Something incredible is happening in our student ministry right now. Students are showing up, even during a pandemic. Lots of them, at least for us.

Last week we had 48 students show up for service, which is a 60% increase over our attendance before we had to shut down, and it’s also the most students we’ve seen at church in over 3 years.

But more than the numbers, there’s an incredible energy building around the program. You can just feel it. There’s an excitement amongst students, parents, and volunteers.

It’s a beautiful thing to witness, especially during a season in which there hasn’t been a lot to celebrate.

So, what’s going on here? Why is this happening?

Well, the obvious answer is God right? God has chosen to bless us, and we just hope we can stay in that blessing.

But in addition to that, I can think of three reasons why this might be happening.

1.The ministry has a new leader. The last leader just wasn’t cutting it, so I decided to fire myself. That’s right, for the past three years or so I’ve been doing my executive pastor role in addition to trying to lead our student ministry. And while I was able to manage the student ministry, I wasn’t really able to lead it, nor did I really have a passion for it. Thankfully, this summer our campus pastor came to me and said, God had put a burden on his heart for students. That’s all I needed to hear. I handed over the reigns and he’s been doing a great job ever since.

2. The ministry has a great volunteer team. During my tenure as student pastor we went through a complete volunteer turnover. Some former volunteers went on to serve in the student ministry at our other campus, and some just left the ministry altogether. I worked with what we had, and God slowly but surely provided new volunteers to the team. Now we have an awesome team of young married couples, single college kids, and seasoned veterans.

3. The ministry has a great curriculum. The only reason I was able to take on the added responsibilities of the student pastor role three years ago was because of a brand new curriculum called Grow. The Grow curriculum has saved me countless hours of time. It’s the most comprehensive student ministry curriculum that I know of. It has resources for planning, curriculum, discipleship, events, volunteers, parents, small groups, and games. It’s completely done for you, and also totally customizable. It’s great and definitely worth the investment.

Now, I’m not sure how long this momentum will last. During this season we’re always just a COVID case away from having to shut down again. But for now, I’m celebrating what God is doing in the student ministry, and I’m relieved that I’m not the one having to lead it anymore.