Daily Devotional

It’s now been over ten months since I was appointed as the Student Ministry director here at Campus. In some respects, those ten months have been a rollercoaster. Youth ministry is frenetic at times, and the joy of a student recommitting to follow Christ at summer camp can be overshadowed by the blood, sweat, and tears it took to get those kids to camp. I’ll be the first to admit that there are too many days where I am so wrapped up in my to-do list that I miss the reality that God is at work in the hearts of these students.

If that’s true for myself and my team, maybe it’s true for an outside observer as well. Perhaps you have a kid or grandkid involved in our student ministry. Perhaps you’ve seen some of our students at our fundraisers or as part of Youth Sunday. Or perhaps you’ve seen a teenager you know walk away from the church. Whatever your experience with youth ministry, today I want to caution all of us against an alarmist notion that “we’re losing our young people.” In a time when I believe the battle for the souls of our young people rages fiercer than ever before, I bring good news: God is at work in the students of Campus Bible.

Hunger for the Word. You might suppose that the average teenager doesn’t care much for the Bible. Their idea of “fun” doesn’t include studying a Bible passage together on Sunday morning, or listening to one another discuss theology late into the night at a retreat. But that’s exactly what are students are doing! My favorite example is an event we call Crash Course: students gather for a two-hour introduction to a field of systematic theology (bibliology, Christology, ecclesiology). And guess what? Students show up. They listen. They ask questions. The event that should not work on paper is one of our best-attended events. Across the board, we are seeing students exhibit a deep, ardent desire to know God through His Word, and I think it’s only explainable as the Holy Spirit at work in these students.

Love for One Another. The bane of youth groups everywhere is cliques. The gathering of the body of Christ morphs into a social function, where students show up, talk with their friends, then leave. Multiple students and parents report our group feeling more welcoming and less “cliquey” than ever before. We’re still a work in progress, but praise God for that progress! It’s been amazing to watch new students show up and slowly become part of the community. We’re actively training our student leaders to look for those on the margins and seek to welcome them. The result? I see so many students’ faces brighten with joy when they walk in the door. This is truly a group that loves one another.

A Heart of Service. Two of our best-attended events this year were service opportunities: Spring Break SERVE Week and Vacation Bible School. Our students love to serve! Even in an informal setting, when I ask a student for help with a small task, the response is almost always a cheery “Sure!” For a generation that struggles with self-absorption, the biblical antidote is joyful service... and that’s exactly what we see our students doing. When push comes to shove, these students rise to the occasion... and I’m always surprised by how much even the least enthusiastic of them will throw himself into helping others.

I hope that like Paul and Barnabas at Antioch (Acts 14:27), this brief account of how God is at work encourages you today. While we’d love to take credit for these three areas of growth, I think much of it is due to the amazing parents of our Campus Bible students, who are excelling in “training their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). And ultimately, though parents plant, and we water, God is the one who provides the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6). Will you pray for our student ministry?

• Pray that student’s love for God’s Word would affect their “heart” and their “hands,” not just their “head.”
• Pray that our students’ love for one another would spill over into the places where they live, work, learn, and play.
• Pray that as our students delight in service, they would discover the vocation to which God is calling them.

Thanks and God bless!

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."