It’s never felt so good NOT to be needed…
I have been investing in a teenager since she was in 7th grade through Campus Life Club. She will begin her senior year of high school in the fall! A lot has happened these past five years, including two years of a global pandemic.
In those times, the ministry was all over the place and we lost contact for months at a time. But in these past several months, we have fully re-connected and I have had the pleasure of taking her with me to youth group at my church. At first, she always stuck by me, afraid to go off on her own. But slowly, she started breaking off and hanging out with other kids.
A couple of months ago, she told me she wanted to get baptized. At our church, you have to go through a membership process in order to get baptized, so she began that process. Three weeks ago, I had the honor of baptizing her! 
She was not only publicly declaring her decision to follow Jesus, but she was also agreeing to join a local Church. She even told me she was going to start going to church on Sundays.
The following Sunday came around, and I was busy, as usual. I completely forgot to text her to confirm that she was coming. As I was sitting in the pew, I assumed she had forgotten, or slept in (you know…teenagers like sleep). But as I looked over, I saw her! She was sitting in a pew with a few other teens from the youth group!
So why is this such a big deal? A kid went to church and didn’t tell me. Who cares? Well, it is a big deal. This action revealed that she was no longer there only because I was there. She was there because that was HER church home. Yes, she still wants me around, but she doesn’t need me anymore. Not being needed never felt so good.
-Aubrey Bisher, Ministry Director