By Matt Knapp and Kara Harris, Co-Youth Commission Coordinators, Thunder 2019 Planning Team
From Matt:
The middle school ministry in the Pacific Northwest is alive and well! For two weekends in October we got a chance to meet around 400 students and leaders from various churches in our conference at Thunder, our fall retreat for Middle School students, at Cascades Camp in Yelm, WA.
One of the goals of the retreats was to provide a place for students to explore a faith in Jesus in an environment that encouraged them in their identity and challenged them allow God to transform areas of their life that seemed scary.
We used a theme called “Dragon Riders” which focused on the idea that, like dragons, there are parts of life that can seem scary, inapproachable, overwhelming, and offer no hope of a good outcome. And like fantasy stories that narrate a hero being able to find hope in something or someone outside of herself or himself – Christ at work in us is our hope.
We focused on the difference between Christian hope and wishful thinking and explored what it would look like if we allowed Christ to influence areas of our life like our character and community.
Our two speakers, Cameron Wells, and Kris Causton teed up the theme beautifully. Then our own youth leaders from our churches hit a home run in follow up conversations and interactions. We heard many reports of awesome cabin discussions and youth group times, where leaders were able to help encourage and challenge students in their identity and their faith – many allowing Christ’s hope to impact them for the first time.
I know that Middle School ministry can seem like a big scary dragon to most people, but hear the good news and the hope that God is at work in the hearts and minds of middle schoolers! It was an honor to serve alongside gifted and humble leaders with the same vision for our students. It was encouraging to hear stories from students where hope wasn’t some nebulous idea, but a concrete reality.
A huge shout out to the support families, churches, Cascades Camp, and the conference leadership gave to make these two incredible weekends transformational for so many students.
From Kara:
Thunder 2019 was two years in the making. The past few years, the PacNW middle school retreat had been growing to the point that it was busting at the seams. Many decisions were made as to how to best feed people, process people, all while making sure our youth workers walked away with a feeling of success, and our students experienced God in new and profound ways. In 2017 we began the discussion as to how we might separate into two Thunder retreats to better serve our community.
Questions as to cost, feasibility, and logistics, including whether or not we could find a band and speaker who would be willing to serve both weekends, were asked and pondered. Some questions answered themselves, such as we would need two speakers. Others were answered in the positive when Brendan Smith from Harbor Covenant stepped up to lead a band of talented students for both weekends, adding an element of continuity. Meals were more manageable with the group split between weekends. More students were able to participate in their preferred weekends by adding a retreat. Overall, youth workers felt the small groups led to a more relaxed and meaningful time with their students.
There are more questions still to be and answered. The added Thunder weekend comes with other considerations. Because camp offers us an extraordinary deal to enable more students to attend, it means they lose a weekend of normal earning potential. Our numbers were smaller this year than in the last few years, and this is another consideration. Next week, with all this in mind, the Youth Commission will be meeting to determine the direction we will take for next year.
