"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." Isaiah 40:1
A few weeks ago I was at the National Youth Worker's Convention in San Diego. In some ways, this felt like home. I've been going to these conventions for nine years or so and each time I return it feels like I am with family. These are my people. They get me. As I was playing "Capture the Rubber Chicken" in the hotel lobby and dancing to the DJ's tunes before the Bigroom sessions, I realized we could do just about anything we wanted and we'd be accepted. We'd be loved for who we are, because we really get each other.
One of the things we get is that ministry can be a challenge. It's not easy to stay up all night at lock-ins, to deal with angry parents, to please our pastors and staff. It's not easy to pick out just the right lesson or game to capture the attention of teenagers. It's not easy to present the Gospel in a relavant way that will change the lives of our students.
It's just not easy.
So as we listened to speakers and sang worship songs, we felt like everyone around us understood who we are and they were singing along with us. At the end of one of the speaker's talks, he gave an invitation for anyone to come forward to the space surrounding the stage as a symbolic act of recommitment to ministry. Youthworkers began to come forward and I watched them from my chair near the front. I didn't particularly feel the call to come forward, but when the speaker asked other youth workers to come up and pray for them, I found myself immediately going forward. I reached down and put my hand on a woman's shoulder. She was kneeling on the ground with her head bowed. I began to pray for her, and as I prayed, I felt her shoulders shaking. It was only a slight movement, but I could feel the emotion behind it. The pain. I began to pray more fervently and I began to think about all the things that may be waying her down. As I was praying, with one hand still on her shoulder, I lifted up my other hand towards the ceiling. I pictured myself lifting this woman up to God. For healing. For hope.
It was a powerful experience following a year or so of thinking about God's call to encourage other youth workers. As I returned to my home state and talked about this experience with a friend, we thought, "Why not start a blog to encourage youth workers?" Thus "Come Alongside" has begun...
