C.

Kyle Douglas

Brent Turner

BR 314

6 February 2016

Youth Group Experience

I began to attend church towards the end of my eight grade year, once my mother guilt-

tripped me into attending so we could take my great-grandmother. Every Wednesday and every

Sunday we would make the fifteen-minute drive to her house and take her to church. At first, I

did not care much for it. I kind of just went, so I did not have to hear my mother nag. However, I

started to enjoy the youth program, not that it was all that great looking back. I enjoyed the

people I met there and what we were learning was knew to me, so it interested me. I soon found

myself enjoying getting up early, before eleven, on Sunday mornings to get ready to pick up my

great-grandmother. So, I had the time with her to look forward to on the week-ends and time

with my new friends and the leaders on Wednesday.

My youth group was not large and it was not, for lack of a better term, lively. We had two

volunteers: Ms. Theresa, a middle school science teacher who had taken over after the previous

leader left, and Ms. Karyn, a daycare worker for another church. The actual youth of the group

mainly consisted of three kids: Courtney, Taylor, and myself. One of my best friends would later

join the church, after I stopped attending for a while. There were a few other kids who would

come and go regularly for a while, but then not at all for months. Sometimes there were even

much younger kids, who would come in due to a lack of properly divided age-based groups.

There wasn’t much growth in this period and what we learned came mostly from old devotionals
or corny worksheets and handouts. During this time, I was not saved and I was not growing

much spiritually, but it was an important time, because I really started to fall in love with the

church.

However, I hit a rough spot whenever my great-grandmother passed away in early

August. At the time I did not really know much about God, but what I had been taught confused

me. I could not figure out why such a loving God took away the one thing that started bringing

me to church. I thought going to church meant things were supposed to get better, but they got

worse. I lost someone I had grown to care deeply for and I blamed God. I started to go back

some towards the end of November and some in December because I was supporting my friends

in their participation in the Christmas service. That did not last long. I had a “falling out” with

God in January and decided I would “never step back in that church”. Then for the next six

months, I did not.

I actually came to accept salvation outside of my church when I met some people during

a summer program of my freshman year. After the program ended, I began to attend church

again. I began again just in time for that summer’s Vacation Bible School program. That year I

attended as a student and it was there that I met a woman named Duffy. I did not know at the

time, but she would become an important part of my youth group very soon. Shortly after VBS

ended Duffy, her husband David, and their young daughter Kaitlyn began to attend our

Wednesday night youth services. David and Duffy came in with new ideas and a new vision for

our group. However, Mrs. T was fairly stuck in her ways and was slow to change things. This

caused friction as the younger couple was growing in favor with the kids and providing the group

with something that seemed to be missing, a deep passion for God.

 The two eventually took over the program and along with that came some drama. This

was not something that I took kindly to. I am not one in favor of the dramatics that many people

like to create, so this was off-putting to me. David and Duffy were young, but they were not new

at running a youth program and under them our program grew and new students came. We

starting holding events, fundraisers, planning trips, serving the church and attending at a close by

summer camp. Our service changed dramatically. We rose from four kids on average to nearly

twenty during the summer and around eleven or so during the rest of the year. The growth was

amazing, but something still seemed to be missing. Many of the other kids were much more open

than I ever was with David and Duffy. I never felt that they were as trustworthy as the others

though they were. I never felt like they deserved to hear my story and I did not believe they were

the best examples to follow, but nonetheless I respected their ability to grow and nurture our

small group.

There were times where they pushed me outside my comfort zone, by inspiring me to

serve at summer camp, but eventually I stopped growing; I plateaued. There became a time when

my friend and I contemplated finding another church, but out of obligation we stuck around.

Then shortly before I left for college David and Duffy left my church. The main reason was for

money, the two of them were never financially responsible, so an opportunity arose where they

could receive a paycheck from another church and so they went. It greatly damaged our group.

Some followed them and a few stayed with another young couple that had been helping out for a

few months, who ended up taking David and Duffy’s place. Some of our group still attend David

and Duffy’s new church, many have returned to the original group, but there are some who

attend neither. I pray for those who do not. I hope to one day see them return, but I know they

were hurt by David and Duffy’s leaving. The new leaders are not as strong as David and Duffy
and the group is significantly smaller, but they truly have a heart for service. I believe that my

youth group back home can really grow. I believe that God will move through them. I hope that

when I return over the summer that I can help lead them in their pursuit of God. I believe that the

group still has a long ways to go, but I am hoping that I get the chance to step up from student to

leader, God willing.