the world of youth

March 13, 2006

over february and march, i had the chance to work with the tc jr worship team with my buddy hubert. it's been an interesting journey over the past for me. this has been my first exposure to youth in a few years. i've been learning a lot about youth in seminary, but i've never had an opportunity to see what it really was like for myself.

i never thought i was out-of-date with culture, but being opened to the lives of these teens on the worship team, i see how things have changed drastically over the years. i've always thought i was pretty hip-with-it, but when i started interacting with these teens, i really felt old! i guess the truth of the matter is that culture changes at such at alarming rate, it's hard to keep up with everything. i remember one girl sharing about her university apps and how she was getting only mediocre grades. her mediocre grades were an average of 87%! i thought back to my own apps and smile at how different things were. i think my grades were in the low-mid 80s and that was considered quite good, not simply mediocre.

i was surprised that i was able to keep conversation with these teens. i'm not the most social person in the world and i absolutely loathe small talk (though it has it's place), so for me to be intentional about trying to learn about these guys took a lot of serious effort on my part (though i can't say that i'm super close to any of the team members). in any case, i've had a good time observing them and interacting with them. they're a great group of teens.

i remember one of the members sharing about something he learnt during a retreat. lectio devina. it's a way of reading Scripture that's about your own formation. i had only heard about lectio in my spiritual formation class this semester. i was impressed. they had learnt such a valuable way of reading Scripture at a much younger age than i. i wondered why i never heard about it until now... when i was six years older? i wondered where i would be had i learnt things like this when i was their age. that day, i saw just how wonderful it would be to teach these types of things to young people. i mean, why wait until you're my age right? it's better to learn it young.

during february, i made a decision to be a coach for tc. i figured it'd be a good way to see what the youth world looked like now... plus they needed more coaches. though i had my reservations about it, i knew it was something i needed to do. i met the captains for the team i would be coaching near the end of february. it was really quite amazing. the two captains were so full of zeal and energy for God that they stirred up excitement in me too. now i know what dave means when he talks about how the energy of youth keeps you young at heart. it's encouraging to see young people so enthused about God. i find myself desiring to see more young people like that. can you imagine the impact they could make?

today was the first day of tc jr. i went down to see the worship team this morning, for moral support. i'm so proud of how much progress they've made over the past month and how they've grown together. i felt so old this morning! i was watching as tc captains ran in front of the sanctuary with so much energy and hype. did i really do that kind of stuff when i was younger? afterwards, i went to ajax to meet up with the two captains. i had a great time with them, planning together some of the activities that we would be doing on wed/thurs.

in reflecting on both of these experiences, i see this desire in me to support, encourage and teach young people. i hope to impart knowledge and wisdom in their lives. i see why i'm learning about youth in seminary because i think i'll be very involved with them in the future, no matter what role i take in ministry.

i'm excited for the next few days. i'm not sure exactly what will happen, but i choose to walk in faith and trust God to use me to glorify His kingdom through my inadequacies and insufficiencies.

for His glory.

Posted by Leo Chan at March 13, 2006 6:53 PM