this article

coverstory
By Deena C.
Bouknight
6 november2010
Y
coverstory
outh pastors in Columbia
face a world-wide challenge:
to overcome faith apathy in
today’s youth, to help them
embrace their faith and not
view it as mere wallpaper in
their lives.
In the documentary, Soul Searching: A
Movie about Teenagers and God, sociologists at
the University of Notre Dame reported that
many teenagers have embraced a form of
moralistic, therapeutic deism that basically goes
like this: “It’s important for me to be happy and
do good things, and if something goes wrong,
then I’ll pray to (a) god.”
Despite such challenges, many still
wholeheartedly embrace the life of shepherding
today’s youth. Some local youth leaders talk
openly about their roles and strategies for
addressing the blessings and curses that confront
young people.
Before his current role as pastor of
Blythewood Presbyterian Church, Rhett Sanders
was Northeast Presbyterian’s youth director for
15 years. He says youth leaders must always
strive to make Christ a greater part of their own
lives. “The number one goal is for these students
Opposite page, clockwise from left: Blythewood
Presbyterian’s Rhett Sanders takes a muddy break
from youth activity. Kilbourne Park Baptist’s
David Hatcher regroups with kids after a paintball
battle. Brad Anderson ─ back row, second from
right ─ joins First Presbyterian youth during a
Blowfish baseball game.
This page: Youth groups prepare for 2010 mission
trips. Top: Kilbourne Park Baptist youth to
Mexico. Bottom: First Presbyterian youth to New
Orleans.
november2010 7
coverstory
to see Christ in me,” he says.
Kilbourne Park Baptist youth pastor
David Hatcher says that to connect with
youth, “You have to be shallow enough that
they can learn without drowning, but deep
enough that they can grow.”
Brad Anderson, youth director at First
Presbyterian Church in Columbia, stresses
that all youth have been parented and
schooled in different ways. They all have
different ideas about what a youth group
should be. Establishing a framework based
on biblical truths and offering enjoyable
ways for the youth to fellowship is
important, says Anderson. “Your basic
theology drives your methodology. A
flashy program is not what the church is
about. Ideally,
you want kids to
have the light of
Christ in them,
not just check
off that they’re
going to church,
are nice, and make good grades in school.”
Sanders says, “It comes down to
relational ministry. And there needs to be
value in it. When a leader asks a young
person, ‘How are you?’ and really wants to
Brad Anderson
hear, that’s effective.”
Bringing balance to a youth program so that it’s not all about fun
is important, says Hatcher. “We might get young people in here who
say, ‘I came to do this because it sounds fun, but I’m not here to hear
about Jesus.’ Yet, they come to realize it’s a safe, accepting place, and
they may come back because of that and eventually learn, understand,
and accept Jesus.”
Hatcher adds that there is a fine line between connecting with
youth as a leader and being their leader. “We need to determine a
person’s love language. The fruit of sarcasm is very low on the tree
and should be avoided, even in a playful way. That’s one way to loose
the respect of the youth.”
“We just have to be authentic,” says
Sanders. “If we mess up, we have to pray
and ask for forgiveness. Kids respect that.
They know instantly when you’re trying to
be something you’re not.”
One of the greatest challenges to youth
pastors is teaching the youth discernment,
thereby equipping them for the next stage
of their lives, usually college. But even
before they graduate from high school,
they’re bombarded with many temptations, David Hatcher
especially through technology.
Hope Hall, a youth leader at Columbia Christian Fellowship,
believes that computers, gaming systems, and cell phones are the most
8 november2010
challenging distractions youth leaders face today. She and others on
her team try to overcome these technological hindrances by teaching
youth to make wise choices.
Hatcher, who frequently texts his
students, warns them about the misuse of
technology. “It’s important that we make
kids be accountable and continually
communicate about accountability where
technology is concerned. It’s like not eating
fish because you’re scared of the bones.
You don’t throw out the whole fish, you just
avoid the bones.”
Another distraction to today’s youth is
Rhett Sanders
the pop culture. Hall says she responds to
the way youth idolize such figures as Lady
Gaga by, “continuing to preach from the Bible, encouraging them to
listen to the lyrics and teach them the meaning of what’s being said.”
She urges them to evaluate and compare the lifestyles of famous, and
infamous, celebrities with the lives of other believers.
“We have to teach the inward things to kids and help them not to
worry so much about outward things,” says Hatcher. ‘When the inward
changes, the outward will be affected. If you have a student who wears
black and has multiple piercings, you could get on her case, or you can
love on her and teach her how much Christ loves her. Let Christ work
on her inside.”
Sanders points out that, “Christ didn’t alienate himself from the
culture. He was involved with all kinds of people.”
Anderson says, “The value and distinction of the church is our
recognition and confession that we’re miserable sinners in desperate
need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. We know his grace and desire
others to know it, so we need to be people of grace before a watching
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Opposite page, David Hatcher leads prayer before Kilbourne Park
Baptist’s youth trip to Mexico. Above: Rhett Sanders performs as
one of his many zany characters, this one for Vacation Bible
School at Blythewood Presbyterian Church.
“It’s hard for kids today to understand that they’re not
earning their salvation ... to press upon their hearts and minds
that God knows they are worth more than their test grades or
the trophy they received from a sports event,” Anderson
insists.
“We have to communicate grace to these kids daily,” says
Hatcher. “Nothing they can do will make God love them any
more or any less.”
Sanders concludes, “It just all comes down to preaching
the Gospel to ourselves and to these students, and helping
them understand how the Gospel speaks to different issues.”
Deena C. Bouknight lives in
Columbia with her husband, Gary,
and two children, Justin and
Madeline. She is a home-school
mom, literature teacher at
Excelsior Academy and free-lance
writer for newspapers, magazines
and books.
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