Campaigners

I cannot believe I haven't mentioned this yet, but we have been having ROCKING cmapaigners lately. Campaigners is our weekly Bible Study at Mariemont HS for Young Life. Since we do not run Club, this is our main..."event"...for Young Life in the 'Mont. For about a month before Christmas break and about a Month after we have been doing a series that I titled "Real Life. Real Issues." Before Christmas we talked about lying, cussing, drinking, drugs and partying, gossip and friends etc. We had the high schooleres write down anonymous questions around which we formed our campaigners.

Since Christmas break we have tackled the whole idea of sexuality, focusing on the differences between guys and girls through a few split sex Campaigners. We split the first week and talked about body image with the girls and the boys talked about some things generally specific to them (ie porn). After that week, we did a brief intro then our guy leaders talked to the girls and us girl leaders talked to the boys. Answering questions and going deeper into some realities about the opposite sex. this past week we talked about dating and we had 20 people there! It has been awesome to see the responses from students and the new people showing up and coming around. We have even had some students come on their own, without friends. It has been so awesome to see how our main and consistent Campaigners have really been inviting and going after friends.

We are talking about Sex next week. And sure this will be awkward and the high schoolers will squirm. What do I even know about sex? I am nervous to do this one, but God has blessed us so much in the past few weeks for being obedient in hitting the hard stuff. I gotta believe that He will continue to bless this next week as well. It is a huge help for to to have Ben and Laura (my leaders from HS) as a resource during this series. I talked to Laura way back, and she gave me a ton of resources for this series!

I am reminded daily how lucky I am to have the relationships taht I do with these high schoolers to the point that I can talk about the real stuff with them. God doesn't just talk about "christian" things that some beleive don't have a place in our daily lives. His word is living and breathing, and because of this it can apply to every part of our lives. Sexuality is a topic that is becoming less and less taboo, especially in the media. To be able to tell 15-18 year olds that God has a plan for sex in their lives...that is just a crazy and awesome opportunity for us as leaders.

God has been doing HUGE things in this spiritually dry community during the three years taht I have been there, but this past semester has been just a concentration of big thing after big thing. I am really seeing how obedience in awkward, and difficult, and unwanted situations can totally pay off in being able to be a witness to God's blessings - in my own life ANd in the lives of others.