Archives For Youth Ministry

Reflections on KONY 2012

Melissa Hatfield —  March 9, 2012 — Leave a comment

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I am a supporter of Invisible Children. You’ve been barraged by updates and tweets this week as we prepared to host the IC roadies at our church and as the latest video went viral and discussions/criticisms ensued.

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I’ve been an advocate of Invisible Children since 2006 – showing movies and films, sharing their materials, purchasing their products (shirts, bracelets, MEND bags, etc) and coordinating local events with the Invisible Children roadies. I’ve written letters, made phone calls, and have attended lobby meetings with my elected officials concerning this issue. I say all that to say that I’m not new to this group and I’ve chosen to invest a lot of time and money in their work in Uganda and then in the Congo, Southern Sudan and Central African Republic.

On Tuesday and Wednesday after the video went viral and the dream came true of people KNOWING  and CARING about what was happening in this region of the world after all this time, I was in a state of elated shock and prone to tears. The stories of these beautiful children and people of Uganda, Congo, CAR and South Sudan were being heard.  They deserve to be heard. For nearly six years, I’ve wanted the world to take notice and finally, the world did – and in a huge way.  Continue Reading…

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I Have a Secret

Melissa Hatfield —  November 10, 2011 — Leave a comment

I want to help my youth live a better story.  Some of them have had bad stories written for them and some have chosen bad stories. But God has a great Story for them and I want to do everything I can to help them live a better story. A story of living life abundantly. A story that is a great adventure with God.  A story where they realize how beautiful they are because God made them and God forgives them.

But in order to move forward and write better chapters, we all need to let go of some of the baggage from our bad stories.  We need to confess, ask forgiveness and move forward.

We struggle with confession. For a lot of reasons.  I think we try but we never allow sin to really leave our body and soul. Sometimes a prayer confession isn’t enough for us to feel like we’ve let go of something. It is no failure on God’s part because we know God forgives and casts our sin to the ocean floor.   The problem is on our part. We either know but don’t believe God will forgive.  Or believe God forgives but we can’t.

How do we get the toxins out of us?  That is the power of confessing verbally – something that is a part of the Catholic tradition.  But what about my Baptist youth and their friends?   How do they practice confession as a way of owning their sin and also to learn to accept the power of God’s grace in their lives to truly forgive sin and give new starts?

There is a popular website and book entitled PostSecret.  Thousands and thousands of people send in anonymous postcards with their secrets on them.  This is not an endorsement of this site.  In all honesty, many of the secrets told are secrets about hurting someone else through affairs, revenge, etc. and not having any remorse about it.  Some secrets are sad because they show the empty lives and selfish desires of so many of us.  But some secrets are beginnings to healing; the first time a secret is brought into the light and a person can begin to let go.

Last night I invited the youth to post a secret but with the intent that the secret is being revealed to God.  It isn’t for us to celebrate secrets that have hurt others or ourselves.  It is a way for us to pour out on paper what we are carrying in our hearts. Pour out to God what we need God to help us with so we can live a better story.

I told the kids that these were only for God and myself.  That I would take their post secrets and pray over each way.  If they want me to know, they could write their name.  Otherwise, God knows and at least someone is hearing them.

So many of our young people are really hurting. So many of us are hurting yet we carry these secrets inside and they eat away at us. But we have a God who promises us that if we cast every anxiety upon Him and He will care for us. (I Peter 5:7).  May we each find a way to cast our cares to God and allow Him to care for us.

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Getting Schooled By My Youth

Melissa Hatfield —  March 30, 2009 — Leave a comment

The youth in my youth group teach me a lot of things.  There are the very useful things like how to master the Wii, how to have fun, how to fart on demand (okay, I already had that mastered.)  They remind me that you can make a difference and that it is never to late to start. They remind me to relax and that to be present in some one’s life is more important than designing a stellar program or event. They teach me that selfishness is pervasive and that I once was as awkward and self-conscious as they are and I would be wise to not forget it.

They frustrate me a lot, too.  I can’t count how many times we have a really great discussion or retreat and then in the next breath my youth are treating each other like no class citizens.  I love social networking until I read the passive-aggressive status that “wish a certain someone would just get over herself” or “hate it went so-called ‘friends’ ditch you at the last moment for their loser boyfriend”.   One can’t helped but feel used when the only time you see or hear from a youth that you’ve cared for is when they need a reference or recommendation or they are having a horrible time in life.  But you hang in there with them.  Because you love them.  Because God strengthens you to love them. And because you are reminded ….

The way my youth behave is how I behave with God.  First of all, let it be noted that I’m not comparing myself to God.  Despite my occasional joke stating otherwise or because of that one t-shirt I wear that declares “I have the body of a god” accompanied by a picture of Buddha.  The comparisons here are completely in the way my youth act and respond to someone that loves them and the way I act and respond to Someone who loves me.  How many times does God teach me something and I’m totally excited about it and like, ready to live it out 24/7 and then, like, forget it, like, in 24 minus 7.  How many times do I acknowledge the debt that God has forgiven me and then turned around and expect a friend, a church member, or a youth to pay up now or pay later with interest (aka passive aggressive behavior).  How many times do I run to God only when I need God to fix a problem, calm a worry, answer an unknown, or recommend me to an awesome guy whom He knows really well.   Yet God hangs in there with me.  Because God loves me and forgives me.  Sure, God lets me fall on my face or down the stairs in front of hundreds landing, wisely, at His feet.  But He is always waiting at the bottom to pick me up, to brush me off, and walk with me again. And after making sure I’m okay, to rib me until my ego is put into place.

It took me awhile to learn this lesson but it was a lesson well-learned. I’m a better youth pastor for it.  By no means perfect but glad that when I get frustrated with my youth, God whispers in my ear, “I know exactly how you feel.”

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