A Word From Ben

As youth pastor at Five Stones, some times you can leave a gathering scratching your head, wondering what God is doing in the hearts, minds, and souls of some of the teens that walk through our doors. As I was looking at one of our youth volunteer's blogs (Carly), I saw that one student had left a fairly large comment. Now usually it is the youth leaders that teach the students, but I was humbled as one student poured out his heart - writing about how God is working in his life. Below, you will find a few words from the heart of a young man named Ben who gave me permission to re-post this. Thanks Ben for your faithfulness and I am excited to see how you are impacting Five Stones and the world for the Kingdom of God.

A Word From Ben: All of the missions trips and service projects we've done recently have really brought me a long way because ya know we go up to Cleveland and its not like "Alright, I'm gonna meet Sally, shes a Mormon, this is how I'm gonna get her to come to Christ." I mean thats the beautiful thing about [being missional] is that you can't do that; You dont know who you're going to meet, so you're forced to resort to the same gameplan everytime: "Im gonna serve and love everyone as much as I can and hope by some stretch of grace that God will see my love as something worthy enough for him to work through."

A few more thoughts by Ben: So, imagine if you're very first impression on every new person you meet [in life] is a glimpse of completely selfless love and compassion for God to the people around you...just think of what kind of impact that could have and how big of a door that could open for God to work in and through you!

Ben's thoughts may have been a word of encouragement for Carly as she embarks on a mission's trip around the world, but I'd encourage you to look at his advice as a daily reminder of the impact each of us can have for the Kingdom of God. Do people see selfless love radiating from your presence? If we are called to be Christ-like to others, do others see Christ in you? God is ready to work through you in amazing ways...

(Ben is a sophomore in high school and can be found running the worship media at 5 Stones on a weekly basis - his heartbeat for serving others is clearly evident through his diligent work with the 5 Stones Youth Group on trips to the Nehemiah Mission in Cleveland, the PumpHouse Ministry center in Ashland, and everything from raking leaves to mowing lawns in an attempt to serve everyone around him). Thanks Ben!