From "Chaos" to "Everlasting"

The past two weeks have been really exciting for me.  Ok, so I get really excited about lots of stuff every day, but this is a legit level of excitement.  Why, you ask?  Because I am filling a hole in my life that I have been sorely missing ever since I moved away from East Lansing:  working with middle school and high school aged youth.

I was a leader in the middle school program called "Chaos" at RiverView Church in Holt, MI before I moved out west.  I got to have some crazy awesome relationships with some of the most amazing girls and leaders ever, and I miss them dearly.  For brief proof of how much I love them, why I love them, and to continue to capture your attention, I shall briefly employ the use of photographs (many of these were taken by the very talented Mike Kates, and you should check out his photography here!).

Why I love working with teenagers:

1. You are allowed to play crazy games with them.  Like "Ninja," which I really suck at.

2. They are beautiful, inside and out! :)

3.  They keep you on your toes.  Ever have NINETY-FIVE 7th and 8th graders come to a lock-in???  That'll keep you more on your toes than anything else I have ever experienced in this life.

4.  I love them.  Seriously, I love them enough to let them cover me with snow.  Which I have a huge hatred towards.

5.  You can tire them out at retreats by making them run through 3 feet of snow until they are no longer hyper.  And they don't even question your motive!!

6.  You get to let your inner goof free!!  Case in point, the above "Jedi-Snuggie-Warrior" (she is only sighted at the afore-mentioned all-nighters with obscene amounts of teens).

Convinced of my love for my kid-os yet?  Good.  Back to the current reason for excitement.

I've been searching for a new church family here in SLO to get involved with for about five months.  There are so many wonderful churches in the area that are all strongly rooted in the truth of scripture that I've had trouble committing to one church family and have been attending a different one every week almost.  But lately I've been attending Mountainbrook Church (or "Mb") and have decided that this will be my home church in SLO.

They have a fantastic opportunity for me to serve with their youth, and I have been in the process the past two weeks of applying for a staff position with their junior high and high school youth group called "Everlasting."  This is crazy exciting for me, because I have really been aching for some youth in my life, and getting this process started is super encouraging.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE teaching undergrads, but sometimes its nice to let my professional side stay at home while I play games and let my inner teenager be refreshed.

I will be in the "trial period" for about 3 months before I officially commit to be a member of the leadership team.  What this consists of is just hanging out with the youth on Sundays and Weds nights and getting to know them, "Everlasting" as a whole, and the other leaders.  The evaluation period is an opportunity for me to check them out pretty thoroughly and vice versa.  As of right now, I really feel like this is where God is calling me to serve in the church, but its nice to know that I will get to have open and honest discussion about becoming a staff member with all of the other staff before officially committing to it.

I've also learned quite a bit about taking an honest look at my spiritual gifts during this past week, but I think that topic deserves a post all its own, so we'll leave this one with a "to be continued" teaser :)