Numbers

     Currently I am sitting in the back of a youth group in Manhattan, Kansas. The speaker right now is an RA at my college, named Joe. I'm sitting alongside four other musicans who joined together to play worship for this youth group. As I sit here and listen to Joe's message, I start to think about the size of the youth group. 

     I come from a mega church in Phoenix, Arizona called Christ's Church of the Valley. The average youth size for junior high is a total of somewhere near 700. The high school group is even bigger. They had 2,100 high-schoolers go to CIY, a church camp, this past summer. The group is huge.

     This group that I am here with now is maybe around 50. Not even. All high-schoolers. It blows my mind. I can't fathom a youth group of smaller than 100 people, even. At first thought, I don't see this group as a "youth group" because of my background. But I realize that this is normal for them. This is big for them. This is a giant youth group. And honestly, if you measure their hearts, it is a big youth group. Incredibly huge. They are all here for one reason: Christ. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. The number of people isn't what's important, that shouldn't be your drive or your purpose; but the hearts of your disciples should be what makes you want to be here. You should be inspired to fill hearts, not chairs, and that's something I'm coming to realize.