These memories range from early mornings at the high school giving out donuts to picking a dozen guys up in a van every week for ‘Taco Tuesday’ to watching a student I have prayed for relentlessly come to know Jesus as his personal Savior. Through long drives to a high school 30 minutes away, I also got to meet my future wife who leads Young Life alongside me, which has been the most unexpected and biggest blessing of my life!Īs a Young Life leader, I have made memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Young Life has been the perfect way for me to share my faith with those who have no clue who Jesus is or how He can radically change their lives forever. I firmly believe that there comes a point where it is difficult, if not impossible, to continue maturing your relationship with Christ if you are not actively and purposefully sharing your faith. I have seen so much growth in my own walk with the Lord through being a Young Life leader. We earn the right to be heard by our high school friends instead of trying to immediately ‘win them over’ by showing that we love them for who they are, not what they have done or will do, just like Jesus. To do this, leaders meet students where they are by attending sporting events, going to plays, and greeting students before school in the morning with donuts and big smiles! We want to show them who Jesus is by how we treat them long before we tell them who He is with our words. This presents the obvious problem of how to meet these students. Young Life is a para-church ministry that seeks to “introduce high school students to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.” Young Life is unique as it reaches high schoolers who have never and often would never step foot into a church. Within the first two weeks of my freshman year, I headed out to the involvement fair to see what student life had to offer and was greeted by more clubs, organizations, and ministries than I knew what to do with! I ended up coming across the Young Life table, which began an adventure I never could have expected. I tucked this advice into the back of my head and did not think too much of it. Before I got to Cedarville my freshman year, I asked my youth pastor who had graduated from Cedarville just a couple of years prior, “What’s your biggest advice for my time at Cedarville?” He took a second to think and told me that his biggest encouragement to me and any other student at Cedarville would be to purpose to get off campus and share the Gospel with people in the local communities who have never heard it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |