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"Thank you so much for the all nighter. I never felt like I fit in at "Chaos" because everybody already had friends and everything. After the all nighter I have people to hang out with can be myself at Chaos now."
Like almost everything, if I'm honest, there are parts of jr. high minstry that wear me out. Not surprisingly, one of those things is Allnighters. It's a jr. higher's dream come true: stay out all night with friends doing fun stuff without my parents. As a youth leader, I regret to say I don't share the same enthusiasm. It literally takes me days to recover from 12 hours of lazer tag, roller skating, broom ball, scavenger hunts, and cheeseburgers at 2:00 a.m. Just when I'm about to feel sorry for myself that at almost 28 years old I'm "getting too old for this", I get the facebook message above. I snap back into realizing why we do all the crazy events that we do. There is a saying that says something about when you share the gospel with the hungry they can't hear you over their grumbling stomachs. I think the point is that ministry becomes more effective when we meet the physical needs of the people around us. If a student shows up to youth group worried about where they'll sit, if they'll sit alone, if anyone will talk to them, if anyone likes them, if they'll know anyone, etc. they will be so preoccupied worrying that it will be tought to get them to relax and actually focus on the message. But if those "physical" needs are taken care of: they feel they are liked, they belong, they connect, they are accepted they can much more easily get their eyes and their concern off of themselves (or at least a little more off of themselves) and onto God's Word. One of a jr. highers main desires is to connect. As youth leaders it's so important that we provide these opportunities for conncection keeping in mind that a jr. highers love language is "fun". My idea of fun and theirs might be a bit different, but it's a small price to pay for a student to finally feel at home when they're at church. Now we are one step closer in what we're really here to do!
Oh and the picture above is a high schooler I found asleep in our storage closet as he waited for his parents to pick him up.
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