BY NICOLE BROWN

Hey First Pres,

Animate is our middle school ministry here at First Presbyterian Church. It has been such a wild ride over the past year in the life and ministry of Animate. Thankfully, since January we have been able to meet consistently each Wednesday night and will continue to do so until May 12th!

Our Wednesday nights typically consist of games, worship, a message, and small groups. At the moment, we are in the midst of our series called “the GOAT.” You know, the Greatest of All Time. We are walking through this three-week series by focusing on three stories of the miracles of Jesus. As we study them, we're asking ourselves a big question: “Where have we seen or experienced a ‘miracle’ in our own lives?”

At the moment, we are only doing worship about once a month at Animate. Two weeks ago, it was our week for worship. We began the night with some games and Chick-Fil-A, of course. Before worship started, we broke down each of the worship songs that we would be singing. We looked at what scripture these songs had come from, what they meant, and, most importantly, the “WHY” behind why we were singing them.

The three songs we had chosen for that night were: This Is Amazing Grace, Reckless Love, and Good Good Father; all songs our students are very familiar with.

When we began to discuss the last one, Good Good Father, I asked the question, “Does anyone know how this song goes?” And from the back of the room, I hear in a crackly voice, “You’re a good, good father, it’s who you are, it’s who you are.” I casually made a joke, “Wow that was so good, you should join the worship team tonight!”

Well, a few moments later, we are in the midst of worship (a huge thanks to Mac McCoy for leading for us) and Mac calls this student to the front to help lead Good Good Father. To my surprise, here this student comes with a group of friends to help lead us in worship.

Oftentimes, we overlook the little moments of seeing God work. We get busy, we have an agenda, or oftentimes, when we are looking for God to work in some “grand” way, we overlook the little ways God works in the lives of ourselves or those around us.

I love to see God working in “little ways” in the midst of our youth. It may seem or even look silly at the moment, but God is working in deeper ways on the inside. And that's a miracle we can pay attention to.

I am thankful for the opportunity to continue to meet with our youth, to worship alongside them, and to dive deeper into scripture with them. If your student has yet to get involved, or you yourself are looking for a way to pour into students each week, don’t be shy about reaching out! You can email me at - I'm always up for grabbing a cup of coffee!