Lasting Impressions A Guest Article by Lisa Crayton

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12 (NLT)

Interrupting my discussion on honesty, one of my students blurted out, "My mom doesn't know I have a boyfriend. Should I tell her?"

Seconds after the question was asked, there was complete hush in the balcony. Preparing to answer her question, I inwardly chuckled. "We did it again," I thought, sneaking a peak at the far right corner of the balcony that served as a shared make-shift classroom for my Senior High Sunday School class and the Men's Bible Class, taught by our pastor.

"My kids," as I loved to call them behind their back, noticed my slight pause and grinned. They too were amused that, once again, one of our 45-minute, pre-service lessons had caused a blanket of silence to descend upon the entire top level of the church. Drawing on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and directing my students to several Bible verses, I answered my student's query and played umpire as others expressed their varying views on the subject - all while drawing them back to that morning's lesson on honesty.

Memories of that class continue to make me smile. I taught that class for two years at a church that was directly cross the street from my home in the inner city of Brooklyn, New York. Today, some seven years later, my former students are young adults who are juggling career and/or family responsibilities. Yet, I still think about them, pray for them and get a kick out of hearing their praise reports.

What really blesses me, however, is to hear them share that my influence on them greatly impacted their spiritual or natural lives. That's the dream of every youth leader: to make a lasting impression on a youth that endures way beyond the teacher/student or mentor/mentee relationship. There's no single, step-by-step process for realizing that dream. But, the following are the ABCs for effective youth ministry that works for me.

A - Available. Young people need leaders who are available to listen, to counsel and to provide resources specific to each youth's needs. This doesn't mean you have to be a superman or superwoman. It just means that you are willing to be touchable, to go beyond the shield of your title and get involved in the lives of the teens to whom you minister.

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