Calvary Church Annual Report AnnualReport2018-web | Page 18

high school
During the 2017-18 ministry year, we felt God calling us to labor towards building greater
community amongst students and leaders so that UNITED could continue to grow to be the unified
youth group that Jesus desires for Calvary Church.
One of the best examples of Christ’s faithfulness to grow us this past year was the wonderful
blessing that the addition of Halftime has proven to be to our ministry and to our students. We
began Halftime in February 2018 out of a desire to give students an opportunity to reconnect with
us and one another midweek for a refreshing time of fun as well as engaging discussions. Our hope
was also to strengthen connections between students and the larger church.
With this in mind, we scheduled Halftime for Wednesday afternoons from 3:30-5:00pm in the
Gathering Place instead of in the student space and invited a different Calvary staff member or
ministry participant to join us as a guest speaker each week. This guest would begin their time with
us simply hanging out and enjoying a game or activity with students before leading us in a relevant
discussion to encourage and grow students in their faith.
Truly, when we first started meeting for Halftime, the vision of all that it would become was still
murky, and I wasn’t sure how students would respond. Would they come? Would they be interested
in the discussions that we planned? Would Halftime’s structure facilitate interactions that were
genuinely meaningful to students? Despite the questions that remained, we felt strongly that
Halftime fit into the relational ministry we were called to, and looked forward to seeing how God
would work through this intentional step of obedience.
As I write this in late August, my heart is overflowing with thankfulness and joy to declare that
Jesus has taken Halftime from an uncertain and tenuous first step of obedience and transformed it
into an incredibly fun and meaningful touch point with students each week not only through the
remainder of this past school year, but now also throughout our summer ministry season. I know
that as students and parents ask me, “When does Halftime start back up in the Fall?”, they are
asking because students look forward to the blessings the Spirit pours on us each week through
fellowship with believing friends, favorite games like floor hockey, archery tag, or a more relaxed
game sitting around the table, and discussions led by guest speakers that have made a difference in
how they engage with the world around them for Christ. Truly, Jesus is faithful, and we look forward
to continuing in the steps he reveals to us through Halftime and in other opportunities to grow
community in UNITED during the 2018-19 school year.
Josh Karhan, Pastoral Staff, High School Ministry
High School Ministry Staff
Josh Karhan, Pastoral Staff
Rodney Velting, Facilitator
Samantha Heetderks, Ministry Assistant
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