April 4th 2005

Why even bother with youth ministry?

The real names involved in these situations have been changed. We want to protect the privacy of the individuals and their families, but all of these things have really happened in a relatively very small group of students at our church in only the past 2 years. It scars me to think of what goes on with students in our city who are currently outside the 4 walls of the church. Not to mention what must go on in our inner city. This case study is from an upper middle class, church next door, in one of the many very nice areas of Huntsville, Alabama.

Sarah, age 16, dropped out of school and moved back to Ohio to be with her birth mother, who had Sarah at age 17. Sarah confessed to a small group of girls her past mistakes and re-committed her life to sexual purity at a true love waits event. Only a few weeks later she became pregnant and is now due in June. Nathan was punched in the face by his father with a closed fist to "keep him line." Austin was sent off to a special school to work through all of the issues he has from being sexually molested by his father as a boy. Austin had also walked in on his father having an affair. He was just a young boy and accidental brought all this into the light. Joey found his step dads stash of marijuana and his mom kicked his step dad out of the house for it. His step dad is back home now after rehab, but this 7th grade boy doesn't understand why things are not the same. Lora a petite freshmen thought she was fat, so she stopped eating, and started cutting. She was only experimenting, but what if her Christian friends hadn't done something about it. Emily wonders why her real dad chose her step mom over her, and why she had to move out, when he chose his new family over his old one. Eric killed Amy in a DUI car accident last Christmas and is still waiting to be tried as an adult for vehicular homicide. Matt and Rick started smoking pot, later they found Matt's dad's very own stash of marijuana. Matt's dad was their very own Sunday school teacher and a very successful business man in our community. Now Rick is dealing drugs and just wont turn around. "My Sunday school teacher is very successful. If worked for him, why can't it work for me," he justified? Ricks mom doesn't know what to do. Seven out of ten of our 7th grade boys in bible study have been impacted by at least one divorce. Julies mom walked away from her whole family to move in with, and later re-marry, a local school's principle, who also abandon his family. One 11th grade girl Jessica died being hit by a car last week, another 8th grade girl also named Jessica has been laying in a coma after being in a car accident for over 30 days already. Joe and Mike are 11th grade brothers who wont obey their adoptive parents, they drink heavily, do drugs, and go on violent rampages tearing apart their house while they wait to go visit their birth mother and father who is now dying of cancer. Andy was caught on a surveillance camera steeling the key to the churches golf cart. His non-Christian friends who came to our ski camp were caught trying to get our girls ! to sneak out and play strip poker with them. Fred decided to swing to political extremes and gave up on church and now calls himself an atheist. Mark is still on our Sunday schools rolls and when we called to try and track him down he told us he liked to play with knives and now worshiped the devil. We asked around at his school and even talked to him. He is one of the best dressed Gothic kids on our high school campus. It is amazing what all you can do with the color black.

Times have changed. Generations of the effects of Judges 2:10 have riddled major holes and hurts in the lives of todays students. Will we stand up together for the students at our churches and for the students who are not yet our churches? We must vow to never let Judges 2:10 happen again? We must pass JESUS on. How can we reach the world for Christ if we can't even pass on the good news of our Lord and Savior to our own students? They must KNOW HIM. Their eternity is at stake. Say must say it loud and back up our words with actions. "NO MORE! NEVER AGAIN! To Judges 2:10."

"AFTER THAT whole generation had been gathered up to their fathers, ANOTHER GENERATION grew up, who neither knew the Lord nor what He had done for Israel." Judges 2:10

Thank you for taking a stand with us for ANOTHER GENERATION. We really do need each other. We are all in this together. Let's stop looking at all the giants in the land and go take back our promised land. The church will be a better place for it. Imagine what could happen if we empowered and equipped people for this cause. Your student ministry can make a real kingdom difference here in Huntsville. Whatever is in the way, deal with it. The harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few, so let's PRAY TO THE LORD OF THE HARVEST TO SEND FORTH WORKERS!!!!

Can you see it? Pastors and youth pastors working together so God can build his church. Youth leaders catching a vision and answering their Davine calling, rolling up their sleeves, and taking it as it comes. Students coming to know Christ, growing up in their relationships with Him, and being equipped to pass Jesus on to the another generation after them. Sure some ground is still hard, some ground is still pretty rocky, and the thorns seem to everywhere. We can't be afraid of getting a little dirty. Life to life disciple making ministry is messy. We must get ready for the harvest. Keep cultivating the soil, God can soften the hardest of hearts. Remove all those rocks, and rebuild the walls of this generation. Tear out and burn those thorns they have no place here anymore, Get to that GOOD GROUND, and plant in that futile soil. God will bring the harvest and HE WILL BE WORSHIPED AND GLORIFIED!