Workin' with da' Youts (part two)

Tonight we met up with the two other people that are going to be part of the youth group organizers. We will have two Sundays each month for one and a half hours for each session to meet with the group of an estimated 8-15 kids. I have NEVER done anything like this and like I confessed during my initial meeting, I ran from any form of organized religion when I was in junior high and high school. But sometimes my friends brought me along. The churches scared the shit out of me. These are kids that are from reasonably balanced worlds that I could not relate to and I always felt that people could see right through me and 'knew' that I didn't know anything about the world. Crazy, isn't it? So, here I am an adult that has been asked to be someone that won't preach but will just be there to invite the kids to open their minds to the world. Our goal is to have them to know that they may leave religion or explore other faiths as young adults and if they want to come back, the congregation will welcome them. We to make sure they know that being Christian means not judging anyone for their own religious beliefs and the worlds religions are full of similiar messages of love and faith. Our pastor David said it best tonight. He said we can learn from the beauty of all of the other religions, they all have something to offer... They're all good except for the ones that ask you to fly planes into buildings.