Tonight we started a six week confirmation group with our teens at OFC. We had 13 youth come out to this...WOW! Praise God. This class has been on my mind for sometime now and I have been looking forward to its start with nervous anticipation. You see I am comfortable speaking to 200, 400, 600 people on a Sunday as i give a sermon. I am comfortable leading small group Bible studies and teaching large group class. When it comes to working with youth and children I feel like I am out of my element. I feel stretched and a little nervous.
I have experinced these moments to be a good thing. These feelings keep me on my toes and pull me out of my normal comfortable routine. I have always discovered God's voice to be clearer when I am out of my comfort zone because I think I am more focused on relying on His help and provision. It is so easy to regularly choose to live in our routines. We find it more desirable to stick with what is familiar to us. However God's plan is to disrupt that routine from time to time in order to do a new thing in us. Think about it for a moment. If you are wanting God to be fresh in your life and constantly doing new things that how can that happen if we constantly focus on keeping our life familiar and our routines routine?
Often times we turn down these chances or turn away from an opportunity to engage in a new thing. We then are missing out possibly on the very moment that God is bringing into our life that could help us take our next step forward. Don't get me wrong. Routines are a good thing. God knows I have plenty of them. But most of us would admit that they dominate the landscape of our lives more so than our willingness to step out on a limb and risk it. Honestly I feel more alive after our class tonight. I feel as though I had to reach into my heart and soul in a different way. I had to craft my words differently and focus my thinking in new directions. It was actually a growing experience for me. The teens in this group are so awesome and they have so many honest questions. There is a raw believe about them and their life. They are not timid or shy but really focused on things. I have grown more already.
Moments like these make me a better more well rounded leader. They draw me closer to God and help me build better relationships with groups of people I don't normally hang out with all that much. How about you? When was the last time you risked it? When have you tried something out of the routine and hung out with or lead a group of people that were far different than you are used to? God wants to do a new thing in your life. He wants to grow you and stretch you. Let's not fight opportunities to step out on the limb of life. Let's risk it for Jesus Christ and see what He will do to grow our life, enlarge our touch, and expand our territory. It will only happen if we cease experiences like these. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor
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I was curious to see what your comments would be after leading this group as a parent of the youngest "preteen" in the group. I too was nervous how this would go, not about your leadership, but about the fact that my son has been VERY resistant about attending church in the past and often has an attitude with the "attitude" about everything serious being "boring" etc... However, when he heard about the confirmation class he lit up and immediately wanted to be a part of it. Tom and I found this very interesting when we explained that it would take him deep into the meaning of the church, faith etc... and would be very serious and he insisted he really wanted to be a part of it. He was particularly thrilled that "Pastor John will be the teacher and that is SO COOL MOM!"
When he came home, he loved it but wouldn't tell us much about it except that Pastor John was great. I looked through the material he brought home and it looks fantastic. The next day I asked him about what he has to do for this week and he did ask some questions about his baptism and we pulled out pictures and talked about them. (He told me my dress was ugly that I wore...what a hoot.) Anyway.....you did a good job out of your comfort job the first week Pastor John! A preteen boy thinks the Pastor is cool which means he will listen to you, even when he often thinks it's not cool to be serious!!! Thank you! Heather
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