M I N I S T RY | YO U T H
Purposeful Discipleship Helping youth discern and use their gifts By KARA POWELL and BRAD M. GRIFFIN
T
he pandemic cancelled most everything for her senior year in high school. Volleyball. The bowling club she had started the previous year. College visits. Prom. Even her youth group had to move to Zoom. While seeing her Christian friends every week on screen felt like a lifeline, it wasn’t the same as being shoulder to shoulder for weekly worship and teaching. The cancelled activities meant she had more free time. She just wondered what to do with all those extra hours. She felt lonely and restless, with no real sense of purpose.
84
Summer 2021
Then her youth pastors, Perry and Julia, asked her to volunteer in the high school ministry as a social media intern. They knew she not only had the time to help, but that she also had Instagram skills and social media savvy far beyond their own. Julia started meeting with her every other week, planning promotions and livestreams. While many high school students, especially seniors, drifted from the Church during the pandemic, this student was more engaged than ever. Kara had a front-row seat to this, because that student is her 18-year-old daughter, Krista. Their church gave Krista — and Kara — a place to use Godgiven gifts to advance His Kingdom.
Why Purpose Matters While Krista and the students in your life and church may have less free time this year as the world around
