The Purpose of Youth Ministry (Through Injury Comes Revelation)

The definition through the Holy Spirit!

Today I would like to focus on the power of discernment. Less than a year later, this past weekend I had another chance to experience camping in the woods with God and during this time I was able to discern some situations we would normally overlook. The word discernment means the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment. A lot of times in life we think we know, but really we are making assumptions about things that take place in our lives and the lives of others.

On this youth retreat I was injured by a window slamming down and breaking my pinky finger. The pinky finger is the smallest finger on each of our hands. Just as the pinky toe is the smallest toe on each foot. Many adults and some of the children examined with their eyes and ears the seriousness of my injury. It was not until the 3rd day that I realized that God would use my injury to reveal the need and purpose of youth ministry. As I sat in an indescribable pain and as others assumed my level of pain or tried to determine my situation, God was teaching me.

On the 1st night and majority of the 2nd day my mind was not focused on my injury. In life I have developed a tolerance for pain and I was able to ignore it. Now on this retreat the children 6th grade and up were able to bond and build up their spirits with youth from different churches over the weekend. There were classes fit to each struggle a child may face in that stage of their life. The level of instruction was moving the young people to participate and discuss with the leaders and their peers what has taken place in their lives. This was the day I would finally give in and go to the hospital to be seen. When I got there it went so fast I figured I was right nothing was wrong. It was just a bruised.

Once the results of the examination and the X-ray returned I found out it was broken. It was not until it mentally sunk in that I realized the seriousness of my situation and my pain. For 24 hours I had been hiding my pain and acting as if nothing was wrong. I had changed the band aid four or five times and the bleeding never stopped. I had listened to people tell me their diagnosis and never intended on getting it checked out. A simple prayer, band aid and keeping it elevated was all I planned to do.

As I walked around and joked about my finger, God continue to speak to me. Each time I heard His voice I would joke and laugh about certain things to keep myself focused on something other than my pain. Each day was planned and we were kept busy that I did not really get a chance to build a connection with the young ladies in my cabin. We were moving according to schedule and the most we ever interacted with the children were in group sessions. In these group sessions most of the children remained silent while a few would speak out. It made me think about when I was a teen and I thought I was able to tolerate the situations and circumstances in my life, but all I was doing was ignoring them and they steadily were growing behind the scenes.

On the 3rd day we woke up as usual and had breakfast. This time breakfast was different everyone had less energy and was ready to go home. As I asked a few of them how was the retreat and they responded it was good and that they needed to better their relationships with God . We left breakfast and went back to the Tabernacle. In the Tabernacle the youth got a chance to perform Praise & Worship before the sermon. As the Youth Minister came forth with the sermon, I prayed to God to reveal to me what was the most beneficial thing that took place on the retreat. I asked Him to teach me a new thing and I ended my prayer with “I know that my finger was broken, but that He suffered more pain and I know that it will be healed in the name of Jesus.” I said “God everything in life serves a purpose show me my purpose for being here this weekend.”

As I sat and listening to the sermon it changed my vision of how I saw the youth. I know no longer saw the teens as they were 2 days before. Days earlier I saw them as teens joking around having fun. I saw girls being girls and boys being boys. They played sports, they chilled in groups, nothing I saw was odd. On this day as the minister spoke it was like being in the hospital and looking at them as X-ray results. I saw teens in tears and the brokenness of their spirits. I did not know the seriousness of my injury until I went to the Waynesboro Hospital and was X-rayed and examined by the doctor. It was when I got the report telling me that my finger was broken that I believed it was broken. See I never thought it was broken, I kept telling myself it was not that serious. I was in so much pain that I could not cry. My finger had so much pressure in the tip and all we could do was put a band aid on the injury and it could solve nothing.

During and after this service God showed me how in life we as adults never use the gift of discernment to help resolve the issues our children are carrying. As adults we naturally judge the children based on the stereotypes and how we see them. We see girls who dress less as fast. We sees boys with their pants sagging as thugs. We see them as being lost. We see them as being out of control. When they curse in public we say nothing, because they are not naturally our children. We say things like they will grow up to be a nobody. We speak negativity all in and over their lives. We see all the things that the eye can see but what we fail to see is what is behind the scenes. We fail to take notice of what has taken place on the inside of them. We fail to see how much hurt and pain they are suffering from and how much they carry around with them daily. We fail to build relationships through communication in order to offer them God’s report.

In life our children have been taught that it is alright to be mentally, physically and spiritually abused. They have been taught by the actions of adults that it is alright to do certain things that harm your body, mind, soul and spirit as long as you do not get caught. They have been forced in a place where they have no one to teach them right from wrong. Some of our children are in environments where the adults act as if they are kids and the children have to act as the adults. God showed me how some times we are quick to put a band aid on our children’s situations and we keep them so occupied we never get a chance to examine them in the spirit one on one. We never get a chance to X-ray them and provide them with God’s report. We never give them their spiritual prescription. He showed me that most of the times we try to solve their problems based solely on assumptions and without Him.

Just as I put the band aid on my broken finger, which would never had done anything for it, we as adults do daily to our youth. In life we are so use to putting a band aid on our situations and think will easily go away, but all we are doing is prolonging the situation. As I sat back and watch the teens go through the breakdowns and give up the testimonies that I felt was way too much for a child to carry at their age. God begin to show me how in life adults assume the level of pain a child can take and overlook the situation by assuming they are not impacted. Just as the pinky is my smallest finger I thought the injury was not that serious. Our young people are to us as the pinky is to the other fingers and they are dying daily in the spirit and a lot of adults assume they are alright.

It was not until I held a young girl in my arms that was in tears and crying out “Lord help me”, I begin to realize what God was trying to teach me. God has equipped me to be able to be a positive role model and it would have been wrong of me not to pray one on one with that young lady. As I prayed for her I prayed that God would speak His words to her mind, His love to her heart and make Himself present daily in her soul. I said Lord I do not know what she needs, but I know that you are in control. Lord make her whole. How many time in life do adults take the time out to pray with our youth? How many times does an adult take time to teach them something positive? How many times does an adult take time out of their life and give back to the youth?

God showed me that just as we all made assumptions based off my responses instead of getting seen by someone who has is qualified to determine the seriousness of my injury. It was the same thing we as adults do to our children. We do not realize the weight they are carrying. We just assume. We make decisions based on what we think verses what we know. We do not take time to build a relationship with each child and examine them in the spirit to be able to give them their prescription and healing of God’s Word.

Once the sermon was preached the Holy Spirit began to X-ray each of the children and then He begin to delivered the reports to the Youth Leaders. As we received the sign of who was in need we all walked towards them to give them their spiritual prescription. I learned the retreat was similar to the hospital and the children were our patients. We as the leaders were qualified to deliver God’s report. We were able to discern in the spirit what the children needed. We were able to spend the time with God in order to make a difference in their lives.

If we had not had that last service we would never have known how much suffering the children were going through. If I had not went to the hospital I would have never known how serious my injury was. Just as my pinky is broken and will take time to heal, God said our children are broken and He needs qualified people to help them heal. God designed youth ministry to speak His words to His children. I am thankful for Brother Warren Wells, because he has the determination that empowers our youth to be all that God has called them to be. All weekend he was giving me the breakdown of youth ministry and from his breakdown God provided this experience as the icing on the cake. It is an experience I will never forget, but out of injury came revelation and I’m thankful I have a prayer life and what I believe to be a solid intimate relationship with God. I count every situation as a learning experience and I look for God to show up and teach me a new thing. May God continue to lead you and teach you how to discern in the spirit verses assume in the natural!

Lord we come to you today and we give you thanks, Lord we ask that you teach us how to discern verses assume, Lord we ask that you build up our spirits and that you tame our flesh, Lord we ask for more Youth Leaders filled with the Holy Spirit, Lord we ask that your children be made whole from your Word, Lord we thank you and magnify your Holy name! In Jesus Name Amen


Be Blessed
Tennille L. Whittington

Last camping trip:

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