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Beginning of Comm Project

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Middle School Camp(summer after senior year)

My parents had always encouraged the boys (my two brothers along with me) to participation in church youth activities. My older brother always seemed to have popularity (he was an athlete and always had girlfriends), and I was small, and lacking in confidence. I remember feeling very intimidated in discussions in youth groups, afraid I would be asked to say something. I always had an interest in becoming "knowledgable" like it seemed the others were, but I never felt much like a part of the group. The summer before my senior year in high school, that all changed. I had become more comfortable in the youth group, had done pretty well in some youth dramas, and began to sense that I was an important member. One of the older youth had told me in the middle of a two week "mission trip" that he was "glad I was there".

IN retrospect, I don't know whether or not that affirmation was the result of some "strategy" coming out of a discussion of me as some kid in need of encouragement and confidence, but it worked on me. I began to feel confident that I could become a leader, and study the scriptures and be an important , knowledgable, helpful member of the group. The middle school camp in which I was a "youth counselor" for junior high kids provided me with my first opportunity to lead some groups and attempt to be a positive influence as an "older role model". I got some positive comments from a couple of adult leaders concerning my staus as youth counselor, and again later that summer as I accompanied the junior highs once again to Cincinnati for a fun trip, with a stop along the way to visit Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to see where many pastors and youth ministers got their initial training in ministry. I began to sense from these positive experiences of ministry, and the sense of "connection" I felt after seeing the seminary, that I was destined to become involved in ministry. I felt I was one who could be up front and honest with people, and that I could communicate the way it all made sense to me: the Bible, its relevance to our daily living, and the importance of our working at harmony with each other. At seventeen, I had little idea how complex it was to become, but I know that I needed that sense of confidence at that point in my life. It also affected my academic performance from that point on. I never applied myself to studies before this, but my senior year in high school and college years were to be successful, enlightening, and deeply shaping.