I took a sip of my coffee just before I began this sentence. Coffee is, and of itself, proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. It is my fourth cup (cup being a relative word. The mug I use is large enough to have it’s own tide). I cold brew my coffee, press it, then pour it over ice. I live in the southern part of the United States. We use a lot of ice. We drink our tea over ice and brew it so dark light will not penetrate it (dark as sin and sweet as love). I’ve memorized the caffeine content of most sodas sold here so that I can recite them when one of my youth talks about the ‘buzz’ he gets from an energy drink.
It is cool here, 66 degrees. My father who lives in the Northeast is already talking about snow. Today is an especially good day. The afternoon mail has delivered a box of one gross (144) ping-pong balls. I’m expecting another box before the weekend. I spent a few days last week building a ping-pong ball bazooka from some plastic plumbing pipe and a leaf blower from my garage. It is nearing the end of October so we are nearing the American season of Thanks and will soon plunge headlong into Advent and Christmas. This coming weekend will be my last chance this year to talk about scary monsters and Halloween fun.
My plan is to tell my young people to draw and design a monster based on their worst fears. We will draw on cardboard and then stand the monsters up and throw ping-pong balls at them. We will look up verses about 'fearing not' and God being with us. I’ll then bring out the giant bazooka and we’ll unload a few dozen balls at a time and clear out all of our fears. This particular lesson is for my 11 to 14 year olds. They gather at the church on Sunday afternoons and consume great quantities of unhealthy foods and play games. They meet for an hour and half and if I can squeeze in 20 minutes of Jesus it is a good day.
My older students gather on Wednesday evenings. I’ll be spending this afternoon scouring the newspaper and the internet for current events to talk about. Should young men tuck or untuck when it comes to shirts? Does the finding of pork and beef bones at Stonehenge indicated it’s purpose was really just for a cook-out? What is the most spiritual (NON-Christian) book you have ever read? How do you feel about the DNA tests run on the shroud of Turin and why do you think so many Christians desperately want some kind of physical evidence when everything Jesus talked about was based on faith?
I have been serving at my current church for 15 years. I’ve been in Youth Ministry for more than 25 years. I started out work for an advertising agency in Ohio then quit my job to be a stay-at-home dad when my daughter was born. I took a youth ministry job I was completely unqualified for because the church said I could put a crib next to my desk.
I have worked for multiple denominations but my current one (The United Church of Christ) is the one that has most supported me. They commissioned and licensed me ten years ago.
I have been at this church long enough that I have officiated the wedding of two of my youth and also had to perform a funeral service for a student who wrapped his motorcycle around a tree.
My group is small. Perhaps 25 or so active young people. However my daily 'text' list is more than double that. Students who have gone through the program and have moved on to other adventures still want to be included. I know this is going to sound trite, but every morning I ask God to show me what somebody needs to hear today. I scour the net or my books of quotations and search until something stands out. I text that to everyone. Every now and again I will get a return text that says simply, 'Thanks' or 'I needed that.' I now have my conversation for the day. Solely by text I’m part of a kid’s life. I may not have seen him or her for a month or more but today we have a connection. The church down the road has a youth group of about 1000 students in total. One of my young people used to attend there before he came here. They have stuff there like....money, a live band, a cool multi-screen projection system. I have a leaf blower and some ping-pong balls. I asked my student why he would leave all that to come and sit in a room full of second-hand furniture and eat cookies with me. He said, 'You know my name.'
Youth ministry is going to occur in the 'one.' When one kid texts in the middle of the night to say that her best friend’s father committed suicide… when one kid during a game of do-you-best-impression-of-your-mom portrays mom as an angry drunk...when one kid says, 'How far is too far on a date?' that’s when the lessons go out of the window and it’s all about the relationships you’ve struggled so hard to build.
I do not have desk in my church. I sit at my kitchen table when I work from home. If I had to put on a suit and tie every day I would go stark raving mad. How many offices would let you build a bazooka? I love youth ministry. I’ll tell my governing board it’s just like the one Jesus built to see if they are paying attention.
Steve Case has been in youth ministry for more than a quarter century. He serves as the director of youth ministries at the Windermere Union Untied Church of Christ in Windermere FL, USA. Steve has written countless articles and is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Everything Counts, a book interpreting Oswald Chambers My Utmost, for teens. Steve's most recent novel Father Dark and his children's book Charlie The Flatulent Christmas Angel are available on Amazon.
