12 Girls and One Boy

Yes, those numbers are correct.  12 girls and one boy.  That is what our host home during D-Now looked like.  We had nine middle school girls, two leaders, one host home mom and a precious little boy.  It was beautiful chaos.  

It has taken me a few days to process but I am so thankful to have been able to be a part of D-Now at Richland Creek this past weekend.  We repeated over and over that it is the biggest thing that the students do all year and I think it is safe to say that it is easily one of the biggest things our church as a whole does all year.  There were over 260 students and small group leaders for the weekend.  That is no small undertaking.  Those numbers do not include the host homes, the drivers, those who served meals, those who led in worship, or probably the many other people behind the scenes that I do not know about.  

I think about all of those different groups of people represented and think what a perfect picture that is of the church.  The whole theme for the weekend was Ekklesia and we spent our last session with our small group talking about ways in which the students can find their place to serve.  We wanted them to think about their spiritual gifts and then find a way to use those.  Being able to see all of the volunteers who were doing just that was such a testimony to the students.  

I think a lot of times students and especially middle school students think that they are too young to serve and too young to play a vital role in the church.  That is absolutely false.  Many of them are already serving and are always looking for new ways to serve.  I think of many in my own small group who help on the preschool hall, some of them volunteer at the Special Needs Respites, some of them go out on visitation to try and invite people to come to church and share the Gospel with them, many of them volunteer at things like the Harvest Festival and the Easter Block Party.  These students encourage me.  They serve and they serve well.  

I believe this weekend has already made an impact on them.  I really think they are starting to see who the church is, what it does and how they can play a part in that.  Let's pray for these students.  Let us pray that what they learned will not just fade into a memory but would become a part of who they are and be a turning point for them as they become an active part of the local church.