“Welcome
home!” Two words that may seem so small have come to be so important in our
work with military teens here at Ft. Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. Often,
we get caught up in the busyness of life that we miss so many little things
that have such great importance. Everyone has a need to be loved and accepted,
but we have found that is especially true as our students navigate the
turbulent times that come along with the journey through adolescence.
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| A giant group of MS teens gathered to start the year! |
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| The HS students in our first Club enjoying ice cream together. |
Over the summer, we had several
students that moved away. We also saw an influx of new families move into and
get settled at our installations. Whether we’ve had the privilege to shepherd
students for a couple of years and are sending them onto their next
destination, or are welcoming new students into the fold, one thing we always strive to do is put forth our best effort to
welcome students and create an environment where they feel they are at home.
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| A look at the teens who came to the big bowling kickoff. |
This can be challenging with the
constant tempo of transition of military life, however, we try to capitalize on
every opportunity to celebrate and simply live life with our students. This
happens in a variety of ways. Every week, through regular club, we are granted
a couple of hours in a large group setting to “do life” with these teens. The
first semester we spend time enjoying lots of games that allow students to get
to know one another and build friendships. We strategically plan and structure
our time so that we can deepen relationships with these teens in order to
introduce them to Jesus, as well as cultivate the soil of their hearts, in
order to increase their desire to come to know Jesus as their Savior. We not
only want these students to feel at home through our ministry, but we also want
them to spiritually be at home and grow in the knowledge and understanding of a
Godly Father that loves them.
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| The students wait until we let them into the bowling alley. |
This month we kicked off the new
school year for Club with an awesome launch party at the bowling alley on post.
85 middle and high school students from both locations came out to enjoy some
fun in a space where they felt welcome to be themselves, surrounded by a team
of leaders and their peer group that they consider family. Our theme for this
year that our Club talks will center around is: “Live Like you were Dying”.
The climate in which we’re living in today has teenagers believing that
everything is all about them. We are bombarded with countless “selfies” and
self-absorbed social media posts that sadly have consumed most of our young
people and have left them with a severe case of tunnel vision. This year, we
hope to walk through Scripture with our students and help them move toward an
others-focused way of living. As humans, our days on earth are numbered and we
want students to understand that they were made on purpose, for a purpose, with
a purpose by the Creator of the universe and to live each moment with that
God-given purpose and make every moment count.
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| These teens kept trying to empty the machine giving out stuffed animals! |
Since
regular club only presents a couple of hours each week to spend with students,
we also try to make every effort to spend time with students through their
extracurricular activities. We attend events ranging from football and soccer
games, and band competitions, to golf tournaments and softball games. At times,
it may seem that all we’re doing is adding more to our already busy calendar,
but it’s so worth it. Our students always share with us how cool it is that we
care enough to be at their events and support them. We encourage our volunteer leader
team to work 1-2 events into their schedules each month so they can meet
students where they are and continue to build relationships and bridge the gap
between teaching them about the love of Christ and living it out to and with
them.
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| The Hunter teens gathered during games as we excitedly began a new year together. |
We have
found that it is through the time we spend with students in the “in between”
regular club activities that these relationships with students really grow. It
is through those 3rd quarter conversations and the pitching changes
chatter where we are given the opportunities to talk with students one on one
and students get real with us. They share with us how they are struggling with
all of the changes, how making new friends has been difficult. They tell us how
hard it has been with their parent(s) deployed. Students share with us how
things at home are terrible and their parents are getting divorced. They tell
us how things are so bad and how they try to cope in unhealthy ways like
self-harm, food restriction, and drug and alcohol abuse as they try to escape
the mess that their lives have become.
Although these stories break our
hearts, we remain open to listening. Through
Club Beyond, we provide a refuge for them to share their pain. We certainly
don’t want our students to get stuck in their mess, but we understand that in
order for a home to be a refuge, we must create an atmosphere of safety, love,
and acceptance. WE must build a solid foundation with students before we
can begin to help them health their hurts.
Please be in prayer with us as we
continue to meet new students and build relationships with them. Pray that God
would lay the foundation in their hearts and equip us accordingly to point them
toward Him, so we can say, “welcome home!” We want to be able to greet them not
only as they walk through the doors each week at Club, but also we pray, they
eventually choose to be welcomed into the family of God.
Dutifully on mission,
Phil and Amy
