This week we dropped 2 of our young’ns off for church camp. We do church camp a little different around these parts: it’s a stay-local, serve-local kind of thing. We bring middle and high school students together for a week of worship, teaching, and games (yeah, that sounds like camp.) But since we’re local, each day students find themselves in some local, um, locale…where they spend the afternoon serving in the community where they live.
We stole borrowed this idea from our good friend Sean Michael Murphy and the kind folks at the Vineyard Church in Cincinnati. This is our 3rd year of Summer of Service, and it seems to be gaining some steam.
This is Lilly’s first year of SOS. Levi is one of the “older guys” now, and they both were excited about serving in the community with their friends. As we pulled into the parking lot, some students ran over to greet them/us. It was fun to watch the groups of students playing games, sitting in the grass talking…
I felt a little pang of “I miss this.”
That’s where the apron strings get cut. It really has nothing to do with letting my kids go to camp. It has everything to do with letting go of this youth ministry that I’ve poured myself into for the past 12 years. SOS (and other things like it) used to be my baby. I dreamed about youth ministry, lived and breathed it, poured myself into it for 20 years. I majored in youth ministry, and for most of my life could only imagine a world with me leading the charge.
So this week has been a little tough emotionally. I still believe that the changes we’ve made are good. I love my role as the pastor of Midtown (one of Calvary’s worship gatherings.) The change has been great for my family. The folks who are leading the student ministries of Calvary are doing a great job.
But I’m learning that the cutting of the apron strings takes more than a new job title and a celebration.
If you think about it, please pray for the students and leaders who are serving all around Happy Valley this week, and the leader who misses the action…
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