Priority Scavenger Hunt

Spring 2010 we had a picture scavenger hunt in the Tucson mall. The students in the video are from Priority College Ministry. Priority has been in transition and the rebuilding phase. Many of the students in the ministry recently graduated and they have been without student leaders to take up the mantle. Most of the students in this video were sophomores. We began doing leadership training in the Fall of 2009. We have been trying to grow each of the leaders by giving them opportunities to lead events. We've been trying to get these students to take possession of the ministry. It's been a challenge to try and change people from having the mindset that Priority and First Southern is just a place they go sometimes for church to being something that they belong to and are a part of.

The student leaders I've had the opportunity to work with have shown a lot of growth. Both of the club officers are naturally shy and introverted but have slowly have been coming out of their shells. It has been such a blessing to see them grow in both their confidence in themselves and the God whom they serve. It's been equally rewarding watching how they have begun to form discipleship/mentorship relationships and caught the vision. However, they have been very discouraged because people at Priority have largely been unresponsive and non participants. So the task of late has been encouraging the students giving them positive feedback on the leadership events and pointing out the changes and growth occurring in their lives.

Really what I've been trying to stress the inward change. We may have a desire for things to change in our ministry but the change needs to begin first with the leadership. We sat down and went through a list of things we'd like to see change. An idea of what we would like our faith family to be characterized by. We used Colossians 3:8-17 and Galatians 6:1-10 as the background and basis for our mission/vision statement. Then I asked them to pray about making a personal commitment to one another challenging and encouraging each other in their walks with Christ. We talked about how our sense of community/family is tied into our sense of identity both as an individual follower of Christ and as a group.

Although I now work at Christian Challenge and have been making the transition to focus ministry with the students there, I wanted to let them know that I'm not just letting them go and cutting them off. So I also made a commitment to the student leaders to be an available resource for them and to continue meeting with them and coaching them as the serve their peers at Priority.

Please continue to be in prayer for the student leaders at Priority. The students I've been working with are now Juniors and need to be encouraged to persevere in the face of discouragement. Also continue to pray that that the students will be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit recognizing who He is raising up to be the next generation of leaders.

This new school year has already been very encouraging seeing some of the new freshmen get involved and latching on to some of the student leaders.