Therefore Having Gone

Therefore Having Gone

Monday, February 7, 2011

Day 89 - Youth Ministry Books (Give)

I have been sorting through stacks of books lately.  I have found several from my youth ministry days and have offered them to the youth pastor at our church over Facebook.  Hopefully he'll be willing to take them off my hands.

It's funny now that I think about it.  I left youth ministry for two main reasons.

1)  The average youth pastor serves a church for 18 months before moving on ... or being moved on.  Melissa and I had a couple of toddlers and I wanted to give my kids a more stable life.  That's funny because now we're getting ready to uproot our kids and take them to a foreign country.  So much for stability!

2)  I only got to spend Sunday mornings and one evening a week with most of the teens - with the occasional weekend retreat and week-long mission trip thrown in.  I was jealous of the teachers who got to see the kids on a daily basis week in and week out.  Of course I quickly learned that a teacher is pretty limited in what he can speak of with students in a public school.  Still, I have found opportunities to share Christ in more covert ways.

In Haiti, we'll be able to openly teach about Christ because it will be a missionary school.  I might even get the chance to teach at the Emmaus Bible Seminary that is part of the OMS mission there.

Speaking of the Emmaus Bible Seminary, Stacey Ayars (who serves alongside her husband at EBS) posted a fascinating story on her blog today about one of their students, Junior, and where his enthusiasm for evangelism took him.  It involves "deadly trees"!  Take an extra three minutes and read it here.

One last thing ... if you are of the spirit to pray, please pray for one of my students.  She is an incredibly talented young lady with a huge personality who has endured a rather troubled home life.  But specifically, here's what she said that calls for your prayers and mine:  "I'm pretty sure God hates me." 

If that breaks your heart like it does mine, offer up a little prayer for her to the God who is running toward her with His arms wide open.  Thanks.

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