Note: I realize that I have not posted my 31 Days daily.  In fact, it’s taken me almost 31 days of wrestling to determine how to best tell the next few “days” of the story.

They had literally jumped through hoops to learn how to work together and rely on each other.

They had learned to walk through life together and share hearts and stories and tears.

We had sat in circles, holding hands and praying over each other.  We had been to camp with drama and returned as family.

I had watched them grow from a room of misfit teenagers into a room full of friends that could withstand anything together.  I had the honor of taking a portion of that group on a Mission Trip to Morehead City.

I think I learned more from them than I ever showed them during that week.  We had spent an entire year together, building and molding together the group that I now stood in front of.

I knew that what I was about to lay out in front of them was going to stretch them, but I also knew that they could do it.  It wasn’t them I was worried about at all.  It wasn’t even my ability to hold them to it; I do tough love pretty well (not always a compliment, I know).  It was the church.  It was the parents, some of whom I’d never been able to meet, that I was worried about.  I stood in front of a room full of saved, highly church-involved and ministry focused teenagers and knew that I was about to set a new standard that could easily cause friction between us and their unsaved not so church-involved parents.  In an effort to be obedient to the vision God had given me for this group, I did it anyone.

Stapled papers were passed out and explanations were given for every new “rule” to participate in certain things with Wellspring Youth.  For example, you could not go on the summer mission trip if you didn’t participate in at least 5 local mission projects.  That one was “easy”.  We had one a month anyway, just show up.  And after learning the hard way that having just anyone lead fundraisers and chaperone trips cost us the cohesion and sanity of the youth I had become so fiercely protective of– the new “rule” was that the adults wanting to participate in that way needed to be involved in a weekly, group Bible Study.  That seemed “easy” too.  Hello, the church has Sunday School every week.

Little did I know that the hardest decision I’d ever make was going to come soon after that night’s talk to our group.  They responded beautifully, they too were ready.  In it together, we were doing it.  We were raising the bar…