Ministring with TEENS! (Unsaved teens!)

Public School Ministry

As with any ministry you need to prepare and over-prepare....yet we never know what to expect at the project. After brainstorming some, our team (two members at the church and a bible college student) decided to try out a different VBS theme each month until December. The theme for August was Joseph: from Prison to Palace (we had done this in our VBS in January). Two weeks ago we had the worst week yet—there was almost no teaching, chaos, and I recruited the monitor to sit in and help us out.

This past week the layout was a little different—the kids were divided into four groups instead of two. OK—(deep breath) this should be better, I thought. The younger age group seemed were more likely to respond to a VBS layout. Well…can I just say …let me give you two kids to pray for: Richard and….the other we’ll call Victor (I don’t remember his name). These two created so much chaos that it was, again, almost impossible to teach. In the end, we were finally able to hold their attention by having one of the kids dress up in a pharaoh outfit we brought, and thus teach a principle from God’s Word!

The second hour we had the teens. Here, as I have shared before, I am out of comfort zone. Get their attention? I really have struggled in how to do this. We showed half of the movie Facing the Giants one week only to not be able to get them to watch the second half the next week (we had no control as to making them participate). This past week we tried something different. One in our team prepared what we term “creative evangelism” to share the gospel and the other prepared an object lesson.

In working in a place that students have free reign for immoral behavior, where arguments and fights are the norm and not the exception, and where exists disrespect and minimal fear of authority, we have prayed and asked the Lord to show us how and what to do in this one hour each week.

It seems that the first objective is to give an understanding of the law of God: the Ten Commandments. Plant what God says about what is right and what is wrong. Have them read and hear what God says about hate and lust.

It was a blessing straight from heaven: this past week they did listen. We used a chair, broom, and cord to teach how it is so much easier to sin, to take the easy road than to stand up and do what is right. Sin drags each of us lower than we ever thought we would go. They listened to what happened to Joseph—the evil sin of his brothers, the love God had for Joseph, and the deliverance of the famine---all the while sharing about their sin, God’s love and plan for each of them and the deliverance of the Gospel God offers!

Please continue to pray as we press forward in this ministry. The monitors have asked that we help with the end of the year program but they plan to use rock music and dancing as their program while also incorporating (I assume separately) a live manger scene. Pray for the salvation of these teens.