Moving Worship Night

Last week, Behind Every Door had the privilege of hosting a worship night with Greater Ideal Missionary Baptist Church for the youth at Village Oaks. The worship night was an addition to the regular after school programming at Village Oaks, and the on site staff was concerned that the youth would not be willing to give up extra time out of their day to stay. However, they were amazed when every single student who attended the afterschool programming stayed for the worship night!  

From the beginning of worship, there was emotional and personal atmosphere in the room. This was much in part to an exercise done by Golden, Behind Every Door discipleship staff member, with the youth the day before. He had them line up on one side of the room while he stood on the other. He proceeded to ask them personal questions and if they could answer “yes” they took a step forward, towards him. The questions were things such as, “Do you have both parents at home? Have you ever been evicted? Have you ever had to skip meals because you just didn’t have any food?” The goal of the exercise was to build strength and community between the youth and to physically show them that no one of them is struggling with hard things on their own.   

With this on their minds, the youth opened up more than ever before during the worship night the next day. Church members from Greater Ideal Missionary Baptist Church were in attendance, along with our staff, to listen to the hard things the youth are going through, to give them advice, and to pray with them.The atmosphere in the room was one of youth led worship, where the students took the initiative to share their stories, step out in worship, and pray for their friends and their community as a whole.   

This worship night is just one of the many great things going on in the discipleship program at Village Oaks! The students are tasked with reading and looking up Scripture on their own, and are challenged to memorize verses. These tasks they view as challenges and are determined to complete them and in the process, so much growth happens!

Thank you for continuing to pray for the discipleship programs at Village Oaks, The Hive, and The Rose! God is using the wonderful Behind Every Door staff to make a difference in the physical, emotional, and spiritual well being of every child we serve!