First Steps

People sometimes wonder why fun events and activities matter in youth ministry. Recently, our middle school staff took a group of students to go ice skating. The kids had a blast, but more importantly, the kids built deeper relationships with our leaders. Students got to experience Christ's love through their leaders as they taught them to skate, helped them up when they fell, and took time to get to know them.

Jeff* was one of these students. Jeff loves YouTube, video games, and hanging out with friends. Jeff came on the ice skating trip with us. During the day, we had the opportunity to share with Jeff about our upcoming summer camp. The next day, Jeff’s mom contacted us to register Jeff for camp. 

Doing something as fun and simple as ice skating is often the first step towards building relationships with other students and leaders. Those relationships lead to more opportunities, like camp, where kids like Jeff can hear the good news of the Gospel for the very first time. 

Please pray for kids like Jeff to continue to take their next steps towards building relationships with our ministry leaders and that they would be open to hearing about the God who loves them.

-by Ben Meils, Campus Life Teen Center Director

*Name has been changed