Investing in the Teens of RBC
My name is Bob Shull, and I am the Senior High Youth Pastor here at Reston Bible Church. I am so thankful for the investment that RBC has made in the youth of our area for almost 40 years now. I am actually one of the fruits of the Youth Ministry here – having become a Christian when I was a junior at Herndon High School (back in the “Remember the Titans” era) through the ministry of Dave Wentzel, RBC’s first Youth Pastor. Since that time, many things have changed since then in our society and in our church (hair & clothing styles, the cost of gas, technology – just to mention a few). RBC, however, has continued to focus the time and energies of our Youth Staff on encouraging our families with teens, teaching and equipping our teens, and working with our teens in reaching out to their friends.
We follow the goal of the church as a whole to “know Christ and make Him known” – both in a big group and small group setting. We also have a long tradition of taking an extended time with our teens in the Word of God at our Winter Retreats and Summer Camps. We give teens an opportunity to be involved in the ministry by using their gifts in worship, drama, teaching, and in the one anothers. We are blessed to have a facility that allows us to do bigger things like “First Fruits” and “Bring It” that impact our community. We have also been blessed to go with teens on overseas mission trips to places like England, Trinidad, Croatia, Brazil, Bolivia and to stateside locations like PawPaw West VA, Chicago IL, Maysville SC, St. Louis MO and many more. It is on these trips that our teens have had to put their faith to the test and have seen God meet them there. What never ceases to amaze and motivate me is the ability of our teens to still believe and obey God in both little and big ways. Older adults can learn from them in this!
One of the greatest gifts that God has and continues to give the Youth Ministry are the many volunteers He has led to join us in reaching out to our teens and their families. It is an understatement to say that working with teens is very relational. Just like all adults, teens are looking for a place to belong, a place to wrestle out what they believe, a safe place share their thoughts and doubts and grow in their faith in God. Doing this requires us to have men and women of all ages, giftings, and personalities who have a clear love for God, a love for His Word, and a willingness to love and work with teens. Could God be nudging you to consider stepping out to join us?
The Youth Ministry is hosting our first “Youth Ministry Preview and Training Event” on Sunday June 8th, 2014. It is designed to help anyone who wants to know more about the youth ministry and is evaluating how they can serve at Reston Bible Church. Our hope is that everyone attending will get the answers they need to make that decision. We will meet at 10:30am in the front classroom of the Youth Building. Aaron Osborne and Lee Banton will give the group an overview on the who, what, and why of the Youth Ministry. It will briefly cover what we do and the strategy behind it. We will then have the group join and observe on or our Sunday morning youth gatherings – either in the Senior High (called GAP) or the Junior High (called BreakThru). These run from 11:00am to 12:15pm. Afterwards, the group will have lunch and Lee Banton and I will do the training aspect of the event. We will first cover the volunteer process; how someone becomes involved in the youth ministry. We will next cover what the volunteer roles are that we need in the Youth Ministry. We actually need not only relational people, but also those who are gifted administratively, and with specific talents – in music, drama, video, multimedia, etc. We will then go over what we see as being the essentials of youth ministry. There is not one type of person who can do youth ministry. However there are some essentials every volunteer needs to have and be growing in. Finally, we will talk about of the keys of wisdom that volunteers need to know to be effective in working with teens. It is not about just hanging out with teens – it’s helping them to individually learn how to follow Jesus in their lives.
If this sounds like something you want to explore, I would invite you to use this link to register for the “Youth Ministry Preview and Training Event” – CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
Coming to this event does not mean you are committing to join the Youth Ministry volunteer staff. It will, however, allow you to hear, see, and experience what Youth Ministry at RBC looks like and be able to make an informed choice on applying to volunteer with us. It is our goal to identify those who want to join us and begin working with them over the summer to be ready by the fall. If you have any questions for want any other information, please check out the video below. You can also contact me directly at bobshull@resonbible.org.