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When a fellow church member asked me several years ago to volunteer at Care Net Pregnancy Center as a counselor, my first response was “No … I can’t possibly counsel a pregnant teen … I have never even been pregnant … How can I possibly help?” 

My hesitance was reversed when I learned that Care Net provided training for volunteers.  I realized that if Care Net was willing to take a chance on me, I would be willing to serve.

You see, my serving through Care Net has brought me full circle. I can look back now and see how God has transformed me throughout my walk with Him. How God used my past experiences to shape how I now serve Him.

When I was 17, with no gospel foundation, I took a friend for a pregnancy test.  She was not in a stable relationship, she was young, and she was afraid. But after she tested positive, I, in all my youthful wisdom, I “counseled” my friend to have an abortion. 

By God’s grace, she absolutely could not.  And now, 37 years later, I’ve witnessed my friend’s devotion as a single parent and I am blessed to know her beautiful daughter, who is happily married with 3 young daughters of her own. I stand in awe of God’s plan for my friend and for me, knowing this could have been a very different story. 

Care Net has thousands of stories about women, men, and children whom they have loved, served, counseled and stood alongside. Stories like Ricardo’s:

"My fiancé and I had our first baby; I was excited and nervous because we had little income and I didn’t have a stable job.  She had heard about Care Net’s services and we went to check it out.  We were glad to hear about the Earn While You Learn program, where you can spend as little as 30 minutes to an hour or 2, learning about pregnancy, birthing, and parenting, while earning money to buy (very inexpensive) diapers, clothes, and baby supplies.  My fiancé “ran away”, leaving me with our 2 month old son.  I love my son, and want the best for him, and so I continue to take classes and have fellowship with Care Net.  They have helped me so much to care for and raise my son."

I have now volunteered at Care Net for 5 years. I have witnessed many couples with happy stories; they are glad to be pregnant and receive our services.  I have also witnessed not-so-happy stories…women of all ages experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, not sure of their future, but through God’s grace, relentlessly pursue having a child and, either being a single parent, or releasing them for adoption, they choose LIFE as God intended. 

My story is full circle.  From a naïve 17-year-old, full of false wisdom, to a dedicated servant of the Lord, assisting young women and men to make Godly decisions in the place I was least prepared to. How has God used YOU where you least expected it? 

Click here for more information about Care Net and volunteer opportunities or contact JoAnn. 

Last Thursday was not your typical night at Youth Group. Instead of starting with an action packed (and only slightly dangerous) game, we launched straight into an intro that reviewed what we’d been learning. The past few weeks Thursday Night Live has been digging into the book of James. If you haven’t read James before, it’s an incredibly action focused book. James tells us to let our works show the fruit of our faith. (James 2:18)

As a youth group, we want to follow the commands in God’s word, to let them bring transformation in our lives.

We want youth members to understand that the bible is more than just words on a page; we want our actions to show the changes God is making in our lives. We want TNL teens to see that God’s Word is active and living.

So, we found a way to do that through collecting food for the MCC food pantry by doing “The Great Canned Food Scavenger Hunt 2017”.

This is how it went down: two teams were formed, each with a driver. We piled in cars with instructions to use any legal means we could think of to bring as many non-perishable food items to the church as possible within the 1.5 hour time limit. Extra points were awarded for having the most unusual food item, the largest food item and the most expired food item.

From 6:15 to 7:45, the high school youth group used various methods to relieve the East Mountains of as many canned goods as possible.

Some highlights:

• Marv buying out the canned food aisle at Triangle Grocery store.
• Creative instagram posts for bonus points, which included pig masks and tiaras.
• Arguing about whether canned soup counted as a “prepared meal” for... well way too long… (We finally decided that it did.)

At the end of the night, TNL was able to collect over 150 non-perishable food items.

More importantly, we had an opportunity to represent Jesus to our community, and serve our MCC brothers and sisters, showing the transformation the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives.

Less importantly, my team won the hunt! We’re excited to see where God will lead us to serve next. If you have an idea for a place the youth group could serve, please contact me, Sami Gutierrez.

Individual photo taken by Jasmine Mostrom.

We all have dreams, right? 

At MCC, our dream is simple; mutual transformation for the glory of God.

I have another dream too.

I dream of a revival spreading through our local middle and high schools with MCC youth group kids on the front lines, battling it out in prayer and with Jesus’ love.

I dream of a church where the years between the 6^th and the 12^th grades are a time to learn what it looks like to take up a cross daily and to live a life worthy of our calling.

Here’s the cool part: my dream is coming true!

I think that as a church, MCC has traditionally underestimated its youth and bought into the lie that young people in our church are capable of no more than avoiding doing drugs and shoplifting.

We’ve believed that spiritually, it’s good enough for our youth to just “stay out of trouble”. What garbage!

You see, there’s a reason Satan has taken the time to feed us this garbage- it’s because he fears God’s plans for these kids! He fears their passion and their willingness to throw off traditionalism to ask “why?”, and with good reason. I’ve been blessed to see the capacity of 15 mid-highers when they see something they want to change and it’s powerful!

So what can we do to invest in Christianity’s next generation? Here are some ideas:

• We’re looking for a fun, youth-oriented man to join our leadership team.

• If you have some life experience you could share, we have a HUGE need for people to take on a middle or high schooler in a discipleship relationship.

• If you’re a ministry leader, look for ways to open up student leadership positions. Show some trust in a student, and allow God to work through them.

• Anyone and everyone can invite the 6th-12th graders in their lives to join us on Thursdays at 6:00 PM for weekly Youth Group.

There are a thousand opportunities and ways to harness the potential of the youth at MCC that I haven’t even thought of yet, but you know your needs better than I ever could, and we’re always open to suggestions, so keep dreaming with me!