By: Pastor Nate Fox
When asked to write for this journal edition, to lay my heart bare on behalf of teen ministry in our church, it was a no-brainer decision for me. For the last fifteen years of my life, from a student at Liberty taking Youth Ministry classes to the current day as a Pastor, fewer things have stirred my dialogical enthusiasm than the Lord’s work among Junior and Senior High students.
Therefore, buckle up – this thanksgiving report you are about to read is my personal offering of worship to our God, my thanksgiving to Him from my very heart. I pray it will both encourage and inform you!
I am thankful, and excited, to see the ways in which other ministry areas directly impact our teens and the ways in which our teens influence the church. It warms my heart to see our current teens serving in children’s ministry on Sunday mornings, pointing those younger than themselves to Jesus in both word and deed. I’m reminded that those very teens were once preschool and elementary-aged children, learning under the careful tutelage of other teens and adults back then. In other words, I’m thankful to see our teens being discipled from an early age and then turning around and investing their time and energy into the next generation. To think about the past, it’s impact on the present, and the current teens shaping the future of this youth ministry makes my heart elated. Praise God!
I am thankful in so many ways for the quality and quantity of volunteer leaders we have in this student ministry. My heart is full to see so many former teens coming back to serve as small group leaders. Many whom are paired up with those who have come to the Lynchburg area seeking to invest deeply into our church. Our volunteers remind me of a fundamental truth that frees and encourages me: we are a team. Not a perfect team mind you, but a team of adult leaders who are learning to love Jesus more and more, and who exhibit a love for Him by serving His bride in teen ministry. I praise God for our volunteers (shameless plug – reach out if you are interested in serving. I love to talk youth ministry with anyone!).
I am thankful, and thrilled, to see our teens wrestling with God’s Word and asking questions along the way. We should all be students of the Word, willing learners who continually request of God’s Spirit to illuminate His Word that we may understand and walk in wisdom. What a formative time for them to ask questions and to wrestle with the faith! I praise God for every time a teen feels the courage to ask, and then further thankful when that very teen is ushered back to God’s Word for answers. I’m grateful to see these things in our ministry!
I am thankful that our teens are catching a vision of God’s heart for the nations, and the ways in which He’s inviting them into His global work. I see it on mission trips, teens eyes opened to the need and a hunger wells up in them to tell about Jesus where He is not known. How I pray that passion is bottled up and used by God for a lifetime!
I pray often (and ask you to join me in prayer) that God would raise up from this teen group His laborers to work in His harvest field. I ask you to join me in loving these teens, earnestly encouraging them in their faith as they are charging toward adulthood and asking some of life’s most prominent questions. I ask you to join me in calling up these teens, that their affections for Jesus may be heightened and good works done in His name.
This is my praise report. This is my heart. Thank you for valuing the teens of our church.