Disciple Now 2011

We just had such an amazing weekend with some really mature and wonderful kids! I am always excited when Disciple Now Weekend comes because we get to hang out with kids who are seeking the Lord! Oh, how I wish I were so mature and focused on God when I was their age!

We hosted 11th and 12th grade girls at our house this year and MAN did we get a great group!?! I am always a little on guard about who will be grouped together and how the dynamics will work.. you know how kids can be! This year the girls were all very eager to share and include one another. It was really awesome!

My husband had to work some so I did not get to attend the worship services and hear all of the amazing speakers, etc, since I had to be home with little girlfriend. The kids said that it was awesome and the theme was “Reverse”. I heard and saw things about dying to self and taking up your cross to live for Christ. It definitely hit home with the girls and God’s Word is always able to make us think about how we live… no matter WHO we are or how old we might be… uh humm. Let’s just say you didn’t have to attend the services to get the point!!

I did get to spend some time with the girls at lunch on Saturday and after lunch we did a service project for the unwed mother’s home.

I mentioned in an earlier post about how our Sunday school class has been taking meals to unwed teen mothers, and we have desperately tried to get God’s Word into their hands. We can’t always afford to buy Bibles for the girls as there is a high turnover rate, but we don’t want cost to stop us. We started making scripture cards to give to the girls so that they could hear God’s promises and have hope! The cards are great, but they are labor intensive so we got the girls to each write 12 scripture cards a piece… one for each month.. and we put them together in little groups to take to the girls…

It was so awesome to hear the girls saying the scriptures out loud and finding new scriptures that might minister to the teens who are not SO different from themselves.

Afterwards we had a sweet time of prayer where the girls prayed that the cards might mean something so powerful and life changing to the ones that receive it. It was neat to see their determination to make the cards special and to be willing to pray for people that they don’t know.

Afterwards the girls had a devotional time and then dinner where we talked about setting a table. I got out the good china and glasses and our little spaghetti dinner became a fun time of talking and dreaming about their own homes one day. I was so busy that I forgot to take pictures, but it was a fun time!

After it was all said and done we were tired, but who CARES? Time spent with great kids and God’s Word and laughter and growth and encouragement?!? We’d take that any day! Heck.. we can take a nap later! It was a terrific time of growing in the Lord and in friendships!