Guest Post: Aaron Adams

Aaron is the champion of our Middle School Ministry. He helps out in all sorts of areas and ways. He is currently attending Cincinnati Christian University. Besides being a nice guy he also works at Woodland Lakes Christian Camp, loves sports, and is a HUGE Ohio State Buckeye Fan. I asked him to write a guest post for this blog about all he has learned in his past year of serving in Parkside Student Ministry.

I’ve been fully involved week in and week out in student ministry for close to a year. I’ve gone on all the retreats both middle school and high school, I’m leading the middle school guys rel community group. Through all of this I have learned an incredible amount and have become hungry for more! Student ministry is something that I’m very passionate about, I honestly can’t see myself doing anything else from this point on. Where God will lead me I don’t know but I sure hope it is leading students into a life changing relationship with Jesus. I’m surrounded by so many wonderful men and women at Parkside that have helped develop and grow me to be the best student minister I can be. I went into ministry already knowing it isn’t what most people think. My dad is a pastor so I already had an idea of what I was going to face, but doing it myself has really opened up my eyes to what ministry is all about. It’s not just coming in to the office and sitting at your desk all day, it’s not just praying with people, it’s not just playing dodge ball with students. It’s on a much deeper level, yea I do all those things but it’s not a Monday-Friday job, its constant. But with that being said I’ve come to love that. I’ve come to where I have developed so many wonderful friendships with students that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I care deeply about each and every student whether they know that or not. With all this learning that has happened this past year it has also forced me to grow deeper in my own relationship with Jesus Christ, and that is something that is amazing for me. To be able to have a stronger connection to Jesus is remarkable. That has enabled be to disciple students in our youth group or just friends of mine. I can’t thank the people that have poured into my growing as a student minister and my own spiritual life enough!