So last night was Halloween, which was a big concern for me. I don’t know why it was a big concern, considering our plan was to go as schedule…the rest was up to God. For our 4pm program for the preteens we had about 40 students, which is low for us but a good turn out nonetheless. The students were dressed up, best costumes were a banana, giant chicken, the Mad Hatter and a someone dressed up as bubble gum with a shoe on their head. Overall the program was a lot of fun. Then the 6:30pm program for our 7th/8th graders rolled around and there were 5 guys…that’s it. Again very low for us but enough to make a small group. So our band played an unplugged set, I changed my message into talking points for discussion and we had a game that involved some goofing around…overall it was a good time. What I learned from a night like tonight is:
That we need to enjoy the small moments. Sitting with those guys face to face and talking to them about making God a priority was special, something that I know they’ll remember for a while. They all came somewhat reluctant. They knew the crowd would be small, they were “strongly encouraged” by parents but in the end we had some real quality time together.
Then as the boys were heading out, some high school freshman trick or treating decided to stop by the church because they wanted to see if we were passing out candy and to their luck I had a lot left over so I gave it to them. One of the students was a regular to our programs, her friends were not, so it started a conversation about how they should join us for our high school programs on Sunday. I could go on about the small moments but my point is that we need to sometimes lower our expectations to reach God’s great expectations.
Sometimes we put so much pressure on one aspect that we forget about why we are doing what we are doing. I think some of my anxiety leading into tonight was the fact that we would have low attendance, but in the end I was reminded that it’s not always about the numbers, it’s about the relationships we form. As youth pastors we are called to lead students to Christ and whether that’s one or one hundred students each relationship is important. So to recognize the small moments we need to name them, that’s why I want to encourage those who read this blog to share the small moments they had from their weekend.