Fantastic Retreat

I love eastern Washington. It's a good place. When a great place like that is combined with a purpose, like a youth retreat, things just can't get any better. Three of us took a few students over to bridgeport state park for the weekend. Last year we went to Chelan. Bridgeport is nearby, just a little east. It's near the town of Bridgeport(woah, I know), which is near the town of Brewster, neither of which are large.

The retreat started with us leaving the church in two shifts. I headed out with the first load in parent's van while Kyle stayed back. One of the students that thought about coming on the retreat couldn't make it till a little later, so Kyle had one car wait for him while my van left to set up the tents. This is a huge advantage of a small youth group/small retreat. While we would have hoped for a few more kids to come, I think the kids that were there were there for a reason.

We ate dinner on the road, and after an enormous trek of near 300 miles, we landed in Bridgeport. Our group site was beyond huge. It could have slept 60, but we had 8. Awesome. The grass provided a great space for running, climbing on rocks, playing kickball, and all things good.

At youth group, I can easily (and often!) get frustrated with how little it seems that the kids listen to anything that is said, being either directions or (more importantly) a message. We had individual devotions, small groups, and one talk on acceptance by Kyle.

Kyle gave us three biblical examples of acceptance. All were very powerful, and I think the guys in my small group grasped their meaning later that night when we sat up on a huge rock and discussed what it means to be accepted, chosen, loved, and wanted by God. We dug pretty deep with both the questions that kyle gave us, as well as some that I brought up that flowed from where our discussion was going. At that point, God took my doubt about the students' growth and listening to the message and shook it upside down. As I neared the end of the list of questions and any discussion that was related and flowing, I expected to climb down the rock and continue my night of smores and games. Instead, the guys started asking questions... tough questions about doubts, acceptance, God, and all other things related. It felt like an "a-ha!" moment right then. I could see on their faces their desire for acceptance, and also their begining of understanding of what God has done for them. It was the most beautiful moment of the retreat, and maybe even my entire year.

I think in youth ministry I get too often bogged down with the number of attendees at our events, what activities we have planned, or even what I think that God working in these students' lives should look like. When these expectations are missed, we feel let down, disappointed, and at times worthless. We begin to question why we're doing what we're doing. It's in these moments we need to remember to turn to God and trust that he's placed these students in our care for a reason that only He knows. We need to trust that He's doing something inside the hearts of these students, just like he did inside of us years ago, that we can't always see. When I think in worldly ways, this waiting for what feels like forever is the worst thing about youth ministry. When I remember to ask God for wisdom about this challenge is when I see that this is the best part of youth ministry: getting to experience God changing lives firsthand, having the opportunity to support and play a role in this, and the beauty of the wait while God does something to their hearts that I can neither see or understand.