FT Crossroads - High School Ministry

12/03/2025

Lots of fun at High School Education Hour this Sunday!

We had some laughs, enjoyed waffles (complete with hotel breakfast vibes), and "unwrapped" the shepherds from the night of Jesus' birth. This lesson connected beautifully (unplanned too!) with the sermon: God sees, is with, loves, and uses EVERYONE; the outcasts, the unimportant, the ordinary, the hurt, the ones who feel unseen, EVERYONE. God sometimes shows up in a big extraordinary way when ordinary people are doing ordinary things.

We also continue to lift Meredith and her family up in prayers, as we watch how God is moving in their lives and look forward to their return to education hour.

11/14/2025

High Schoolers- Don’t forget that we are back upstairs for the next 5 weeks, where we will be “Unwrapping Christmas” 🎄 🎁

During this series we will spend time looking at passages in Scripture. You’re invited to bring your Bible if you’d like, so that you can write any takeaways in it.

See you Sunday!

07/24/2025

Our crew is home safe & sound. And hopefully napping! Many of them (including adult leaders) did not go to bed last night. We had to meet in the lobby for 2am!! Our travels were safe, on time and full of naps. Even on the airport floor….😂 Now to put into practice what we learned! These kids grew in their faith. And in relationship with each other. We endured scorching hot temperatures to get where we were going with almost no complaint. They were respectful of other groups (and some of the most well behaved). They soaked it all in-checking things out and then sharing the new knowledge. They asked questions. We got deep into Scripture. It was so encouraging. We saw signs of God everywhere….

….in fact: peep the last picture. Southwest had interchangeable signs where we were sitting and they put up a tagline about ENDURANCE! A sure sign that God was following us home. 🩵

07/24/2025

Days 4 & 5:

Yesterday was the last day of the Convention Center stuff. We attended seninars, hung out, went to the mass event and rocked it in our awesome pink shirts! Some kids joined in a conga line. We heard from Bethany Hamilton. And we enjoyed some of the nightlife as we walked home….after a third ice cream stop! 😂🤣

Today we wrapped up the conference with worship together. We then took the Streetcar around the city, seeing old mansions and visiting Audubon Park. We had a lovely senior dinner at Joey K’s. Today was our senior celebration day in our Hawaiian gear! We celebrated our graduating seniors with treats, a special meal & tons of love!

Now, some of us are sleeping & some are not because we meet in our hotel lobby at 2am!

These students have grown exponentially in their faith. They went to speakers. They took notes. They fully participated in the faith based check-ins. They grew closer to God & closer to each other. It’s been a great week!

07/22/2025

Day 3 of the Gathering:

Today, our day started with an off-site service project. We volunteered with the Kula Bus. The Kula Bus is driven around by volunteers that offer services to people experiencing housing instability. They offer a place to shower, free haircuts, free clothes & free lunches. We helped at the haircutting station and picked up garbage around the neighborhood. It was hard, it was not what we expected….but we endured. And we did the hard work that Jesus calls us to do. Because of these youth, the community watched them and knew that someone cared and someone loved them. God is powerful like that.

We then hung out at the hotel-completely wiped from a HOT 5.5 hours outside. Kids played cards; kids napped; we talked….it was great. We went to dinner & the mass event. We continued to touch on the topic of endurance. And after the mass event we were treated to a free Rend Collective concert! AND we had Floor seats! It was wonderful.

We are just so thankful for this community of believers!

07/21/2025

Today was Day 2 of the Youth Gathering! It was also the official kick off day for all things: bible studies, youth & adult sessions, the vendor fair, on-site service projects, etc. We wrapped up the evening with another mass event. Flame, a Lutheran rapper, gave an awesome talk on wnat it is to endure in Jesus. It was powerful.

Fun trip tidbits: today was an un-official glow party. Our kids started building a glow stick strand that was eventually added on to all around our section. Kids in the upper level were holding on to pieces of it. It grew to 400/500 feet long & it was so fun to see the tiny community being built.

We had a powerful talk about enduring in Jesus, which led to us talking about what it means to be a Christian in 2025, which led us to how we are called to live. These kids are hungry for God’s Word and for a relationship with Him. Its awesome.

The constant laughter. The goofiness. The open and honest trust. I say this all the time, but this is the stuff. This group is awesome. It feels like family. And that is a God-thing. We are brothers & sisters in Christ and the relationship building is all God intricately weaving them into each other’s lives. Its the good stuff.

Our Eastern District dinner was at Mulate’s this evening. The food was amazing (the boys had seconds!)! We also got to eat with Sue & the girls filled her in on everything. Truly….everything! Lol
Shout out to Pastor Jason & Jaime for all of their hard work making it happen. Shout out to the Eastern District for generously paying for the dinner & showing our youth how important they are to God & the Kingdom. And a huge shout out to LCES of Buffalo for gifting each of our attending students a scholarship to help make this trip affordable!

We stopped for ice cream for the second day in a row. These kids know the adult leaders have a soft spot for ice cream, them & keeping cool in this heat!

It was a great day! God is just so good!

Also: Jesus & his car backpack made a return! He attended sessions & kept cool with His new neck fan.

07/20/2025

After a late landing (11:20pm) and a late hotel check-in (12:30am) last night, we are settled in New Orleans!

Today was a low-key day. We started our day at Cafe Du Monde for NOLA coffee & fresh beignets! We then did some sightseeing & shopping. We registered with the Gathering & checked out what the Convention Center has to offer. We had a group dinner, a bit of downtime at the hotel….and then….OUR FIRST MASS EVENT!

The mass events will wrap up each day for the next week. 20,000 Lutheran youth & adult leaders gather together for worship, worship music & a bit of fun!

The theme this year is “Endure.” We are focussing on Hebrews 12:1-3: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Tonight we learned what it means to endure. We talked about what it means to help carry other people’s burdens. We are reminded that to endure can be a word of hope, as we look to God‘s faithful promises, which endure forever in Christ Jesus, our Savior.

Tomorrow we focus on “We endure in Jesus.”


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06/23/2025

06/23/2025

Park Day was my (Jen’s) first ever youth event. I hosted one in 2019 as a way to get the kids outside & as a fun way to get to know them. I had 6 students join me.

Over the years, this event has grown & grown. Because it is an outdoor event we didn’t even miss one in 2020! This was our 7th annual Park Day & you can see how much it’s grown! God has really brought our crew together & it has been so heartwarming to see.

Today despite the heat we enjoyed lunch, games, a water balloon fight & a pick up game of kickball. We had the most adult volunteers ever. It was a day full of God sightings. How blessed are we to know, love and serve with these awesome people! 💚 Thanks for a fun day everybody. To God be the glory! He is so, so good!

06/08/2025

We celebrated many of our graduating seniors this morning! It was a beautiful celebration full of God’s love. It has been amazing to watch these kids grow in their faith & we are so proud of them! We can’t wait to see what God is going to do with their future.

What a blessing you all are to First Trinity! Congrats!! God loves you and so do we! 💚

05/22/2025

This past Friday High School Ministry got together for a 12-Hour Lock-In! We had a blast. We played Sardines, Tortilla Slap, Grog, Manhunt & just hung out. We had ice cream sundaes & ate too much junk food! And we celebrated TWO birthdays….Brody & Gianna! It was such a fun night!!