On the first night of youth group

Tuesday has come and gone.

Youth group has come and gone with it.

I'm officially back as a Transformers leader!

There is something about middle schoolers that I love. They get such a bad rep. Not many people like middle schoolers because of their awkwardness, their sassiness, their laziness, their attitude of entitlement, the list could go on and on as to why people say they don't like middle schoolers.

I, on the other hand, love middle schoolers. I love their awkwardness, their vibrantness and their energy. I find middle schoolers are caught in between innocence and experience. They are still so young, but they are also starting to grow up.

I like the conversations you can have with middle schoolers. You can talk about deep stuff like a family issue or their relationship with Christ and talk about bodily functions, like burping all in the same conversation.

Middle schoolers are like wild cards you never know what you are going to get from them. They keep you on your toes. And I love it!

I am so full of joy when I'm leading at Transformers. Pouring into the youth at RiverCross fills me up to keep me going for the week. I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to do so!

So first week back as a leader after two months off for school.

All the youth are the same as before Christmas (except for one or two - yay for bringing friends to youth group!) which is nice because I can continue to get to know them.

The structure of the night is similar, although a little different:
Hang out
Group games
Worship time
Large group discussion/teaching time
Snack & Small group discussions (small groups by grade level)
Large group games if time allows

They have also finished Alpha, which I expected and we started a new series that I do not know the name of - but after one night it seemed really good.

This week the series talked about walking away from Jesus, and when Jesus asked his disciples "are you going to walk away from me too?" and Peter replied by saying "Lord where would we go."

I feel like this is such an important topic for middle schoolers because so much is thrown at them at this age, they have plenty of opportunities to walk away from Jesus, there is so many other things they could walk towards, but we need to teach them to walk to Jesus and keep walking to him!

First night back at youth group was a success! I'm so so so happy to be back! I cannot wait to see what God has planned for the next few months at Transformers.

Until next week,
Em