I grew up at Calvary. Calvary is my home. Sometimes I feel like the place where I
live is my home away from Calvary.
If Calvary is my home, then I guess the youth group would have to be my kitchen.
It’s the place where I first learned to feed myself, where I first learned responsibility,
and where I learned to routinely come together with the people that I love and call it
family.
I got involved in youth in seventh grade. It looked a lot different back then than it
does now. We used to meet upstairs in the main building, where the children’s
ministry meets now. I remember the first time I went to youth I was scared out of
my mind. So I can definitely sympathize with you 7th and 8th graders. I mean, I
remember walking in there for the first time standing 4 foot 9--95 pounds soaking
wet, and seeing the lights and lasers and fog machines and the giant senior football
players jumping up and down to the loud music. I feel like if I had my way I
probably would have run away and hidden in the baptistery and not come out until
after puberty.
Fortunately, I didn’t do that. Fortunately among all those high schoolers God had a
place for a measly little kid like me. Fortunately those older kids took me in as a
little brother and invited me into their lives. And fortunately because of that, I grew
to become best friends with the guys that are still my best friends today, the guys
that I live with in college, the guys that will be in my wedding, and the guys that I call
when I have no one else to.
Praise God for that kitchen.
Praise God that when I was in 7th grade Alex Hiers asked me to play djembe on the
praise team one week. That was about the time I first started to find real interest in
music, too. I had taken piano lessons up until that point, but had never really
enjoyed it until I started playing with a band and learning from them. Fast forward
nine years and I’m still using and developing the abilities that were discovered in me
because a junior in high school and a college intern decided to take the time to teach
me what they knew about music, and I’ve been learning ever since.
You might see the point I’m starting to make, by now. This is how ministry works.
It’s how it worked in the early church, and it’s how it still works today. Community,
discipleship, and family.
To keep going with my story: The youth group is where I learned the importance of
community. That same year, Alex and Britton(who was another one of the older
guys in the youth group) led a Bible Study for a group of 8th graders and me. Again, I
was the young one in the bunch and was completely intimidated. But they wanted
me there. So I went.
And I listened, and read, and prayed, and learned. I can’t sit here and tell you that I
remember a whole lot about what we studied that summer. I don’t even remember
what book we studied. What I do remember about that summer was how I was
shown the love of Christ outside of the text. I remember Alex picking me up from
my house multiple times a week and taking me to band practice, or to going make
ridiculous promo videos for the next week’s service, or just going to summer snow
with the rest of the guys and hanging out and listening to music. I was included.
Community. Family.
When I hear those words, that’s what I think of.
To keep going with my story: The youth group is where I first found community, and
where I first learned to feed myself, spiritually.
Beginning of 9th grade. I was starting high school at Hiillcrest, but had found a solid
group of friends at Calvary who went to different schools. I think by this point I was
starting to realize that even though I had good friends at school, I had something
special with the friends here.
So--beginning of 9th grade. Will DeBell and Taylor Spruell started a Bible Study for
me and a bunch of guys the year younger than me out at Will’s parent’s house.
At this point, I had been a Christian for quite a while. I knew what it was like to BE
FED spiritually. I was pretty good at answering questions, and singing worship
songs; but I think that year was when I started learning how to ASK questions, how
to dig deeper into the word, and how to live a life worthy of the gospel. How to take
the daily bread that God had given me, and be satisfied in that. We met every
Tuesday and we studied Philippians. That’s when the text just came alive for me.
We opened up the word and applied it to our lives. We memorized part of
Philippians, we studied it, and they would ask us questions that we didn’t know the
answer to, just so we’d have to look them up. I view this as the time when I first
learned to feed myself. It was definitely a turning point in my relationship with
Christ—again, only made possible because of two older guys who were willing to
invest, and a group of younger guys who were willing to enter into the context of a
consistent community.
Obviously after all this, it’s easy to see why I stayed at Calvary even though none of
my school friends went here. It really never even crossed my mind that I would do
anything else. Calvary is a place where I was loved and included and where I
belonged. As I got older and became sort of a leader in the ministry I had lots of
opportunities to invest in some of the younger guys. For one because most of the
people my age started to either go to other places or just stopped being involved
anywhere. I am so thankful that I stayed and continued to invest here at Calvary,
though. Through this youth group I was able to go all over the nation and share
Christ with strangers, I was able to go across 15th street and share Christ with
neighbors, and I was able to go across the hall and share in Christ’s story with my
family of believers.
So if there’s one thing that I would want you to know from my story, it’s that this is
how ministry works. It takes a Sophomore going up to a Freshman and saying “Hey,
come eat with us after the service.” Or a Freshman choosing to reciprocate that to
someone even younger. Or maybe It takes an 8th grader being brave enough to say,
“I have a talent or a story to tell, and I need someone to help me develop it.” And
watching how the body of Christ rallies around them to develop the gifts that God
has given them.
That’s what kept me at Calvary. That’s why I still call Calvary home.