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News from the President
June 2006
Junior high kids can be cool.
This might sound a little odd, depending on your age and if (like me) recalling your own junior-high years brings up a few “ouch” memories. But it’s true, as I was reminded this spring when I helped to host a junior-high group serving in Los Angeles with CSM.
Now junior highers can be everything you might expect for that age group. Attention spans can be short, energy levels can rapidly zig (and zag), and the “squirrel factor” does pop up from time to time. Hosting and working with middle school and junior high groups can be one of the biggest challenges faced by our CSM staff and our ministry partners in the city. But it’s amazing to see how open these boys and girls are to God’s nudging when He gives them the opportunity to serve, and come alongside, people in the city who are usually shunned and ignored.
My group stepped up all week as they prepared, served, and ate meals with the homeless at the Midnight Mission and the Lord’s Kitchen; loved on kids and moms at the Union Rescue Mission’s family shelter; assisted teachers at a private school run by the Salvation Army—and much more. It was a hectic schedule for any age group, and we pushed the kids hard. But they responded to the challenges and maintained their focus and serving attitudes (admittedly in junior-high fashion) throughout the trip.
What really encouraged me, though, was the chance to hear the kids share at the end of the trip about what God had done in their lives that week. The group spent their last evening at the beach in Santa Monica, conducting an “affirmation time” popular with our groups. Seated in a circle, each person in the group has the opportunity to have a candle lit, share how God has touched them during the week, then light the next person’s candle, and so on. Sometimes groups will want to do their “affirmation time” on their own, but these folks invited Kelly Reed (my co-host) and me to join them, and even had some nice things to say about us.
We got to hear kids share about how God had broken their hearts for men, women, and children who formerly had been images on the TV news or frightening stereotypes. We heard how the chance to serve had opened their eyes to the truth that they could be full-on disciples for Christ at any age and in any school grade. We heard how they were already dreaming about how they might serve their own community when they returned home. We heard how God was already beginning to put His call on their individual lives and futures. Then they asked me to say a few words. I thought about it a minute, then told them the truth.
“You know, most mission organizations wouldn’t have let you be here this week,” I said. “They won’t work with middle school and junior high youth. They think you’re not mature enough to serve in places like the city. But you are, you’ve lived that this week, and I’m really glad that CSM is able to work with young men and women like you. You guys are cool!”
Because that is the truth. CSM is one of the few mission and service organizations that will accept middle-school and junior-high groups. It is definitely a challenge—but we have been around long enough to see the fruit: Adult men and women who are living dynamic lives as laypeople and ministers in their homes, schools, and communities… who got their first taste of mission and ministry as a squirrelly junior higher with CSM.
I’m really glad we work with junior-highers, and maybe the next time you’re around a middle-school or junior-high boy or girl, you can take ‘em aside and tell ‘em, “Hey—thanks for being so cool!”
Blessings,
Noel Becchetti, President
To learn more about serving with CSM (as a junior-high group or otherwise) please email us.
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