Tonight begins the Vida Nueva Church of the Nazarene youth group meetings in our house!

For about a year and a half now, I’ve been the NYI pres at our church and for at least half of that time, I’ve felt an urging from God to start some sort of mid-week bible study with these kids. I’ve tried a couple of things, but things never quite worked out. Either no one showed up, or those who showed up left early, or the parents didn’t quite support the activity. I’ve run into a few pretty big stumbling blocks and have been quite frustrated at times. Now I have Rick working with me to make this happen. I’ve always felt led toward ministry for this age, but I would say that he is more than led in that direction. I’d say he has a passion for it. He sees the need for it, hears me talk about it, and he makes it happen. No more just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

I think one of the obstacles to this happening so far has been the unique culture of our church. As most of you know, Rick and I attend a Spanish-language church. This means that we have a very diverse Anglo and Hispanic mix in the congregation. Not only does everyone speak slightly different Spanish, but we also come from different cultures. There are some of us who grew up in the church in the US, where youth group was a normal part of our church-going experience. There are others who come from various parts of Latin America, where if a youth group existed at their church, it included “youth” from 11 years to about 30 years of age.

We don’t have a lot of youth at our church, but that doesn’t matter. Those who are there need something. Actually, if everyone were to show up at the same time, we would have 10. But they never show up all at the same time. I would say that we regularly have 5 kids who range between middle and high school ages, from 6th to 12th grades. That’s a big range to do something all together, but we’re going to try.

And tonight is the big kick off. I have talked with a few of the kids, and we’re expecting at least 6 girls to be there. That is 4 of our regulars, plus 2 friends. I’m really excited!

Tonight we’re using a Past, Present, Future idea. Rick’s going to give his testimony using that theme, and then we’ll talk about where each of us has been, where we are now, and where we’d like to see ourselves in the future. Once we get going, we’d like to do studies that involve media – movies and music. We’ve found studies on “The Passion” and “Narnia” just to name a couple. Plus we’d like to use some studies on newer Christian music, possibly through YLO (Youth Leaders Only).

We’ve straightened up. I still need to vacuum, so they don’t get covered in dog hair. And I’m planning to make a little food to snack on.

So, the lesson is ready. Rick is ready. I’m ready. The kids are ready. The church is ready. The house is almost ready. And the food will be ready. I hope that the families are ready. I especially hope that the parents are ready.

Please pray. Pray that we will let God use us to tell those kids what He wants them to hear. Pray that their hearts will be receptive to God’s message for them. Pray that the friends will feel comfortable coming to a church function. Pray that the parents will reinforce ideas at home that we share tonight.