Ministry Spotlight: U-Turn Students

Today, I was the worst mom ever...Tyler woke up, had some milk, and I had a to-do list. First we went outside and tackled cleaning out the car, quite a feat after a week at camp with teenagers. Tyler sat in the front seat and "drove" while I worked. Then it was time to go to the bank. After that, the grocery store. We finally got home and unloaded the car around noon, and Ty was one tired toddler. So off to nap time he went. He slept for quite some time and must have been up playing in his room for a while because when it was time to leave for church staff meeting I went into his room to wake him up only to find him chilling out watching tv. So we ran off to staff meeting. At staff meeting he was full of temper-tantrums at every mention of the word "no," but I chalked it up to getting close to the 'terrible twos.' On the way home from staff meeting Tyler was starting to get to the screaming at all costs stage, and I'd had enough.......until I suddenly had a realization.....Tyler hadn't eaten anything but milk all day, he had completely missed lunch due to his nap and all he wanted for breakfast that morning was milk. HE WAS ABSOLUTELY STARVING. For those of you who are moms, you know that the single most heartbreaking cry you will ever hear from your children is one of hunger, particularly when there is nothing you can do to fix it for the moment. Don't you know that was the longest car ride home for this momma. I was almost in tears at every red light thinking about how I could have prevented this pain, listening to his hungry cries.

But the Lord spoke to me and said that we have a generation full of kids crying out in hunger in this world...our teenagers. They are hungry for love. The only love they have ever known in this world has been broken. They have come from broken homes, from homes with absent fathers and sometimes mothers, homes with parents that allow them to do what they want because who are they to decide was is right and wrong in this world. They come from homes where the expectations are so low they don't think their parents believe in them, or from homes where the expectations are so high they feel they can never live up. Yes, there are some that grow up with two parents who hold them to a biblical standard with love and responsibility, but let's face it, all kids grow up to a certain age where their parents are no longer their primary influence, their friends are. And who are their friends? The ones who come from broken homes, from homes with absent parents, etc......you see the problem? We have an entire generation that feels cut off from the previous generation like never before. What's worse, we allow the lie to continue that they don't want anything to do with us. The opposite couldn't be more true. This generation is crying out for someone to step up and show them a better way than the world has to offer. A way that doesn't require being so high off drugs you can't feel pain, or getting drunk every night so you can feel like you were the life of the party, or feeling like you have to have some sort of sex to make yourself feel like you are worth someone else's love. Believe it or not, the teenagers that live these addictive lifestyles hate it. Once they come out of it they all say the same thing: the only thing they miss is the friends that they left behind, but they hoped they would never have to feel the pain they once felt.

I have a New Living version of the bible and all throughout Acts they refer to Christians as followers of "the Way." I just love that, it is the perfect picture of what our entire lives should look like. We have found "THE Way" and now our job is to go back to the highway of life and desperately try to point others towards the narrow path. That is our call for this next generation. Let's not leave them racing towards death and destruction, let's answer their hungry cries! Let's point them towards "the Way" with everything we have.

How? What can we do to break the cycle? Well there are some simple ways, as well as some not so simple but definitely rewarding ways.

Simple: Pray, Pray, Pray! Pray not only for your kids, but for all of our amazing teens in our student ministry, pray that they stay strong to the call that God has on their lives, pray that they not give into the temptation to fall back into familiar patterns at school, pray that they would be bold in their witness for Christ, pray that they would start a movement of purity and holiness in an environment where that is unheard of and even laughed at. Pray for the schools that our kids attend (Central High School, Timber Creek, Fossil Ridge, Kell High, Glenview Christian....) Pray that the students would have a strong hunger for the Word of God. Pray that their daily walk and relationship with Christ would remain fascinating to them. Like I said, PRAY!

Semi-Simple: Engage with them! Whenever you see anyone at all from this generation, prove to them that our generation hasn't given up on them. Be encouraging, ask them what they are reading in their bible, tell them about your walk with Christ, tell them what you are currently struggling with, ask them to pray for you right then and right there. Don't let what God has done in them slip away from them. They are supposed to be the immature ones, but we are not! We have got to step up and fight with our words and our actions. Show them that they are important to you by talking to them. They may seem skeptical at first, but once you prove to them that you are really listening, they will be putty in your hands.

Not so simple: Really step up to the plate by volunteering your most precious commodity: your time. Show up to our student services and activities. Just simply be there. Our services on Wednesdays bring a lot of painful subjects to the surface, be there as a shoulder to cry on. It's ok if you don't have all the answers for them, most of them just want to be heard, (and even if you did have the answers they will probably try it their way first!) Get to know the kids and become a part of their lives. You won't regret it!

Not even a little-bit simple: Take on a mentoring role with one of our students. Agree with them to meet once a week for a coffee (for you, a monster for them.) Hold them accountable, be their sounding board for advice. Pray for them in front of them so they learn how to pray, let them pray for you, its great practice. Talk about where you are at in your bible and what you gleam from it so that they can learn how to find life inside the pages. Tell them you are proud of the person they are becoming. Help them through the rejection and hard times. Live your roller coaster life in front of them so that they know that when tough times come that if they endure they will find joy in Christ!

All in all, we need to do everything we can to point our starving children to the only One that can truly satisfy them. As our teens hungrily launch themselves at the things this world has to offer we have to choose to stand up and show them the way. You moms know I didn't leave Tyler in the car when we got home. Yet all too often, we ignore the cries of this generation. Who is going to answer their cries? Who is going to feed them?

I will.

What about you?

~Laura