Learning God’s way can take many forms at Lima City Life. -Junior Ramos, Lima City Life
It’s a very exciting time for me as I serve as a site director for YFC and as a pastor for a church called the Gathering Place. As a pastor, adults appear to be very attentive to every word. As a youth leader, the attention span of a middle school or high school student, can be difficult to hold. It would almost seem that they haven’t heard one word that you have said. There is one thing that is similar about both audiences – despite appearances, both the youth and the adults are listening. For our youth, I don’t understand how they catch the message through all the activity going on, but here is an example of one lesson that hit home.
During the first week of our after-school program, we played Bingo. A young gal kept winning over and over again. She must’ve had the lucky card. Her first initial win, she came up and collected her prize. As she continued to dominate, she began selflessly giving her prizes away to those who were struggling to cover their cards. This spoke volumes to me. I watched as she unknowingly exemplified one of the greatest Biblical principles.
The following week, I decided to print out Philippians 2:3-4, and asked her to read it to everyone. She stood and read, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, Junior Ramos, Lima City Life Learning God’s way can take many forms at Lima City Life but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others.”
As she finished reading the verses, a hush came over the teens who were listening. I reminded them of the action of this young lady the week prior and gave a quick lesson around it. I then told her that she could take a seat, and she looked at me and asked if she could have the printed paper to keep.
That was really a defining moment for me. To be honest, I was feeling discouragement before that, but I am encouraged for the future. I believe that City Life will continue to be a beacon in this community and encourage growth in our youth .