Flashlight Tag and Church

Time for a blog filled with awesomeness! Yesterday, while I was working at Journeys for Kidz, I get a text from one of my teens.

"We should get everyone together at the park and play flashlight tag tonight!"

I responded.

"Sounds fun! Put it together and I'll be there! Btw, I'm at work."

In less than a half an hour her an her friend came into the store to say hi and again ask if we could get everyone together for tag. I reminded her she didn't have to ask for permission to invite people to hang out in a public park. They both left excited and the result leads to this writing.

I arrive at the park around 8:30 and wait for a good half an hour, starting to wonder if I had come for a no show. My phone rings and it's the girl asking where I am because she ended up parking at the church to walk over (since the church sits next to the park the convenience is perfect!).

I am sitting at a picnic table being eaten alive by the most ferociously annoying insects imaginable when from the shadows of dark trees I hear the voices of teenage girls in the distance. That is a scary sound in itself, but I am sure my silhouette walking toward them, wearing my new "gangsta" hat - as some have come to name it, alone in the dark of night, was not a comforting image. Thank goodness for lighted bathhouses to stand next to!

To my surprise, eight teenagers had come to hang out! Then another car arrived and three more boys joined us. Then another call came, which turned out to add one more guy to the bunch, giving us a total of 13 to play flashlight tag.

We played one round, and then chatted for a while before a couple of us decided we could go over to the sand volleyball courts and ask if we could join in with some of the people already playing there. After letting us join, it did not take long to discover that most of us were not professionals. It also did not take long to realize that their language was a bit more colorful than ours. Some of our own did not claim to have the best relationship going with God, but for the ones that are growing in their faith it made me proud to see a bunch of teenagers being mirror images of Christ out there in a public park!

By the middle of the night, two more of our teens' friends showed up, making 15 all together!

After a few rounds of sand volleyball, the group of 12 we had joined invited us to play a few rounds of Capture the Flag, aka t-shirts. By the time it was time for our teens to head home, I felt like the Sandman from the Marvel comics and Toby Mcguire Spiderman movie. It was worth every second!

I say this story because of the many testimonies included. Because of one teen:

• 27 people under the age of 27 had joined together for an evening of fellowship.
• Growing Christian teens naturally we God's hands and feet in a public world, evangelizing, without even realizing it, to their friends and others that do not yet know what a relationship with Christ has to offer.
• Christian teens ministered by being Spiritual Leaders with their language, sportsman-like conduct, acceptance of all who came to participate, and talked about Christian values throughout the night through natural conversation.
• We worshiped our Creator by using the gifts and talents He has given us and celebrating the gifts and talents of others through encouragement and praise.

What a great picture of the Church!