As youth pastors we are so passionate about seeing youth come to Christ! There is nothing that makes us happier than seeing lives being saved and changed!  Seeing young people just fall in love with Jesus and go all out for Him, thirsting after Him and wanting to become more and more like Him each and every day.

The problem is often how do we do this?  What can we do to really impact the lives of the youth? How can we try and get them to really experience Christ for themselves and see that he is real? How do we then continue to challenge and grow them that they do not stagnate and become luke warm?

These are some of the things I have really been challenged with lately.  We have been called to a youth group of about 150 guys and girls, a mixture of none Christians, some  really new Christains as well as some more mature Christians who are really trying to go deeper with God.

We have really been trying to connect with them on all these different levels and to reach out to them and show them the heart of Christ and most importantly help them to get to know Him on a personal level where they can experience Him for themselves and get a tast of a Him hoping that they will grab hold and and hunger and thirst for more!!  At the same time we have been trying to help those who have been on a journey to really go deeper and challenge them to allow God to work in and through them to use their gifts for His glory and to give what they have recieved from Him and share what they have experienced and been through to help others grow.

It has been really tough at times.  Often youth are so distracted and get so bored so easily if it is not something theat they can relate to or connect with.  I mean it is great to teach them and tell them about God and how much He loves them but unless we show them that love it is often meaningless.  At the same time if they do not experience Christ for themselves how could they ever really understand what we are talking about?

So I decided to take a different approach.  Instead of standing in front of them and telling them about Jesus or just loving them I gave them the opportunity to experience Him for themselves.

I set up what we would call creative worship stations where I had set up six different stations for them to go and explore and spend time just listening to their hearts and allowing the Holy Spirit to move.  Each station was focused on finding themselves in Christ.  Things like looking at yourself in a mirror and thinking about who you are and how people see you then going a bit deeper and thinking about how God sees you.  Are you really who you say you are? Is the person you say you are the person you really want to be? And do you think the person you are is the person Christ wants you to be?

By allowing youth to take time out and just quietly spend time with God reflecting on who they see themselves as and how God sees them and allowing the Holy Spirit to move and take full control was trully amazing!!

See I think we need to become creative and not just teach them how, or show them how but to find ways to create an experience where they get to experience it for themselves is probably the most helpful and maybe in this we as youth pastors need to become more child like and have more fun and become more daring!  Think about it youth sit in class all week, do they really need another talk?