By Tim Anderson, Associate Pastor of Youth and Worship, Creekside Covenant Church
The weekend started out with smoke-clearing rain on Friday. Groups fought the traffic and arrived for the epic Thunder opener followed by upbeat worship led by Brenden Smith & the Harbor Covenant worship team. Mark Neely and I then welcomed students into the long-standing tradition of students coming to know Jesus, building friendships, and exploring further their own lives of faith.
JD Tuell led our group games and we had a blast with lots of food-themed challenges. Our work crew, volunteers from around the PacNWC, helped set up and clean up so much, including for all of our sessions. They had double duty after JD finished up with games.
Our speaker, Sara Fisher, from University Covenant Church in Davis, CA, invited our students to search for their flavor, their identity and gifting, in light of who Jesus has called them to be: the salt of the Earth (Mt. 5:13). Throughout the weekend she invited students to take one step closer to Jesus. We saw a great response in students wanting to recommit to Christ or to share God’s love and the Gospel with those around them.
We sang contemporary worship songs as well as songs of tradition as Brenden invited students to sing in the near-ancient (written in 1225) hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King.” Students were linked to the past while invited to see Jesus in the present – the fingerprint of God’s Image imprinted on their hearts in the form of the Holy Spirit – all with a future of life with Jesus and pointing others to Him ahead as a goal.
On Saturday our students were active all day with big games led by Brianne Fenton, free time options with paintball, zip line, bumper balls, and even a matinee showing of Ratatouille. It was all capped off Saturday night with another Brianne-led evening of food fight activities! The last game, Dodgebun, was a bit of a mess, but was likely the only activity that resembled a true ‘food fight.’
Ultimately, students and leaders alike spent time in the Word, time in worship, and time in fellowship in a beautiful setting with hardly ANY rain. The Lord cleared the skies and invited students into sacred time with the Spirit.
Thunder is just one aspect of youth ministry that students are invited in here in the PacNWC. Thunder, Mud (HS retreat), Unite, and local partnerships with other youth ministries come together to accomplish one goal: to point students to Jesus. There are few greater rewards than hearing a young person talk about their lives, their faith, and seeing God at work at whatever step of faith they might be on. Would you please thank your local youth pastor or leader and encourage them onward as they walk with our students?
We had many to thank as we planned and prepared for this weekend. Kristi Smith, John Olson, Katie Keck, Caytlyn McAdam, Matt Knapp, Jessica Bauml, and many more helped create a special weekend. Ultimately we close this reflection thanking our Heavenly Father, the One who knows us all by name, for working in the lives of each of these students and in each of these ministries, as we seek to follow Jesus together. So, if we are the salt of the Earth, what is our flavor? Our gift? Our identity as a part of the people of God? Here is one more challenge: ask a student in your church, if they attended Thunder, to answer that question.
