Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 5, 2018 | TBC Student Ministries - Youth Sunday 2018

Transcript

August 5, 2018 | TBC Student Ministries - Youth Sunday 2018 · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_11: Good morning and welcome to Tobeka Bible Church.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_11: Good morning.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_11: This is a really special Sunday.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_11: Like Tripp said earlier, this is Youth Sunday.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_11: And as you may have noticed, as you were walking in, you had students handing you your bulletin and students coming down to take the offering.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_11: And then throughout the morning, you're going to get to hear about what we as a youth group did all summer and all the fun we got to have and everything that we learned about.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_11: And it's going to be really cool.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_11: So our theme for the summer is audience of one.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_11: And we were going through the book of Philippians.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_11: And when Paul wrote Philippians, he was in prison.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_11: And when he was in prison, the only person he could turn to, the only person that was there for him was God.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_11: And so through this book, these themes are coming up that match our theme of audience of one and how the only person that matters, the only person we should be aiming to please is God.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_11: And then on top of that, on top of going through Philippians, we got to go to a lot of awesome camps.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_11: We had Summer Sizzle here on campus.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_11: We went to Sky Ranch.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_11: We helped with Camp Catapult.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_11: We had a group go to the Czech Republic.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_11: We just got back a week ago, and we had a ton of fun this summer.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_11: And right now we're going to watch a video that is going to show you a little bit about what we got to do.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_09: Well, good morning.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_09: Like Jacob just shared and like the video said, we just got back from spending uh 10 days in Czech Republic in Prague on a missions trip.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_09: So I'm going to invite up a few of the students to come share a little bit of their experience if you guys want to head this way.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_09: But while they're coming up, I'm just going to tell you we spent uh 10 days and we, for those days, we, or I guess we spent a week, but for those days, we wanted to um host a VBS or a camp for a people group of children uh called the Roma People Group.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_09: And uh there are people that are kind of oppressed in the area of Prague uh due to differences in a ton of different things.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_09: So we wanted to go there and just shine a little bit of a light in their life and tell them uh how much they're truly loved.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_09: So uh they're gonna tell you a little bit of their experience in doing that.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_06: Good morning, everyone.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_06: My name is Molly Singleton, and I just graduated this past year.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_06: So it's my last year with the TBC youth group, and it's getting me pretty sad right now thinking about it actually.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_06: But uh I had the privilege, as well as these three amazing people, to go to Prague.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_06: Um I just got back a week ago.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_06: If you guys like that compliment.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_06: And um, it was like I can think of so many words to describe the experience we had there.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_06: It was life-changing, it was overwhelming in the best way I can think of.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it was just completely different than to be in Kansas.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_06: But um going to Prague, we had this big idea of what we were gonna do, and that was gonna be like Shane said, host a day camp for the Roma children.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_06: So we had two different locations, and we were planning on having like 50 or 60 kids at each location each day.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_06: Uh first day we got there, we noticed that the number that we had was not even a fraction of what we thought.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_06: And it was disheartening at first, definitely.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, I was discouraged, we were all discouraged, but um I think that we all took that um to God and asked him, you know, we came here, Lord, what do you want us to do?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_06: So through prayer, uh, you know, discernment reading our Bibles, um, we just in the meantime, waiting for the children, we just started street evangelism, which was so beneficial to me.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, I had I had conversations with people that I'm will remember forever.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and um ever everyone else does too.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks to our interpreters, because the language barrier was very difficult, but we powered through it.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_06: Um so we did eventually end up getting more kids, and actually the Friday, the last day of the camp, we had five little kids come to Christ and say that they wanted Jesus to be their savior, and that was a very life-changing moment for them, and it was even very emotional for me, all of us.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, we all had tears in our eyes, just um their eagerness and the innocence they had, and just how excited they were for Jesus was definitely just amazing.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_06: So um, yeah, I'm gonna give it off to Olivia now.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: Hi, my name is Olivia Medrano, and I'm gonna be a junior this coming year.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: But a few days ago, Lori called me and she was like, Hey, Olivia, and I was like, Hey, Lori.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_04: So while we were in Prague, I did speak at the church that we went to for like 30 seconds or something, and Lori was like, You did such a good job.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_04: Would you mind doing it again at U Sunday?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, sure.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_04: And so here I am, and they asked us to talk about something that was really influential to us.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_04: And one of the things that we did while we were there is we went on a prayer walk, which was they gave us this little like pamphlet thing with some locations, and we went as a group to all these different places that uh had specific prayers that we could pray for, and specific groups of people that really needed our prayer, like the they had a lot of homeless people in Prague, and there was a problem with human trafficking, and there's just a lot of people that could really use the love of God.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_04: And I have no idea what it was, but at one of those stops, I just started crying.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_04: And if any of you know me, you know that I'm not a terribly emotional person, so I don't cry a whole lot.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_04: But for some reason, something just hit me and I was crying.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't, it was maybe it's just seeing all these our kids out there doing whatever they needed to.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_04: They were so enthused about doing literally anything.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_04: They were just pumped 24-7.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_04: And most of these kids usually don't wake up before noon, so that was really weird to see.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't whatever it was, it's just stuck with me since then, and I think it'll probably stick with me for the rest of my life.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_04: But that was just one of the best experiences I've ever had.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_04: Here you go, George.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_13: Uh yeah, with the time change over there, we're all getting up at one in the morning over here.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_13: So um, like Olivia was saying, you know, with Lori calling her, um, I just remembered that the other day, as soon as I stepped foot into my room, my phone rings, and I go over to it thinking, oh, who's this?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_13: And I see Derek's really weird contact picture that I have for him.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_13: And I think, oh no, I hope this isn't what I think it is.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_13: And so I answer, and he's like, hey, I asked him if he missed me.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_13: He said he did up until that moment.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_13: And um, so he asked me to come up here and talk, and so well, here I am.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_13: Anyways, obviously I said yes.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_13: So uh my name is George Lamone.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_13: Uh I'm gonna be a junior this semester, and like Molly and Olivia, and even him, even Colby, I had the opportunity to go on this summer's missions trip, and it was it was definitely unforgettable.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_13: Uh, there are a lot of memories that I'll always keep from that trip.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_13: Um things weren't the way um I expected them to be or go the way I thought, but I was shown that things are a lot better when Jesus takes the wheel, whether we see it at first or not.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_13: And it was definitely hard to see what Jesus had in mind because kids weren't showing up to our camp the first day.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, like, there was only one kid that showed up for like five minutes, and I was like, okay, God, what's going on here?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_13: And so we moved to our second location, and kids, kids showed up throughout the week.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_13: But the cool thing was that when there were a few kids there, um, we weren't really doing much.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_13: We were like maybe kicking around a ball or throwing frisbees.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_13: So some of us who weren't doing anything, we got up and we started to evangelize people there that were there in the park.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_13: And when that came up, I was I I, for one, I really thought street evangelism, but when it came up over there, I was kind of wondering how that would work with the um with the language barrier.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_13: And Jesus just showed me that no barrier is too strong for him to break through, and he straight up crushed the barrier because he blessed us with some really great translators.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_13: And um, one of the translators who I was walking around evangelizing with, at one point he told me, you know, this is something I never thought that I'd be able to do, but in watching you translate, in watching you evangelizing and me translating for you, he said, Um, I now know how to and that I can.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_13: And that was just really cool to hear.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_13: And there was even one point when um we were talking to a man who didn't speak much English, and my translator he just took over the conversation and started talking to the guy on his own with his own words.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_13: And it was really cool because there is even one point when he was actually just excited to go talk to people.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_13: So there were a lot of things I learned from this trip, uh, more than I ever imagined, and I am just so glad that I could um share it with the people that I did.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_13: So I'll give this to Colby Waddell here.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Colby Waddell, and uh I'm gonna be a sophomore this next year.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: But uh when Derek and Laurie first told the youth group that we were going on a mission trip to Europe, I thought that it wasn't for me.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have the time, didn't have the money, whatever my excuse was at the time.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: But week after week, as it got closer, God really put it on my heart that I need to go on this trip.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: So he really gave me the opportunities to make the money and changed my sporting schedules and stuff so I could go on this trip without missing anything.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I really do believe that we impacted the kids' lives at Camp Hope and the people that we talked to when we were evangelizing, and it really impacted my life.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it was a good experience, and we had such great translators and leaders and interns, and it was just a good experience.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you guys for that.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_13: I just want to point out to all the interns, I love you guys so much.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_05: Good morning.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Lori Tennyson, I'm the student ministry assistant here at Topeka Bible Church, and aren't our kids wonderful?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_05: I just they're so great.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_05: I love them so much.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: It is such a blessing to be able to watch them grow over the years and take them on trips like this and see them just exceed every expectation, and so just super proud.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I'm also proud of the six interns that the Lord blessed us with this year.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_05: This is a unique year in that I don't think there's ever been a time that we've had all six that have returned for a second summer in a row.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but we had six interns that came in last summer and just were so blessed by our students and just fell so in love with ministry that they all uh put a lot of things aside, including um jobs that they could have taken right away and things that they could have embarked on uh to come back and serve with our students this year, and we were just incredibly blessed to have them.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm gonna invite them up and let them tell you a little bit about their experience this summer.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_11: My name is Jacob Haas, and uh like Lori said, this is my second summer uh coming back, and I was so excited to come back.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_11: Um I told Derek last August after uh the internship ended, I was like, yep, I can come back, I'm coming back.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_11: And then for the next like nine months, I couldn't think about anything, I couldn't focus on anything because I was so excited to come back.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_11: Um and I just want to share with you guys something that through the last two years um I've experienced and I've learned and I'll take away with me uh for the rest of my life, and that is that uh God's plan doesn't always align with our plan, and that's not a bad thing.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_11: It's a good thing, and it's better because uh you heard a little bit about like the prog trip, um how we planned something and then it didn't go that way, and we did something completely different, and it was awesome, and it worked out uh maybe even better than what we had planned.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_11: And it wasn't just the prog trip that I've experienced this, it was over the last two summers.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_11: Any event that uh we planned, anything that we did, we may have gotten into it with a mindset of this is how it's gonna work, this is what we're gonna do.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_11: But then we get there and we start doing it, and it's like, wait, but it's not working this way.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_11: Um, it's not going like we planned.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_11: And I've learned that that's not a bad thing because God doesn't always plan things the same way we do.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_11: Uh we may have this idea over here, and God says, nope, I'm gonna do it this way, and it's gonna be better.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_11: Because God's plan is always better than our plan, and he knows so much more than us, and he knows how to do it better than us.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_11: And so that's just something I'll take away from doing this internship for two years and uh remember for the rest of my life.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, um, my name is Kylie Boldman.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think my biggest takeaway this year, um, as Lori said, we've we've all come back for a second year, and um a lot of people immediately jumped on the bag bandwagon of coming on when Derek asked.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Jacob was like, yes, absolutely, this is incredible.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm gonna do this, and Monica and people started kind of filtering back in.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I was a little bit unsure just because I wasn't sure how it was gonna go with um getting married and preparing for a wedding and going back to school.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm so so glad that I did because um seeing um your students, um, the students in the youth group grow in their faith has um just affirmed so much that um ministry is uh something that God has definitely put on my heart.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just seeing some of the kids from just a year ago, um, some of them a little bit more um edgy and maybe a little bit wild and slightly immature to this year, um just so so just assured in their faith and grown so much just from seeds that um we sowed and um parents and small group leaders that have been with them all year just to see the amazing things um that the Lord is doing in and through them is just addicting.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that's probably my biggest takeaway.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_07: Absolutely.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_07: Um my name is Monica Garcia.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_07: Um just once again returning intern as well.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_07: This is gonna be my second year that I have um interned with the youth ministries here, and um, my biggest thing that I have very much enjoyed during this whole um journey to uh pour into the students at um here at TBC is to go on uh two separate um mission trips.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_07: Um, the first one last year being New York to uh focus more on um evangelizing um to uh whatever uh community that looks like.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_07: Um but to also uh focus mainly on this year to a country where we don't know the language, um we don't know what to expect, we didn't know um how we were gonna be accepted there, and to just see these students go in um without any doubt has been so awesome to um see them go in, having this mindset that we're gonna do a VBS, um, and to um maybe have that plan kind of derailed for a little bit or pushed back for uh a better chance to evangelize has been awesome because these students um blow my mind so much being able to see them just take this opportunity of okay, we don't have kids right now, so how are we still gonna push forward to uh building uh building God's kingdom?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_07: And that definitely looked like some of these kids uh taking some interpreters and walking around and going to the people who are um unaware of God's love and just freely sharing it and uh showing God's love to them in any capacity, and it's just been so encouraging.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_07: And so um, as my um favorite thing out of this internship, it's been uh to see these kids definitely, like Hailey has said, uh, to go from uh serving in New York and serving here in Topeka uh to a country where they um have this language barrier or they have um just this awe of like how are we gonna do this, but then just completely run with it and just allow God to work so many ways in it.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_07: Um and so it's just super incredibly proud of these kids to know that um when I was that age, I probably didn't feel like I can even do that, but to see them and see that their heart for it, um it's just it's on fire to share God's love.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_07: And that's just so encouraging and um definitely something that um you guys all should be proud of as well because um being their parents, it's something that um is incredible to know that your kid is no matter what, no matter the barriers, no matter um the community, no matter what situation they're in, they're fully willing to share God's love, and that's just incredible.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_08: I'm Abby Holloway, and like Jacob said, this is my third year um interning with the church, and um just kind of piggybacking on some things I've already said about impact.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_08: Um, what was really cool about this year and coming back for the third time is I really got the chance to think back over several years and see how all the kids have changed and how all so many of them have grown in their faith with God, um little squirrely seventh and eighth graders to being almost halfway through high school and um being so mature and um learning to be more like God um every day.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_08: And so one of my stories um I was thinking about as I was reflecting on the past couple years was um from my first summer.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_08: And in my first summer, uh we were really encouraged to um make time to have spiritual conversations with kids and to really go out and do some like one-on-one connection with them.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_08: And so when they first said that, I was like, I was pretty shy, um, hadn't really done that before, and so I was like, I don't know, like I don't know how this is gonna go, like this is making me really nervous, kind of thing.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_08: Like, I don't know who to pick, who I've really connected with.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_08: Um and so finally uh God kind of pointed me to a person particular, and so I um was like, okay, I got that.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_08: Celebrate the little wins.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_08: I at least picked one person.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_08: Um and so uh we went out to get some ice cream over at G's, or I think it's custard, or I don't know, whatever it is.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and I was really, really nervous.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_08: Um, not sure how this is gonna go, not not sure um how I'm gonna start a spiritual conversation or what that's gonna look like.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_08: Um and so we get our ice cream and um we're sitting down, and I'm really excited.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_08: I'm like, okay, here we go.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_08: Um and the first thing I ask is like, so um what's your favorite color?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_08: Um and she's like, well, um, she was like in junior high, and so she's kind of like, uh, you know, I don't know.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_08: Um I was like, okay, well, that didn't work very well.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_08: Let's try uh what do you like to do for fun?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_08: Um and she's like, typical, typical response, uh, I don't know, nothing kind of thing.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_08: And I was like, uh I'm so awkward in this, and I feel so uncomfortable, and I'm sure she feels uncomfortable, and I'm probably making her feel uncomfortable.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and just I remember uh wasn't able to quite figure out how to start a spiritual conversation, and I remember going away from that um that experience being like, oh, I failed that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_08: Like I didn't, I didn't do, I didn't do what I wanted, I um it was super uncomfortable, and I'm sure I made her uncomfortable, and we didn't really connect, and um it just didn't go the way that I wanted.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and I remember being like just so discouraged by that, being like, oh, this isn't something that I can do.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_08: Um but then over the next couple couple years, um, even though I'd kind of dropped it with that person um right after that and been like, give up, oh well, that's kind of it.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_08: Um over the next couple years, um, we had lots of opportunities to connect again, um, and more and more um we were talking, and now this year um it was really cool being to the point where we can have those spiritual conversations.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_08: Um and when we start talking, we can't stop talking, kind of thing.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and just seeing how God has worked in me and moving me to be able to have those spiritual conversations and um reach out to people and connect with them, even though that's kind of my weakness, being shy and um not very good at talking to people, um, how he has worked in me to make that um something he can get glory from, and how even though I um went through something that felt like a failure, um God used that eventually to do something so much bigger.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_08: Um and so my encouragement for all of you is that even when you're pouring into youth, or even when you're talking to your kids, or you're you're maybe leading Sunday school or whatever it is that you're doing, that you wouldn't give up because it may not feel like it's working all the time, it may not um seem like they want you around, it may not seem like um they think you're important, but deep down they want you um and they need you.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_08: You have something specific that you can.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_08: Offer them.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_08: And so my encouragement is that you, where whatever it looks like for you, if that looks like volunteering with the youth group, or if it looks like just pouring into your kids or grandkids, that you would choose to do that, and that you would do it even when it's hard, and even when it doesn't seem to go right, and even when it's super awkward, and even when it doesn't go the way that you seem, because God is planting seeds and God is working through that.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_08: And He will He will do that for His glory.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_08: And so I might I just encourage you to keep doing that and don't give up on that.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_09: Hey, I'm Shane, and um I have uh like 500 different things I could tell you about what I've taken away from this internship and how much it's impacted me and how much I love it and stories.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_09: Um but for the sake of time, I'm gonna tell you just two things.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_09: Um the first thing I'll tell you is that these interns have, well, when I when we got here last summer, I showed up on the first day or to a meeting, and I was like, please, Lord, let these people be like normal.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_09: Let like like I yeah, I want them to be like I want to be friends with the people I work with.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_09: Then we showed up and I saw this really tall guy over here with a motorcycle helmet, and I was like, no, he's a tool.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_09: And uh I was right, but we've become best friends.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_09: So what I've tell you is that over the past two summers, uh, us six interns have become best friends, even to the point of where I thought he was a tool because he rode a motorcycle, but he let me ride his motorcycle, drive his motorcycle, and I almost wrecked it, and now I want one.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_09: So we've become absolute best friends, and ministry and work is just so much more fruitful and enjoyable when you love the people you work with.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_09: So we've really enjoyed being together.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_09: And the second thing is that we love dearly uh Derek and Lori, and I'm not marketing or selling you guys, but they are the best bosses that you could ask for.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_09: Um their integrity and their character and uh their leadership, they we we learn from them by watching them.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_09: Um they are absolutely incredible to work for.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_09: So we just want you guys to know that your your children and um whatnot are your grandchildren.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_09: I don't know.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_09: They're they are in great hands under under this leadership, and we as interns have learned and continue to learn and will continue to learn from watching them.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_09: Um we love them so dearly.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_09: So uh that those are two things that I'll take away from from this internship for the rest of my life.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Shane.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, and so if you guys can count along with me, you know that we're missing one of our interns this morning.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Dalton Mitchell is on vacation with his family, getting some time with them before he heads back to school.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_05: So we're gonna show a video of him really quick, and then Derek's gonna come up and talk.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_10: Hi, TBC.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_10: Uh my name is Dalton Mitchell.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_10: I am a senior at Kansas State University, and as you probably know, um me and the other five interns um are returning this summer for a second year.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_10: Um so this is our second year in a row interning together.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_10: Uh and there are two things that I think that speaks to.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_10: I think that speaks to the community and the family at TBC as a whole.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_10: Uh-huh.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_10: I know we all have felt um accepted and loved um and encouraged in our time here.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_10: Uh, but also I think that speaks to the community uh and the youth group uh and the closeness uh in the youth group among the students and volunteers and leaders.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_10: Um this has been my second summer, and throughout this past school year, I have driven back from Manhattan to be a small group leader.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_10: Uh and I have grown immensely not only in developing new relationships, but growing relationships that were already there.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_10: And um God has taught me a lot throughout this past year, and um he has uh deepened and grown relationships uh more than I ever could have asked for.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_10: A specific memory that I have is at Sky Ranch in Oklahoma, um there were two new um students who came to uh Sky Ranch with us.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_10: There was uh Caden and Chris.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_10: And just the love and the acceptance that they were shown um among the youth group, um they said at the end of Sky Ranch that they felt um accepted and and loved uh just being their first big event with the youth group.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_10: And um that's what I love to see, that's what the interns and everybody who's involved with the youth group love to see.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_10: Um we love to see closeness and um just um young uh young people just growing towards Christ together.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_10: And so I'm not sure if there will be a third summer, but I do want to uh thank you all for uh um the love and the encouragement and the lessons that I have learned here.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_10: Um and I look forward to seeing where TBC and the youth group goes from here on out.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_12: Good morning.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_12: As you guys can see, there are a lot of people that pour their time in, that pour their energy in, that that disciple, that encourage all of the youth here at TBC, and that's just the relationships with those different people and the relationships with the students is one of my favorite, favorite parts of being in the ministry.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_12: And so now you've heard from the student perspective, specifically with the prog trip.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_12: You've also heard from each of our interns, and now you're gonna get an opportunity to hear from two of our year-round volunteer leaders who disciple, who pour into their small groups.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_12: So, Kathy, if you will come on up, and Jeremy, if you'll come on up.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_12: Uh they've been both faithful, faithful leaders in our ministry.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_12: Uh Jeremy just finished up leading a group of students who have just graduated out.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_12: Kathy has been with the the junior high for just about all the time.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_12: I think all of the time that you've been in the ministry.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_12: And so, just for you, it'll be an encouragement to hear some of their story and some of their time in the ministry.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh good morning.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jeremy Grobaskis.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a little bit about myself.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um so about a little bit over three years ago, uh, God was speaking to my heart, and I was speaking to God.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, uh, which way do you want me to go?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Where you want me to go next?
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I'm here at TBC listening to announcements, and Derek is up there and uh talking about the youth and how he needs volunteers to come and help uh spread love, share the word, and just be mixed into their life.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I heard God say uh they need you.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh got a hold of Derek, and me and Derek uh went out to lunch.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he kind of stayed back a little bit thinking I was a criminal and everything, but uh it was all good, you know.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh we just started sharing stories and sharing life and the way it went for us, you know, the ups and downs and how the roller coasters may be in life.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but uh he said uh uh I'm gonna have to do a background check on you, just make sure everything's legit.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I've had to fill that out and turn it in, but everything came back well.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just let everybody know, okay.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um I uh so uh so he put me in a position to lead some kids, uh some young adult uh men and uh started at sophomore year.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh now, like he just said, they're now graduating, and uh it's been huge.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been huge for me uh watching these kids grow up in front of me.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, we we we we share life with them, and so they definitely have a part of our hearts, and I love them.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: I love them all.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've been being able to sit sit next to people uh volunteering for so long.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Kathy has definitely been an inspiration to me.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh and what better better church senator, you know, with Jim.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he is a spiritual man and a great leader and has some things to say about the Lord that uh that we all need to listen up to.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm supposed to speak about something that is on my heart, right?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I have a daughter that's 11 years old.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And uh been um been helping teach the youth, and the youth have actually taught me a lot more than I I feel that I've taught them, and they have taught me patience and how to listen, right?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so um listening, listening to services, listening to Derek, listening to my daughter, helping her make distinguished ideas on the best choices is something that uh I've been uh able to uh help her out with, which is awesome, because some things that we don't think about is these youth, they have just as much stress as we do in our lives as adults.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh as we have people to to sit sit under, they need people to to listen to them.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have uh, you know, just being in tune uh with what they have to say and being connected uh is is uh a wonderful thing to stay connected is something that God has taught me um because your availability to him means the world to him.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, that in uh I mean these interns, they're on their second and third year.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they they God's gonna take you in places you'll never imagine and stay connected with him and to the youth.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: The youth, you you're you're our future.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um just stay connected with God, please.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one thing that uh I would hand off um to anybody is I really want to see them have a better relationship with God than I do.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's so that's why I will always try to give away the availability of God's relationship.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, I'm Kathy DeDonder.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um a few years ago when I was in college at Emporia, I was uh working on a teaching degree and having a conversation with a friend of mine, and he was talking about how his mother was a junior high teacher.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I made the comment, uh, you gotta be crazy to work with junior high kids.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um and you'll be glad to know that the Holy Spirit has worked on me in the ensuing years, and I'm not quite so uh gruff anymore or so outspoken with comments that don't need to be said.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so I went into my life thinking, yeah, you gotta be crazy to work with junior high kids.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_03: But then I actually had the experience of working with junior high kids, and lo and behold, it's really fantastic.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: I just love junior high kids.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, they're a whole lot of fun.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so I came into the ministry uh when my son was going into seventh grade because I like being with junior high kids.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: And he's now 25.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been I have been around for a little while.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um one of my great pleasures in working with the kids is that that first year not only was my son a seventh grader, Kenna Maynor was, now Kenna Brantingham, and we are have been partner small group leaders the last several years.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's been really fun to kind of come full circle there, I guess, a little bit.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um one of the things that I have really learned is uh humility in teaching junior high kids.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I say that because as a teacher, I kind of felt like I was the dispenser of knowledge and wisdom, but that was foolish.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: I should have known better than that.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um I have found that so often the kids have answers that though they are simple and maybe a little childish, they're really deep and profound.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um we're Bible church and we really like to dig into the word and we like to find these deep and profound meanings that are there.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: But these kids come upon it just so easily and naturally because they're still kids.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been very humbling to me that to see their wisdom compared to my puffed up oh, I've studied this for a long time kind of attitude.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: And uh it's just been enjoyable to watch these kids as they dig into some pretty tough scriptures.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Derek and Scott before him did not fear to go into some difficult texts.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: And really these kids are dealing with um deep issues in their own personal lives, and it has been very gratifying to watch them just step in there and do it.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: They haven't been afraid to do it, and they've been able to take texts that um some Sunday school classes will struggle over for weeks and weeks, and they just dive in there and and they do get things out of it.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um they're a lot smarter than we think.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_12: Great.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_12: Well, thank you, Kathy.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you, Jeremy.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you also to all of our other year-round leaders.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_12: It's it's terrific, and we can't disciple as well without you.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_12: We just really can't.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_12: Now is the part of our service where we really want to tribute our summer staff, specifically our interns, just with all that they have poured into, and then for this group over the past two to three years, and also as kind of a send-off to whatever it is that they're going into now.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_12: So I know at TBC we don't take hardly any kind of special offerings or anything, but this is one of the Sundays where we do because we want to encourage them, we want to help them, we want to thank them for their extra time and support throughout the summer.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_12: So if our students, if you guys will come forward and just think about if God is putting this on your heart to help them out, to say thank you for what they've done the past two summers, for the relationships that they've built, and then getting ready for the next chapter of each of their lives.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_12: I mean, we just to name a few, Kylie's going, she's she's in the married life now.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_12: She just got married on Friday.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_12: Shane's getting ready in a couple days to move down to Texas to go start in youth pastoring down there at a church.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_12: And so just lots of things that they're doing.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_12: And as we pass the plates, let's check out this leader video as a tribute to them.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_12: One of the very fun parts of being involved in the ministry and being around for all those events is at times like this to get to look back and just kind of relive briefly those moments because they're they're exciting, they're fun.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_12: I think all of our leaders and anybody who's involved with anything with student ministry would be able to say the same thing there.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_12: And so to close the service and to encourage you and then to encourage myself in this too.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_12: One of the themes that I hope you've picked up, I know a few people have talked about it, is this theme of us having one plan, but then God having something different in store.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_12: And that's something that we've gotten to experience over the course of the summer, something that we've gotten to experience while we were in Prague with the whole VBS and expecting 50 or 60 kids every single day, and that not working out exactly like that.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_12: One of the really neat things was after the first day of the VBS while we were in Prague, just getting into the Word, and I was in reading in a in a habit of reading through the Psalms, and so I was in Psalm 3, and at the beginning, David is crying out, and he's saying, God, I've got these adversaries, I've got these difficulties.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_12: There's these people who are after me, and I need help, I need you, I need your support, I need your safety.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_12: And so he's crying out to God, saying, God, just help me.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_12: I need you.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_12: And then about a verse or two later, in essence, he says, God, I'm lifting up my request to you.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_12: You know what my desire is, you know what I'm asking you for, and now I'm going to wait expectantly.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_12: Now, now I'm going to sit here and I want to see you, and I'm watching to see you work in this situation where it seems like I don't really have control over what happens.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_12: And so we got to see that and we prayed that while we were in Prague.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_12: And then the next couple of camps and progressively throughout the week, more and more kids started coming to the camp, and then we were able to reach out through evangelism and reach more people that way.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_12: So it's just really neat to see God show up.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_12: And I know something that's true of just about every single person in this room is that right now we're each going through something.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_12: It may be a difficult relationship, it may be a challenge at work, it may be something where, man, we were so excited for this thing to happen.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_12: We were just ready for it.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_12: And then kind of at the last minute, the plans change, the circumstances change, and God had different plans lined up for our feet to walk in.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_12: And like Jacob said it so perfectly earlier, sometimes God changes our plans and they don't go exactly as we've planned, and that's not a bad thing.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_12: And just like when we were in Prague, we got to see the fruit of what we were doing, we got to see these little kids trust Jesus as their Savior for the first time.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_12: And maybe we wouldn't have gotten to see that had things gone exactly as we'd mapped them out.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_12: And so wherever you're at, whatever that difficulty is, whatever that challenge is, know that God is absolutely for you.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_12: Know that God does not mean you harm when those plans change.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_12: But their opportunities to grow, there are opportunities for our sanctification, there are opportunities for us to lean on Jesus, to lean on God, and know that his plans and perfect ways are higher than ours could ever be.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_12: That's something I know that not just myself, but several of our leaders and students got to learn and got to experience over this summer.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_12: And that would be my encouragement to you for wherever it is that you're at.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_12: So let me pray for us and then I'll dismiss.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_12: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for always being with us.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you for being faithful to us, even when we're not faithful to you.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_12: And you've never disappointed us, you've never brought us down.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_12: And God, thank you so much for Jesus.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_12: Sometimes we forget to thank you for the most basic thing, for the cornerstone of our faith, and that's you sending your son to die on the cross for us, so that we could spend forever with you when we put our faith in you.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_12: And God, if there's anybody here this morning who's never trusted you as their savior, I pray that through your spirit that you would reach out to them, that you would show them your love, that you would tell them of your love and your goodness and all that you've done for them on the cross, and that they would trust you as your as their savior forever.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_12: God, thanks for our students, our leaders, our parents.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_12: Encourage each of us as we continue in this life.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_12: Help us to know you more each and every day.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_12: Help us to make you our audience of one all the time.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_12: In Jesus' name.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_12: Amen.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you for coming.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_12: You are dismissed.