastor over for the last two years. There’s little comparable to the privilege of doing life with a group of individuals over a period of time and watching the Lord both work in their lives and mold them as well as in your own. Amber and I love those you see in these pictures and are so thankful that we were blessed with the opportunity to work with them.

Whether it was throwing gold fish on someone’s face covered in peanut-butter, pulling an all-nighter, or being there when life hit an unexpected bump in the road, this youth group has been a blessing to Amber and myself. We can’t wait to continue praying for the youth at Bethel and one day, years from now, see where they are and what God has them doing.

On our last Sunday as staff members at Bethel, we had a youth service which was amazing. It was smooth, simple, and totally made for an atmosphere of worship. In the evening we had one last youth group. It was there I shared just a few brief thoughts that I wanted to leave the youth with. I wanted to post them here both for the youth to have them recorded somewhere, and to just give others some food for thought.

I encouraged the youth to:

1 – Begin a regular study of who God is through his word and other means. I would often touch on this and the main point here is simply to make it one of our greatest aims in life to grow as a Christian.

2 – Learn to pray about everything: Spouse, college, job, etc. And, be specific and honest in praying; have some fun with it!

3 – Don’t limit yourself because of your self-image. Discover how God views you and how great his love is for you, and experience the freedom which comes from this. Then, if there’s something you’re passionate about, that your heart desires, not matter how great, go and do it, for there's no limits with what our God can do.