Holy Shifting: Finding the Sweet Spot

I learned to drive a standard car last month and it was both fun and a little frustrating.  What happens when you go from one standard car to another is that you realize their are different times that you shift.  You have to find the sweet spot between letting off the clutch and pressing on the gas - there is a fairly touchy point of shifting gears. But I guess I'll come back to that.

It's funny.  When I was in youth I remember a time when we just focused on everything being fun and trendy. Our events were cool; our branding was hot; our music was tight; ours was the place to be.  We used to go to Cedar Point once a year, Wonderland once a year, oh - Acquire the Fire (I'm still a little scarred!) and there was always a winter retreat.  In between, we had a cool event here, a cool event there - oh, and don't forget "prom alternative" - that was always happening.

But seriously, there was a major shift for me at one point in that time.  And I would say that it wasn't just for me, but for a solid group of us.  Things went from program and event-based "stuff" to hunger-based. We wanted to grow closer to God, to know Him, to experience Him.  And, we had the right person to lead us in that direction.

Our youth pastor knew what was happening. He saw the need for a gear shift and with wisdom (which I can only assume was supernatural!), he was able to find that sweet spot between the clutch and the gas where the balance was perfect - and we shifted.

Now, we still had all of the same stuff - fun events, tight music, cool branding, all that jazz - but there was something below the surface that we clung to.  We started student-led prayer times, outreach events, compassion experiences.  We didn't know what we were doing but we were hungry and so were others around us. We all desired something more.  There was a craving in our spirit (coincidentally CRAVE was the name of the youth ministry).

And here I am, almost ten years later, seeing a similar thing.  Seeing a time to shift gears.  I think that our students - today's students - are looking for a holy shift.  They've seen the programs, the fun, the branding. They've heard the music and the catchy lines. But, they want to take the next step - I've seen it.

I've been in rooms where students want to turn in their Bible to the pages where Jesus is teaching to the crowds.  They want to know the stories of the prophets and hear the songs of David. They want to read about the early church's revolutionary ways. They want something...more.

I think there was a time when adults thought students were surfacy and shallow - and I may have fallen to that same conclusion.  For that, I'm sorry.  My youth pastor didn't assume that of me, and I should never have treated students in that way. No, in fact, I think students have a much greater capacity than we can imagine. They need to be challenged the way that Paul challenged Timothy.

I'm sad that so many students are biblically illiterate and don't know where to find books of the Bible. I'm sad that Scripture isn't known anymore or meditated upon. And I think it's time for a shift.  I think students are ready to know God's Word again, to hear the words of Christ not just from a teacher or pastor, but from the Bible. I think students are ready to be challenged not just in the words that they use or the actions that they take but at the very core of their beings.

I think it's time we hold students up in enough esteem as to challenge and encourage them to be transformed from the inside out - and I think to do that we need to model it.  I think it's time that we try to find that sweet spot where the clutch of program/fun/events meets the gas of spiritual depth and we have a really incredible Holy Shift that transitions us into a gear so new and exhilarating that we all (students, leaders, parents, pastors alike) can only thank God for the result.