Cornerstone Student Ministries

With the busy holiday season just upon us, things are about to get crazy at youth group. Crazy good, that is! Our youth group continues to have a steady attendance of 40-45 kids each week. Yet despite the larger numbers, youth group is far from impersonal. It’s amazing to see the kids come each week and have such an eagerness and joy in worshiping God. During the message students engage and interact with the questions asked, and games are always a great time for the kids to connect with each other.

A couple weekends ago I took a small group of Sr. Highers on a Fall Summit event. I love these times when a faction of the youth group can spend a weekend together. Often these students are coming from all different backgrounds so it’s great to see kids who wouldn’t normally spend time together bonding over a weekend of shared experiences. At this event, we had two specific times of training. The one was a time of learning how to navigate a conversation well, asking insightful questions and really listening to what people told them. They learned not only how to have a conversation, but also how to steer it towards Christ and things of substance.

The second time was focused on personal testimonies. The students learned to share what God has done in their own lives in a Before-Then-After format. They examined what their lives were like before God, the circumstances of when they first surrendered their hearts to Him, and what He has been changing in their hearts and lives since then. Everything that the kids learned in these times were then put into practice when we went to a hospital to talk to people there and pray with them.

Another thing we did on the Fall Summit weekend was take the kids to Falls Park to spend an hour in personal prayer. Alaina Reynolds lead this time, where they were challenged to not ask God for a single thing in the whole hour of prayer. Instead, they spent the hour being still, remembering God’s faithfulness, listening for His still voice, and Praising God out of this new heart of joy and gratitude.

I got the chance to go to a new depth with one of the students. He was adopted and had many deep wounds from his past. As he was sharing these things, the Spirit prompted me to ask him if he’d ever forgiven the people who had caused these wounds. After an hour or two of talking with him, I led him in prayer where he surrendered his wounds to God and forgave. He was so pumped up over the freedom he now has that the next day, when we went to a hospital to pray, he was rearing to go. He just had to pray with someone! While there, he was able to have a good conversation with an employee who came from similar faith backgrounds and they shared prayer together. At another point, I was able to witness this same student sharing boldly with a little old lady that was there with her husband. This kid was so changed by the weekend that there was a noticeable difference about him to his family when he got back home; his mom shared with me that “He was challenged but felt it was all part of God's plan!! Usually he feels rejected and defeated! I've never seen such confidence!! It was a total transformation! He is ready to forgive his bio parents and move forward!! Let go and move on!! He also is ready to accept us as his forever parents and know we aren't going anywhere!! How amazing!”

Simple Church and Leadership Team continues to meet on Saturday mornings. These times are filled with depth as we examine what it means to be the body of Christ. We are learning how the church functions, how we can build it up, and serve it. This last Saturday we went to the Mt. Lake City Park to put service into action by helping hang Christmas lights.

As I said before, this upcoming holiday season is packed with exciting events for the teens to take part in. One upcoming youth night we will be packing Thanksgiving baskets for the church to hand out to the community. The Sr. Highers aren’t the only ones that get to have fun, the Jr. High Epic Outing is coming up. On top of all that, the youth group Christmas Party is on its way, so get those ugly sweaters ready!