Calvary touches the hearts of high school students
The countdown reached the last ten seconds. Hundreds of high schoolers made their way to the front of the stage as the lights scanned across the room, the music blasting through the speakers and vibrating the floor. It was the final three seconds: three…two…one…and the worship began.
Around 300 students gather at the High School Ministry of Calvary Community Church every Sunday to learn about and worship God. Welcoming high school students from all different schools of Conejo Valley and beyond, Calvary has become a large community for teenagers to learn and have fun.
Sydney Leff, junior, has been going to the Calvary High School Ministry since freshman year. Being raised in a Christian family, Leff deepened her relationship with God as she grew up. Now going to Calvary, she feels like there’s always something new waiting for her time she walks in the church doors.
“I loved the people that I met and I feel that I relate to the sermons a lot,” Leff said. “There’s always something that you can learn from going there and even if it’s times where I feel like I’d rather go do something else, if I encourage myself to go to church that day, I feel like I always get something out of it.”
Helping Leff deal with stress and difficulties, Calvary is the wire that connects her to God and friends.
“I feel like when I’m there, I don’t feel really alone, I feel like there’s so many other people that are going through similar things to me and there’s always someone I can talk to about it,” Leff said. “It’s like God’s a friend that’s always there for you to lean on whenever you need it.”
Trying to be more than just a church community, Calvary is aiming to turn these 300 individual teenagers into a one big family. “Here at Calvary we take the idea that we are brothers and sisters in Christ seriously. That means we aren’t just a collection of people who attend a service together on Sundays, but rather a family that loves each other, prays for each other, encourages each other and challenges each other throughout the week,” Brian Howard, pastor of high school ministry, said.
According to Howard, Calvary is trying to create fun experiences for students and also provide them with support and guidance by having a world class worship team and well-trained, passionate adult leaders and mentors.
“I’ve never had someone go there and not enjoy some aspect of it and it’s definitely a lot different than any church that I’ve been to before,” Leff said.
Jennifer McDonnell, senior, has been going to Calvary for two years. After going to the Calvary high school summer camp, McDonnell felt that she experienced the love and power from God and has been a member of Calvary ever since. “It’s like a second home to me, everyone there is so kind-hearted and welcoming, and we’re always doing something fun,” McDonnell said.
Even though Calvary has been receiving praise and compliments from the majority of the students attending the church, they are always looking for ways to improve. In order to build stronger personal relationships, Calvary has been working on making sure they have fantastic small groups where everyone can have a chance to share, as well as trying to be better equipped to help serve students with mental illnesses.
Calvary is seeking to improve in every aspect they can think of, striving to reach the desires of the teenagers as more and more students join this big community. “Most of the pain in this community is hidden, but when you scratch below the surface you will find in every teenager the same desire for love, peace, hope and joy,” Howard said.