“Just step backward to the edge and then slowly sit back into your harness like you’re going to sit on a couch!”
After coaching her through a 30-minute climb up the 60-foot climbing tower, this was the only way for the 14-year-old soccer player to get back down.
Another tear-filled 30 minutes later, she finally had her feet on the ground. But the legs that had often supported her sprinting around for a 90-minute soccer match were not ready to help her stand. She was physically and emotionally spent.
As I approached her to remove her from the climbing rope, we started talking about the process. Could she trust the rope? Could she trust the handholds or footholds? Could she always rely on her strength? Could she trust me, her belayer, to make sure that she would not fall to the ground? Could she trust her friends who were yelling encouragement and instruction to her the whole way up and down?
We transitioned from questions about the climb to how she lives life. What is she trusting in to get her through easy and hard times? Who does she listen to and who does she rely on for guidance? Is God someone she can trust? Does Jesus show her the way to live? Can she find encouragement and strength from the Holy Spirit?
In a matter of 10 minutes “off belay” she was able to walk away from the group and sit and pray. Forty minutes later, she was back on the wall and made it up and down in 15 minutes total. I was blessed to be there at the start of her walk with Christ. She spent the next four summers encouraging her friends the same way I had encouraged her that first day and went on to serve on summer staff for a Christian camp in her college years. Now she’s married to a youth pastor and raising a family while pouring into relationships with the teens of her church. And I am still blessed to call her my friend.
My experiences in the last 30-plus years of youth ministry – in both church and camping ministry – have all taken place through some sort of “climb” that has allowed the truths of living life in Christ to be shared in real-life trials and successes through intentional relationships with teens and young adults.
My heart’s call is to share the gospel of Christ and help these kids see the reality of God’s Holy Spirit in their lives.
As a teenager, I didn’t know Christ as my Savior, but a few of my new high school friends did. Through their testimonies and focused prayers, I grew to understand my soul’s condition. I prayed to receive Jesus as my Savior as the year literally changed from 1981 to 1982. I devoured all I could of God’s Word and what others were saying about it, but I still thought it was okay to lie to my parents about what I was doing. Jesus was my Savior, but I did not live like He was Lord of my life.
In the summer of 1983, that changed.
The monitor said my heart rate was 250 beats per minute, but my blood pressure remained stable. Atrial fibrillation was diagnosed, and drugs didn’t make it stop. Doctors didn’t have an answer, but God did. When I was covertly given a small Bible and prayed for, my heart went back to beating normally. I knew He had a new way for me. At that point I gave my life to Christ. I would serve Him from that point forward.
After four years of college I started dating the woman who would become my wife and we decided to set out to live our lives together for Him. Thirty years of marriage, five children, lots of ministry and tons of answered prayers later, we are setting out on another “climb.”
From its earliest days out of a hotel conference room, Riverbend Community Church has been on my prayer list. I’ve been praying for the pastors, the outreach, and the ministry teams here. I would drive past the church on my way home from work in the early morning hours and pray. In the last two years, I have been praying to know specifically if God wanted me here for youth ministry.
He has finally said yes.
So, here we go.
What does youth ministry at Riverbend look like? So far God has shown only the next steps. It’s The Climb (surprise): a challenge to young people, grades 6 through 12, to do life in Christ with skill, equipment, training, and climbing partners.
Seems like He’s been training me to be lead facilitator for 30-plus years, but His plan goes back even farther. Back to Calvary, where His Son was sacrificed for the sins of the world, so we could walk, or climb, with a new heart He has created in us, and with a new Spirit He has given us. So, we, together, can lift up the name of Jesus, and all will be drawn to Him.
Ready to Climb?
Keith Kaeppel gets paid to shepherd the Lehigh Valley’s First Source for News to the presses five days a week. But that just helps pay the bills. In his real job, you can reach him almost any time at 484-350-1780 or email him at kkaeppel@hotmail.com.