Listening To The Speaker

It’s the beginning of another weekend, and I’m walking in, through and out of it differently than before. This past Thursday at Uprising, Tom Corcoran gave a message on entering into other people’s worlds to get a better perspective of who they are, where they are coming from and to show them that you care about them. For me Thursday, this weekend and the next few will be a practice of that. I will go from speaker to crowd minister…something I’ve rarely done.
This isn’t the first time we’ve had a speaker who wasn’t me, it’s just one of the first times I’ve been there to hear someone speak. In the past it’s been done as a substitution for when I’m not there, but this time around I want to be able to take a step back and see the program from the eyes of my ministers.
I’m don’t want to share too many thoughts until I have done this a couple of times, but the one thing I will share is how much I enjoyed sitting with the students during the message. It helped me get a sense of where they are, even if it was just one evening.
As an adult it’s hard for me to remember all the pain, confusion and growth a teenager goes through and I’m not sure how or even if I want to remember it all. But, I can’t just go around acting like I know what’s cool, what’s real in their lives or what’s in their path, I know there are a million different variations to the core hurts, to the big problems, to the ever changing life of a teenager. So, to be affective in the life of a teenager it’s important to enter into their world and that really comes down to doing one thing…listening to them. But, that’s easier said than done right? Because most teenagers won’t talk, or they won’t talk about anything deep…I don’t know about that…most relationships also involve investing yourself into someone’s life, you can’t expect someone to open up right after they introduce them self. This whole entering into other people’s world, takes time, takes practice, takes a few awkward conversations before it really shapes up into something deep. Even though it might be awkward or difficult, once you enter into a teens world and help them open up amazing things happen.