Category Archives: Youth Ministry

We have had a full year of youth ministry!  So many things we need to go back and fill in the pages from 2010-11!  But what are we up to in the summer?  While many ministries of the church gear down in the summer, the youth ministry gears up and goes full steam ahead!  Teens are out for the summer and have LOTS of TIME on their hands. Instead of our weekly Saturday morning meetings, we are meeting in the evenings at 6:00 as is begins to get cooler after the heat of the day.

Mondays- Worship Night

Wednesdays- The Loft Weekly Outreach Program

Fridays- Sports in the Park

Saturdays- Church

Our new Loft space is finally feeling like home after a team from our sending church in Norman, OK was here in May.  Thanks JOURNEY CHURCH for all you do to support youth ministry in Albania!  And special thanks to the team of guys who were here with us for 14 days of outreach, fun, messy games and helping at the Loft!

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Our volunteer team at the Loft

Last Monday we had our final monthly meeting with our volunteers at the Loft.  These precious people have dedicated HOURS upon HOURS of time to ministering in the lives of teenagers.  Nothing that is accomplished for the sake of the kingdom could be done with out these people.  Here’s just a short list of what they have been doing at the Loft:

• leading small groups
• playing games
• leading servant team (set up and clean up each week for the Loft meeting)
• answering questions
• leading the worship team
• praying for the Loft
• training Albanian teens for next year’s worship team
• meeting with student individually for coffee
• giving hugs
• preparing snacks and drinks each week at the Loft
• taking attendance so we know who is coming and who is missing that we need to follow up with
• having conversations
• talking with parents

Egli, Visi, Gretchen, Dovi, Jordon, Andrew,

Helena, Albana and Alicia….

well done, good and faithful servants!  We love you!

Last Saturday we had our fall kick off at the Loft.  We have 11 (ELEVEN) first time visitors!  Yeah!  It was a crowded place.  Can we tell you that nothing worked?  Not the power point, not the videos… it was just one of those weeks where the team felt unprepared and just plain NOT READY!  But guess who showed up?  Yep, God.  Oh, how He does that.  Egli was able to share a simple gospel message in worship and our team was able to connect with all of the new students and begin building relationships!  One of our core values is that “Life change happens best in relationships!” It is getting to be a little crowded don’t you think?  We may need a new space!  Praise GOD!

Here they are.... all crammed in!

Orb of FUN- Thanks Amy! We love this game!

Worship

Well with all that has been going on in our world these days you may be wondering if ministry has ground to a halt here in Albania.  The answer is most certainly NOT!  The wonder of training and equipping still works and God is all about HIS business here in Albania.  Last week 11 of our students went to a Christian camp in Erseke.  Those of you who have spent a sweaty, hot, uncomfortable, awesome, amazing, wonderful week with a group of teens at a summer camp anywhere in the world will know how life changing it can be in a student’s walk with the Lord.  But don’t take our word for it! One of our MKs (missionary kid) that Robert has been discipling this last year has started his own blog.

It seemed like I was hitting the whole spectrum [of emotions], but this past week at Erseke I wouldn’t trade for anything. It was through the harder times of this past week that I learned some very valuable lessons. I learned…
-the importance of reconciliation.
-that “love is patient.”
-that God is faithful.
-that life with Jesus is an adventure and a battle.
-that good things aren’t always achieved easily.

There were three guys in my youth group who I really felt like God gave me the chance to reach out to this past week and grow in my relationship with. God provided me with…..read more here!

It has been amazing to see God keep all about His work with out our involvement during this time Robert is healing.  He really doesn’t need us here, he just WANTS us here.  Isn’t that awesome???!!!

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go with Robert to the neighboring town of Elbasan where he was speaking for a gathering of youth workers.   He was asked to share some thoughts and ideas on developing youth ministry to this group of 20, many of whom are volunteers and workers in small towns and villages.  That means that their ministry might look vastly different than ours here in the capitol city, Tirana.

But as I have said before, it is really all about stealing.  We have no great ideas for youth ministry here in Albania.  We just keep taking a little bit here and a little bit there, and we try it out to see if it works for this time, this place and this culture.  Some things hit, and some miss.  But the thing that stays the same is the “transferable principles.”  I don’t know who coined this term but it’s money.  Anyway… here are some photos of our time.  We spent time sharing about vision, mission and strategy and how to discover the principals that transcend to every ministry.   Our language is still not at a place where we can talk in front of a crowd but we were able to have individual time with people for questions.  Time well spent.

Sajmir did a great job translating!

It was a sunny but cold day, we wore our coats the whole time!

The trip was worth it just for the views.  This is the view from top of the mountains on Rruga Elbasanit between the two cities.

Over the years, we have stolen many good ministry ideas from others.  HABITS is one of the best.  Developed by Doug Fields at Saddleback, HABITS is an acronym we use for steps to growth in our relationship with God.

H- Hang Time

A- Accountability

B- Bible Study

I- Involvement

T- Tithing

S- Scripture Memory

Well now, we are passing the idea on to new generations of teenage believers in Albania.

SHPREHI- is the new word.  It means a skill, developed by practice; a habit.

And look at the cool designs Wopsle did for each step along the way.  We just finished the new HABITS shack for the Loft.

So we have been slowly making over the Loft!  As you may remember, we started with white walls and empty space. I posted a few of the before pictures below… it is quite a change! It is a process to create a friendly and welcoming space for teens on a tight budget!  Look at some of the changes that have happened over the last few months!  And this is only surface stuff… it doesn’t even touch the colors that are being painted on the walls of hearts!

Yes we are still here!  After a few days of getting settled, recovering from the outreach and getting back to the world after several days of sketchy internet and then a few of NO internet, we are back among the land of the living.

The outreach was a BIG success!  We know that stories of God’s faithfulness and movement will really only come to us after several months of getting to know students and being a part of their lives, but it is so fun to watch the beginning of the process.

After 5 days of sports outreach and English Cafe, we ended the week with a BBQ hosted by our church staff.  Von, Toni and Xhelo (pronounced Jay-low) came out as awesome servants to cook hotdogs for the 50+ that showed up at the Loft Friday afternoon.  There was quite a buzz around the room “Did you hear there is something here tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow there is a meeting here at 11!  Every week this place is open.  We can come.  Yeah, let’s come tomorrow.”

And so a new year begins!  Here are some photos from the week(click on an individual photo to see a larger view).

Well we have arrived home now we are off and running!  Beginning today we are hosting a week of sports ministry outreach at the youth center, The Loft!  Nothing like playing sports in the heat when you are still jet-lagged.  :-)  Every night this week from 5-7pm (10am-noon CST) we are playing soccer, volleyball, basketball and Ultimate Frisbee with kids who come out from the neighborhood near the youth center.  We have posted these cool posters (thanks for the design Evie!) all over the area and can’t wait to see what God will do!  Pray with us to see God reach a generation of Albanian teens!  More photos and stories later this week!

We are still getting the videos translated from the youth service last week (we have to subtitle them for you since they are in Albanian) but we FINALLY got some pictures so we could share. Our camera died just a couple of hours before the service…. agh! Luckily Jennifer had hers with her and she and I took turns snapping away! Here are some highlights:

Some of the boys!

The Youth Worship Team (L to R: Alicia, Micah, Daniel, Erin and Caleb)

Luli and Hannah

Jennifer, Kristi and Josiah preparing the “cocktail” to serve after church

Egli translating for Jordan’s testimony

Egli translating for Robert’s talk

The whole group praying before the service