The World is Upside Down: Real Heroes of Student Ministry

This past weekend there were over 350 students from across the Northeast and even a group from Virginia who attended Word of Life Snow Camp. On Friday night a leader approached me following the meeting to thank me for preaching the Gospel and shared about how his daughter’s friend had trusted Christ.

He went on to say some very kind words about my ministry and thanked me again for speaking. After asking a couple of questions, I discovered that his church had come to Snow Camp on a previous weekend. When he and his lovely wife found out that his daughter had a couple of high school friends who wanted to come to camp, they volunteered to bring them.

I know this man and his wife but I will not share their names because they would be; however I can tell you that they have been faithfully bringing students to camp for seven years. Now here is why I say The World is Upside Down: he was talking to me like I was the hero but he and his wife are the real heroes of student ministry.

On Sunday following the last Snow Camp meeting, I was approached by a leader and his wife and once again thanked for the two messages I shared over the weekend. I listened as they shared how I had been a blessing and how Word of Life was such a faithful and trustworthy ministry.

But here is the kicker . . .  these dear lay leaders have been working with students in their church and bringing them to camp for over seventeen years. I stood there thinking once again: The World is Upside Down…these are the real heroes of student ministry.

It did not stop there but I am not going to continue because you get the idea. There are ordinary people who are choosing to be used by God to make a difference in students’ lives. It is happening in churches and youth camps all across this country and around the world.

For those of us who have the privilege of platform ministry…let’s never forget that the real heroes of student ministry are those leaders who work with the students 52 weeks a year. They are the same ones who work a 40-hour week, take time off from work, probably pay their own way to our events and perhaps scholarship a student or two as well.

We get the credit but that is only because The World is Upside Down.  They are the real heroes of student ministry.