My best friend in High School was named John Taylor. He grew up in a Catholic family, never attended church and didn’t have any reason to believe God existed or even care about him. Through a casual conversation, our friend Reece invited him to church one Saturday night and to our shock, he showed up on Sunday morning for Life Group.
He kept coming back and kept coming back. Maybe it was the games, the food, the hangout time that kept him coming back, but what happened a couple years later was incredible.
See, his Life Group Leader, Tim, was very intentional about praying for him, connecting with him and investing into his life outside the walls of the church and even after John was no longer in his group, Tim kept that relationship and investing into him.
One night during the Student Worship service, he was sitting next to Tim and he leaned over and said, “Tim, I’m not a Christian but I want to become one.” That night, John’s eternal destination changed forever.
Years later, Tim and I were having a conversation about this same story and he shared with me a piece of advice that I never forgot – “All it takes is 15 minutes a week to change someone’s life.”
He didn’t necessarily mean 15 minutes, but it was an expression to show that an eternal impact can be made with simple actions over time.
It’s fairly simple to send out a quick text message of encouragement, to send someone a scripture or to even stop and pray for that person. But so often, we don’t because we think we don’t have the time.
But what if each Life Group leader took just 15 minutes a week and invested into their group? How could that transform our student ministry, but more importantly, how could that potentially change someone’s life?
This week, my challenge to you is to spend fifteen minutes and connect with your group each week.
Send a text message asking how you can pray for them
Type up a quick word of encouragement and send them a Scripture
Pause and pray for each student and for your group
I believe that our actions and faithfulness will be rewarded. I believe that as we seek God and connect with our students, that we will help lead them to become fully devoted followers of Christ and can help change their lives, forever.
- Bryson