Off and running.

As the dust settles, the chicken wire and brown paper comes down, and the many empty pizza boxes are counted I have some time to reflect on the past week. It was one of those weeks that opened my eyes to how much I love what I do, and how much I absolutely need the Holy Spirit to do it. I think the Core Team would echo my sentiment. Last night was a fantastic evening - we were able to meet a lot of new teens, and reconnect with a lot of familiar faces. There was a level of excitement among everyone that was contagious, and the night ended with two of our high school juniors giving great testimonies about their faith.

At the end of the night, though, when the dust settles the Spirit was there.

Because it was all good, but none of it means anything if Christ isn't at the center. Which is what made it so cool; we didn't just put together a massive cave (pictures coming soon), practice a skit, and order a bunch of pizzas just for fun. Or just to get teenagers there. Or to be entertaining. We did it because we want to point to something bigger than us, more than we can ever be - and that is Jesus Christ.

Its the reason we put so much time into planning music for the liturgy, and why Fr. Schuster prepared a special homily, why we had teenagers greeting parishioners as they entered, and why the Core Team met to talk about and pray about this first night. Because its about Jesus.

If we lead teenagers to ourselves, then we fail so miserably. Thankfully, we don't have to. We only need to walk with them in their journey towards Christ, because he has called them already.

So after the paper came down, the dumpsters and recycling bins were full, the soda spills were cleaned up and the teens and team all went home I remembered how thankful I was that I can do this ministry, and I was humbled because really it isn't me doing this ministry at all, but a God who is bigger than we could ever be.

I'm already looking forward to next week - I hope you are too.