Senior Night!

Last Friday, we had our annual Senior Night in youth group. You can see a picture of our group below with our Oh, the Places You'll Go Dr. Seuss theme. This tradition started my senior year of high school when some of our youth counselors visited my friend's Senior Night for her gymnastics team at school. It was to honor the graduating seniors and to send them off to college well. They thought it was a pretty good idea, so my class--the class of 2003--was the first high school graduating class at CCUC-North to go through Senior Night.

Here I am, seven years later, as a youth counselor for this same youth group. It's incredible to see (and I think this is more true for my former youth counselors) how my own life has come full circle in this way. My various counselors over the years--Thomas, Elton, Jed, Michele, Ted, and Susan--have done their job well. It's such an honor and privilege to be back in my home church serving the youth group that so greatly influenced and shaped me as an adolescent.

This is a picture of our CCUC-N 2003 high school grads (before the youth group became SNL--we didn't have a name). From left to right is Wenny, Ryan, Bryan, Priscilla, and me.

So where are we now?
Wenny has been doing AmeriCorp after working for a couple years at Quaker with Gatorade. This fall she'll be heading to grad school at Stanford University. She has matured in her faith greatly since her high school days when we didn't really see her at youth group much because she was so involved in sports. This changed more in college and I know she' still seeking to serve the Lord with her life, wherever He may guide her in the future. We're also "twins" because we were born on the same day, same year, just 15 minutes apart. I'm the slightly older one. :)

I recently got connected again with Ryan after all these years now that he's back in Chicago post-college. He transferred schools a few times and I think changed his major too--finishing with graphic design and advertising, I believe. I saw him a couple months ago when he hung out with our young adult group and we played some old card games (like Screwy Louie), which we used to play in youth group. He also came on our youth group ski trip where he showed off his crazy skills because he's Canadian and everyone up there knows how to ski. Ryan now goes to Chinese Christian Bible Church of Oak Park.

I haven't talked to Bryan in years! I did see him about 3 years ago (Dec. 2006) though at the Urbana Student Missions Conference. After high school, he went to college in Canada (where he's from) and ended up switching schools a lot, but I think he's done now. I think he was also involved in his Asian Christian Fellowship in school as well.

Priscilla was my best friend for many years. We met in kindergarten and were friends through elementary school until our schools split into two and she went to a different school (3rd grade, I think). I reconnected with her in 5th or 6th grade, but our friendship became stronger again in junior high (7th grade). That's when she started coming to youth group with me, then eventually to church, and became a Christian. We were practically inseparable since then and even called ourselves "Pristy Chong," a combination of both our names. I have so many good memories with Priscilla, but starting our senior year of high school and then into college, we kind of drifted apart. I think Priscilla was also drifting away from her relationship from God as well, and unfortunately lost her life in a car accident on August 6, 2006. Even though I hadn't really seen Priscilla much in those three years since we graduated high school until her death, I still, even today, can't really believe that she's not here. I struggled too with wondering where she was in her relationship with God and wondering if I'll see her again in Heaven some day. I still struggle with that a little bit, but I know that in my times in youth group with her, she was completely passionate about her relationship with Jesus Christ.

So our class beat the odds of high school seniors walking away from their faith, right? The majority of us are still involved in our local churches and still have a relationship with Christ. Though we go through our own struggles, we make mistakes, we're still trying to follow Him.

As I was packing up my room for my upcoming move to my own apartment, I found a youth group yearbook I made for our group my senior year of high school (2003). I was on the yearbook staff in high school, so I can see why I was so passionate about creating this for the group. I forgot our unofficial name, W.H.A.C.K.--Whoa, Happy Asian Christian Kids! haha. As I read what I wrote to describe the theme, which had to do with a remote control--about pushing pause, play, and fast forward on life--I was somewhat surprised to see that my writing was very similar to something I would have written now, seven years later. Of course, my knowledge of God and the Bible has increased since then, but what strikes me in finding all these old things I've done for youth group when I was in high school, is my initiative in starting projects like this or even overseeing all the committees for our youth retreat even though we didn't have a student leadership team at the time. I guess it just came naturally to me and those were things I wanted to do. Pearson (another youth leader) and I were talking about how that seems to be something our youth group lacks.

It's not that I think I was better than our kids when I was in high school--I don't think that at all. In fact, some of our teens have a better understanding of God and the Bible than I did at their age. Somehow we have to motivate them to step up and take initiative--to take ownership of their youth group and to use the gifts and talents God has given them to serve. Our youth leaders didn't suggest that we make a yearbook or awards for all the youth group members on my Senior Night. I just thought it would be a good idea and got my sister to help me do it. I'm not sure how I had time to even do that during my busy senior year. So that's something God has placed on my heart for our youth group--to raise up leaders and to encourage them to lead and serve. It's something I can struggle with because I like to do a lot of things myself and then just have people help me. It's usually because I think I can do things better if I do them myself. Wrong attitude! I think now I need to be in that helper position and to let the youth try their hand at leading. If they make mistakes or it doesn't work it, it's okay. They learn from it and will be come better leaders.

Where has your own high school senior class gone since graduating from youth group? How do you motivate your youth to step up and lead?

Letting Go

The last weekend of April, we took our youth group to my alma mater, Taylor University, for the annual Youth Conference. Taylor was my alma mater and I love being back there. It's like visiting an old friend even though most of my good college friends are no longer there.

We left on Friday afternoon just as Chicago rush hour began. I drove my own car and the rest of the youth counselors and the kids went on a school bus. We needed my car so we could drive around off-campus (for those of you who know Taylor, you know it's in rural Indiana in the middle of nowhere) and in case of emergency. While I liked driving on my own and in the comfort of my own car, I also felt like I was missing out on bonding with the kids on the bus.

Since they were in a school bus, I got to Taylor about an hour before the bus did. When they finally arrived, I was pretty excited to see them. I passed out all the registration packets and some of our kids small group leaders (Taylor students) came out to meet our kids since they missed the first main session and the first small group session. All of a sudden, our group was completely split up and the Taylor leaders just took our kids away to their dorms and planned on meeting them for breakfast (last year the kids usually ate with us). The kids that I was ready to share Youth Conference with were suddenly taken away from me. Later that night I told Tiffany (the other female youth counselor), "It's like they stole our kids!"

I felt like these were the youth I've been working with and that I'm impacting through my ministry. So part of me was a little disappointed and for most of the weekend, I felt like I was supposed to be doing something with our kids and trying to build deeper relationships with them--after all, isn't that what you do on retreats?

But throughout the weekend, God showed me that the teens in our youth group are not my kids, they're His children. The conference speaker, the amazing Jeremy Kingsley, shared an image that stuck with me. He mentioned how the Bible says God can hold the oceans in the crevice of his palm (like that part of your hand that forms when you cup it). Then he had us imagine what it would be like if some guys were playing frisbee at the beach and all of a sudden a giant hand reached down and just scooped up the ocean. We'd say, "Wow--that's a big hand."

And isn't that true? I was struck by the idea of God's hands. His hands are so much bigger than my own and wouldn't I rather have our youth group be in the safety of God's hands rather than my own feeble ones? Really it's my own pride that kept me thinking that I'm the one who makes a difference in the lives of these teenagers--only God can change and transform hearts.

So while I felt as though our youth group had been taken away from us at Youth Conference, as I heard the stories and excitement of how God was working in the lives of our girls (during the short time Tiffany and I got to spend with them in the dorm on Saturday night) and saw how the majority of our 21 students went forward on Saturday night saying they wanted to lay down their pride and humble themselves before the Lord, I knew that it's God who does work--not me.

God used Taylor small group leaders, Jeremy Kingsley, and, of course, the work we've been doing with the youth group over the past few years, but all those things were to further His purpose in the teens' lives. So I'm learning to let go--I don't need to be in control of everything that goes on in this youth group because I know Someone greater holds it all in His nail-pierced hands.

What's something you need to let go of and entrust to God?

Whirlwind.

I wrote this post Sunday night, but I'm finally able to post it up.

Whirlwind. That’s the way I would describe my weekend. I just spent my entire weekend with my church youth group and now I’m writing this as I’m on a plane to Nashville for the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. I must say that I love flying at night. I love seeing the tiny city lights and right now the sun is setting and the view out the window is just breathtaking. It’s like a sea of clouds and just on one side of the plane I can see the horizon and the beautiful orange, pink, and blue hues of the sun. Then on the other side of the plane, there’s the moon--a single light in the midst of clouds. It reminds me of just how small my corner or the world and my life is compared to the greatness of the Earth and all God created. All I can say is, “WOW.”

This past weekend was another example of God’s greatness and glory. Our youth group participated in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine from 12 noon on Friday until 6 p.m. on Saturday. The entire week leading up to the famine I’ve been stressed more than usual. There have been so many events and activities going on and I’ve just been overwhelmed with planning it all. I felt so unprepared going in to the famine this year compared with last year. It was almost like the event just snuck up on me. 

Of course, the 30 Hour Famine is more than just an event. It’s our way of helping see people the way God sees them and to share God’s love with those in need around the world by raising money to help feed children for which hunger is not a choice. Despite my feelings of unpreparedness and everything that seemed to go wrong Friday night (our projector didn’t work, one youth counselor lost her voice during worship for the remainder of the weekend, we were way behind schedule, etc.), God was working in the midst of it all. 

We had some meaningful conversations with some of the teens, built fellowship with one another, had great insights during our Bible studies, and were encouraged by the testimonies shared at the end of the famine. One girl said the famine helped “reconnect her with God,” which brought tears to my eyes. Just knowing that young lives were being transformed through our time together this weekend makes it all worth it. No amount of planning or preparedness can change what God is already doing in hearts. 

So even though I’m completely exhausted physically (only running on about 11.5 hours of sleep for the entire weekend), my spirit is refreshed. This weekend God made it so everything else I had to do was on hold and all I did was focus my attention toward him and toward the teens he loves. I love our teens and I’m already looking forward to spending more time with them and investing more deeply in their lives. I can’t wait to see what God will continue to do in our group and at the upcoming Youth Conference in April. As I drove home from the famine last night at 8 p.m., I thought, “Youth ministry sure takes a lot of time.” There’s no doubt in my mind, though, that it was time well-spent. 

Thankful Tuesday

Thanksgiving is two days away and it seems like the world is forgetting that fact. Christmas decorations went up right after Halloween and some radio stations are already playing Christmas music (I think that should be illegal to do before Thanksgiving). I know retailers are all into making the most of the shopping days before Christmas, but what about the part where we remember to give thanks?

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells us to "give thanks in all circumstances." Well, let me show you some circumstances where we've been giving thanks.


Last Friday, our youth group, Salt 'N' Light (more affectionately known as SNL), had our annual Thanksgiving Potluck. I'm so grateful for all the parents who cooked and prepared food for us!! Their support of us in youth ministry is priceless. 

I'm also thankful for our student leadership team that faithfully attends Sunday afternoon meetings and volunteers their time and energy to serve others. Here's a picture of JLowe (that's his nickname) and Boyi serving drinks during the dinner.

I'm thankful for the teens that came & who attend our youth group. Without them, this ministry would be nothing!

During our program, we had a time of worship. We have to remember who the Giver is! Then we had an open mic time of sharing. Another thing I'm grateful for is the youth and parents who got up to share about God's goodness and provision in their lives.

I'm also very, VERY thankful for my fellow youth counselors: Pearson, Gerald, & Tiffany. We're a great team and I'm blessed by their wisdom, insight, and friendship. We don't actually have a picture of just the four of us, so sometime we'll have to take one!

Most of all, all the glory and praise goes to God for making any of this possible. He is the Giver of all good things and my life would be a complete mess without Him.

I'll post more things I'm thankful for during this Thanksgiving week. :)