'Train Up a Teenager'

I was in a meeting yesterday with the Allasso Ministries Director, Rick Kindschi and the Northern Lakes Director, Mike Jewell. We were discussing the 2011 Discipleship Alive program at Crescent Lake Bible Camp and during the conversation Rick made a comment that really had an impact on me.

Ive been writing in these articles that many of the skills nonprofit organizations are searching for can be found in the youth around us! Despite the fact that I can actually demonstrate that teenagers can have a profound impact on the long-term success of an organization - weve actually helped some nonprofits connect with teens and watched them take off - I still have adults who look at me and tell me how undependable, unreliable and unprofessional teenagers are! (I just wonder what teenagers they hang out with)

Rick was telling me that Discipleship Alive 2010 was an interesting experience for him. Teenagers from all over the state of Wisconsin come together to serve God by serving others. They take a week out of their summer, pay to attend the program and then go out into the surrounding communities and get their hands dirty by raking, mowing, painting, building wheelchair ramps, etc. for the elderly and the needy. They do this with no expectation of reward, but because God has called us to serve others, to meet their needs, and by doing this they have an opportunity to tell others about the love of Christ.

Some of the teenagers this year ran out of tim ...