Warning before reading: this is one of my more cranky blogs, but for what I hope is a good reason. I know that the following challenges to youth programs based primarily on fun and positive messages do not describe all youth programs, and please forgive me if your program takes equipping youth with Biblical values and a passion to serve Jesus seriously. However, in the lives of the teens close to me I see very little of this today. It makes me especially sad because I know it doesn't have to be like that. I was a youth leader for many years and even then I often doubted if I was doing the right thing because my program was not the most fun one around. It was filled with lots of Bible lessons, challenges, active service to the poor, mission awareness, and very high expectations. It was a large group, friends were invited, the church was pleased—all the outward measures of success were there—but I still wondered if I did the right thing being so hard on my kids. The years have passed. The kids in my group have gone on to become pastors, staff in Christian organizations, community and government leaders reflecting Biblical values. I know many things made them who they are, but I pray their time in the not-always-the-most-fun youth group contributed to it. With a current prayer that this cranky blog may prove beneficial, I offer it to you. You have been warned. 

Celebrate, but also challenge your graduates

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