HS Small Group 6/9/09

So I am here at the Orchard with my high school small group.  I’ve tapped into their free wi-fi so I am actually going to post live updates as my teens are out having spiritual conversations and sharing the Gospel.  We have 6 of our normal crew of 10 teens out tonight but they are super pumped.  Andrea, one of my rising evangelists, is really finding a groove on Tuesday nights.

When we started a few months ago she was the most nervous, not even sure how to share her faith.  As she has engaged people in conversations she has realized this can be exciting and quite the thrill.  Tonight, she actually brought a friend with her and let me know that he is shy and quiet but she is going to coach him along the way tonight and get him to the place where he’ll step up and have conversations tonight.  Her goal with him is simply to get him talking…kinda reminds me of where she started a few months ago.

So the plan for tonight: 2 groups of 3 teens, armed with a few copies of Greg’s book Venti Jesus Please. 

• 7:32pm Andrea’s group just came back and got done talking to a boyfriend/girlfriend couple.  The girlfriend is a Christian but the boyfriend is not.  They chatted for a few and gave them a copy of VJP to read together in hopes that the book would be a tool for the girlfriend to talk to her boyfriend.
• 7:37pm Marissa’s group went up to a group of 5 teens waiting for a movie and got shut down right out of the gates.  It happens like that sometimes, where people don’t even want to start the conversation.  We earn our stripes and keep on going.
• 7:45pm Just saw the boyfriend/girlfriend couple walk by.  The boyfriend had the VJP book in his hand meaning it didn’t hit the trash…there’s still hope! 
• 7:57pm 2 of my younger guys just came up to concerned because the older teens have engaged in a spiritual conversation with 6 pretty intimidating characters.  How did I respond?  Gave them a few extra Venti Jesus Please books and told them to offer each of them a book and see if they could jump into the conversation with them.
• 8:04pm Andrea’s and Marissa’s group came back and told me about the encouter with the 6 teens…3 Catholics, 2 church goers, and 1 girls who would only volunteer that God is awesome (but wouldn’t answer who God is).  They gave out 4 VJP’s and hopefully “Cole” will come to church on Sunday.
• 8:10pm just saw the “intimidating kids” reading Venti Jesus Please to each other.  They are leaving the Orchard with books in hand.  God use that book to speak to their heart!

HS Small Group 3/3/09

It was nice to have the day off and relax before heading to HS Small Group tonight.  It was even nicer not having to prepare for the lesson tonight as Marissa, one of my seniors, was leading our discussion. 

This episode of Gospel Journey MAUI was great as it posed an amazing question.  It may even be the most demanding question that is asked of anyone: Who is Jesus?  Makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?  Our group had a great discussion around this questions and answers were similar, but also varied a little, always pointing back to the same Jesus.  He is salvation, our savior, truth, love, forgiveness, grace & mercy, our comfort, fully God and fully man, the Trinity, Son of God, God, and the list goes on and on!  It was amazing.

The teenagers in the episode didn’t have quite as smooth a ride as we did.  The tension builds and the opinions are so much more diverse as this one question does not offer any room for compromise or gray area.  Jesus is either Lord, liar, or lunatic.  Take your pick and your stance, but that’s it.  I believe it was C. S. Lewis who offered the most blunt statement about the whole deal (to paraphrase): don’t insult Him by saying He could have been just a good and moral teacher or prophet.  He never claimed to be that so don’t assume that He was.  He either was who He said He was: God, or He was out of His stinking mind!  Those are the only options He leaves.  We can’t make something up on His behalf.

So, who do you say that He is?

HS Small Group 02/24/09

I don’t think I realized how much I truly missed small group last week until I got to hang out with the kids again tonight.  I love this group of teens and the potential that is in the room.  Tonights episode of Gospel Journey MAUI: What Happens After You Die? delivered incredible discussion and some gut checks around the room.

I always love when we have visitors and teens who have never heard the Gospel before, but tonight the 11 teens in the room all have a relationship with Jesus Christ, which allowed the conversation to go in a slightly different direction.  As we discussed the truths of Heaven and Hell and the reality of each, the teens started getting the big picture that they stand in the gap of their friends and an eternity in Heaven.  It was amazing to see the light bulbs go off!

A few cool teen testimonies that came out of tonight as well:

1. Next week, Marissa, on of my senior girls, is going to be leading the Bible study and discussion around Episode 8: Who is Jesus?  I told her I would be there only to assist her and sent her home with the DVD and the Leader’s Guide.  My prayer is that I can mentor and disciple who so she can lead a small group next fall when she starts college.
2. Matt, Marissa’s boyfriend, accepted Christ back in early January and asked me to baptize him!  I am out of town this Sunday at GROUP’s NYMC but the following Sunday, March 8th, is going to be Matt’s public celebration of the decision he has made to follow Christ.

I’m telling you, I love what I get to do with these teens!

HS Small Group 1/20/09

Tonight was the best night we have had as we have gone through the Gospel Journey MAUI.  We watched and discussed episode #3, which was a continuation of the question: “What is the purpose of life?”  There were several reasons that tonight was incredible:

1. Matt, who has been attending small group for a few months with his girlfriend Marissa, accepted Christ tonight!
2. The discussion gets better and better every week and I am often surprised by the teenagers who are opening up and sharing.
3. I bought the teens bright colored (matching the GJM colors) composition notebooks for them to begin journaling in.  Tonight, their first entry was journaling their thoughts on the purpose of life.
4. We continue to see new faces every week.  Our kids are inviting new friends to small group.

As you can see, we have a lot to celebrate.  Gospel Journey MAUI has been a great resource for our group as we wrestle through life’s BIG questions.  I love how God continues to show up and do His thing!

HS Small Group 1/6/09

We kicked off the 2009 year with our small group ministry in 2 big ways this week:

1. The group reached the size & capacity this past fall where we felt confident splitting the group.  Sam has kept a Monday night group at his house and I have taken the small group “plant” and started a Tuesday night group tonight.
2. To help keep momentum going now that the groups are half this size they were, we began the Gospel Journey MAUI DVD-curriculum from Dare 2 Share!

We dove into our MAUI experience tonight in episode 1 of the curriculum which asks the question: “Is there a higher power?” which also led right into another BIG question in life, “How was all this created?”  It was a little slow going at first but the teens began to open up and share their thoughts and opinions about these questions and a variety of others related to this topic.

I was pleased with their willingness to respond and interact, but was a little burdened by a trend that was represented by most of the teens in the room – a reluctance for anyone to say that we can, in fact, know truth with any level of certainty.  These are not teens who don’t go to church or are living a life outside of a relationship with Jesus.  On the contrary, these are kids who know the Lord Jesus Christ, attend on a regular basis, and invite their friends with them.  Several of them felt that even in answering questions about creation vs. evolution or if is there a God or not that everyone can have an opinion but we can’t know with certainty.  At the core of this dilemna, the struggle concerning if there is absolute truth.

As we dialogued they began to see through scripture that we can know with confidence answers to these questions and more.  The good news in all of this: these teens are willing to wrestle with their faith and their doubts in a youth group setting and still seek out scripture as a source for answers.  To be honest, it was refreshing not to get the “Sunday School” and “Pat” answers to these questions we dealt with.  I feel like I can be a more effective Youth Leader having a realistic handle on where these kids are at and what they are going through.  The responsibility I now have is meeting these kids where they are at and helping them find answers to their questions.

Pray for me, Robbin, and Jake as we lead this group as well as the teens we have the opportunity to minister to: Steven, Andrea, Shawn, Brandon, Mason, Tyler, Stephanie, Riley, Marissa, Matt, Breanna, Michael, and the rest of the teens that will join us along this journey!