O-Youts: More Than Silly Names, More Than Stupid Games
A Brief History of the O-Youts
By Ray Lau
I first got to Orlando in the fall of 2002. (See “All Things For the Good” for more info) I had just graduated from high school and the CBYF, the youth group back in Miami, so I was surprised when I was asked to start a youth group. I don’t remember exactly how I responded, but it must have been something like “What?”. I was shocked. But, as I thought about it, I felt maybe this would be good. I mean, I did go to youth group for about 6 years, so I was very familiar with how things went. You get together, have Bible Study, play some games, hangout, and call it a day. Maybe I could do this. So that year we started our youth group.
Some of you might be wondering, “What in the world is an oyout?”. The idea actually came from a scene from the movie “My Cousin Vinny”, which shows Joe Pesci talking to a judge. In the scene, he mentions the word “youth”, but since he’s from New York and has a strong Italian accent, he says “youts”. The judge does not understand and asks, “What is a ‘yout’”, where Pesci responds with, “Oh, excuse me, your honor, two youths.” We are working off of people’s curiosity. People will ask what an oyout is and when they do, we will have something funny to say, like “Well, did you ever see ‘My Cousin Vinny’?” Actually, O-Youts stands for “Orlando Youths One Under Christ”. We see ourselves as a youth group beyond church walls, one where you can come to if you go to our church, another church, or no church at all. Our goal is for you to be closer to God from when you come in to when you leave. If you leave our group having a stronger desire for God in a relationship with Jesus Christ, we have done our job.
The O-Youts started out as a Sunday School that met at the Starbucks across the street. There, we would grab our drink of choice, which was the Chocolate Brownie Frappacino for me, and have Bible Study. We started off with one of those Youth Talk Sheets from Lifeway. There, we would cover topics like dating and peer pressure, very important issues for teens. Honestly, I had no idea how to teach a Bible study, but God was faithful and allowed people to learn something even though I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. We kept this up for the rest of the year. We had several activities here and there, but nothing too big.
After I got back from summer that year, I had the idea that our youth group wouldn’t be too involved. We had a Sunday School now, so we didn’t have to meet at the Starbucks, and I didn’t have to teach it, which meant no more Youth Talk Sheets. I was thinking that maybe we could just hangout once a month, maybe catch a movie and talk about it’s spiritual applications, but nothing beyond that. However, God had different things in mind. This was the time when our church leaders had us meet with Pastor John and some other youth group leaders from Miami and talk about really establishing something, which was a little more than my catch-a-movie-once-a-month-and-discuss it idea. So, the youth group was actually starting to look more like a youth group. We would have meetings every other Saturday, and fellowship days every month. And once again, I was to teach the Bible studies. Not only that, but I was also going to be leading worship, since I was the only one who had picked up a guitar before.
I will say that the first youth group meeting was pretty bad. We had a lot of people there. Everyone told their friends to come. People’s parents were there to check out the group. The pressure was on. I found out very quickly that you have to practice guitar a lot before you can play in front of people. I also found out that leading Bible study was reading off a little Youth Talk Sheet. But, as the meetings went on, I learned how to play better, and how to lead Bible studies better. I was seeing God teach me the lessons before I taught them on Saturday nights. It was pretty amazing.
As things got a little better, more people were coming. We started from two kids in Starbucks to about fifteen kids! That was so cool. People were saying that they learned a lot, and it was so cool to see God use me to help these kids. Then, some people stopped coming. Then others. All of a sudden, our group that was so big got small again. I wondered if I was doing something wrong, but I realized that I wasn’t. People just had other things to do. It was then that I told myself that the goal of our youth group wasn’t to have the biggest numbers, but have the most depth. It was about how real kid’s faith and walk with God was, not just how many people were attending. God would soon test me on this.
Preparation time for youth group is no small task. You have to understand the passage, know it well enough to teach it, and also give practical advice on how to apply the things learned. It would typically take several hours to prepare a lesson. But, I always said, if one kids shows up, we would act like twenty kids were there. One kid was worth all the time and energy it took to hold a Bible study. So one night, God decided He would test me on this idea, and I failed miserably. One kid showed up. We did youth group, but afterwards I had a really bad attitude. I was asking myself if it was worth all that time I put into the meetings for just one kid. I felt like it wasn’t. I felt like if I am going to spend all this time preparing there should be more kids. But God really showed me something the next day during my devotional.
“To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:27-30
This is from my blog that day: Wednesday, October 20, 2004, “John’s was telling his disciples that his ministry exists only to point to Christ and in doing so, his joy was complete. Here’s the kicker: He must become greater; I must become less. Notice how many “I”‘s I used in the preceding paragraph. I forgot that it’s not about me, but it’s all about Christ. Who cares if no one but one kid showed up? I got to talk to him about worshipping and treasuring Christ! With my attitude on Saturday, I was not even worthy to talk to that one kid. God has given me this privilege of teaching people His Word and all I could think about was who wasn’t there for it. May I continue to point to Christ, and Christ be greater and may I be less.”
This is just one example of the things I’ve learned from leading the youth group. I have learned so much from teaching the youths I cannot describe it. I thank God for allowing me to grow closer to Him while serving these kids. I count it a great privilege and honor that God would allow me to speak to these youth. Although numbers aren’t crazy, if the kids leave desiring God more than when they came, my job is done.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
