Mountain Tops

Camps and Mission Trips provide very high mountain top experiences. Students embark on a week long journey where they are thrust into new situations, high energy environments, lots of new friends, and experiences where they can encounter God often.

By the end of the week student's hearts are soft, and they feel as though they are a new person.

They feel like they've reached the top of a mountain.

Then they come home.

Those friends aren't there. They aren't busy 24/7. God is a part of their life, but he's not being talked about every hour of the day.

How do you handle mountain top experiences?

Do you continually try to recreate them?

Do you accept that life has valleys?

What is the normal protocol on this?

You love seeing a student's heart being changed, and you want them to have those mountain top experiences. But what happens when you go home? Should you seek them out and try to maintain that feeling? Or should you advise students to be able to walk through a valley?

Life will have its valleys. And following Jesus is not just about a feeling. How do you explain that to a 7th grader?

Our student ministry just came back from an epic trip. Many students made life changing decisions.

How should I, as the youth pastor, assimilate them back into everyday life?