Pam and I just returned from the church. Actually, from the little house next to the church, which serves as our Friday night youth center. They were having a little party for the two high school graduates. That meant food and cake and other goodies. We spent three hours there. The group has become a young adult group, rather than a purely high school group. Two of the girls are unwed and pregnant. Three of the guys have spent time in jail. The group, in general, seems to walk with God in shallow, stale water, though I've proven repeatedly that my evaluation of what God is actually doing in people's lives can run equally shallow.
I spent tonight trying to determine who God might be laying on my heart in some special way, persons God may want me to invest something extra in. Turns out it was pretty much all of them. And yet, there were two in particular. They're the ones I mentioned to Pam on the way to the car.
I'm really not sure what to do next. And in such situations, surrounded by other worthy causes and worldly distractions and my own uncertainty, I tend to fink out and not do anything.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
Steve, I know your not really asking for advice here but I can't help myself. I think the easiest thing to do is to just simply pray for them. Pray that God will keep working on them and that if you are to help in any way that you will be avaliable. You alone can't change them, that's God's job, all you need to do is be willing and I think your already there.