interim ending

my interim youth job will come to a close this weekend after four weeks. even though that is a significantly short period of time, i have learned quite a bit and am thrilled that our youth have a permanent director coming in. the group needs a shot from the defibrillators and i think they're about to get it. i am thankful that the offer has been extended to someone, because as i've described before, i have only been the by-stander watching a patient in crisis without having the tools to give the shock to the system. our youth need a serious overhaul, and as a transitional leader, i wasn't in the place to do it, by any means. now we have someone who will!

but i have learned much in a short time--how to work with parent volunteers, how to look closely at budgets. i've remembered a bit of what it's like to be in high school. i've recognized my own needs for personal growth and leadership development--such as (surprise!) when and how to be assertive.

and i have learned that teenagers, apparently, don't like to stick their feet in paint. (herein lies a story, if you hadn't guessed).

i suppose it's my own fault really--preschoolers will stick their feet in anything. paint, dirt, water, you name it. college kids or adults probably would have gone right along with my idea, and delighted in the subsequent foot-washing exercise. but the teenagers weren't having it.

here's what happened--at our last Sunday night gathering, I had called a "missions meeting" of sorts to hear input about a summer trip and service opportunities in the area. Naturally I wanted the lesson for the night to relate. I started in Romans 10 with the "beautiful feet" passage. To emphasize that idea, we were going to paint our feet and stamp footprints on paper to remind us of our beautiful feet--ie our ability to carry the Gospel to others. Then, since our feet were so conveniently covered in paint, we were going to wash each others feet, and talk about servant leadership from John 13.

BUT...they wouldn't even take their shoes off. suddenly i felt like Wyle E. Coyote having just noticed that he's run off a cliff and subsequently holding up a sign that reads "oh crap"...or something to that effect ;) eventually, with the help of my parent volunteers (who also happened to be parents of 3 of our 6 attendees) they took the shoes off. five minutes later, the socks came off. ten minutes later, after both volunteers completed their footprints by means of example, the first kid stuck her foot in paint. the girls participated of their own accord, but the first guy had his foot shoved into the tray. by this point i clearly realized that they were no way going to touch each others' feet--apparently they had all developed some kind of foot phobia in the span of about 20 minutes. so i offered them the chance to simply have their feet washed by me and the other leaders, if they weren't going to jump at the privilege to fully participate in this event. so i got on my hands and knees and washed some feet. it was awesome--i immediately had that moment of, "oh gross, i'm intimately touching someone else's foot," which was great because I think that's the whole point! i'm upset that the kids weren't able to suck it up and do the washing portion, but i'm so glad they had their feet washed. obviously, we were really able to drive the Scripture reference home. and now we have an awesome poster to remind us of the importance of witness (and to hang on the wall in our youth room when we have a church building someday soon!):


the other shot is of a couple of the boys having their feet washed by the mamas.

i am excited about what is in store for these kids--and there is so much room for growth because our core members are either in 6th or 9th grade. i'm glad i got to know them all a little better, and feel privileged to be part of the process of building up a program for their spiritual growth--i have two months left myself to volunteer under our new hire. I know God is going to do great things.