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Message From Andy Langdon

Remodeling for Youth

This year you’ll see the remodeling projects for our teenagers changing hearts, programs, and even the space where our teenagers dwell.

By Andy Langdon, Director of Youth Ministry

Langdon

With a new sanctuary only three years old and a parking lot currently under construction, you’re probably familiar with remodeling projects at St. Paul. Here are a few you may not know about in the youth areas.

Remodeling our space
A few weeks into the summer, a group of teenagers, adults, and volunteer professionals helped redesign the youth room. In the previous form, the youth spaces included one room full of couches for senior high students and another set up as a classroom for junior high youth. We realized that we rarely used
these two rooms because they didn’t accommodate the size of the group we often gathered, and when we did use them, they didn’t provide a welcoming feel.

The new design merges these areas into one “youth suite” suitable for all of the teenagers in our church. Though the walls remain intact, the new space includes carpeted seating platforms to accommodate 50 to 80 students in one room, and couches, games, and other creature comforts in the second. With a new atmosphere and style, this space will become a hub of activity
for teenagers to gather, learn, and sing praises to God.

Remodeling our program
High school students encounter a world of opportunities. Many are involved in a different club, activity, sport, or group every night of the week — not to mention time spent watching TV, doing
homework, or hanging out with friends or family. Their spiritual life has to compete with these activities, forcing teenagers to make decisions based on the values and benefits they’ll receive. For this reason, our program needs a little remodeling, too.

This year, students will be exposed to new leadership… their own. At St. Paul we’re introducing Servant Leader Teams, an opportunity for students to join together in leading and serving during our youth ministry programs.

On a Sunday night you might see students welcoming people at the front door, cleaning in the kitchen, planning crazy games, leading small groups, or guiding devotional time. The goal is to
give teenagers service opportunities, leadership skills, and reasons to get more involved, invite their friends, and stay committed. At two of our summer trainings, we’ve already equipped 30 of our high school youth to join these teams, with more opportunities coming later this fall.

Remodeling our hearts
At the core of every ministry is the heart attack — when the sinfulness of life overtakes you and you surrender your life back to God, receiving God’s forgiveness and redemption. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, but necessary. For our teenagers, this remodeling process is made more difficult because of
the perpetual search for identity.

During adolescence, teenagers vacillate between extremes: one minute they are invincible and in the next breath their life is melting away to a crisis involving pimples. These extremes expose teenagers as vulnerable humans in need of the kind of persistent love that only God provides. The remodeling of the heart is never finished and the ministry to teenagers is an ongoing reclamation of an identity as a forgiven, loved people of God.

We are difficult people to satisfy, constantly seeking change, and in ongoing need of a savior. We are so fortunate to have a God who understands our remodeling needs and renews our hearts each and every day. This year you’ll see the remodeling projects
for our teenagers changing hearts, programs, and even the space where our teenagers dwell.

Andy Langdon,

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