Youth Ministry in the City
We moved to Aurora in the fall of 1990. We had a hard time finding suitable housing that we could afford on a youth ministry salary. We ended up renting the front half of three story house that was in pretty bad shape. The landlord promised to fix it up, but of course he never did. We discovered squirrels living between the walls of the girls bedroom. Never fixed it! He promised to install a shower in the bathroom. Never did it! The house didn't have air conditioning except one window unit. The windows didn't have screens nor could we open some of them.
God surprised us again. By the spring of 1991, Jan is pregnant! Guess who was miserable the summer of 1991 with little air conditioning? Guess who spent a lot of time at her parent's house? Jan! It is a boy! Johnmark was born a couple of weeks before Christmas in 1991. He was an early Christmas present! It is a good thing that he was born by C-section. He was active in the womb. He had the cord wrapped around his neck not once; not twice; not three times; not four times, but five times! If he was delivered normally, he mostly likely would have died. One thing that I learned about Johnmark over the years is that he has a heart of gold. He is by nature a nice person. As a father, I cant think of a higher compliment. He is funny, creative, a servant, hard working, and can pull a prank with the best of them. What more could a father ask? He was born with some learning challenges so school has been a challenge for him. So, to give him the most help possible, we took him out of school in first grade. My wife quit her job, and she home schooled him all the way through high school. It was hard for him every step of the way. Did it stop him? No! He went to Waubonsee Community College and earned an Associates degree in Auto Mechanics. Was he finished? No! He earned a Bachelors degree from Southern Illinois University in Automotive Technology. In his field, his 'weakness' is actually a strength.
He was the first child to climb out of his crib. Having a boy after two girls was an adjustment! He is all boy! Johnmark is all hands! He can't just look at something. He has to touch it and examine it. When he was younger, the city was installing a bike path in Lincoln Park. After they sprayed a layer of tar, Jan took the kids over to the park to "see" it. Johnmark stuck his hands right in it! Using his hands he would build things. Over the years, he acquired a massive amount of legos. He would use those legos to create things. One of my favorite things that he created was rock music stages. With those stages, he created awesome stop action music videos. He loved cars and vans. He had a huge Hot Wheels collection along with the orange plastic track. Anytime that I rented a van for a youth ministry event, he had to ride in it. His love of cars and his skill with his hands led him to his degree. His most impressive accomplishment was keeping my green Toyota Camry alive for 296,000 miles! Of course, he probably thinks his greatest accomplishment is how many times that his dinosaurs destroyed Rebecca's Barbie village. Seriously, I think my proudest moments were watching him be a Camp WOW counselor. one year, he gave a talk! One year, he was the star of an ongoing camp skit. Campers always thought that he was the greatest counselor. After only being there one semester, SIU made him an RA. He is just a good person that people like to be around.
The Antioch Youth Group was full of a variety of characters. Aurora is a city not a suburb. Aurora teens are city teens. Aurora is a mini-Chicago. Many of the teens went to a high school were there were 'safe' and 'unsafe' hallways. Many of the teens had a rougher hardened exterior about them. We had one teen who was struggling trying to stay out of gang activity. Eventually, his family had to move to Arkansas just to keep him out of it. It was a never ending challenge to keep some of them under control. It got to a point where I had to lock the doors of every room that we were not using. We used the school gym on Sunday nights mainly to play volleyball. So, I would get a Monday morning phone call from the school principal, who was a Dominican sister, about all the things that were damaged. Now, I also used the school for grade school RE, so most of the calls were about broken pencils or messes made in the classrooms. One Monday she called, I was able to say, "Sister, but, we were not in the classrooms this past Sunday!". Yes!! The RE kids got blamed for everything!
Fish Boil! Sister had a fish tank just outside her office. A youth group member would somehow turn up the fish tank heater full blast, so by Monday morning half the water was missing and the fish were dead! This happened several times! I am not sure who did it, but I have my suspicions. Locker room shenanigans! They would ask to use the bathroom in the locker room. Seems harmless until I would get a call on Monday morning from Sister that all the lockers were emptied and stuff thrown everywhere! Broken window! One Sunday night, a teen got "locked out" of the school and was trying to get people's attention to get back in. Somehow, it included breaking the window on the door. It was one of those windows with the wire netting inside. I don't know how he did it. Beer Party! After the 11 o'clock mass, teens, who were altar servers, snuck downstairs and raided the Bingo worker's beer supply! It was in a locked cooler!
I could regale you with more stories, but I don't want you to get the wrong impression. These teens were good people. City teens just do crazier stuff than suburban teens. They led awesome retreats. We had great weekly discussions on a wide range of topics. Many of them took turns leading a night's discussion. They had bonfires, softball & volleyball games, and Six Flags trips. Rick, one of my adult leaders, led an annual Boundary Waters canoe trip. We had other camping trips out west. Many of the families hosted youth group parties. They supported each other by attending their plays, games, meets, and concerts. They built such a strong community that they hung out together outside of youth group and built life long friendships. It is even more amazing when you consider that they attended six different high schools. Today, they are strong Christian witnesses.
God surprised us again. By the spring of 1991, Jan is pregnant! Guess who was miserable the summer of 1991 with little air conditioning? Guess who spent a lot of time at her parent's house? Jan! It is a boy! Johnmark was born a couple of weeks before Christmas in 1991. He was an early Christmas present! It is a good thing that he was born by C-section. He was active in the womb. He had the cord wrapped around his neck not once; not twice; not three times; not four times, but five times! If he was delivered normally, he mostly likely would have died. One thing that I learned about Johnmark over the years is that he has a heart of gold. He is by nature a nice person. As a father, I cant think of a higher compliment. He is funny, creative, a servant, hard working, and can pull a prank with the best of them. What more could a father ask? He was born with some learning challenges so school has been a challenge for him. So, to give him the most help possible, we took him out of school in first grade. My wife quit her job, and she home schooled him all the way through high school. It was hard for him every step of the way. Did it stop him? No! He went to Waubonsee Community College and earned an Associates degree in Auto Mechanics. Was he finished? No! He earned a Bachelors degree from Southern Illinois University in Automotive Technology. In his field, his 'weakness' is actually a strength.
He was the first child to climb out of his crib. Having a boy after two girls was an adjustment! He is all boy! Johnmark is all hands! He can't just look at something. He has to touch it and examine it. When he was younger, the city was installing a bike path in Lincoln Park. After they sprayed a layer of tar, Jan took the kids over to the park to "see" it. Johnmark stuck his hands right in it! Using his hands he would build things. Over the years, he acquired a massive amount of legos. He would use those legos to create things. One of my favorite things that he created was rock music stages. With those stages, he created awesome stop action music videos. He loved cars and vans. He had a huge Hot Wheels collection along with the orange plastic track. Anytime that I rented a van for a youth ministry event, he had to ride in it. His love of cars and his skill with his hands led him to his degree. His most impressive accomplishment was keeping my green Toyota Camry alive for 296,000 miles! Of course, he probably thinks his greatest accomplishment is how many times that his dinosaurs destroyed Rebecca's Barbie village. Seriously, I think my proudest moments were watching him be a Camp WOW counselor. one year, he gave a talk! One year, he was the star of an ongoing camp skit. Campers always thought that he was the greatest counselor. After only being there one semester, SIU made him an RA. He is just a good person that people like to be around.
The Antioch Youth Group was full of a variety of characters. Aurora is a city not a suburb. Aurora teens are city teens. Aurora is a mini-Chicago. Many of the teens went to a high school were there were 'safe' and 'unsafe' hallways. Many of the teens had a rougher hardened exterior about them. We had one teen who was struggling trying to stay out of gang activity. Eventually, his family had to move to Arkansas just to keep him out of it. It was a never ending challenge to keep some of them under control. It got to a point where I had to lock the doors of every room that we were not using. We used the school gym on Sunday nights mainly to play volleyball. So, I would get a Monday morning phone call from the school principal, who was a Dominican sister, about all the things that were damaged. Now, I also used the school for grade school RE, so most of the calls were about broken pencils or messes made in the classrooms. One Monday she called, I was able to say, "Sister, but, we were not in the classrooms this past Sunday!". Yes!! The RE kids got blamed for everything!
Fish Boil! Sister had a fish tank just outside her office. A youth group member would somehow turn up the fish tank heater full blast, so by Monday morning half the water was missing and the fish were dead! This happened several times! I am not sure who did it, but I have my suspicions. Locker room shenanigans! They would ask to use the bathroom in the locker room. Seems harmless until I would get a call on Monday morning from Sister that all the lockers were emptied and stuff thrown everywhere! Broken window! One Sunday night, a teen got "locked out" of the school and was trying to get people's attention to get back in. Somehow, it included breaking the window on the door. It was one of those windows with the wire netting inside. I don't know how he did it. Beer Party! After the 11 o'clock mass, teens, who were altar servers, snuck downstairs and raided the Bingo worker's beer supply! It was in a locked cooler!
I could regale you with more stories, but I don't want you to get the wrong impression. These teens were good people. City teens just do crazier stuff than suburban teens. They led awesome retreats. We had great weekly discussions on a wide range of topics. Many of them took turns leading a night's discussion. They had bonfires, softball & volleyball games, and Six Flags trips. Rick, one of my adult leaders, led an annual Boundary Waters canoe trip. We had other camping trips out west. Many of the families hosted youth group parties. They supported each other by attending their plays, games, meets, and concerts. They built such a strong community that they hung out together outside of youth group and built life long friendships. It is even more amazing when you consider that they attended six different high schools. Today, they are strong Christian witnesses.
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