On Thursday night, I was told that two of the youth and one of their parents would be joining me for the service project.  While it wasn’t as many people as I was hoping for, it would be a decent amount and it meant that we met our conference’s Safe Sanctuary requirements (two non-related adults when working with children).  It turned out, however, that only one of the kids came.

Knowing I was in a tough spot with our requirements, I spoke with my pastor (who was at a worship design meeting at the church) about adults who might be available.  We weren’t able to come up with any names, so we decided I would bring the lone child home and would go to the soup kitchen alone.

The four hours at Elijah’s Bowl went by very quickly.  There were seven of us, which seemed to be the perfect amount: enough people to do the work but not too many that we were in the way of each other.  I’m sure we could have used a few extra volunteers, but we weren’t in such bad shape that we couldn’t get the work done.

Though I didn’t count the number of people who came, I would guess we served around 80 people, probably more.  The pour economy is hitting the town (Sunbury) rather hard, as we weren’t able to provide take-out meals for people to bring home for later in the day/week.  I’m very glad I was able to help out because the experience shed a new light on how difficult things are right now.

For the few people who read my blog, if you’re able (and I’m guessing you are if you are fortunate enough to have access to the Internet), please donate food to your local soup kitchens (or grocery store gift cards so they can buy what they need when they need it and not be stuck with a hundred cans of creamed corn).  Additionally, and equally important, try to find time to help prepare and serve meals, whether it be once a quarter or once a month.  Those running soup kitchens rarely have enough staff, so I’m sure they’d love the help.

Like last year, I was a crew leader for a group of six to eight children (depending on the night), all but one of them boys.  The week was a blast, albeit very tiring; here’s a review of the week:

Monday

Sea Creature: Clown Fish
Be-Attitude: Be Obedient
Surfin’ Scripture: Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. (Jeremiah 7:23)
Bible Story: The Call of Gideon (Judges 6:14-15; 6:36-7:21)

Tuesday

Sea Creature: Starfish
Be-Attitude: Be Kind
Surfin’ Scripture: As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourself in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
Bible Story: David’s Kindness to Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:1-11)

Wednesday

Sea Creature: Oyster
Be-Attitude: Be Forgiving
Surfin’ Scripture: And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)
Bible Story: The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21-33)

Thursday

Sea Creature: Sea Turtle
Be-Attitude: Be Bold
Surfin’ Scripture: And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (1 John 5:14)
Bible Story: A Woman Healed (Luke 8:40-48)

Friday

Sea Creature: Sand Dollar
Be-Attitude: Believe
Surfin’ Scripture: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. (John 20:29b)
Bible Story: Jesus and Thomas (John 20:24-29)

By the end of the week, i think I was finally able to connect with the girl in my group.  She was very quiet most of the week, but she came into the church Friday night and wanted to show me a photo of her dog.  It was so awesome to see her open up like that.

Throughout the week I encouraged her to attend Sunday’s closing session and all she would say is “No.”  By Friday night, though, her response was “I think so.”  While it wasn’t a definitive  ”Yes” I was super excited that she had considered coming.

Next year I think we’re going back to Group’s curriculum, as some things, especially the pre-school lessons, weren’t as effective as in years past.  Despite that, we reached out to over 100 children each day–what an amazing ministry!

I went with five members of my church’s youth group, a friend of one of the members and another leader. We had a group site with a nearby church, which allowed us to be much closer to the main and fringe stages than we would have if we had gone by ourselves. We (the eight of us) left Tuesday afternoon at 2:00, arrived at the festival shortly before 4:00 and had our portion of the site set up not too long afterward.

The festival didn’t officially start until Wednesday evening, so we had almost a full day to hang out and have fun. I played frisbee for a while that first day and throughout the week, including my first ever game of ultimate frisbee with a group camping nearby. It’s an awesome game, but quite difficult when playing on a hill!

It would take quite some time to review the entire festival, so I’ll just touch on some of my favorites.

Wednesday:

• Justin Lookadoo
• Leeland
• Skillet
• Switchfoot

Thursday:

• Greg Stier
• Britt Nicole
• Jeremy Kingsley
• Ron Luce
• Family Force 5
• David Crowder Band
• Newsboys

Friday:

• Greg Stier
• Paul Baloche
• Bob Lenz
• Group 1 Crew
• Hawk Nelson
• Kutless
• Amy Grant (special guest!)
• Chris Tomlin

Saturday:

• Jeremy Kingsley
• Reggie Dabbs
• Bob Lenz
• Reggie Dabbs
• Barlow Girl
• Jeremy Camp
• tobyMac

And lastly… for those of you who’ve heard about how tarps are put down on the hill each morning, I found a video on YouTube of Saturday morning’s “tarp race.” It just so happens that Saturday wasthe only day where people had to go back and wait 30 minutes.

Overall, the event was pretty decent, though I didn’t think it was as good as the previous week’s conference at Messiah College or a training held by Group a few years ago. My main gripe was that the training was more theoretical than practical, so instead of going home with lots of examples and ideas to try, I came home with lots of conversation starters for me and the other youth leaders. Conversation starters would be great if I had lots of time to invest in youth ministry, but I’m neither a full- nor part-time youth leader, so any time I do have comes after my 40+ hour a week job.

Would I recommend the conference to other youth leaders? Most definitely, as long as they understand going in that they’re not going to be talking with their staff on the ride home about all the great ideas they can put in place.

This year, the youth and leaders decided on a theme of “Jesus is our hope.” The idea primarily came from a popular YouTube video that shows a young woman who was very close with Christ but was torn away and distracted by her boyfriend, greed, drugs and alcohol, etc. Eventually, the young woman realizes that her only hope is in Jesus and, as a result, he breaks through all of the tempters to save the girl.

The teens used the skit (which they performed!) as the service’s sermon. The youth also chose three scripture readings for the morning:

The Parable of The Wise and Foolish Builders

²⁴“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The Parable of the Sower

³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”

⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables ¹²so that,
” ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

Comfort for God’s People

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸ Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

The services were extremely moving and the youth received wonderful compliments from the congregation; all of the credit, though, must go to God, as during our last couple practices, I had no idea how we were going to get through the services because we just weren’t prepared.

The skit was filmed during the early service, so if I’m able to get a copy of it, I’ll post it here for all to see.