Turkey Splash!!

I've always said that a big part of Youth Ministry is making memories. When I think about my youth group experiences a few very vivid images flash across my inner eye. First off I think about when I was a teenager in youth group. Many times camping was the highlight of our summer experiences and that meant sleeping in a tent with my fellow guy youth groupers. Of course we didn't go to sleep right away and one of things we did was play "steamroller."

I guess that "play" is the wrong word-it was more of an event. My friend (let's keep his identity secret: we'll call him J. Coyer...) would scream "STEAMROLLER" and promptly roll over us all. Many grunts and groans could be heard throughout the night.

I'll always remember the lock-ins, in which we would play volleyball and basketball into the wee morning hours. I'll remember trips to Creation Music Festival and all night bowling. And I'll always remember that Grace is "an undeserved gift."

A few weeks ago, an event that I (and I'm sure the teenagers) will always remember occured. While traveling on the interstate I hit a turkey trying to cross the road. (insert cheesy joke here) As you can see from the picture above, it made quite the impact on my windshield. Luckily I was still able to drive the van and with the help of some creative engineering we were able to make it home safely too. Looking back on it, many "youth ministry" truths come out of that memory.

1. Be Proactive, don't just React: The whole turkey incident was something that I could see coming. I saw it cross the road, juke to the right and then back to the left and start running. My plan, in seeing this behavior, was to promptly line it up and run it over since I really didn't feel safe trying to turn out of the way. What I didn't plan on was it trying to fly---right into my windshield.

I had planned as much as I could and when things didn't go well, I rolled with it. We actually drove down the road for a few hundred feet and then I began to slow down and pull off. The teenagers in the car afterwards were very surprised at how calm I was and how cautiously I slowed down and pulled off the road.

When it comes to youth ministry we definitely need to be in that same mindset. We have to plan and be ready for every possibility and when things don't go how we expect we need to roll with it and just move on-cautiously and slowly. It's good to just pull over every once in awhile and inspect the damage...

2. Sometimes you just need to keep going: When I hit that turkey, I had no idea how hard it would be to find a replacement windshield. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, had it in the entire city of Erie, PA. I had really no choice. I was going to have to drive it home. So, after some creative engineering with the help of some friends we made the best of it and away we went. It was amazing how God provided. We missed all the major rain on the way home and the cracks in the windshield were all in the right place, that I had almost a perfect line of sight. We just kept going and the journey was safe.

Again, working in youth ministry is like that. Things happen and we just need to push through and trust in the Lord. It's amazing what happens when we do that. Those little bumps in the road and frustrations don't need to stop us from doing our work and reaching out to teens.

3. The Bigger the Turkey, the bigger the crater: That turkey was rather large and when it hit, it made quite the impact crater on my windshield. In youth ministry, the same holds true. The bigger the turkey/problem the bigger the dent that it can have in our ministry. It's important to handle the little things before they become big things.

If we don't take care of that little problem that Billy has with Suzie, it can become an even larger problem. When things get big they get hard to fix and the damage will be costly. Working with teenagers, sometimes we have to minimize the damage. I'd rather deal with a chip on my windshield, than a turkey sized crater in front of me.

I'm thankful for memories and the work that my Church Family has afforded me the privilege to do. Thank you for your support. Thank you for giving these teens memories that will always stick with them as they continue to grow in their faith.