Our youth group has changed a lot from when I first started here.
When I started working here almost 5 years ago, we had about 10 teens and we met in a very bleak looking youth room on whatever rag tag couches we could find. I would teach a Bible study and we'd chat for a while and everyone would go home. Now, several years and many changes later, we are getting ready to re-vamp our youth room into a cafe/lounge... but we no longer fit in there. We hold Wednesday night services in the gym, and we have over 100 active teens. Probably about 150. We have a teen worship band, and we even take an offering. I just wanted to share a few pictures of what a Wednesday night typically looks like now :)

First of all, it takes several wonderful volunteers to run things the way we do. In addition to Javier and I, we have 3 key leaders. George and Shannon who have been helping since the beginning of 2007 and they're WONDERFUL. They help with so much.
We also have an intern from Biola who has been with us for the last year and a half or so. Her name is Sarah.
When the kids get there around 6:30 (although some of them start coming as early as 5 or 5:30...), we have the gym and teen room open for them to play basketball, or soccer, or just hang out.
During that time, we also open up our snack bar (which will be new and improved when we do the youth room renovations! Right now it consists of snacks on a table in our gym...) Shannon takes care of that and she does a GREAT job!
Around 7:00 we start setting up one half of the gym for the service. George does the majority of the work on that... he sets up and runs all of our sound equipment. In addition to the sound, we set up a stage, chairs, room dividers and a cross.
It's also during that time that Shannon takes care of getting teens to take the offering and making sure that everything is covered and running smoothly. George tests the sound, and Javier and I are working on the final few things for announcements and helping wherever we can. Sarah makes sure all the teens are where they're supposed to be.

The we start the service by having the teens come and find a seat. Whoever is NOT teaching that night (me or Javier) gives the announcements and gets the kids settled.

Then we turn down the lights and our teens lead worship.
One thing I'll say is that our teens have learned to WORSHIP... rather than just sing.
During this time we also encourage the kids to use the cross as a place to get away from their friends and distractions and focus on God and pray. They do. It's pretty cool.
After the worship, Javier or I will get up and speak. Right now we're going through the book of John.
Sometimes we'll ask questions, or even incorporate the teens into what we're talking about.
At the end, we always challenge the teens to take action. Publicly. We often ask them to get up from where they're at and come forward, or go to the cross. They do. It's pretty cool. We also ask if anyone wants to accept Jesus. We have been blessed with many responses to that! We close the service with a time of prayer and worship.When the service is over, the teens help break everything down and put it away, and then the gym and teen room are open again until they all go home. Sometimes we're there as late as 11:00pm, but it's a great thing to have teens that WANT to be at church.

Things have changed a lot in the last few years. God is doing GREAT and HUGE things in our youth group and I am so excited to see where He takes us next!

In our youth group, we have a cross.

We have gotten rid of the traditional alters, and instead, we have a wooden cross that acts as the alter. It stands at the front of the gym next to the stage. The teens will leave their seats throughout the service and go to the cross to pray. Sometimes they stand... sit... kneel... whatever it may be, the come to the cross and pour out their hearts to God.
Wednesday night last week, one of the teens who is still somewhat new to our youth group, came up to Javier in the middle of the service and asked "Why is everyone going to the cross? What is it for?" Javier explained to him. I was watching from the back and assumed that he would go and sit back down in his seat. Instead, he walked over to the cross, knelt down and began to pray.

God is doing huge things here in the lives of our teens. This same kid started coming with one of our girls several weeks back after she'd asked him and asked him to come. He'd turned her down several times saying that church is "weird". But she didn't give up. Eventually he came (I think out of curiosity) and not only did he go to the cross last week, but he gave his life to Jesus. I get chills now even writing this. Because that girl was faithful and didn't give up at the first sign of hesitation, there is another life in the kingdom!

I am so proud of my kids and the way they show Jesus' love. Not just by bombarding their friends with invitations to church (although that happens too), but by simply living their lives and telling their friends what God is doing.

Youth group is always interesting. Always. There's always something funny that happens. There's always someone who says something weird. Usually someone gets hurt (not always funny)... and ALWAYS ALWAYS God shows up :)

Wednesday night was no exception.

Javier was talking to the kids and he referred to where God talks about us being the "Salt of the Earth".

He asked the kids, "What does salt do?"

Their answer?

"Makes things Salty."

"Kills slugs."

:)

As funny as those responses can be, at the end of the night, kids always respond to God. We take that for granted sometimes, because it is a regular occurrence. But I know that our church is special. I know that God is doing big things with our teens. I know that they are going to make a difference not only in our church, but in the world.

They ARE the salt of the Earth... they may not be the normal, everyday salt...
But God uses them for SURE... These kids are incredible. They let God use them. They give themselves to Him and they follow what they think He wants for them. And it's incredible to see what is happening!

...my teens are amazing. They're hilarious, and they're thoughtful and they touch my heart.

A few days ago, I was driving with a couple of teens and we'd just picked up food. I looked over in the passenger seat and the teen that was sitting there had his hand out the window and a french fry in it. I didn't think much of it. I kept driving. Then I saw him reach in the bag and take out another one. I looked over and again he had his hand out the window with the fry in it. I asked him if he was throwing fries out the window. He replied, "No, they're hot. I'm just airing them out." And then he popped the fry in his mouth. :)

Sometimes my teens do things that I don't think they even realize that just make me want to hug them. One of the things we're doing right now, is allowing the kids to teach on Friday nights. It's been really cool to work through that with them and help to develop and teach them how to be leaders. So the other night, one of our boys was teaching. And he started quoting stuff that I'd said in other lessons. I was so proud! Not so much that he quoted me (although that was pretty cool) but that he'd been listening and that he'd understood!

I came into the office this morning and found this email from that same teen:

Hey Diandra how you doing? I wanted to send you my bball schedule so if you wanted to some of the rest of them. Thanks a lot for your support. And once again great job on Sunday. You did really well. And in case you don't know it you are a great youth pastor, and I am thankful that you are my and the whole youth group's pastor. Your compassion and love and desire is really great and I thank you for always being there for me and all of us. Not only are you my youth pastor but I also consider you a good friend of mine. I'm really glad that after Christine left, God chose you to step in and you did a wonderful job of taking over. I'm sorry if I'm being too mushy mushy but I just want you to know that you are appreciated and that you if you ever feel discouraged I can pray for you or just be a friend. Because I'm sure it can be tough sometimes, but just know that we all love you. Alright see you on Wednesday.

It is really a privilege to be able to be a part of the lives of these teens. I feel so uplifted and encouraged by them. They're amazing and they don't even know it!

In youth group the other night during our discussion, one of our teens got pumped up. He was really excited about God and what God was doing in his life. He was talking about the feeling you get when you have a relationship with God and how great it is.

"Want to get high? Don't do drugs... do Jesus!"

And he was dead serious and so excited!

I think that is maybe the COOLEST part of my job... when my kids get excited for God.

Last Friday was pretty cool.

In Bible study on Friday night, we were having a discussion. We had some scriptures that we were going to read, so we asked for volunteers to read. Oftentimes when that is asked, there is silence. But on Friday night, we had many hands raised... the kids began to go back and fourth about who got to read... it ended in a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who would win reading the Bible.

So super cool.

Santa made a visit to our youth group shortly before Christmas:



I really have no more explanation than that.

I heard one of the little kids saying to another little kid, "Did you see Santa in the teen room?"

I wanted to share a couple of stories of what God has been doing in our youth group. Because even in 2008... God still does things!

Last week I was preparing to teach. We've been going through the book of John bit by bit. It was my turn to teach and I was so excited because I got to teach about Jesus walking on water! Which is one of my very favorite stories (although I have many). So as I was preparing, I was struggling. I wanted so badly to focus on the miracle that Jesus did in walking on the water. But God was pulling me a different direction. So Wednesday night, I got up to speak... not knowing ENTIRELY where I was going with this.

That happens to be quite often. Sometimes I know right away where God wants me to go, other times, I don't know until the last minute, and still other times, I walk up on that stage without a clue what is going to come out of my mouth. But God has taught me to trust Him and He always comes through! Wednesday was one of those days. I knew where I WASN'T going to go, but I just continued to pray and let God do His thing.

I spoke about how the disciples were scared when they saw Jesus, but as soon as He called out to them, they were no longer afraid. They knew His voice. The reason they knew His voice is because they had a relationship with Him. I talked about the importance of having a relationship with God so you recognize His voice. The story goes on to talk about how the people who he'd left went looking for Him. I talked about how there are times we feel like we cant hear from God... and instead of just waiting around, we need to SEEK Him. At the end, I asked the teens if they wanted to hear from God. I asked them to come to the cross (our version of an alter) and spend time praying and making sure they had a relationship with God and that it was right. And then we prayed and asked that God would speak to them. The cross was FILLED with students.

I began to feel very lightheaded and short of breath the second I walked on that stage. I knew that God was going to do something big because Satan was working overtime. As soon as I finished saying what I had to say, I turned it over to Javier to pray and I went to the back and dropped. I laid on the floor for quite a while trying to get my breath back. In the mean time, God was doing things in the lives of our kids.

I've been struggling lately with feeling inadequate. I've struggled with God's call on my life and wondered if I'm living it out the way He wants me to. Over and over I've doubted myself and what God is doing through me. It's been an ongoing battle the last couple of months, and every time I begin to struggle with it, God gives me encouragement. Usually in the form of a teen that comes and tells me how much they love me and how glad they are that I am their youth pastor. Last week I was really fighting with this. I was feeling more discouraged than I had in a very long time. Before the service, I was asking God just to reveal something to me... to make it clear that I am where I'm supposed to be.

God very clearly showed Himself and the way that He is using me when one of my teens came up to me after almost everyone had gone home. He talked to me about some of the things he'd been thinking about and what was going on in his life. Then he told me he thinks God is calling him to ministry...

I cried.

Because God still does things. God still uses people... even when we feel inadequate.

You see, there are things Ive started taking for granted. I realized that on Wednesday night. I take for granted that there are new kids every week, and every week there are kids returning from the week before. I take for granted that kids respond to our messages EVERY WEEK. I take for granted that our teens worship God with their hearts, regardless of what their friends think. And I take for granted that kids make decisions to accept Christ and follow Him and trust Him.

It is my job to teach these kids... but last week, God taught me a huge lesson.

God still does things.

There are moments that just absolutely crack me up.

And there are kids that crack me up even more.

I have two stories that come from the same teen...

The first one happened a couple of weeks ago.

For this story to make sense, you have to understand the set up of our youth group.
We usually have the kids use the bathrooms that are located outside to keep them from being disruptive to the other services that are going on. Well this kid was still kind of new to the youth group, and he got up to use the bathroom. This is the conversation that took place:

Me: Where are you going?
Teen: I have to go to the bathroom
Me: Okay, well go outside.
Teen: (looking at me as though I'd just asked him to eat a grasshopper) OUTSIDE?!?!?
Me: There are bathrooms out there.
Teen: Oh :)

He hadn't realized that there were bathrooms out there. I guess he thought I wanted him to use a bush.

* * * * *

Wednesday night I was taking this same teen home after youth group. We had another funny conversation that went something like this:

Teen: Is it wrong to ask God for something?
Me: Of course not.
Teen: Even if it's physical?
Me: (thinking he meant physical, like a new bike) You can ask, but it doesn't mean you'll get it.
Teen: Cuz I want a deeper voice.
Me: (Silence)
Teen: Mine is kind of high...
Me: (trying to recover) Well, you can pray and ask God for anything.
Teen: How would I ask for that?
Me: Well how would you ask your mom for something?
Teen: Dear Mom, I'd like a deeper voice, Amen.
Me: Change "mom" to "God" and I think you've got it!

:)

One of our kids is really into wrestling.

Not the kind you do on a mat in high school.

The kind where you throw things at each other and do ridiculous moves.

I wouldn't think of this as being a problem...

...until he hit me with a chair....

Apparently, he wanted to try out one of the moves.

...I've had one since Wednesday night in youth group.

This might explain it:



Because at any given time on Wednesday night before and after the worship service... there are 4 or more balls flying through the air. For some reason, they all seem to end up at one central point: my head.

We've got a group of teens that have started a worship band. The band plays on Wednesday nights before we teach. We've been talking to them a lot about how important their role is. They lead people in worship, and really set the tone for the rest of the service, and for what God is going to say through the message.

Sometimes we talk and talk and it sure seems like it goes in one ear and out the other.

On Wednesday night I realized that sometimes, it sticks.

The kids were kind of messing around during worship, so right in the middle of it, Isaac, our guitar player, stops playing and gives the youth group quite a lesson. I quickly pulled out my phone when I realized where it was going and caught most of it on tape:



It's a little hard to hear, but he basically says that it inst about how they sound, God doesn't care, He just wants us to worship Him. He goes on to say, who cares if you look silly or if people look at you, sing, dance, raise your hands, whatever... just worship God. (that's a bit of a paraphrase :)

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of what youth group typically looks like.

Here are some of the kids in the gym during the Wednesday night service...
And part of one of our "small groups" on Friday night

I got a very unique invitation in the mail last week.

It was from a church, inviting me to Hell.

Yes, Hell.

It's a Halloween alternative that this church does... I guess it's some sort of show.

I was reading the invitation to Javier and one of our boys was standing there and overheard.

He turns to me and says, "I want to go to Hell."

Then he realized what he said, "Wait. I think that came out wrong."

:)

You may remember my previous post regarding pants laying on the ground.

If you don't, STOP reading and read this first.

And now... I present you with what seems to be common place in youth group now:

...here is quite possibly one of the funniest/coolest things EVER!

Wednesday night was AMAZING! But before I can tell you that story... I need to give you some background information (which is a little bit funny too :).

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in the Spanish service on Sunday night when my phone rang. It was a blocked number so I excused myself and answered it (oftentimes parents will call wondering when things are over, or teens will call wondering about something, so if it's blocked I answer). The following is the conversation that took place:

Diandra: Hello?
Teen on phone: Diandra... is Crystal (one of my teens) with you?
Diandra: Yes
Teen: Can you drop her off at Ralph's? (a grocery store down the street)
Diandra: Right now?
Teen: Yeah
Diandra: (knowing full well I was not going to drop her off at Ralph's in the middle of a service but now very curious why they wanted her there) Why?
Teen: Because we're going to go evangelize and we need a singer...

As I continued talking to him, I realized that he and another boy had been going to the grocery store and standing outside with a guitar singing and handing out my business cards and inviting people to church. There was a little part of me that really thought this was a hilarious picture. See... these are the two boys that started the whole "your face" movement (see previous post). I pictured their evangelism going something like this:

Teen 1: Hey God loves you!
Teen 2: Your face is God

Teen 1: You should accept Jesus...
Teen 2: Your face should accept Jesus

and so on...

But there was another, bigger part of me that was incredibly proud of them, and thankful for these two boys that have come such a long way from where they were the first time they came. They saw a need for reaching out and they decided to do something about it!

So last Wednesday (still not the main point of this post), a boy came to our youth group. He'd never been there before, and he kind of stood out. But our kids included him right away... in fact I wasn't even sure who he'd originally come with because he was with several different people. He sat near the back and when we started worship and some of the kids stood up... he stood up too.

I watched from the back and started to get kind of excited thinking "hey, maybe he's getting it!"
Just then, something changed my thought.

He pulled out a lighter.

And then he started waving it back and forth in the air like they do at concerts.

There is rarely a time when I have no IDEA what to do... but this was one of those times. I was so caught off guard. I didn't know if I should laugh, or yell, or tackle him and hope the church didn't catch on fire.

So I just stood there and watched.

A couple minutes later, he put it away and the service carried on as usual.

This leads me to this last Wednesday night.

He came back! We had a smaller group than usual, but we had several new teens that I hadn't seen before. I looked around the gym a few minutes before we were going to start the service and realized we were missing quite a few teens... and our intern. So I wandered into the teen room and found them all in there... including this teen that had come the week before. Our intern, Sarah, was sitting with them and talking to them about God. Answering their questions and talking them through things. Javier and I decided that rather than stop what was happening, we'd allow this teen and one other one that is still fairly new, to stay in the teen room and talk with Sarah. In the mean time, we started the service.

I spoke about John 4:1-26... the story of the Samaritan woman. At the end of the lesson, I started talking to the kids about the importance of making a choice, and the fact that not making a choice... IS actually making a choice. Then I said, "the fact is, if you haven't accepted Jesus, you're going to hell. I know that seems harsh, but that's the truth. The good news is, it's not too late." We ended the service with worship and a chance for the kids to go to the alter. Many of the kids did. And two of the kids that came with friends ACCEPTED JESUS!!!

***Side note*** Since Javier joined us... I have learned a lot of things and I have changed the way I do a lot of things. One of the things that has made the biggest difference is simply ASKING if anyone wants to accept Jesus. We have kids saved every month just because we ask if they want to... a lot of teens are just waiting for an invitation.

After the service, the teen that had been invited from Ralph's came out of the youth room... he still has a lot of questions, but things are starting to be more clear to him. I realized he'd been carrying around a plastic grocery bag full of something.

Then he announced that he'd brought 48 lighters to share "for the concert"!!!

But when he realized it was over, he said, "what am I going to do with 48 lighters???"

I found out later, that this kid had gone to Ralph's looking for nutmeg. he'd been told that if you smoke it, you can get high. Just because two of our boys got an idea in their heads to do something... and they DID it... this life is being changed.

I know this post was longer than usual, but there were so many parts of this story that were both funny and touching and simply amazing, that I wanted to make sure to share the whole thing!

We all have good days and bad days. But at the end of the day, God is good, regardless of how our day was. For me, Wednesday was a bad day... but God had other plans :)

Right now life is hard.

I am so blessed to be where I am and serving God and working with amazing teens at a wonderful church, but my personal life has really been taking some blows. It's been difficult at times to be normal with the kids (and not be short with them) and to make it through Wednesday night youth group.

So on Wednesday, we were giving the kids a chance to just meet with God. We opened up the cross (our alter) and told them that if they wanted prayer to come to us, that we were not going to go to them that night... we wanted them to have the time they needed with God. The kids responded. We had many at the cross and several that came and asked for prayer.

I had just gotten done praying with one of my teens, and one of my other girls came up, stood next to me and put her arm around me.... and was silent. I asked her if there was something she wanted prayer for and she said, "No, I just wanted to give you a hug and tell you that I love you."

I just about lost it.

Its my job to minister to my teens.... but sometimes, they are really the ones blessing me.

This same girl posted this on her myspace page:
Talk about feeling loved and appreciated. I think its a very rare thing for a youth pastor to feel real appreciation from their teens... often times teenagers take things for granted, but this week, I am blessed to have teens that genuinely love me.

We recently started a youth worship band.

We are sooo blessed to have wonderful volunteers because neither me or Javier is musical. So every Tuesday night our volunteers run our youth band practice.

We walked into the gym the other night and watched for a few minutes as the kids practiced. I realized that there were like 10 teens hanging out on a Tuesday night doing band practice. It hit me that when I started as the youth pastor here, I didn't even have that many on a Wednesday night... and now here on a Tuesday are these kids practicing for the youth band!!! It absolutely blew me away and I was once again reminded of how INCREDIBLY blessed I am!

Here is what we saw:



Here is part of the band playing on Wednesday night (we were missing our drummer):

Have you ever wondered what happens to all of the snacks and drinks that are left over from overnighters?

Some of our boys found some 2-liters of sodas that were left in a cooler from an overnighter a couple months ago.

This is what they did:
(by the way, one of my teens grabbed my phone and taped it... its not me you hear egging them on... at least not this time :)

Okay... so let me just start this out by saying that birthdays are a very big deal to me. I love my birthday so much that I usually have a whole birthday month... and then a birthday week (which is a bigger deal than the birthday month of course). Well this year I had to share my birthday month because Javier is on staff now and his birthday is June 6, so we had to make a big deal about that with the teens and the staff... so I am learning to share. But now it's my birthday week (actually right now its my actual birthday!!!) and it is time to CELEBRATE!!! So I've done some kind of fun little things this week here and there, but then I went to youth group tonight. I was feeling kind of down for some reason, and we started youth group... Then Javier got up to speak (and I was getting some chairs for teens) and Shannon interrupts him (which they had planned) and calls me up on the stage. They had flowers and a present for me!!!
And the kids all sang happy birthday to me (some of them even danced!!!) with Kyle leading on the mic. It was a really special suprise that they pulled off! The kids spent the rest of the night telling me happy birthday. Then I took Javi Jr. and Crystal (his cousin who is visiting from Texas for the summer) back to their house. We stopped and got some Jack in the box and took it back and ate it while laughing and watching silly youtube videos until a little after midnight. Javi even played me a birthday song on his guitar...



It was so simple but it really meant a lot to me to spend that time with teens that I adore. I love my kids and I am so fortunate that they love me too :) It turned out to be a really special night. So thanks to my amazing youth group for making my birthday WONDERFUL! I love you guys so much and you mean the WORLD to me!

And on my birthday night, we took a group of kids to go see The Hulk. Afterwards we were at starbucks, and Isaac sang me this little song: