This past weekend I finally caved to pressure from some of our church youth and attended a “Teens Encounter Christ” TEC weekend. I had practically no expectations going into the weekend. Prior to attending, I’d simply heard a lot about it from some of our members and had been encouraged to go.

TEC is a pretty unique experience, I have to admit. As a youth growing up, I went on countless retreats and trips with our youth group. In most cases, these events had huge numbers of youth and really only a handful of leaders and supporting personnel. Similarly, in my experiences as a leader on such trips, I’ve found that same paradigm to be true. Leaders are typically overworked and under-resourced.

TEC, on the other hand, seemed completely lopsided by comparison. As the weekend progressed, I realized that the event is “supported” behind the scenes by a seemingly countless throng of people. One such supporter told me that the ratio is nearly 4-to-1. 4 supporting personnel for every attendee.

This particular TEC experience was based on a Lutheran modification of what began as a Catholic youth ministry. While the “liturgy” of the weekend was Lutheran, several churches from several different denominations were represented. What a great model for ministry:  a diverse body of Christ gathering together for a single united purpose, led and supported by laity with only a guiding hand from the ordained.