Introductory Youth Meeting

06/29/11 Intro. Meeting GUMC Youth
As we start this journey called youth ministry together, I wanted to take a few minutes this evening and tell you a bit about who I am so we can get to know each other, a bit about what our weekly youth group meetings will look like, and a few words about the feedback sheet I've got for you.
My name is Travis Stevick and I have been appointed as the associate pastor of Grace United Methodist Church here in Spencer. I just graduated from seminary and am here, in part, to help lead the youth program here at Grace. I think that just about the best way to begin is to share with you a bit about myself and how I ended up here at this time and place.
You need to know right away that I did not grow up in the church. Both of my parents were raised Catholic and left the church as soon as they got a chance. They did not have my older brother or myself baptized, which must have given my grandparents fits, and we never went to church when I was growing up. There are some people who become pastors who have been in church every Sunday of their lives and have never known what it is like to live outside of the church to be someone who is not a Christian. You should know that this is not the case for me, and, just so you know, is not the case for Chuck, the senior pastor here.
I started being involved with the church when I was in eighth grade, when a friend invited me to his youth group. I started going every week and even began to call myself a Christian, but, though God was already at work in my life, looking back I don't think I could really say that I was a Christian then. Eventually, through that same friend, I got involved in an after-school Bible study where I met a whole bunch of Christians, who eventually invited me to church. Even though I had been going to youth group for a few years, it was not until the Spring of my Sophomore year of high school that I really began to take my faith seriously, to make Jesus more than just something I said that I believed in, but to live as though he really is the living God, the Lord of the universe who changes lives.
I want to make sure you know that about my life because you need to know that I understand, firsthand, what it is like to have a youth group that isn't only a place to go and have fun, but to be a place where you can come to meet with God himself, to come to know Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. You need to know that, if it were not for my friends who took the risk to invite me to church, I would not know God, I certainly wouldn't be a pastor, and I wouldn't be here now to meet you and to help you to know the God who has transformed my life. If it were not for a youth group filled with friends and leaders that cared for me, sometimes more than I cared for myself, I don't know where I would be today. I desperately want to do what I can to help you be open to the transforming power of Christ as others have done for me.
In case you were wondering, no, I did not always know that I was going to be a pastor. I went to UNI on a math scholarship and I was certain that I was going to be a math teacher. It was only during the summer of my Freshman year of college that I knew that God was calling me to be a pastor, so I changed my major from math education to pure math and, after I graduated, went off to seminary in Dubuque. I spent four years in seminary, serving as a part-time pastor of a small church during that time, reading tens of thousands of pages worth of books, writing hundreds of pages worth of papers, all so I can be better equipped to help people like you to know God and to make sense of what God is doing in your life.
I am willing to answer any more questions about my life and my background; if there is something you want to know, just ask. Now I want to turn to talk a bit about what you can expect from our weekly youth group meetings. However, before we get into the details, I want to stress as hard as I can that we are going to have a lot of fun together. As of today, we have got at least three special events planned. We are going to have a lock-in on Monday, July 18th, which is only about two and a half weeks away, so you need to get ready and tell your friends about it, because it's going to be a great time. In August, we are planning to go to a Casting Crowns concert at the State Fair and it is only going to cost you the price of admission to the fair and any food you want to eat. Also, we are starting to try to get some planning done to go to the Life Light music festival in Sioux Falls over Labor Day weekend. What I need from you is to sign up for those as soon as possible, so we can know who is planning on coming to those events. If you are willing to be part of a team that helps to plan special events like these, make sure to say so on the survey sheet.
As far as Wednesday nights are concerned, we are hoping to have food like we had tonight every week. It might not work out to have it every week, but we are going to have some kind of food at least sometimes. Next, we are going to spend some time every week with music and singing, a bit like we did tonight, though I'm hoping to get a youth band together so it isn't just me and my guitar. If you would be interested in being in a youth band, make sure you say so on the survey sheet.
Every week, there will be a time of teaching. As you have probably noticed already, when I preach or teach, I use a manuscript, but you need to know that this is a good thing. If I go without one, I will go off on a million different bunny trails and you would spend a lot of time listening to me and I wouldn't be saying much. Using a manuscript lets me keep the messages shorter and clearer, which is a good thing. Also, if you like a message, since I use a manuscript, I can easily post it online for you to look at later.
The backbone of all the teaching is going to be the Bible. We are going to spend a lot of time actually looking at passages in the Bible and thinking about what they mean for us today. If you pay attention, you will come to know more of the Bible better than you ever did before. Over time, we are going to cover big chunks of scripture, which is really important to understand just what the Bible is really saying.
However, we aren't only going to read the Bible with a magnifying glass; we are also going to have weeks where we take a step back and look at the really big picture. We will ask questions like, "If God loved us so much that he gave us his only Son to die for us, what does that mean for me today?" If you have a theological question that you aren't sure about, let me know and don't be surprised if it ends up being the topic for discussion one day.
There is a third thing that we will do sometimes for the message. There is a long tradition in youth ministry where you have what are sometimes called "fishbowl nights," where everybody writes questions down on pieces of paper and puts them in a fishbowl or a hat and the leader takes them out, one by one, and answers them. The only problem is that this sometimes turns into "stump the leader," or, trying to make the most of the time, the leader tries to answer a dozen or so questions in a short period of time.
The problem with this is that, when we rush through questions, we don't take the time to take them seriously. If you ask, "Which is true, Creationism or Evolution," and I simply say, "Creationism, next question," it doesn't really help, does it? Even if there is a "right" answer to those kinds of questions, it completely ignores the fact that lots of people are deeply troubled by them and they need to be taken seriously. The fact of the matter is that your questions, yes your questions, are important enough to be taken very seriously. There are some pastors and church leaders who think that, because they went to seminary, they are the only ones who can ask the real questions. I have found over and over again that it is the people who haven't been to seminary who can usually ask the better questions. So, I want to encourage you to ask difficult questions, the questions that you never felt you could ask before, the questions that you might even be afraid to ask. Ignoring those tough issues does not make them go away. If they trouble you now, they will only trouble you more later if we don't talk them out and deal with them now. We will take them, and probably only do one in a night, but that is because your questions are worth asking, they are worth thinking about, and they are worth taking seriously.
It is true that I am the associate pastor of this church and I have other responsibilities, but I want to make it as clear as I can that I am your pastor, your theologian, your resource. I am here to help you think through those tough questions, to show you that I am not afraid of your questions and, what is more important, that God is not afraid of your questions.
There will be times that I will not be here on Wednesday nights for one reason or another, but that doesn't mean that there won't be youth group. On those weeks, I am hoping to get other adults from the church to share their testimony with you, to tell you what God has done in their lives and how he has changed them. You don't have to be a Bible scholar to share what God has done in your life. There are many people who have great stories to share and I am excited that we can have a chance to hear some of them.
I'm not going to beat around the bush; there are going to be times when the teaching and discussion will get pretty heavy, some times when you are going to be stretched and asked to try harder than you might be used to in order to understand and participate in the youth ministry. However, the only reason why things will get a bit difficult sometimes is because you are fully capable of thinking hard, of wrestling with the important issues, of taking full ownership of your faith. I plan to treat you as adults, as people who can think, as people who don't need to be spoon fed, but are able to rise to the challenge. I have faith that you can do more than you can even imagine; let's grow together.
The last thing I want to say tonight in an official capacity is about the need for feedback from you. There is a sheet that I am asking you to fill out. You need to know that these sheets will absolutely be for my eyes only. Nobody else will see them. Your parents won't see them, your friends won't see them, the other adults who help out won't see them, Pastor Chuck won't see them. Only I will see them. Because of that, I want to ask you to be absolutely as open and as honest as you can possibly be. If you don't give me your feedback and tell me what you are thinking, then I have to guess at what is best and I think we all would rather things weren't just left to my guesswork. I can't promise that absolutely everything that everyone wants will be done, but this is the best way for your voice to be heard. If you don't fill one out, I won't know what you hope your youth group will be.
I don't know about you, but I am pretty excited. I am excited about what God has already been doing here and what he might do in the future. I am excited that you are here and that we can move into this new season together, that we can grow together, that we can stick together in the midst of good times and hard times, and that we can become friends who love the Lord. It is a good day and God is at work, so there is more good ahead. Let us pray.

AMEN