Michaelah: Changed by Africa

Have you ever watched a TV show and thought to yourself, “I wish my life was that simple, with the only major problems being faced are about a guy or girl, a very close friend, or even something as stupid as a zit?” I know that I have. There are days when life just stinks, and the problem could be about a guy or girl, a very close friend, or even just a zit, but for the people of Africa, the problems are way more extreme. The problems they face everyday are: poverty, AIDS, malaria, death and sicknesses due to unclean drinking water. It’s not a secret that there is so much we can do for them. We need to share financial resources, technology, and education about hygiene and clean water. But there is a lot that we can learn from them, such as the importance they place on hospitality and the respect they show for each other, and the people who are guests in their country. I bet you are saying to yourself, “What does she know? It’s not like she’s experienced any of this for herself.” But let me tell you, I HAVE seen all of this for myself, and my life will never be the same.
Several weeks ago my parents, and I, and some very close friends, made our way to Moshi, Tanzania, in east Africa. Before the trip I was SO excited to be going out of the country for the very first time, and getting the chance to tell the people there about the love of Jesus Christ. But what I found out, was that there was going to be so much more to this trip than what I had expected. I had in my mind, that we were going to change the lives of a lot of people, but what I didn’t know was that mine was going to be one of them.
There were many things that happened while I was there, and it would take way to long to tell them all. So, I’ll share one experience that really got to me.
We spent two days in a little village called Sonjo. Most of the people that lived there lived in mud huts. The few concrete buildings, for the most part, were from the government, like the school and the teachers’ living quarters. There were other concrete buildings, not from the government, and most of them were uncompleted, with only four walls, no roof, or floor. I remember only seeing one that was completed, and that was the home of the wealthiest family in the village. Our team had expected to be sleeping on a dirt floor in one of the mud huts, but the teachers gave up their beds so that we would have a comfortable place to sleep. I mean these homes had no electricity, running water, or a way to keep the lizards out. Ha ha ha. It made me cry because these people were giving us the best that they had, and none of them complained once. I complain when I have to give up my bed for a guest, but the sad part is, is that I still get to sleep a lot more comfortably than they did those two nights. We guessed that some of them might have even slept outside. And just the fact that people could be so welcoming and hospitable when they had so little, was a huge deal to me. I have never experienced anything like it, and I’ll admit that I had a hard time handling it. But I kept it together, for the most part.
God works in unusual and powerful ways, and sometimes we don’t understand some of the things that happen, but we just have to remember that everything happens for a reason. And no matter what, we have to trust that He will always be there for us. Every person has been made for a purpose, and God has an incredible plan for each of us. Even though people and circumstances may let you down, He will never abandon us. That goes for everyone in the entire world.
I value my trip to Tanzania, very much, and plan to return someday. I hope that you will also pray and consider doing something like this.

Mungu akabariki (moon-goo a-ka-ba-ree-kee)
This is Swahili. It means: God Bless You!

~Michaelah Weaver~

Marlee's Purses for Hope House

Marlee Saxe is a 6th grader who is making a difference in her world already! She loves to do crafts with her mom and grandmother. She and her mother saw the idea for Capri Sun purses last Fall and decided to start making them. She started her purse business in November of 2006 and she began filling numerous orders from November - December! Everywhere she took her purse, she got orders!

During this same time she and her family began volunteering at Hope House in Middletown Ohio. They have painted the women's rooms and made and served lunch along with a team from WellSpring. Marlee will tell you she has met many special people and kids at Hope House, it has made an impact on her - she loves to serve there and talk to the people.

When she started selling so many purses, she talked with her mom about taking some of the money and doing something important with it. Hope House was her first choice! She talked to the leaders of Hope House and they said that the money she gave could be used for some of the needs the kids have.

So Marlee says she gives, "only" a humble comment, a third of the money from each purse she sells and put it in a Hope House jar. With that money she and her mom have brought warm material and she even talked her Girl Scout Troop into making 7 blankets for the kids at Hope House to keep them warm during the winter.

Marlee and her mom check with leadership to see what art and craft supplies or other things that the kids need.

Marlee even came up with a thank you note that she encloses with each purse she sells telling them that a portion of the money goes to Hope House for the kids!

Marlee is learning besides sewing, managing money, selling and other business skills - she is learning how blessed she is by having a home and wanting to help those kids who do not have a home. She is talking to them and showing them God's love. She is caring about someone else besides herself - which is sometimes unusual for an 11 year old! WOW! What blessings little juice pouch purses can make - God is awesome!!

Maggie... You did what on Spring Break?

Maggie Hare shared with her class what she did during spring break this year. I wanted to share it with you! You have stories about how God impacted your life? Or a special story about youth ministry life? Email me and let me know! I'd love to post your story also!

Spring “Break”

“This hurricane made Louisiana look like a dump”, I said, as my family, brothers, mom, dad and I got out of the car and looked at all the trash around us. It seemed like everyone was caring about the victims of Hurricane Katrina because it was a category 5 hurricane. We were looking at the damage from hurricane Rita. There were houses up on hills, garbage everywhere, houses torn apart and more!

We were going to stay in a church that just got the roof put back on, and a new gym floor. We would stay on the gym floor since there were 20 or so of us helping. The first time we went to the actual church area was on Sunday when they had church services. The Pastor’s sermon was on serving, which was what our ministry thought we were doing. We thought serving was just serving someone like helping them or something. Serving really meant, from the Pastor’s sermon, that if it didn’t cost you something, than it’s not a sacrifice. I understand now what it really means. It means that when we do a job or a good deed half heartily or without it costing something like; spring break ”vacation”, or your time, then it’s not a sacrifice. Our ministry went by that phrase for the rest of the week.

The next day we were hard at work on outside work, painting houses or building a tin roof on a barn. I went with a group of people that were painting houses. We painted a family room white that day. I got paint all over me!! We sacrificed our spring break, that costs us something, but what motivated us to keep working was; 1, just looking around, 2, that we drove 18 hours to get there and 3, seeing how much they had lost. We also sacrificed our time to help these victims, by waking up at 6:30am and starting to work the latest by 8:00am

My favorite part of this trip was going to an old lady’s house to pain and just listening to her stories. We were finished now painting the outside and kitchen of her house after life 3-4 hours of work. We were saying good-bye and hugging her. She still had more stories all inside her that she wanted to share, but we had to get back for other jobs and other people that needed our time. It was sad leaving her and we were all crying, because she finally had someone to talk to. I think we could have been there another 3 hours or so, and she would still have more to tell us. I really hope she will have someone else to tell more of her stories.

Do you have a story of how God has impacted you in your life, through a person or through our youth ministry?

An interview with a Youth Led Youth Pastor

Michelle is the Youth Pastor of Ebenezer United Methodist Church. I recently spoke at a retreat for her high school students as was blessed by the way she organizes her youth led ministry. So I asked if I could ask her some question for those youth pastors out there wanting to know how to run a youth led ministry! here is that interview:

Steve: Michelle I was truly amazed at the discussions your guys were having when I entered the guys bunk area.

Michelle: I'm glad you got to experience the guys' late night
discussion. They have done those discussions every retreat for the past
4 years. It is really awesome.

Steve: Tell me a little bit as to how you structure your High School ministry to be able to train up guys like this?

Michelle: The student leadership structure is for high school only. We are currently trying to incorporate more “8th grade leadership” in our middle school program. I have attached an info sheet for both our middle school and high school programs to help give an overview of our ministry. I have also attached a copy of the letter I sent last year for the new student leaders. The old ones get a shorter “renewal” one since they also have the option of stepping down if they so wish. This has only happened twice in the past 5 years.

Steve: How do you select your student leaders?

Michelle: Our leadership team made up of Adults, College Mentors and Student Leaders get together in June and meet about the student leadership holes for the following year and we take a look at who has shown leadership in the past year and where they are spiritually and living their life as a good of example of Jesus Christ. At the end of the year I do a survey with all the students to see what teams they are the most interested in and I compile the survey and bring it to this meeting and we take a look at if those names connect with gifts we see those people actively strong in and if they are a fit as a leader in that area.

After we choose who we think are best for that spot, I meet with the potential student leaders and ask them their interest and meet with their parents letting them know of the commitment and the accountability that goes along with this. Then give them time to think about it, then send out a letter for the parents and the students to sign as a covenant to their leadership.

Steve: How do you train your student leaders?

Michelle: I have a big training day for the leadership team (adults, college mentors, and student leaders) in August and then continue to meet with them every other month. During that time, I give a training devotion time and then we use the other half of the meeting for business stuff.

I also meet with the student leaders on a regular basis one on one for accountability. The adult leaders for each team do a lot of mentoring with their student leaders to also train them. I also use the senior student leaders a lot to build up the younger student leaders and prepare them.

I spend a lot of time with them on their life as an example… walking the walk and living Christ. I emphasize daily quiet times and service. I also monitor how much they are involved in. If they are a student leader, I tell them that I don’t want them involved in more than 2 other teams (I really prefer just one other team). They can participate in everything, but I don’t want them involved in each team’s planning process due to burn out and loss of focus in their own specific area.

As for adults, I take a group of adults and college mentors to the YS Conference each year (or another conference if one arises)

Steve: What material do you use?

Materials very, I do a lot of research and pull from different resources to create my own… you know, the whole dig until you get some good stuff research J

Steve: Who is in charge of creating say the retreat... I noticed you had teens
involved... did they create their area of responsibility? Did they have help? How often did you have to meet with them?

Michelle: Each team is made up of an adult leader (or group of adult leaders) and 2 student leaders and then a team of students interested in being on that team. Once a month that team meets to plan whatever specific event they have coming up. For instance, the Event Team plans for the Winter Retreat. I am usually at these meetings when it comes close to the time for the really detailed stuff, but I am not at a lot of them. This gives them more leadership. They have my guidance when it comes to the Biblical/Spiritual side of stuff. So they meet, and the adult is to encourage them to give their ideas, get them planning, and get them assigned to do different stuff. For example, on the Winter Retreat, the game leaders volunteered to do games, we told them how many they would need, I have them come in my office and I load them up with resources to help them out and they take them home and I threaten them to make sure to get the books back J If the students really need help, I can help them, but usually I just have to give them guidance. It is amazing what they can do! The biggest thing is the point when you have to stop them from the little mistakes that we make from experience.

As for other teams, it is awesome because the students are the ones letting me know what they want to study. For instance, in the summer I meet with the Sunday School team, show them all my resources and they tell me what curriculum they want to do and I order it. For the Wednesday night programs, I meet with the team of students in the summer (I treat this team to dinner because the meeting is so long) and we look at what people have written down as things they are interested in at our June survey and we think about the needs of our youth ministry and block out our program series for the year and I make those and take them to the team each week to prepare and make things even better. I am always at those kind of meetings. But I usually don’t attend the monthly Sunday School prep meetings and other meetings each month unless they have requested or I really need to get them info. I usually pass the info to the adult leader.

Steve: How many teams do you have in your ministry?

Michelle: We have 6 teams in our high school ministry.

Steve: What are the names of the teams? (Michelle was gracious enough to send me a more detailed description of each team. If you'd like a copy of the team details please email me and I'll be more than happy to send it to you!

Michelle: Program Team (focus is Wednesday night youth group), Connection Team, Sunday School Team, Outreach Team, Event Team, Service Team

Steve: Before you had student leaders did just you and the mentors decide? I guess I'm talking about the very first time?

Michelle: The very first time, we were very small and students stepped up when we asked for their input, as our group got larger we gave those students that were already very dedicated an actual “role” and it stemmed into creating an organized leadership structure as our group grew and we needed to add on more students. Before we had student leaders, the team of adults decided to go in this direction of student leadership and who would be the first to be these leaders.

Steve: When you talk about holes are you talking about when a senior graduates a team will need a leader etc?

Michelle: Exactly

Steve: Thanks for your time Michelle! I think you have an awesome youth ministry. This information will be invaluable for youth pastors out there that are trying to lead and create student led ministries.

Michelle: I'm not sure what all I might could say that someone might not know,
but you never know.

I have received several other attachments from Michelle. If you'd like to take a look at them please let me know! I'd also ask that if you found this interview to be helpful then shoot Michelle and email!

If you want to start a youth led revolution then go to TeamCE!

Rollercoasters, Visions, and Young’ns

What would the world look like if God chise to change it through a teens?

This thought came tom me as I was listening to one of ray Vanderlaans Shephelah podcasts...

Matthew 17:24 says:

The Temple Tax

24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, (Who arrived?) the collectors of the two-drachma tax (This was a temple tax that all men 20 years old and older had to pay the sum of one – two days wages) came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax[2] ?" 25"Yes, he does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or from others?" 26"From others," Peter answered. 27"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." Who’s tax did he pay for? Jesus and Peter.

Where there not 10 other disciples? Why did he not pay for them?

Matthew 10
42And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, (Who does this say is the disciple here? No in the original Greek this is how it reads: And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple,) I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

Why does Jesus call his disciples little kids? Because they were! That’s what it means they were little kids! They were teenagers!

Just because he wanted to show they had small faith or to make them humble.

NO!

If you give a cup of cold water my to one of these teenagers (who IS my DISCIPLE!

That’s unbelievable!

God chose a bunch of teens and children to save the world!

The disciples were not a bunch of guys that you've seen in some of these Jesus movies. Toting their staffs and talking like they knew King James English like the back of their hands! They were juts a bunch of teens! The world was changed because of them!

God chose a bunch of common rag tag teens to change to world! A bunch of jewsish teens who were rabbi school dropouts!

God continues to do that today!

He’s been doing that through teens that have decided to put their gifts talents and passions to work for Him!

I know there are times that you sit in your little edge of the world, church, youth group and you feel like nobody listens to teens and you really feel insignificant.

You’re not!

Their is a grassroots movement happening and all we are asking you to do… All God is asking you to do is use the gifts He gave you Now!

Don’t wait till your 30!

I’m sick and tired of the world and at times the church telling you that your JUST TEENS!

You’re more than that.

So.. you got a story? How's God been using your gifts, talents and passions to change the world? I'd love to hear from you!