The Copperhill Jr. High Ministry, a Serious Faith in an Exciting, Youthful Way (by Jennifer Jackson)

The Junior High Ministry almost dismantled last December 2008. But a group of men in our church, Joe Powell, Coleman Falco, and James Daniels, stepped up and saw the importance of continuing the ministry. As a result of their faithfulness to the Lord and His provision, a group of leaders were formed who were extremely passionate about seeing Jr. High students reached for Christ. Since then, many awesome things have happened. Our ministry has had over 30 students come through and runs a steady group of core students who desire to learn more about Christ and their purpose in Him.

We started with Sunday morning gatherings. We slowly saw an increase in our attendance and saw glimpses of the desire of our students to truly know more about God’s word and how it applies to their lives. Our Sunday morning’s have provided an opportunity to teach our youth about Christ’s walk to the cross and His sacrifice for sin; our sins and theirs. Most importantly it is a time to reflect upon our walk with the Lord and provoke preparation for the upcoming week which will without a doubt be full of life’s challenges and spiritual warfare.

Our desire to encourage adult like faith and responsibility in a group of Jr. High students is completely driven from our belief that age cannot and will not be an excuse or an obstacle to whole heartedly pursue Christ and be used by Him. This is why we decided we would need more than just Sunday mornings to influence the wonderful students the Lord had put in our ministry.

We launched our Wednesday night gatherings in April and have seen quite the success with our nights full of competition and the preaching of the Word. Our students love to play crab soccer and dodge ball and if you ever visited you would most certainly find a leader getting in on the action. They also get involved in the discussions and leave with a challenge to live their lives for Christ in a personal stimulating way. Our leaders are very grateful for Wednesday nights because they have enabled us and the students to get to know each other quicker and form bonds that will not easily be broken.

We held Jr. High summer camp in July. It was an opportunity for our leaders to grow in leadership and organization, but most importantly in edifying relationships with one another in the Lord. There were many areas to plan and prepare as each leader played a significant role in the overwhelming success of our camp. We took our students to a cabin a little over an hour north of Santa Clarita and away from the many distractions of technology, busy schedules, sports and the many other anxieties of life.

Before we even left for camp there were many obstacles and stumbling blocks. But the Lord knew exactly what would prepare our hearts to focus on Him and what it means to worship Him in spirit and in truth. How providential that our theme for the weekends’ messages was focused on Worship through prayer and the Word, music, and obedience. In spite of the late take off, flat tire, lost sleeping bag, and lack of street lights to guide our way, we arrived. How amazing that in this day in age we were able to take a group of about 20 students to a place where cell phone reception was absent and the opportunity to fully worship the Lord was overwhelmingly available. All we had to do, all they had to do, was embrace it and run full force toward the cross.

Our students did run toward the only One who is worthy of our praise both with music and in life style. There were many opportunities to speak openly about the lessons and the challenges when we broke off into small groups. Students were encouraged to specifically share ways that the truths of the Word could be applied to their lives. We had a blessed time together that weekend and we look forward to other trips and getaways we may have together as a ministry.

The Lord is blessing the Copperhill Jr. High Ministry tremendously. In fact we have been so blessed; one could say that the only thing we need or should ask for would be that both leaders and students would have a continued blessing and deeper desire to know Him more. Our prayer is that each student that comes through our ministry is presented with the truths of the Gospel and the reality of the Christian walk in light of their age and purpose in life. David was a man after God’s own heart and was joyfully growing in the Lord at a very young age. We want our Jr. High students to know that their age is not something that should hold them back in their faith, but it is something that the Lord can and will use to enhance their faith.

We thank you for your prayers and support. Please continue to join with us in prayer for the hearts and lives of each and every one of our Jr. High students, both present and future. With the Lord’s blessing there will be a future for this significant ministry, which is such a vital part of any local church, especially ours.