Monday, 23 June 2008

• Jesus' Parable of the Talents: Conclusion

  by mr. oak

    Thought I'd followup on a little experiment I'm conducting with my youth group.  A couple weeks ago, I handed some cash to each youth group member at my church challenging them to live the parable of the talents.  To go forth and take the money and try to double it.  All the money that was to be raised was to go towards a church youth group trip to the JAMA conference at the end of the month.

  Our youth group is small, so we only needed about $600 to start.  Problem is, we needed to raise $7,400 to cover all expenses (registration fees, lodging, transportation).  Figured this would at least help "budge" the needle a little.  And so it began...(you can read previous stories below.)

  Since then, some kids went to the park and sold bottles of water and almost tripled their money.  Another made t-shirts and hats that were huge hits within the church.  Some kids sold candy, while others baked away some goods.

  Although my initial calculation projected we'd just be a little over $600 (far from doubling), I didn't mind.  Because the lessons that they were learning were priceless.  For the first time, they viewed money as something they can use for God and I believe it challenged them.  So I pretty much gave up on the idea that they would double the money and was happy that we at least got the initial money back.

  Well - I was wrong. 

  The youth group then decided to hold a garage sale.  They went around the congregation, annoyed their parents to no end, and collected things around their homes that they no longer wanted, but might be good for others.  It first started out with stuffed animals...then it moved to books...then it moved to dvds, furniture, houseware.

  And then I started seeing something I thought I'd never see - kids started bringing their gaming consoles, their handbags, their jewelry, basketballs...personal items I know they still used.  Television sets, DVD players.....at one point, I started to joke around saying someone's gonna donate their parent's car.

  Well, I shouldn't have joked.  The following week, someone brought in a modified Mitsubishi Eclipse and donated it for this fundraising effort.

  The garage sale was a huge success....through this event alone all the adults came to help us out too, even the non-english speaking congregants, to people the youth group would never normally talk to.  Best part was meeting the neighborhood - we served food and beverages at the event and had many wonderful conversations with people in the area - the church felt like a true community.

  At the end of the day - the car got sold, our stomachs were full, and the garage sale was over. 

  We sat down and counted it all...and guess what.  $7,400.

  God is truly amazing.

  I never thought I'd be the one learning from this experience and it's just amazing to see not only the parable of the talents in action but just everything else as well. 

  Past entries:
  Testing the Parable of the Talents
  Parable of the Talents Week 1
  

  We'd love to hear from you, how has God been working in your church lately?

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