The Presence

What is “The Presence?”  Do I have “The Presence?”  Do you have “The Presence?”  Can junior high students have “The Presence?”  Do we want “The Presence?”

The Presence is the Spirit living within us, and we definitely want the Presence.

I am excited to say that my students are excited about the Presence as well.

This past weekend I took my junior high students to CIY Believe!  This has always been a big part of our planning in junior high ministry, but it has accomplished different things for us in the past.  CIY always provides a fun place for us to connect with our students and talk about life with Jesus.  The worship  is always good and everything is produced at an incredibly high level.  If you haven’t taken students to a CIY event before then check it out.

This years Believe Tour was called, “The Presence Tour.”  My students had fun and ran around like crazy like they always do, but this year was a little different for us.  The Jordan Howerton Band led worship, and from the first note of the first song they had our students deeply involved and focused in worship.  We all know that worship can look different for different groups of people, but they led our students to an awesome place with God.  Then the speaker came out and shared about The Presence/Holy Spirit living within us.  He clarified this in a way for our students that helped them be comfortable with the Spirit.

Through the paintings on stage, the mentalist/illusionist entertaining, and the small group time we saw our students wanting more.  They were excited about The Presence and where this knowledge and understanding of the Spirit of God living with in them would take them.

Our students were challenged to start change.  To allow the Presence to be present in their lives and change their youth group, school and home.  They want to see this happen.  They don’t want live a crappy life that accomplishes nothing.  They want to make a difference in the world around them.

I would encourage you check out CIY Believe for next year, and if you are looking for a great program for this summer then check out CIY MIX.   These programs are an incredible tool for you to use in your ministry to junior high students.