I had always wondered where you understand as a leader the line that needs to be drawn between showing the youth the world around them and exposing them to more of the pain in the world that they needed to see.

On Wendesday we watched a movie from the international justice mission about the slave trade. Youth group wasn't supposed to be centred around this, it just kinda happened because we were talking about the movie "Amazing Grace" and its impact on the current state of the slave trade. As we continued the conversation we began to talk about slaves today and the trade that is out there.

After we watched the movie it was sad to see the moods of the kids. Their moods didn't lift, they were shown what a part of their world looked like and it obviously saddened them quite a bit. I was thankful for the compassion that I saw in their eyes but I knew that seeing this wasn't easy. I thought about it for awhile and I was worried that they had been exposed to the pain of the world to early but then I realized that this is the generation that is going to make a difference. If we don't start knowing what is happening in our worlds then we are never going to know how to fix it. Or how to make the world a better place.

So although sometimes seeing where the world is at, especially the third world countries is sad and heartbreaking I think its important. And its part of the mission of Jesus. To reach the poor and the oppressed, the downtrodden. He told us to go into the WHOLE world and preach the Gospel.

This is the mission that we must continue to hand off to the youth because it was a mission that Jesus gave for everyone. Its hard though as a leader to continually see and encourage this mission to be completed.