Youth Pastors: Making An Eternal Impact

Raise your hand if you ever attended a church youth group growing up. You know, the ones where you’d meet every Wednesday and Sunday night to have fun, meet up with friends, and play games. Of course, there was always a large group session where you sat and heard teachings from the bible before you broke out into small groups with kids in your same grade class and a group leader. But of all the activities you did and the people you met, one person always stood out from the crowd—the youth pastor. 

Your youth pastor was the guy (or girl) who always had a smile on their face. They were always up for a good time, would laugh and joke around like they were one of you, and had a heart for all the kids that shined through every week as they stood on that stage to talk to them about real-life issues. Your youth pastor more than likely was a person who had a meaningful impact on your life, whether you realized it back then or not. Their entire career was built around investing in you and your fellow students. 

They did this in multiple different ways, such as always being prepared when they were going to preach a message, spending time planning out fun activities or events that would keep things new and fresh each week, and they would reach out to the surrounding community to organize ways to help the students get involved beyond just the four walls of the church building. 

Your youth pastor may have also planned memorable weekend getaways for all the students old enough to stay overnight. Often, these were held at local Christian camps. These weekends were the best because you got to spend an evening (or two) away from home with all your friends. The days were filled with activities like climbing rock walls, navigating a high ropes course, running relay races, eating food that was not healthy but delicious, and staying up past your bedtime, laughing and joking around with some of your closest friends. 

The youth pastor would be at the head of it all, taking charge and ensuring all the students had a fun and safe time as they spoke into them, encouraged them, and taught them biblical truths that would make a lasting and eternal impact. 

Yes, your youth pastor probably did far more for your young development than you may even realize. The amount of time and effort they sacrificed to ensure you and your friends had a great time and learned important life lessons along the way. They were your friend, your confidant, someone to help keep you accountable, your sage council, and your biggest cheerleader. 

So next time you go home to visit, maybe consider looking your youth pastor up if they still live in the area. Offer to take them to lunch and enjoy as you reminisce on old times. Thank them for all the times they were there for you and helped you. Let them know you’re praying for them and the sacrifices they made for you did not go unnoticed. And then, before you say your goodbyes, let them know their investment in you paid off. Because of their leadership, prayer, and guidance, they helped you become the person you are today, and they impacted your life here on earth and your eternity.

Gospel Expedition: Charting a Course for Compassionate Service

One way to engage your campers in christian values and inspire them is through service projects. Service projects inspire compassion in many. They learn to help and serve others, and also meet others who may have different needs than them. The bible teaches us to help others, and practice unconditional love.  Chrisitan values can work well through these compassion projects, and we’ll go over some of the different service projects you can craft to help campers build compassion, no matter the age. 

Food Drives 

Food drives are a good way for campers to help others. 

They learn about those who struggle, who may be going hungry, and provide them with a means to give them what they need. 

Many children can collect cans from others, or even incite others to donate.  This service project not only is good for understanding others, but gives them a sense of community 

Helping At Shelters 

Helping at shelters, whether a homeless shelter, animal shelter, or other place is great.  This can help people learn compassion, especially for others. 

At these shelters, they can also provide a smile for another, and brighten people’s days. 

With this, there are other activities too, such as maybe singing for those in a nursing home or visiting others. 

Cards and Craft Projects 

Cards and craft projects are a good way to brighten up one’s day, and also help kids foster compassion. 

They get to do something nice for someone, even if they haven't met them before. 

Putting together small crafts to give as gifts or even cards for those in retirement communities can be a great way to show compassion, and it’s fun too. 

Leader Emulation 

One way to foster compassion is to look at others, and emulate those actions. 

One thing to look at are leaders. Obviously it’s hard for leaders to grow, and they may falter with connecting their faith with this.

However,through a leadership workshop, a participant can talk about the leaders, perhaps in the bible, different qualities of this, and how to apply that in their lives. 

This can be a great way to really foster development, and instill these teachings. People will know what others are doing, and they can work on improving their wellness on all fronts with this. 

Obviously, this is not easy, but with time and effort, it can happen.  

Cleaning Up the World Around you 

Sometimes, community service isn’t just helping other people, but also beautifying the area around. 

God gave us these places. He tells us to embrace and love nature, and not harm it.  Obviously, not everyone follows this. 

One good service project that campers can love that'll help with improving compassion is by beautifying the area. 

They can clean inside, outside the facility, or even around the park. Get participants to plant gardens around, and they can also work on other aspects too. 

Sometimes by cleaning up the area around you, it puts everyone on the right track to a beautiful, happy world. 

With service projects, it can be a struggle. Obviously, people may not realize the clone action this compassion has to the community. 

But, if you get them to learn about these projects,and help with putting together service projects,such as cards for those who are sick and elderly in church, they’ll be able to grow and foster better wellness over time. 

Obviously it may vary based on a person's needs, but with so many amazing ideas, children of all ages can learn the value of service, and boost their connection with others, including God.