the dark valley

September 17, 2010
I am overwhelmed by the blessing that this family in Christ is to me and my husband, but more importantly, to everyone else it touches. I am astounded at how much we have been through as a community. This summer has been one trial after another, and my heart mourns for those who have lost family members in the past few months. Two of our teen girls suffered tragic losses in their families. The day after the girls found out, we were scheduled to have Teens Adelante. I talked about canceling it, I wasn't sure any of us could do it. I was supposed to teach that night. Someone reminded me that these are the times to show up as a community for them; for each other. We ended up meeting that night, and to my surprise and satisfaction the girls came. We were all brought to our knees that night, all mourning together, in an awkward silence between thoughts and words and tears, and yet we gained so much that night.

The Lord had planned that night. He had planned Teens Adelante to have its own community apart from Kids Adelante, he provided the leaders to be there for these youth, he showed up in our weakness, to support each other, and get through it...together. That night was just the beginning of a hard summer. For those two families, our Mission Adelante community became Christ's hands and feet to keep them functioning; and reminded me that when I can't handle all this, God can. A few weeks later, another one of our teens lost a family member. When we felt like we couldn't handle another tragedy, the Lord had us all in his arms. When David and I couldn't imagine how to counsel this young man through another tragedy in his life, we were overjoyed to discover that the Lord had already been walking with him, and speaking to him through the loss. We were worried that another loss, at the age of 13, would be his final giving up on a good God, but the Holy Spirit turned his anger to peace. In the midst of his mourning he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior. And now we begin a new small group discipleship format this trimester with the teenagers, where David gets to share all about who Christ is with him.

To look back on this summer, I see the joy that the Lord gave us in the midst of really hard times. Joy that only comes from Him. I realize how He has sustained us through this season and how a new season is upon us. Through all of this, God will be glorified. I sense the beginning of the Lord going really deep with the teenagers this fall and I am so excited and so blessed to be a part of His plan.

why would you want to work with teenagers?

June 14, 2010 

by Brooke Coon

We started the very first trimester in January ready for a battle, thinking; well they will probably hate us for a while, they certainly wont trust us for a while, and they will probably complain about the programs for a while. The first trimester took extreme God-given patience to get through some of the worship times when they were giggling and laughing in the corner, or while someone was teaching a lesson and they were making sexual advances at each other across the room. I know, kind of disturbing. There is also the physical violence they use with each other to "show love." And there's the filthy talk and the not-so-uplifting words they use with each other.

But the truth is, God has blown us away. With a mustard seed of faith that God was bringing them every week, he has grown them in ways we never expected. Last night in our meeting after the program, we all realized they were not calling each other names and teasing each other as they did in the first trimester. It is a hint of a deeper security that Christ is giving them, that they don't need to degrade others to feel comfortable. They were respectful in listening to my lesson, and it seemed like many of them were singing in worship. The most amazing thing to me is towards the end of last trimester, two of the girls started volunteering (if not fighting) to lead the prayer card that we read together each week. The same prayer card that they mocked and grumbled about doing just weeks earlier.

My mom always told me "you are going to be so great with teenagers," ever since I was one. "You just experienced so much pain," she would say. I had no idea what she was talking about. My teen years were full of many groups of friends that I could hardly balance because each wanted my full commitment. I felt like I had so many friends and joys, but there were also the wounds of not being in the "most popular" crowd, not being on the best soccer team, not having the nicest car, having super-crooked teeth and an extreme insecurity for large groups. Don't we all still remember the teasing? That one comment that hasn't gone away? The feminine battles that persist in high school plagued my teen years; best friends in and out, fights over boys, betrayal, gossip. Always sizing myself up to someone else. And all of it just because I didn't realize how valued I was.

They are so intimidating at first. They are so full of insecurity that it is bursting out of the seams. They are so insecure it can be a battle just to hold on to my security. Their insecurity shows it's face in the form of physical aggression, degrading comments and foul names, quick judgment of those who are different, and a confusion of boundaries between the opposite sex. In the midst of this uncomfortable chaos lies a truth; that beneath the ugly layer of insecurity, is a heart that is searching for who God made them to be. They are searching, scanning everyone around them, deciding who they want to be like. They are constantly soaking in what people are all about; what they are wearing, how they talk, what they do with their lives, what is important to them. They watch the leaders every step of the way, especially how we interact with each other. They watch David and I to see how a Christian marriage differs from the broken marriages of this world.

They are at an impressionable point in their lives, like young children, but different in that they are now taking every thing they have learned, and deciding what to do with that information. I have never been so convicted to live a life that honors God now that I see how carefully they watch me. I thank the Lord that he lives in us, and by being with them, they are experiencing Christ. It is only in Christ's presence in me that I have faith, because without Him I am just a huge dork to them. Without Him, they don't care what I have to say, or how I live my life. But with Him, they see His glory and His affection for them. With Christ living in us, they can learn how much God just wants to be with them in every moment of their lives. He wants to heal their wounds, He wants to guard them from the pressures of gangs and a life of violence, He wants to deliver them from all their enemies, He wants to laugh and play soccer and ride bikes with them, He wants them to have a bright future full of their hearts desires, friends who will fight for them and lift them up, and some day a spouse that will honor them and show them the perfect love that Christ has for his bride.