A Next Gen Moment
This is a call … with a story …
This past Sunday was our promotion Sunday, celebrating our graduating high school seniors.
Only two were present, but that made it more special.
Why?
In 2018, I was given the privilege of starting the youth group for our congregation. I started with only three students – a 7th-grader (the pastor’s oldest son) and two 6th-graders. Last year, that old 7th-grader graduated and is now working toward becoming a pastor through Grand Canyon University’s Barnabas program (which started in 2020 with only 4 students!)
Those two 6th-graders were the two we got to call forward and pray for this weekend.
I was fine during all the preparations. I was tired and mildly stressed due to many volunteers calling in sick or injured and my being the one to make sure all of our Sunday prep was done.
As I walked up to the front to call them forward, it slammed into me:
The last of my founding students were graduating.
I started crying as I took the mic.
The older of the two (by two days) is taking at least a year before college for engineering, because, due to his love for Minecraft, he has already been working for a year with landscape designers. He will also help out with the youth group while here.
The other took some trade school classes as he finished his senior year, and, two weeks earlier, he became certified in autobody work. He wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps to help people by doing something he loves. (His dad runs a local portion of a motorcycle ministry in our area, reaching the rough crowd and helping any in need.)
So, here is the standard call:
Pray for this generation entering the “grown-up world.”
Things are a little crazy. I work in a university setting, and I see what most 18-19-year-olds are facing academically and socially. They need all the prayer they can get!
a simple man of God 