My next generation story

This Sunday Drew spoke on impacting the next generation and how by investing the things God gives us in other people not only could we impact people but we could impact and change future generations for years to come. His message was a reminder of God’s love for me and how thankful I am for the people that step in and believed in me and set the bar high for me even when I didn’t for myself. I am a walking testimony of just how doing that can impact not  only one person but it can spread like a wildfire into the lives of others. I grew up in church all my life and was around it all the time but I never took the time to really give Jesus a chance much less people that loved him and just wanted a chance to get to know me. I guess you could say it was going to take a special person to really be able to deal with me. I was in an out of the youth part because I thought I was to cool for it and the other part was because I wasn’t willing to give it half a chance.

Now it’s not that I didn’t go to a great church or there wasn’t a great youth program it was because at point in my life where there wasn’t anyone trying to invest in me. Now I don’t have the answers as to why but maybe it could have been my parents were Christians and they thought there were doing a good job or maybe because they didn’t think I would amount to anything who knows but at a young age there was not that one person who really considered me worth it or so I thought. 

My middle and high school years were spent going to Central Fellowship Christian Academy and of course that would be probably some of best and most trying times of my life. Now of course we still continued going to Christ Chapel. Now during these times there was this one guy named Drew Winters that was interning at the time at the church and this guy was so passionate about the Lord and the things of the Lord that he felt it would be a great idea to come to my school and eat lunch with me. Needless to say I didn’t think it was cool at all actually Drew was making it hard on me. You see he was doing something that many others didn’t want to do or maybe didn’t have the time to do and that was investing in teenagers that others thought were ok and or didn’t see any reason to invest in. Now I will say this Drew was persistent and he didn’t give up because I didn’t make it easy for him at all, actually I tried to avoid lunch and Drew like the plague because come on I couldn’t  be seen eating lunch with someone that was from my church that isn’t cool at all. But week after week he kept coming back.

Now fast forward a little bit I’ve given my life to the Lord and I’m trying to figure out what God wants me to do and where he wants me to be. A few guys and myself where playing basketball at the church one night and as were going to leave in walks in the next youth Pastor of Christ Chapel and can you guess who that guy is? If you said Chuck Norris you are wrong. That’s right it was Drew Winters the guy I thought was weird because he came to eat lunch with me at my school. Funny part is at first I didn’t recognize who he was I though he was someone I had sold a camera to at my prior job. 

Fast forward again to today this June will mark one year since I’ve been interning at Christ Chapel Sportstowne under you guessed it the youth Pastor Drew Winters. The craziest part about this whole journey I’ve been on is Drew pick up right where he left off with me. You see it was that initial connection and investment he made that allow me to trust and believe the things he told me. Over this last year I’ve had the opportunity to do things I never thought possible or believed I could or would do but with strength and love of Jesus Christ and the support and direction of my mentor Drew Winters I find myself becoming a better Man of God first, a husband and father second, and investing my life loving and preaching the gospel to young people which is something I was born to do. See the gift and call was already there because God had already given it to me. But it took a young reckless and wild intern who loved Jesus and didn’t allow discouragement and frustration to stop him from loving me to bring it out. See I believe Jesus laughs at me every day because the very man I spent my teens years running from I now spend my adult years helping love and grow ECHO youth ministry. I know Drew well enough that I know he’s not a guy that needs or looks to be celebrated for anything he does but I believe God laid this blog on my heart to confirm the message he shared today but also to show others that investing and loving others for the sake and glory of Jesus Christ never goes wasted because this wild reckless failure of teenager is here today trying to stand in the gap for othesr just like myself who need to be invested in. So I ECHO my mentor and my brother in Christ message today INVEST IN THE NEXT GENERATION!!!! Then watch what Jesus will do. Here are some pictures that are memories for me from this last year.

-Lance