The trip was an absolute blast. For having 8 people in tight quarters for 3 days of driving, we had no friction and no drama. How does that happen with youth? I have no idea. Needless to say… God is good (and thank you for your prayers).

We started off by rounding up the group early in the morning on Sunday and headed down to church at Overlake Christian Church. I had heard some good buzz about their Illuminate Service and figured that the kids may enjoy a bit of the supposedly, experiential, emergent type service. We got down there and had a good time, but it wasn’t what I expected. It was a pretty fluffy, showy experience of a service. It was slick, big church with more hair gel and candles. Joel Osteen would be proud. But I was a good boy, I kept my mouth shut, and just observed the service and the kids. I wanted for them to be free to experience whatever.

Afterwards, I kept quiet and let the kids express their opinions of the service. I heard things like, “it seemed like the people were there for a show and not for God” and “I really felt they were worshiping the music and the lights and not the Lord.” I was blown away. I love our group of kids, they crave authenticity and accept nothing less. God has really done an interesting work in these students lives. With such a great start, it was only beginning…

[to be continued]