When Pastor Andy came down to visit our church for the first time I got to meet with him with a couple of the boards from the church. I had the priviledge of getting to ask him the first question. I already knew what I wanted to ask him and I was pleased with his answer. I asked him what his plan was for my generation- the second take of the awkward middle school years. After high school and even more so after college there really isn't a place for you, just like when you are an awkward 12 year old. As a 24 year old I feel as if I'm not an adult but I'm not a kid either. We're stuck in the middle, but that doesn't mean that churches should forget about this age group. I honestly feel that, like middle schoolers, we are at a very vulnerable time in our lives. If we don't reach out to the unchurched at this age, it will be even harder to grab their attention and get them into church once they have established families. I have gone to my church my entire life and I have always felt loved and welcomed. However, there has never really been a ministry or even a place for 20 somethings to turn to. I never really experienced this problem when I was in college because I was blessed to find a college ministry I loved. After college I felt that I didn't really belong anywhere, but I was searching for a place to grow. I tried going to youth, but quickly realized I wasn't getting what I needed from the lessons. I attended the adult class (and still do), but felt out of place. I wanted our new pastor to do something about this because I was growing more and more frustrated. I've already made my church my home church, but I thought about how a new 20 something might feel if he or she came to visit. I knew that creating a ministry for the round 2 of middle school years would be important if we wanted our church to grow in the future. Andy agreed that we needed to do something about that and he and his wife made sure that happened.
At the beginning of August we had our young adult kick off party. Warren and Kim (who used to be state youth directors) and Becca have aggreed to lead our young adult group. I was so excited that my prayers had been answered. I finally had a place that was especially for me. We have been meeting weekly on Sunday nights to dig deeper into doctrine and discuss tough questions about why we beleive what we believe. Our weekly discussions have been very intense and deep, but even though I have left class confused it has allowed me to grow in Christ. We have talked about many questions that we as young adults, have had for years, Warren has led us in great disussions using scripture to back our beliefs. I am so glad that we have left confused at times because that allows our faith to grow because it creates a deeper desire to learn and dig into scripture even more. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to grow along side of people who are my age through great disucssions about scripture.
At the end of fall break we had a campout at the Pastor's house. We had a great time fellowshiping, eating enourmous hamburgers, and sitting around the campfire. Shiana, Erin, and I decided we would be brave souls and campout on the trampoline. We stayed pretty warm because with a trampoline you have no choice but to use each other's body heat. :)
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