Summer Camp

Last week we went to summer camp with 26 youth and 6 other group leaders. At first the experience was rather intimidating, since this was our first time as the people in charge. Ultimately, though, we are so glad that we got to experience it.
For both of us, this camp did one major thing. It seemed that it was such a wonderful bonding experience for everyone. It provided many opportunities for us to get to know the youth, and for them to get to know us. We walked away with a deeper love for them. We are also so proud of our youth group. (And this is not just because we're biased, although I guess you could say we are). Our youth show a level of such deep, solid maturity that stood out among the crowd of youth groups (all 500 individuals!) They have a wonderful balance of being able to have fun, but to bring it down and focus when it is necessary, which I think gives God a place to move in the group.
It is the greatest thing to see God be faithful to meet you where your are, where He has called you to be. He consistently builds confidence in you, in Him and His ability to work on your heart, grow your passions and enable you to do the thing He has asked you to do. We can honestly say that that is what He did in us at camp.

First Youth Pastor Adventures

This Thursday Seth and I will be going to camp with our youth group. We have both realized how interesting it is to be going as the leaders of our group. This job has really brought us into so many things we have never done before. I guess that is the story of being newly weds, and newly embarking on our life journey. There's good stuff happening in our youth group. It seems like every week it gets easier and easier to interact with them, and we are secretly pining for recruits to LIFE (Hehe). Let's just say we have seen some youth who have some huge potential for being in the ministry in one way or another. It's so great to see young people (that makes me feel old, but I guess I am technically a young people too) so excited to follow God and do what He asks.

We have also recently been able to establish connections with other youth pastors in the area. It is exciting to see that we will be building up a network of people who are in the same boat we are who can encourage us and who we can encourage. It will be a great opportunity to be there for each other in many areas. So this is an update on the youth pastor part of our lives.