During my internship last Fall, we were having a time of worship when a staff member came up to me and told me he believed God was leading me to work with and lead youth. I was a bit shocked. I was always more comfortable around people my age and therefore imagined myself working with older people. So a bit uncertain, I simply said, "Thank you, I will pray about that", but didn’t really believe him. Turns out God had a different calling for my life than I had imagined.
However it was in my time at a secondary missionary school that God started to show me that He wanted to raise me up as a leader. I am thinking: "Yes of course! Let’s do this!" not knowing His exact plan. I continued training and learned so much in the process! I began to see the fruit of my work at the secondary school as I began to lead youth groups to reservations and inner city ministries. I learned that I could no longer hide in the crowds or behind staff, because I was now learning to be staff myself. I had to learn very fast that I needed to step up. I needed to help do jobs others did not want to do. I had more responsibility now as a youth leader and I loved it! I loved every minute of it.
At one time, we were prayer-walking and handing out sandwiches to the homeless in Minneapolis. I was paired with two 14-year-old girls who were very shy and didn’t look very enthused to be out on the streets. I knew this was the moment when I had to step up and be an example of boldness and confidence in Christ. As it turns out, these girls stepped up too, and I got to hear them pray out loud (something that was very foreign to them) for a man who reeked of beer and cigarettes and not be scared while doing it.
This is one of the moments when I knew that I could work with youth. If they can start praying for the broken and lost now at age 14, I can only imagine what they will be doing 10 years from now. Truly, there are few things more encouraging than seeing Christ's kingdom being so boldly advanced by the younger generations. It reminds me of Jesus call to the little ones in Luke 18: "Let the children come to Me...for the kingdom of God belong to such as these."
Missionary training has been an amazing step for me. I have been grown and stretched in incredible ways and I have gotten to see the fruit of God’s amazing work in my life. It is a motivation for more!