Hanging around the office....

So I have to admit I'm just not in the mood right now to finish my message for tomorrow night, so updating the blog for the first time in awhile seemed like a perfectly good distraction.

It has been a pretty amazing fall around our youth program. We've had some really fun games and activities this year is both groups and created plenty of hilarious moments. Our middle schoolers had an awesome trip to Silver Birch, both groups did some great service projects, and I think both groups have had some good discussions on our topics throughout the fall. One of the most exciting things has been the number of students we are ministering to on a weekly basis. This past week we had fifty five students between the two groups, which is such a God thing since we only have 49 students in middle school and high school in the entire congregation. And neither group was doing anything out of the ordinary: it was simply a normal week (I just happened to count noses for once). We have over a dozen students now regularly attending our youth ministry that have no connection to HRC (and many to no church at all), which is just so exciting. I think we often hide behind this idea that their is no evangelism and outreach that can be done in Hingham/Gibbsville/Oostburg because everyone already has a church. But the reality is there are many unchurched young people, and many more whose families are "members" at a church, but hardly ever attend. You know, I love all the fun stuff we do, which is why I know many of our students come (or bear with being forced by their parents), but what energizes me more then even an energy drink is seeing all these students coming into our ministry and some of them making first time commitments to Christ. Our goal as a ministry is multi-faceted, and with good reason, but we can never lose sight of the importance of reaching the unchurched. It is just so incredibly vital and central in scripture (think back to Jesus' last words before ascending).