I was not involved in Young Life as a young person.  I married into a family that had been heavily involved in Young Life, my kids both participated, and my husband was on the Committee.  I was happy for them to do their thing, and I was happy to have absolutely nothing to do with it.  My passion has been to teach the Bible to adults; I loved the “advanced” lessons of the Bible and wanted to share those with mature believers.  I used to say I did not have an evangelical bone in my body.  I also completely avoided anything to do with children or youth ministry.  While my husband was involved in the middle school ministry at our church, I was part of our jail ministry, teaching a Bible study there.  I always said I would much rather be with incarcerated women than with the middle school church kids!

When my daughter was in high school, one night her Young Life Campaigners group babysat for a YoungLives meeting.  She loved it and came home inspired and enthusiastic.  I was happy for her involvement, but that was it.  Later, I heard our Area Director wanted to start a YoungLives group in our area.  After hearing about this several times, I started feeling that little nudge that comes from the Spirit.  I met with the Area Director and started praying.

In meeting to discuss the possibility of this new ministry, I offered to reach out to the local school to find out about connecting with local teen moms.  I fully expected that in about a month, we’d be able to invite girls to our first YoungLives club.  And of course, it didn’t turn out that way.  Instead, it was more like the Amazing Race.  I literally spent months tracking down a contact, playing email and phone tag, finally meeting with one person only to find out she’d moved on but who gave me the name of a different organization, and on and on.  It was clearly not going to be as simple as I had expected.

Finally, we were able to meet with the principal at our local “alternative” high school, figuring that’s where teen moms were likely to be.  He told us they only had one teen mom, but “there are 80 other kids here who need you.”  The Area Director, used to dealing with bureaucratic delay in getting clubs allowed at public schools, asked what paperwork we needed and the process for getting approved.  He answered, “I approve you.  Can you start next week?”  And that was the beginning of a new Young Life club.

That next week, I figured I would go and hang out in the back, looking for any chance to connect with the one teen mom on campus.  But when I got there, I ended up jumping in.  My first moment as a Young Life leader was at my first ever Young Life Club.  I loved it!  And that became a weekly commitment even as I continued to seek out teen moms.

I have to be honest, that although I have developed a heart for being with these teens, I have NOT developed a natural ability for teen ministry.  There are many awkward days there where I think, “I’M SO BAD AT THIS!”  But I know God wants me to be there, so I keep showing up to look for what He is doing.

Meanwhile, I was finally cleared to tutor at a nearby alternative high school.  There I was paired up with a 17-year-old mom who had an 18-month-old child.  Over weekly discussions of economics and essays, I was impressed by her maturity and hard work as she struggled to finish her diploma, and I enjoyed the few moments we had to talk about her life as we waited for her computer to load.  Seeing her was often the highlight of my week.  This was the beginning of a very special friendship that has continued even after she graduated and moved farther away.

About the same time, I finally reached a contact in the local teen-mom program, and we had the opportunity to bring a literacy project (painting personalized bookshelves and filling them with donated children’s books) to the girls.  The following year, we were able to join the girls at the program several more times, bringing a craft project, discussion questions, and food.  On a few other occasions, we planned outings for the girls and their babies.  The program supervisor welcomed our involvement as an opportunity for the girls to bond, and we began to develop relationships there.   Now, almost two years later, we are working towards having a YoungLives Club, which we have been eager to do so we can talk more about Jesus and offer a relationship with him as well as ourselves.

In the past two years, not only has God changed my heart about being involved in youth ministry, He has completely transformed my heart regarding evangelism.  I always felt like it was something I just couldn’t do.  I knew all the steps and formulas you were “supposed to say,” but that just never felt right to me.  In contrast, I have come to appreciate the Young Life style of telling kids about Jesus.  I realized:  I love Jesus, and I can do that!  So, instead of feeling like I have to make a cohesive argument that would make someone want to be saved, I just talk about how amazing Jesus is so that the kids will want to get to know him, too.  Towards the end of the year after we’d been talking about Jesus for months, I was scheduled to give the “Cross Talk.”  This was a little intimidating because I felt like the stakes were high, but as I prepared and prayed, I realized how eager I was to share this message with the kids I have come to love.

I am so grateful for the ministry of Young Life.  I appreciate its approach to reaching kids with the love of Jesus, and I’m thankful for how God has used it in my life as well.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20