If you’ve done any kind of youth ministry then you’d know that this is a question that often gets asked. It’s one thing to get teenagers to follow Jesus when they are young and impressionable, but the real test of a youth ministry is where they are 20 years from now – have they gone the distance? Are they still ‘in the game’ even?

Actually, now that I am no longer a youth pastor, I think it’s a bad question – because it assumes we have some level of control over a person’s choices and future directions. As anyone knows, people make their choices – some good and some not so flash. The best parenting is no guarantee of a child who will mature into a decent human being. They get to choose… What the question is getting at though is whether we have taken the time to form young people into Christ, to lay a foundation of discipleship, or whether we have simply entertained and maybe even ‘distracted’ them for a period of time.

Have they come to equate discipleship with chubby bunnies? (not any more I am told – too risky…) or with rockin music and hanging with the cool kids?

Another ‘youth ministryism’ that stuck with me – and one that has more teeth – was the idea that ‘what you win them with is what you win them to.’ If following Jesus is only ever about ‘getting the most out of life’ and ‘living your best life’ so you are truly fulfilled, then sooner or later that house of cards is gonna topple. It just isn’t all about you…

But if there is a genuine call to a life of counter-cultural submission to Christ and to daily make choices that advance the kingdom of God rather than my own pleasure or self satisfaction then when life gets demanding, when struggle comes and the great ideas for the future don’t go to plan then the ‘script’ can cope with that. Even when acidic doubts eat away at the very fabric of faith, there is a knowledge that we follow in the dark as well as in the light – and there comes faith to persevere.

I shared a post on Facebook recently about one of the best youth workers I ever had the pleasure of working with – a litle fella from Bassendean who curiously found his way into our church around 20 years old. He was affectionately known as ‘little Al’, because there was probably only 5 foot 4 of him. He wore his black ripple soled desert boots, black t shirt and black jeans like a uniform. He hadn’t grown up in a God botherer family so he saw the world a bit different to all of us churchies. He was a breath of fresh air.

And somehow he found Jesus. He started playing music with us before he found faith, he helped out with our youth stuff while he was on the road to faith and then one day he asked to get baptised. It was a big ask and he knew it. He was drawing a line in the sand – one that said ‘this is who I am now’. And it would have been confronting for both him and his long term Basso mates who turned up to watch him share his testimony and take the plunge. What had become of their mate?

He joined our youth intern team, became a much loved youth leader, did some Bible college and then one day an enquiry came from another church asking if I knew anyone who could join them and get their youth ministry up and running.

Sadly – I knew just the guy… ‘Sadly’ because I realised this was Al – and it was an opportunity to send this guy out to help another bunch of people. So I threw it to him as an idea and he didn’t flinch. What I always loved about his servant heart and his simple willingness to ‘have a go’. I know he felt a little overwhelmed at times and as a young single man entering a small, semi-rural church with few youth leader resources he was always going to be stretched, but he did a fantastic job out there in the little town of Chidlow.

A couple of years later he met his wife Brooke, a South Oz girl just in Perth on holidays to catch up with old school friends. He was married that year and four of us headed to Port Lincoln for the weekend, me to conduct the wedding and the others to be groomsmen. The two of them came back to Perth for a little longer and worked in ministry together, before it was just the right time to leave as the church tried to change direction and sought a senior leader.

So they moved to South Oz, back to Port Lincoln and we lost contact for 18 years. Sure there was Facebook, but simply by reading the posts from their shared account I could tell it wasn’t Al writing them. He’s never been that big on sugar free food or vegan food…

So nearly 20 years later we had the opportunity to catch up. I smiled knowing we were going to be ‘seeing where they were 20 years later.’ What kind of life would he and his family be living now? What choices would they have made and where would they have led?

So we drove into Port Lincoln on Saturday and I got a call from Al around 11am to say ‘lets catch up’. We didn’t exactly have a busy schedule, so we went to his home where we we sat around the table with Brooke and his four kids sharing a cup of tea and some lunch. And as we did I literally felt my heart bursting with joy and my eyes welling with tears, because this bloke was still the real deal. I heard it in what we talked about, I felt it in our conversation and it was good – oh so good… Him and his beautiful family were all doing well and we spent the next 3 days going to church with them, sharing lunch and a trip to Coffin Bay.

As we spoke he shared with me about his work as a groundsman at the local school for the last 17 years. He has become known there – a part of the furniture. He shared with me of his 3 years coaching at the footy club where he won the best ‘clubman’ award – because that’s the kind of bloke he is. He talked about the culture of the footy club and how he made his way in that environment as a Christian man. Interestingly he shared that one of the most critical choices in him ‘making it’ in faith was the move to South Oz, away from his long term friends. I know he loved his mates and still does, but he could see that there was always going to be a tussle for his allegiance – Jesus or the old life? And in the culture he grew up in there was only one correct answer. I have always been an advocate for people staying connected to the world they were in prior to faith, but this was a reminder that for some that might not be wise advice.

As we ate lunch, Al mentioned that another of the young people from that period in our lives was also living in Port Lincoln and would be at church on Sunday. What are the chances? Again – what joy to see Kyle and hug his bloke after all these years, to hear his journey of faith thru the good and bad times and to be able to have lunch with him and his new wife.

So many people serve in our churches and do wonderful work, but go unacknowledged or just get forgotten as the new crop of leaders come thru. I know those who were around would remember Al fondly and were sad to see him go. But 20 years on he and his wife are still part of the same church they were in when they moved there, still serving and now working together in the same school. He knows who he is and where God has placed him. He knows he’s a bloke who serves, who fixes stuff and who is always approachable.

So this is simply a shout for joy at the sight of a life lived well and a cheer for a bloke who has gone the distance. The youth ministry days are long gone and life has changed for all of us. Our kids will never know the people we were 20 years ago, but I would just like to say ‘well done’ to one of the best youth leaders I ever had the privilege to work with and whose friendship I still value today.

Maybe one day his kids will read this and know that their ole man was a bit of a legend back in the day – and that he still is a pretty decent bloke today too – black ripple soles not withstanding