This past weekend we had six students share their life’s story. This will be a two part post. This post will focus on those who heard the students share. Tomorrow’s post will focus on the students that shared their story.
The heart behind Story Weekend:
- Students need to hear that they all go through the same situations and/or issues – Students need to know that they are not the only ones that have struggled or have gone through crazy situations. Students need to know that what they are going through is nothing new among their peers and also that it’s nothing new to God.
- Students need to hear that some of their peers have struggled and been through crazy situations and it didn’t destroy them – It doesn’t even have to be the same struggles, they just need to hear that they found help or took steps to being in a better situation. It doesn’t mean that they are perfect. It just means what they went through did not destroy them.
- Students need to hear how God shows up in other students lives – I love this part because it always amazes me how God shows his love for students that are lost or for those that need to be put back on the right path. Regardless of their parents faith, I’ve seen God step into students lives and change them.
There are four ways in which I’ve seen students respond to Stories Weekend.
- They relate to a story and find comfort in knowing they are not alone.
- They’ve hit rock bottom and heard that in one of the stories that the students life was changed once they had reached out to a leader within the church. Therefore, they copy them and run for the nearest leader to help them out.
- They are challenged in their own faith to be a part of someone’s story:
- Inviting friends to church.
- Talking with that friend or peer that needs to encounter God’s love.
- They feel like if they can share their story being ordinary students then so can I.
At the very least, all of the students have been exposed to the love of Christ and how it can affect their life. This is a great weekend because there’s little programming but the payoff is priceless!
hope it helps
ac
