J O Y
As a region, we’ve claimed this as our Word of the Year for 2023. We’ll be featuring stories of JOY on the blog to celebrate how God is growing this Fruit of the Spirit within us this year. Have a story to share? Send us an email!
Written by Jake Bajema, Kentwood Young Life Area Director
As the holiday festivities have winded down, I have finally gotten the time to reflect on the past month and share with you about the opportunity we had to throw the kids an epic party for the last club of 2022.
Right before Thanksgiving, I was working through what our final club of the year would look like. It had been a great semester of relationship building with kids at school, the administration at the freshman building, building our Kentwood team, building our club, and taking kids to camp.
We had a lot to celebrate and we wanted to make sure the kids felt like they were going to the party of the year. We wanted to make sure this final club showed them how much we valued them.
In the book we are reading as a Kentwood Leadership Team, One at a Time, by Kyle Idleman, the chapter we read right before Thanksgiving was titled, “One Party at a Time.” Idleman spoke on the fact that Jesus attended many parties, and that can be somewhat of a surprise for people. He brought up how Jesus’ very first miracle was at a wedding, and how wedding parties back then were week-long events. On first thought, it seems like Jesus wouldn’t accept invitations to a party as it could be considered an inefficient use of his time. As Idleman pointed out, “Jesus knew his time was limited. He had a lot to accomplish.” However, scripture makes it clear that though Jesus knew his ministry on earth would only be a few years, he accepted invitations to week-long parties and he made time to have fun with other people. Furthermore, the chapter explores the simple concept that parties bring joy, and God tells us His kingdom is about joy. So, parties bring the kingdom. Hugh Halter stated, “When asked about the one true key to bringing people far from God near, I simply say, ‘Start throwing great parties.'” Towards the end of the chapter Idleman bluntly writes, “I bet God is calling you to throw a party.”
I took this chapter as a sign that our final club should be a party, a BIG party. The wheels started turning. Hot chocolate station, candy canes, Christmas lights, Christmas trees, Santa, Elf Inflatable, decorating Christmas cookies station, and finally a punch bowl…every party needs a punch bowl. (Punch recipe: 2 2-Liters of 7Up, 32oz of Pineapple Juice, and Lime Sherbet… I thought I should clarify what kind of punch we served.)
Idleman talks about the perception that Christians don’t know how to throw good parties and bring joy to people when they throw them. So we accepted the challenge. We were out to throw a joyful and kingdom building type of party.
Now, you have to realize we are still a new ministry. Our first club we had 4 kids attend. It was the most electric club you could have with 4 kids, but the numbers were low. We kept pounding the pavement and building momentum and we had gotten to about 15-20 kids per club on average. So, when over 40 kids walked through the doors to party with us, we were beyond blown away!
I should have known that we were going to have a lot of kids when I got a text an hour before the party from a kid that just said, “Yooo, Mr. Jake, this is the student from B Lunch.” For context, I go to the school lunch every Monday, there are 3 lunches per day with about 250 kids per lunch. I don’t know why, but that text will always mean a lot to me. It ended up being a kid that I would sit next to him and his friends every lunch for 5-10 minutes talking about a little bit of everything, but mostly soccer with the World Cup going on. I had sat at their table nearly every Monday for about 3 months and they never came to club, they just weren’t interested. But for whatever reason this day, a couple of the kids said yes! And we partied hard! They needed a ride home, so we got to debrief afterwards and they just kept talking about how much fun they had. The smiles and memories were both big.
I don’t know where you find yourself right now in regards to parties. Maybe you have been putting off throwing a party, or accepting a party invitation, or maybe you desperately want to be invited to party but aren’t getting an invitation. Just know that God throws really dang good parties and you are invited to His. And God wants you to throw really good parties that celebrate his goodness, welcome strangers, and build His Kingdom.
Thank you to all the people that have supported the ministry of Young Life. You allow us to throw these kids a GREAT party. We will make sure we continue to love these kids one party, conversation, lunch visit, car ride, or meal at a time.
Enjoy some pictures from the Kentwood Young Life Christmas Party!
Follow more stories from Jake Bajema on his blog, or follow Kentwood Young Life on Facebook or Instagram.
