Where will your next pastor, worship leader, small group teacher, or deacon come from?
The answer is found where it has always been. Sitting in high schools and homeschools, in the back row of small churches or at the large church youth group just for the pizza. These students have God-given gifts waiting to be unlocked through an invitation to join something bigger — Jesus and His mission.
This is why we’re investing in Next Generation ministry.
Both short-term events and ongoing engagement reaches youth where they are, connects them to a bigger network and vision, and develops them into Jesus-following leaders in their own churches and communities.
Stay updated on stories like this — Get news delivered to your inbox
This is what’s happening with young people like Isabella Munoz. The experiences she found and people she met through Illinois Baptist Next-Gen events built onto the faithful foundation she received in her home church. They helped shape her into the leader she is today.
“I was very close with my family growing up, and we did a lot of ministry together. But outside of that, I always struggled a little bit when it came to connections,” she said. “Having these conferences, having these gatherings that are outside of our church and part of a network gets to remind us it doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter what your past is. If you are in Christ, you now have a family, you’re adopted into his Kingdom.”
Using her skills and giftings
Participating in Illinois Baptist State Association Next Gen events as a teen helped her grow in faith and gave her opportunities to use her skills and giftings. After she returned home from college, she got the call saying, “Hey, we need help at Super Summer. We could definitely use a leader like you.”
Isabella has now led worship and served as a family group coordinator at Super Summer, an Illinois Baptist weeklong discipleship camp several years in a row. But it’s the opportunity to spiritually invest in the next generation of girls from across Illinois that excites her the most.
“Being able to provide answers, not perfectly, but just with what the Lord has been teaching me through those years of finding our peace, finding our hope, finding our rest in him, is something that I think is beneficial to a lot of kids. Because what the world tells them is, ‘you do you, you keep figuring out your stuff, whatever you feel is what you should be feeling,’ instead of going to truth.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ben Jones and originally published by the Illinois Baptist.
