I’m a youth leader at my church. If you asked me a few years ago if I would ever become a youth leader, I would have laughed at you and said no. It just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t the type of person you would think of when you thought of a youth leader. My idea of a youth leader is someone who is incredibly cool, good with teens and extremely outgoing. Being an extrovert is a must, I thought. After all I would have to be reaching out to teens and I was and am SO an introvert. This couldn’t possibly be what God had in mind for me…was it? I ended up signing up for the youth ministry by through a friend. She wanted to sign up and I just gave them my name to keep her company. The first couple Fridays that I went, I was SO uncomfortable. Out of my zone, not knowing any of the kids, it was so intimidating and I kept on asking God “why are you pulling me here?”. God gave me two reasons:
1. He told me I had a story. There were things that I went through as a teenager that helped mold me into the person that I am today. Even though a lot of it wasn’t pleasant, there are teens that are going through the same thing now that could use the guidance I never had. I wasn’t open with my mom about my unsaved life as a teen and so I was left to figure things out on my own. As an inexperienced teenager, I of course made wrong decisions and got hurt as a result. Now that I am older and walking in Christ, I can speak life into those that are having similar experiences and encourage them to stay with God and not walk out on Him. I really do regret walking away from the church in the 1st place
2. There are youth that are like me. I remember when I was a teen I used to be “a part” of the youth group at the same church. I put that in quotations because I never really felt like I was a part of the group. I was just as much more of an introvert than I am now, shy and didn’t really know how to start making friends so I never really got to know anyone. Sure there were youth leaders, but none of them ever spoke to me, encouraged me to be a part of the ministry or really took notice of me (probably because I was so quiet). As a teen it made me feel like no one really SAW me and thus no one would care whether or not I was there, so it didn’t matter whether I stayed or left. So after a bit over a year of attending services…I left. I left the church for 10 years to a world that seemed more inviting and willing to be my friend. That’s the thing about the world though, it seems so inviting at first then when it has you it repeatedly spits you back out. Anyways, God placed youth like that on my heart. Youth that were quiet and may not be able to interact as easily as others that will. Every Friday night that I’m at service, I sit in the back and look for those youth and target them. I want them to know that I SEE them and I love them, I don’t want them to leave and go into the world. I don’t want them to make the mistakes that I made
When God provided me with this information and it made perfect sense to me, I still wasn’t an extrovert or extra social as I thought a youth leader should be. That didn’t change about me. However, the Lord revealed to me “I gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. There are some people that are there to do the talking but I want you to the listening. You have a quiet mentality about you that allows you to pick up things that others may not pick up because they are busy talking”. That blew me away. I didn’t have to be frustrated with myself or my introvertedness ( is that a word? lol) . I was exactly the way God wanted me to be and He had a purpose for me.
So that’s why I’m a youth leader. Everyday I’m excited that God chose to use me. I’ve been doing this for about 1.5 years now and I’ve of course met some really great kids who I thoroughly enjoy. I can’t wait to see how God will continue to allow me to grow through mentoring these teens. They are also one of the reasons why I stay on my walk. On days when I feel like giving up or like things may not be worth it, I go to their twitter pages or Facebook pages and look at their faces and tweets about God. They look up to me as a young adult and that helps keep me in check.
xo
Tasha
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