I invested a good portion of the day today with a 15 year old guy. We went to the Westside, had lunch, then adventured around the mountain neighborhoods of El Paso, and walked around the UTEP campus. It was a great time. And for most of the time we talked about theology, church stuff, politics, etc. We also joked around about things and had lots of fun.
Then when I dropped him off at home, he said he wanted to help me at the Christmas Eve service tomorrow at Del Sol Church Northeast.
He has invested countless hours with me in doing ministry at the NE campus - from doing work on the grounds, to outreaches, to playing in the worship band on Sunday mornings. Interesting thing is, that's normal for him. It's normal for him to be at the church instead of at school or getting into trouble with friends on the weekends. I like that!
I like that he, as a teenager, considers it normal to be actively involved in ministry. He could easily spend all his time with girls, or playing video games, or doing anything else - but at his age, he enjoys serving the Lord by doing ministry stuff. And he's not alone; there are dozens of other teenagers at the church that also invest much of their free time - and even their time at school, for that matter - serving the Lord.
I hope that at Del Sol Church, we always make it more normal for teenagers to be actively involved in church ministry work and in missions work throughout the world.
What was considered normal behavior for teenagers when you were growing up?
