Grease was the word as Word students cleaned up their hamburger dinner at the Fairlawn Residence Inn last Saturday. The students purchased and cooked their meals, a sign of the ownership they plan to take in the new home church which the retreat served to kick off.
About 20 students packed into a huge but crowded Residence Inn suite and the night began. It opened with Keith McCallum teaching about the Laodicean church, made up of lukewarm Christians of whom Christ said, “I’ll spit you out of my mouth!” The interjections, passionate prayers, friendly wisecracks, and sheer energy of the high school student audience suggested that this group is anything but lukewarm — it’s HOT!
Joe Allie teaches a packed room of attentive high school students.
Joe Allie and Diana Michalek followed with teachings on spiritual warfare and evangelism. Amazingly, all the high schoolers were engaged and anxious to learn more about the Bible through all three teachings!
Why such heavy stuff for high school kids? Because these kids want to make their church work! The new Word home church will be co-taught and co-led by student workers. They will also take a greater role in planning activities after Central Teachings.
Their prayers revealed a burden for their non-Christian friends and a vision to grow and split their church. Everyone said it was “cool” or “awesome,” and the atmosphere was almost electric with excitement about their young Body of Christ.
“It will be more appealing to my friends,” Bryan Bassett said.
“If our peers are teaching we can understand it more,” Sam agreed.
“Home church is a good tool for getting deeper into spiritual talks with people,” said Adi.
Marcus sees this effectiveness coming from the “discussion of peers” about the Bible.
Mike hopes that newcomers will see that “everyone cares about each other.” Kyle also thinks that “We have energy and an atmosphere our friends will find unique. Here, they’ll see unconditional love.”
Cloe summed up the home church’s purpose: “It’s a great opportunity to further people’s knowledge of Christ and bring people to Him.”
Ownership
In addition to outreach, the students see the advantage of taking ownership of the meeting. It was more than talk, too: they took complete ownership of bringing all the food for the retreat, and even cooking it. They were unanimous about taking control of their own church.
“It will motivate us to be held accountable as leaders, in building relationships and doing outreach,” Jeff said.
“It’ll help us grow as we become more independent,” Kara agreed.
Many expressed an enthusiasm about teaching.
“We’ll have more chances to teach, which is an exciting challenge,” Mike said.
“Teaching is one of the best ways to learn,” Adi pointed out.
Perhaps the most exciting element is the prospect for working together as a Body of Christ.
“We have awesome potential and a wide range of gifts that will be powerful,” Kyle said. “For example, I bring a sense of leadership and control.”
“I want to reach out to more people my school, where I’m the only Christian I know of,” Sean said.
Everyone mentioned ways to contribute. Justin said he’ll be able to give people rides, and Sam wants to help with planning. Becky looks forward to sharing what she has learned with others, and Anele is just plain “excited to figure out my role.”
Are they ready for the hard work of building a high school home church?
“I feel convicted to be a leader because it’s a way to help people grow in their faith,” Jeff said, echoing the desires of many.
With their commitment, zeal, and gifting, the Word students suggest a bright future, not only for their home church, but as the future leaders of the entire NeoXenos fellowship.
And they’re not bad cooks, either!
