The youth did a great job with the service on Sunday. It is great to see them using the gifts that God has given them for God and to bless other people. I was also challenged by Pastor Brian's message to be a Peter, Paul, or a Barnabas to some of the youth.

Sometimes when we have a service like this some people will say, "The youth are the future of the church." And I know what we mean by that, we usually mean that these are the people who will serve as pastors, missionaries, leaders, deacons, elders, etc. in the future. But, that statement can discount a bit the role of youth in the church right now. So we bring the corrective and say, "They are the church right now." And, while that is true, I think the better statement is "We are the church, all of us from different ages, different countries, different cultures, we are the church." I love the diversity of cultures and ethnicities that we have at Mount Hope, but I also love the diversity of age groups that interact together at our church. To me the church of Jesus Christ is most fully represented by the unity in the midst of our diversity.