Students from Meade, Plains, Kismet, Fowler, Minneola, Ashland, Protection and Coldwater join for worship and ministry

Teens Living for Christ (TLC) began in Meade about 33 years ago as an effort to unite all the Christian high school teens in Meade. Anyone who wasn't already attending their own church youth group on Wednesday night was welcome to join. Prior to this, it seemed that church youth groups rivaled each other in the school halls, working against each other instead of together with each other to shine Christ's light in the halls of Meade High School.

The group didn't actually get its name until years later. High school teens from other towns who are not attending a youth group are welcome to attend, and some of those students are from Plains, Kismet, Fowler, Minneola, Ashland, Protection and Coldwater areas. The teens seem to really look forward to Wednesday nights when they can meet together with their fellow Christian friends from the surrounding area who they don't get to see every day in the halls of their own school.

A typical Wednesday night TLC includes games, Bible study, food, and fellowship. It officially runs from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., however, some members of the group show up for prayer at 6:30 and some teens choose to stay and visit until the doors lock at 10:00 p.m. The Meade State Bank has graciously offered us to use their bank basement to meet. We wanted to offer a neutral location rather than a church building, so that non-churched teens would feel less intimidated to attend.

Service to others and missions are two aspects we feel are very important for teens to learn, so every summer we offer nearly a week long trip to serve another ministry somewhere in the Mid West, such as Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming Also, once every four years we offer an overseas missions experience so that every teen has one opportunity during their high school years to experience hands-on mission work in a foreign country. Several teens have gone on to choose full-time ministry as their vocation as a result of these mission experiences.

Nineteen of our students and twelve adult leaders and three children traveled to the jungles of Ecuador for a ministry trip this Spring.

“I think it’s great to serve the people around us but it’s great to give teenagers the experience of serving overseas also. From seeing how God provides for them to go on this missions experience, to seeing Him working in Ecuador. It’s an opportunity for them to trust God,” says Leo Reimer who made the trip to Ecuador for his fourth time with the TLC youth group.

“It’s amazing to see how God provides,” says Megan Sims, a teenager who went on her first missions experience, “It’s always at the point when you’re wondering will He or won’t He and then He gives you everything you need and more.”

“I heard about Ecuador and missions in general for several years and was so excited to have this opportunity to explore missions more,” says Sims.

While this trip was a return to the same county, each trip is unique. The group served alongside a missionary family, the Williamses, as they ministered to the Waorani people.

This is the same people group that infamously killed five missionaries, including Jim Elliott and Nate Saint, 60 years ago. Thankfully, the story didn’t end there and the power of the gospel went forth. This people group, who knew only revenge killing and had a 70% homicide rate that almost made them extinct now know Jesus. They can now experience a peace that flows from that relationship.

“The theme for our trip this year was “Worlds Apart, One in Christ,” and our team verses were Ephesians 4:4-6. These verses describe the “oneness or unity that all Christians share,” explains Eric Jones, who is also a part of the TLC leadership. “On our previous missions experience to Ecuador we were struck with the unity we experienced with other believers in Ecuador. We didn’t speak the same language, have the same background, live in the same culture; and yet as we served with one another we were united. There are no divisions in God’s Kingdom.” We were blessed to see God unify our group in an incredible way while we were serving in Ecuador.

For further information about TLC or to offer assistance to the organization, contact Leo and Debby Reimer at 620-338-1659.