Since 2004, the month of May has been bitter sweet for me. On one hand, May 2004 was the most amazing month I have ever seen in my youth ministry career but one of the most difficult, as well.
May 2004 began a continuous series of reflections for me as a youth pastor, especially as I contemplate the idea of leaving a legacy that will draw people into a relationship with Jesus.
To fully grasp the events of the May 2004, you need to understand that as a youth pastor I was trained on various tools and techniques that work in the world of teenagers, and in many ways am viewed in the church context as the “resident professional” when it comes to reaching teens for Jesus. Whether a fair assumption or not, the youth pastor usually is perceived as the “hired gun,” “top dog,” “answer guy” or whatever label you want to put on him. He’s the guy who gets “the big bucks,” so he must have it all together. Right?
I believe youth pastors need to be trained to do the very best job they can to understand and reach out to youth culture with truth, but it always has bothered me that in many church circles the volunteer youth leaders often are overlooked and underappreciated because they don’t have a parchment from Bible College X.
I’m only one guy with a small sphere of influence. If all the gifts, talents, abilities, resources and energies represented by the team are funneled in my direction to help me reach my sphere of influence, that’s a waste isn’t it?
I’ve always been about doing ministry on a team with members who are passionate about their identity in Christ, as well as passionate about loving students in the name of Christ.
Hang Time
Hang Time is a ministry born from a seminar on spiritual gifts and personality styles that I did with our core students. The seminar was all about turning the mirror on ourselves to discover how God had designed us, and asking, “How does God want me to use my design for Him?”
John, one of the seminar participants, came up to me at the end and said, “Pastor Brent, in to this seminar I learned a bunch of big terms and concepts, but to me the bottom line is I love to skate; I’m good at skating. I love my friends, and I want them to know Jesus. What should I do with that?”
It wasn’t long before the answer to John’s question became very obvious. Build a skate park that’s led by a student skater, who also has a passion to reach fellow skaters for Jesus. So, that’s what we did. We opened our facility and made our trash cans, orange cones, metal pipes and broken pool table available to the skaters to do their stuff on. We had a skate park!
Hang Time was built on this motto, “No one else wants you to skate…We do! You’re welcome here, it’s not much, but all we have is yours…Enjoy Hang Time!”
Skaters had the option of skating inside or out, hanging out in the game room listening to music, playing video games, plugging in their guitars and rocking out, or just talking with friends.
It wasn’t long until the desire of a student who wanted to be obedient to God’s design for him materialized into his friends coming out week after week to skate, hang out, laugh, listen to music, eat pizza and have meaningful conversations with volunteers and fellow students who loved God and people. Hang Time was fulfilling its purpose.
A Volunteer Leader Named Larry
Larry was our behind-the-scenes guy. He loved doing things that enabled those “up front” to share Jesus with the skaters. He did things like set up and tear down skate ramps each week, stirring large coolers of refreshments, ordering and picking up pizza and snacks, and anything else that needed to be done behind the scenes so the skaters not only felt welcome, but also knew their presence was important to us!
Halfway through the evening, we’d take a break and everyone would gather around the “fun box,” which was the best ramp we had and the center point of the ramp configuration. At the fun box, I gathered everyone to do the one “spiritual” thing we did at Hang Time – ask God to bless the food (free, because God’s love for us is free!).
As the weeks went on, I started asking if any of the skaters had any prayer requests they wanted me to offer on their behalf before I gave thanks. One day, a skater mentioned his friend was in a serious car accident; another mentioned a sick friend. Before long, not only were we thanking God for food, but also bringing requests to Him on behalf of others.
It was cool because it gave me an opportunity to say, “You know, I’m more than happy to talk to God on your behalf, but you know what? You really don’t need me to do it. You can do it on your own.” The early seeds of God’s desire for relationship were being planted in the minds of our skaters.
Once a quarter, we brought in some bands, hold a competition, do demos, or whatever we could think of to take Hang Time to another level. We always promoted the event in advance, billing it as someone who would share his or her life-change story.
At one event, we brought in some Christian pro-skaters who were in our city that week for a show at the civic center. They had heard about Hang Time and asked if they could come and hang out with the kids. That demo was when May 2004 became bitter sweet for me.
The pro-skaters did their tricks and jumps, which were amazing. They definitely had the attention of the Hang Time crowd. Then the leader of the skate troop asked everyone to gather around the fun box and have seat on their boards. I looked around the building; all the skaters were sitting down, listening to this guy who had grabbed their attention with his abilities. He went on to tell his story of faith, how he accepted Jesus’ free gift of salvation. It was incredible to watch him be so candid with students who were able to relate to him. At the end of his talk, he said, “So, if any of you would like to know this Jesus I just told you about and invite Him into your life, just get on your board and ride to the middle!”
It was the most amazing thing I ever saw in ministry. About 350 skaters were there that night; our best count was 60 of them rode to the middle and responded to the invitation to receive Christ!
Larry and I were in the back of the gym in tears! This is what it’s all about; this is why we worked so hard to provide a place for John’s friends. It was a great moment for our team. That was May 3, 2004. On May 8, we rented a bus and took a bunch of the skaters to the civic center to see the demo. Ten more skaters accepted the invitation that was given that night.
Larry’s Legacy
Larry had kidney problems – severe enough that he needed to dialysis each week. He also had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Larry was dying, and May 3 Hang Time was his last. He was admitted to the hospital a couple days later, where he wasn’t estimated to live much longer.
I went to visit Larry, and what a great time of praising God we had! I mean we had just seen more than 70 skaters accept Jesus in a week! Talk about a miracle!
We spent a long time together reminiscing about the mission trips, pizza parties, all-nighters and Bible studies. Then Larry said to me, “Brent, this week at Hang Time, I want you to share my story with the skaters. Tell them what I was like before Jesus and what I was like after. Make sure you tell them I love them and want nothing more than to have them know Jesus like I do. Tell them I know where I’m going when I die and want them to know for sure, as well. Tell them my story!”
Talk about a heavy load. I hugged him, told him I loved him and that I was so thankful to have had the honor of serving the Lord with him. We prayed together, and I left his room for the last time.
On May 15, 2004, Larry went home to be with the Lord. On May 17th, 2004, the skaters showed up for Hang Time as they had done every week for four years. On this night, we welcomed about 70 new followers of Jesus. At halftime, I asked everyone to gather around the “fun box,” where I shared the news about Larry and told his story.
The place was silent. I saw hardened and streetwise skaters crying because they loved Larry and were sad to see him go. At the end of the talk, I closed with an invitation for anyone to come talk to any of the leaders if they wanted to know the assurance of faith in Jesus that Larry knew. That night, 20 more skaters put their faith in Christ!
What a month! Ninety skaters put their faith in Jesus Christ!
As I think about May 2004, it’s with mixed emotion and the reality that God isn’t just looking for the “American Idol” of youth leaders. He’s looking for the Johns and Larrys who will be obedient to His call. He’s looking for us to know who we are in Christ, embrace our identity, then passionately and authentically love God and people.
Brent Carl is the Vice President of Training Operations for Youth Ministry International, a mission organization specializing in providing training and resources for Youth Leaders worldwide. He is a youth ministry veteran, who loves to teach, preach, train and engage with students and those with whom he works. He is in his 19th year of full-time ministry to students, and writes a series of articles called “Lesson Learned,” which chronicles things God has taught him during the past two decades. He is also a regular speaker at camps, conferences, colleges and churches and currently is lining up speaking engagements for 2008-2009.
If you would like more information on Brent and Youth Ministry International, please contact him at brent@ymionline.com, visit his blog at www.ninetyseventhree.blogspot.com, or check out what YMI is all about at www.youthministryinternational.com
Brent lives in Rochester, New York, with his wife Bonnie and two children.
