Getting personal

During my four years in the Leadership Fellows program, my main area of participation included working with the youth at the local Disciples church where I go to school. From my freshman year until now, I have grown both spiritually and personally, in many ways, from my experience. From the shy, non-talkative freshman to the much more outgoing, joking-around senior that I am now, God has continued to mold me into the type of leader I am to be. Along the way, He has taught me lessons, for wherever my post-graduation road takes me, on how to reach out to others and truly make a difference in their lives and spiritual growth.

Of this, the most important aspect that I have learned is in order to have a significant impact on someone's personal relationship that they have with Christ, a personal relationship with them plays a big role. When I first began my involvement with the youth, I was pretty reserved, much like the middle school students I was working with. Working with that age group, I quickly learned that you have to invest a lot into them in order to make any connection. Fortunately, during my sophomore year, I began working with the high school. Although I still had to reach out to them, they were a little more receptive, and I began establishing some quality friendships with the youth. From these connections, I had the opportunity to show them how God has impacted my life and how important my spiritual growth is to me. At the time, it was hard to see any, if at all, effect that I was having on the youth. Now, I have realized that whether I did or not, I am thankful that I was able to be a part of their spiritual life at any extent, and witness how much they have grown.

My realization of this came this past summer when I was able to go on my first trip with the youth. During the school year, trips were not always time-permitted, but I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to South Carolina in July. Originally, set for Mobile, Alabama, the hurricanes changed our plans, and it was thought that we were not going to have our mission trip at all. But by God's hand at work, we were selected as one of the few groups who were relocated. We had an incredible time in Charleston, South Carolina. I was able to form new relationships with some and become even better friends with others. My only regret from the trip was that I had not been able to go on one before because of how great it was.

God calls us to be examples of Christ. The people Jesus personally knew the most was, of course, His disciples. After the last supper, Jesus began washing their feet. During this time, in John 13:15, He said to them, "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you." As a youth sponsor, my main goal was to be an example of Christ to the youth. During my time, God convicted me of the importance of personally connecting to whom the ones that I was ministering. I learned that the more developed the relationship was with someone, the better the opportunity was for having an impact on them knowing Christ more and more.