I think we are almost done with inviting specific students for our Cameroon team for this summer. This past week, two students that were invited have made commitments - very exciting. These two bring some serious energy, fun and servant hearts. There are three more outstanding invitations. We'll see about those. I will tell you more about the team as a whole later.
This trip has also brought out some other interesting issues with SPACE, and I think student ministry in general. First, there are going to be kids that you will seek out for a team and they will not be interested. There are bound to be lots of logsitical reasons including academics, athletics [lots of students getting ready for fall sports in the summer time,] and having to get jobs to make money. It is a list of many of the same conflicts with kids and student ministries in general. These kids lead busy lives. What is easy to miss [and I missed it at first - D didn't] is that because of the risk and fear - some students might find it easier to say no because of the unknown. I found that a helpful nudge to not be so quick to judge. I'm a bit scared too.
Secondly, parents might have issue with the team mix. Honesty and openness is the ruling set of principles here, but in the end, parents have to make the decision on their own. It's a balance of judgment about your team, their trust and desires for their student. And in school, sports teams, after school jobs, and yes, even youth groups, there will be kids we don't want our kids spending time with.
Thirdly, lest you think SPACE is all that, I can't give too many details but there are kids that have been part of our experiences that have dropped the Jesus thing. It pains me. Maybe we have not given them an experience where they have met God first hand and found Him worthy.
See a related post about some characteristics we look for specific for the SPACE team [learner, servant, leader.]
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