On Wednesday, I tried to explain why our church is so focused on preaching the Word of God. I tried to show why our youth ministry is more about the
Bible than it is about anything else.
Do we build relationships? Yep. We do a lot of fun things together that build relationships. We work to spend time together. Do we have fun? Yep! You make everything we do together fun. I have a blast in youth ministry. There’s never been a job title that has matched what a youth pastor gets to do—organize games, activities, events, trips… we’ve done a lot of fun things. We have made a ton of memories
together.
Memories last only so long, though. When you are old, you may or may
not remember the Teens of Faith water activity or the Knott’s Berry Farm trips. You may or may not remember your youth pastor or his kids. BUT… that’s not what I am after in youth ministry.
I don’t care if you remember me, my wife, my kids, or our events or activities. My MAIN goal is that you get to know God.
I’m bummed about the graduates who leave the TOF and get into drinking, into immoral lifestyles or into lazy, selfish living. I’m bummed about that. But I hope they remember when they look back at their days in the youth department at Calvary Baptist Church that we had a class who tried to motivate, inspire, and direct them to love God more and more through His Word.
Our youth department is about building a spiritual environment. That’s what church is all about. That’s what the youth ministry should be about. We are not a separate thing from the church… we are church members! YOU are, if you are saved and baptized. As a church member, YOUR growth is dependent on the same things as any adult—the preaching of God’s Word.
That’s what last Wednesday was all about—preaching.Why do we focus on preaching? Because that’s what Paul told Timothy was the best thing for each church member. Why do we have preaching in Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night services? Because that seems to be God’s best church-growth model. Let’s all get more into the preaching today.
-Bro. Ryan