Tonight was a milestone in the life of our youth group and youth ministry of our community.
When I moved to town 15+ ago, there were a few youth pastors already getting together to pray, and once a month they’d gather their respective groups for a night of worship and prayer. Unity became one of our priorities, and a few key things fell into place. We ended up spending 3 summers partnering together, meeting every Wednesday night at our barn in Boalsburg. It was tremendous, and spawned so many good things. I loved the brotherhood that Jonathan Weibel, Jarrod Sechler, Keith Davis, Matt Hoffert, and I experienced
Then things happened, and things stopped happening. There hasn’t been much unity or togetherness of late.
I believe that’s about to change. I’ve been meeting with some of the local youth pastors, and we gathered our groups for a night of prayer and worship, which we’re calling Metro Worship, as a head nod to the past (I’m dubbing Jonathan Weibel as the godfather/grandfather of Metro!)
There were a good number of youth groups represented tonight, and the buy in from youth pastors seems to be growing. The AOG worship band (all students) led us really well, and my lovely wife created some wonderful interactive prayer stations to help students connect with Jesus and pray. Jarrod was spot on with his talk, even down to calling an audible with his ending. He had the students all gather by schools and break into small groups to pray together. Then he brought the worship team back up to lead us in one more jumpy worship song–and made us move all the seats to create a big open space for us to jump and shout and dance and sing.
I love being a youth pastor in this town. I have seen good days in youth ministry, but I believe that the best is yet to come! I am so grateful for those who have gone before us, paving the way for what God wants to do now. And I LOVE the other youth pastors and leaders that are serving in our town.
4 Comments
Chris Irvin · March 6, 2014 at 8:52 pm
Stac,
So good to hear that there has been a new energy in SC with youth min. I was telling Dave Fisher about metro worship not too long ago, hopefully those guys made it out. If you all are looking to keep it up, Salt ‘n Light would love to come in for a night and provide the programming. We have several dates open in the Summer. We were at Mount Nittany UMC last year and would love to come back and worship with the community in State College. Glad things are going well with you…crazy to think about all God has done in 15 years and how his spirit is fresh in a rejuvenated form of community and ministry. Blessings ~Chris
stacy · March 6, 2014 at 10:25 pm
Hey Chris, good to hear from you! Dave and the other UMC folks weren’t able to make it because it was Ash Wednesday. They had to stick closer to home! But they’re in for the coming months. The youth pastors are getting together every Friday to talk and pray. I’ll mention having Salt ‘n Light come back this way…
Matt H · March 6, 2014 at 11:57 pm
Glad to hear you’re getting the band back together again, so to speak … I miss hanging out with all you guys!
stacy · March 7, 2014 at 9:47 am
You are surely missed, too. I think about the way God moved, the way we grew together. Thanks for being part of my life.