Todd Groat: Come and See the Next Generation Lit Up by God

I grew up in the southeastern Ozarks of Missouri. When I was 17 years old in high school, I felt like God was calling me in the ministry.

I connected to the EFCA through Reeve Evangelical Free Church. When I was coming into my last year of seminary, I made a shortlist of denominations that I felt would fit my heartbeat. Before I went through the placement program, Reeve hired me as their youth pastor. I love the simple ethos of the EFCA: we major on the majors and minor on the minors. The tradition that I came from really wasn't like that.  

In 2000, I was only in the role as a youth pastor a short time before I came to my first Challenge conference at Purdue [University]. I had no idea what was going on. I was brand new to the Free Church and relied on the lay youth leaders. I had been to other youth conferences before but something about Challenge grabbed my heart. It was unlike anything I had experienced before. Grace was in the air. It was obvious how much all the staff at Challenge cared about young people, and how much they cared about youth pastors and youth leaders.  

In 2002, I changed roles at my church. I was now the senior pastor. I sort of didn't have a natural reason to come back to Challenge, and I was bummed about that. A guy from our church was the Director of Housing at Challenge, and I told him how sad I was to miss it. He knew I did professional security work and training before ministry, and he said, “You should be on the security team at Challenge.”   

In 2004, it was my first time to be on staff at Challenge, but because of my experience, the security director appointed me to lead the team near the stage. In Salt Lake City, anybody that came on the stage had to go through the crowd. So, we had to move the students back to make space for the act to get on. I was moving students toward the door and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing there, and I said, “You need to move out of the way because the band is coming out,” and they didn't move. And I looked up and I was looking at Chris Tomlin. And I was like, “Oh, sorry about that. Right this way.” He just smiled and laughed, and up on the stage he went. I apologized later.  

I still have the privilege of leading the stage security team at Challenge. I stand in front of the stage but I’m looking toward the students, instead of looking the other way. It’s probably my favorite thing to do at Challenge. I love the energy. I love how the students passionately worship and celebrate, and I like to be in the middle of it.  

Some of the most powerful moments of worship I've ever had in my whole life is up by that stage, looking out at the sea of students, jumping and dancing, raising their hands, praising God and singing at the top of their lungs. I tell people all the time, if they feel a little discouraged about the younger generation, maybe they should come check out Challenge and see all these young people absolutely lit up for God.