Reconnect
I was up surfing around one night a few weeks ago and googled an old friend of mine, and lo and behold, I found him. Brian Goins and I worked together during the summer of 1991 at Camp Shenandoah Springs as counselors. It was a pretty awesome 7 weeks, and pretty formative for me as I look back on it now, due to a few reasons:
- Brian was a big influence on me in terms of youth ministry. Even though I had been doing lots of volunteering as a youthworker in a local church, it never occurred to me that it was more than just something fun to do, a community service, etc. Brian was compelled to, called to, defined by - ministry to young people. I specifically remember him getting broken at talking about how little time was left in the summer, that our time to transform them was so short. After that summer, I began to really think about a calling to youth ministry. I don't think I ever thought of it that way before meeting and working with Brian, and certainly have continued to think and act upon the call since then. (Even though I have tried to get out of it... it seems like I can never leave it)
- I had worked in one specific summer camp experience, and Shenandoah Springs really threw me out of context, in the best way possible. That summer, I got to work in a co-ed Christian camp, which I had never done before. I had also got to work with some really quality counselors, people that had God set apart first, and were devoted to students in ways that were incredibly sacrificial. They gave it all, 24x7, to these kids.
- I had just graduated college and was on my way to grad school in the fall. It was a great way to spend the summer without having financial worries, etc. Just loads of fun.
I always knew he would do something significant for the Kingdom. Here is a recent article by Brian about The Passion.
No comments:
Post a Comment