sunday night emotional basketcase

so last night was awkward. everything from the gathering to the pool party afterward was weird. first, i made to mistake of changing my sunday night gathering plans right before the service started. we had planned to show the second part of louie giglio's message hope for when life hurts the most. for the most part, our kids have enjoyed this video series however many of our older students were out of town this week so when i saw that most of those there were in middle school, i changed the plan. this was a big mistake on my part and began the awkwardness. i decided to just have a time for sharing and field any questions the kids might have about christianity or following christ. for the most part, there was silence.

the night rebounded a little when two visitors came in 15min late. knowing that it was then too late to play hope(45min long) i decided to pop in francis chan's mini video "just stop and think." this is a 15min non-threatening presentation of the gospel that went over very well in the group. even our guest who I’m pretty sure were not believers were receptive and participated in the discussion to follow. while there was still a bit of silence in the overall post-viewing discussion, the night ended well.

after the gathering we went to a pool party at the chairman of the personnel committee's house. this started out great until the guy got a little weird. once he got me alone, he rather abruptly told me that our services would not be needed after august 10th and that the church has decided to "go in a different direction." now let me say this, august 10th was a date that i gave when allison and i accepted this position and i had not planned on staying past this date. it is kinda sad though to know that you do not even have that option. i mean, we fell in love with these kids and really feel like we built a little something while we have been here. it is hard to walk away from a project in the middle of its creation. it will be tough to watch someone else come in a change things back to the 1980's southern baptist way of doing youth ministry. i fear that this church will let its student fall through the cracks as they seek someone from the inside to lead the group until they hire a fulltime pastor.

allison and i both know that we are not a long time fit for this church, really, we've about hit our end as it is. but to watch how this church treats its next generation makes me sick. they don't want a leader to challenge them, they want a babysitter. i know every youth pastor says this about every youth group but i have never met such a great group of kids. the leadership in the group is amazing. they need mentors not entertainers. this group could change their town with the right encouragement and leadership.

please pray that allison and i are able to leave with grace. i know that a good leader knows when he is not in charge and keeps his mouth shut but its really hard for us. we love these kids and this town and believe this church could radically change both if they wanted to. pray for a revolution. pray that they don't go backwards. pray that we can trust the work we have done to God.

alex