Flashback: Young Life

As the 1987-88 school year began my focus turned to starting a new youth ministry that would reach out into our community and bring in more students.  Springfield Friends Meeting was a decent size for a Quaker church, with average worship attendance around 125 at the time.   Studies have shown that youth group attendance is healthy if it is 10% of church attendance.  By that standard we were already thriving.  But I truly believed God was calling us to something greater.  The planning for what would become TNT was underway, and for me there was only one model to turn to.  Young Life.  So before we move on to the beginnings of TNT, allow me to flashback to my own high school days and tell you a little about Young Life (a worldwide organization that is still thriving today).

Young Life was already very active at Western Guilford High School when I arrived there in 1973.  Those were still the days when if you could get the cheerleaders and athletes involved in something, most of the school would follow.  Under the leadership of Fil Anderson (and later Steve Kimmel) Young Life had become a very "in" place to be.  Fil and the other leaders would hang out at the school around lunch time and at big games and events and build relationships with students.  These students would then bring their friends and come to what was known as Club meeting on a weeknight at a local church.  This worked well because Club was a riot!  There were skits, stunts, games and a short message about Jesus aimed at students who were not already Christians.  The music was always a highlight for me.  In addition to camp-style religious songs, we sang great oldies like Bye-Bye Love and Proud Mary.  It was light, it was fun, and it was addictive.  Once you attended Club, you were usually hooked.  Afterwards, we would all head to Burger King or Baskin-Robbins and hang out.  It was something to look forward to during the school week.

Young Life was more than just Club.  If you wanted to go deeper and work on your faith, then you could join a Campaigner Group.  I joined a group of guys who were good friends of mine, and we met every Monday morning at 6 AM at Tex and Shirley's Pancake House for food and Bible study.  This group was a great support for me and showed me a different side of Christianity than the one I saw at New Garden Friends Meeting, a much more evangelical side.  I loved both!  Looking back, it is interesting that 4 or 5 of the guys in that small group went on to full-time ministry of some sort.  I also attended a couple of YL retreats at Windy Gap, near Asheville, and each time came away having had significant spiritual growth moments.  In later years I played guitar for a number of YL events.  It was an important time in my life.

Young Life did not have a presence in the two primary high schools that Springfield students attended, or a large presence in any of the other three.  The model that had been such an influence on me seemed like the perfect way to begin our outreach to youth in the High Point/Archdale community.  In some ways we would be working backwards.  Our youth ministry was already in place as a kind of Campaigner Group.  What we needed was CLUB!  The final preparations for the first TNT in October of 1987 were underway.  Pies would be eaten (and thrown!).  Songs would be sung.  Spontaneous Melodramas would be acted out.  God had given me the vision.  Young Life had given us the model.  It was time...

Because of Jesus,