by Arik Stewart, Youth Pastor
One of the greatest tools we have in our relational discipleship toolbox is prayer.
Ten months ago, youth ministry began experiencing a few transitions. I was commissioned as our new youth pastor and I brought with me two students from the University of Denver, Bryan Yoshida and Nano Rodd, to be volunteers. The process of developing a new program, renovating the youth room and renovating the youth office took much of the winter and spring. Then in the summer, we welcomed in some new middle-schoolers. God was undoubtedly present in this timeline, but as school started up again, we recognized a need he hadn’t yet addressed—there was an undeniable lack of female volunteers. A couple months ago, we dedicated an evening of youth group to pray that God provide us with women who would be willing to give their time and energy to a program dedicated to relational discipleship. God, in his providence, introduced Bryan, Nano and I to Ali Hilliard and Christine Stone, two women at our university with a heart for young people and student ministry. Immediately, they began investing in youth group and, for the first time, we were able to split into small groups to address more age and gender-specific issues. We will continue to do so, all the while acknowledging the power of prayer and God’s willingness to respond to it. (1 John 5:14)
Another prayer we’ve had is that God uses youth ministries to impact more and more students—he continues to provide in this area as well. Three weeks ago, on Friday, October 23th, we had a youth lock-in at the church. To our surprise, it was the best attendance we’ve ever had. Almost thirty students were present at the event! It was a night of junk food, rowdy games and a severe lack of sleep—exactly as it was meant to be. Deep conversations at midnight are a relational discipleship tool that few other ministries at Hope take full advantage of. Myself and my volunteers in youth ministry will continue to engage in prayer, discipling students as Christ disciples us.