I Love Youth Ministry, Part 2

Tonight the Refinery at Saddleback Church opened for the first services. The Refinery is the new building on campus for the Wildside (Jr High) and High School Ministry. It will also be used on Thursday nights for CRAVE (College Ministry).

I attended both High School Ministry services. The first one had a good number of students. The second service was a full house. It was amazing. The staff did not disappoint. They had some good stuff going on during the service. It was the first week for the incoming freshmen so they had some fun welcoming them. Doug Fields knocked it out of the park with his message.

My favorite part of being in the Refinery tonight was being in the game area. It was super easy to connect with students. I started a game of pool with a one guy. As more people came to hang out, I turned it into a 2-on-2 game. Then another came to watch so I had him take my place while I stood there watching and talking to them while they played. They were all horrible at pool so we got to talk until the service started. They never did finish the game.

Something else I love about this building is how easy it is to spot kids who are alone. Now that we have the games going on, it's easy to get them involved or for them to feel involved by watching what's going on instead of sitting by themselves waiting for the service to start. The effectiveness of our ministry just jumped exponentially with this new facility.

This building was designed for ministry to be done in many ways. Lives will be eternally impacted for generations to come because of the vision of Saddleback Church and the generosity of its members. I'm honored to play a part in it.

Dennis Beckner