It was like going back to school, but in a good way. Of course first was group building activities, thankfully it wasn’t like what Fox Mulder expected, stacking furniture; instead we built trees, from newsprint. I was a little wary of a two hour plenary session, I’m not afraid to admit that. But I was wonderfully surprised by Andy Root, who easily blew through the two hours.
It was good (and I mean that in the biblical sense of the word). It really made me think, both about my own thinking process and also how to tackle youth ministry. But probably the most interesting was the small group sessions afterward and seeing everyone’s different thought process working on the case study. It seemed that each group took a whole different approach on where to start (if everyone had been the same, it would’ve been boring). In the end the whole process helped me, I even learned something that not only could be applied to Youth Ministry but my actual job as computer technician! (It’s funny how that works).
And finally, worship again … but more so what happened before worship. Just as the doors were supposed to happen, one of the leaders popped their head out into the crowd that of course had gathered at that point. And said it would be another fifteen minutes, disappointed the crowd. It was getting really hot in that area by this point. But then, through the dull roar of various conversations came the sounds of a familiar song. Someone had started singing a praise song. Soon other voices started joining in, then almost everyone close to the doors was joining in with song. Impromptu worship, is often the best kind, unplanned, spirit lead, good.
