Stretch 2008 Day 1

Wow!
Last night I had the privilege of serving at Stretch, our church's summer middle school conference.
This is not the first year I've served at Stretch but I enjoyed it this year so much more for many reasons. First of all, in the past, I've served on the refreshment/hospitality team. These folks work so hard and do such a great job but it is tiring! And in years past, Stretch has been held the same week as Kid's Camp, which is our summer program for younger kids. So after serving a large portion of the day at Kid's Camp, we came back at night for Stretch and served until much later. These made for some very long days. So this year, the church decided to hold the two camps in different weeks. It was so nice and I left last night, excited and anxious for another two nights, not exhausted and dreading two more nights.
Second, I think this year, I really have a better appreciation for why an event like this is so important to families in our area. For anyone who has ever been the parent of a middle schooler(or been a middle schooler yourself,) you know what a pivotal age this is. There are so many confusing thoughts in their heads and most of them haven't got the "tools" to deal with and understand what to do with those thoughts. There are so many pressures to do new things, some of them good, some of them NOT! Unfortunately, this is the age group that gets the least attention and ultimately, where many kids fall through the cracks. Our church has done such an outstanding job at hosting regular events targeted at this age group. These events have a lot of "fun stuff" and a lot of great messages wrapped in "fun stuff" They know that a middle schooler isn't going to want to come to some church thing where they are going to be "preached to" or made to feel guilty about things they are thinking/feeling/doing. While there is a clear message about God and right and wrong, these students aren't made to feel judged. Hopefully, they feel love and acceptance, just like Jesus would have wanted.
The third reason this was such a great experience for me is going to sound a bit boastful, so please forgive me. I was beaming with pride last night watching my two kids, who also worked tirelessly(with SOOOO many other volunteers and employees) to make Stretch happen. My daughter, Caity, most people don't see, but she played an extremely important role. Caity works in the Tech booth, behind the scenes. She has been there at the youth group, pretty much every Sunday since we've been in our building. After serving many mornings in our younger childrens classes, she's back at church at 4:00 to get ready for the Sunday night youth groups. I won't say she never complains (she is, after all a teenage girl!) but she's commited to the job and she loves the people she works with. I am so proud of her and her commitment to Christ. So it was so cool to see her up in the Tech booth working like a pro (she definately gets her technical abilities from her Dad!) and having a great time.
My son, Alex, is seen by many. He plays guitar and drums in both the youth band and also on Sunday mornings with the adult band. While I know very little about music, I think he's pretty good, and this has been confirmed by many others so I know it's not just me being biased!
This summer, in addition to the bands, he's taken on the role of summer intern. So watching him play last night was awesome but it was even more awesome knowing that he was responsible for much of the organizing of the event itself. He has really taken ownership of this job and, even though he's pretty tired, I really think he loves it.
It has been so incredible to see how God has worked in their lives. When we started at CCV almost 8 years ago, we had never regularly attended church. Alex was the age of these middle schoolers I refer to and Caity was a couple of years younger. We have all grown so much as a result of finding CCV. I hope that as a result of Stretch and other events like it, more families will come to know Christ. Who knows where it will lead!