In the days God Squad began there was a TV Show called the Mod Squad—I don’t even remember what it was about except I believe it featured a group of wild teenagers and their adventures. We decided to have another kind of group who had the same things in common but this time it would be God that was the common thread. We wanted to be a group of kids who loved the Lord Jesus and had adventures for Him.In the beginning there were 6 kids – all Middle School. My 2 children Dave and Judy were in that group. There was nothing specific for that age and I wanted something for my own teens they could invite their friends to so I began God Squad. It was small but provided a peer group of Christian kids who loved Jesus and wanted to stand for Him. It helped them at school to know others believed as they did and could support each other in straight living and truth in the face of ridicule and un-truth..
The group rapidly grew. Kids found Jesus and soon we had over 30 some from Church and others from School. We met in homes and eventually brought the large group into Church as we had just built a new Church building. After a few years the group numbered 3-400. It’s good to meet in the big group when you are a minority at school. It helps to see there are many believers in Him and you’re not “odd!” It gave the kids a feeling of believing in something bigger than themselves and worth joining.
We continued to meet in small groups too as that helped provide Christian friends and support. Peer pressure can be positive as well as negative. I wrote a musical drama called ‘Sitting on the fence’ when I was in The UK and we brought it to the USA, added American music, and took it on the road as a means of winning people to Christ. I discovered kids don’t need entertaining to keep them in Church--- we can’t compete with the worlds entertainment any way- They need ‘employing’ to keep them. Put them to work: challenge them and give them tools to share their faith. We took our little drama and our music to Brookfield Square, parks in the summer months, and we even went to the lake front to meet kids and share our love for the Lord. We set up games, invited others to join in and finished up with music and an informal sing along on the Lake front. The Middle School kids loved the adventure and were wonderfully brave as long as they could do it in 2s and 3s. We went to Summerfest and gave away Bibles and had many adventures as a good ‘God Squad should.’ Dave, our son, grew up to become our Middle School Pastor!! All 6 original kids are in ministry.
I understand that the name may in this sad and violent time have wrong connotations so will be interested what you come up with as your new name.
Blessings, Jill (Elmbrook Minister at Large)
Stuart and Jill Briscoe were ordained as Elmbrook’s Ministers at Large in November 2000 when Stuart concluded 30 years’ ministry as Elmbrook’s Senior Pastor and Jill completed 30 years of leadership in Middle School ministry, Women’s ministry and Elmbrook’s Drama productions. Since that time they have been available to the church of Christ worldwide visiting every continent at the invitation of the indigenous churches and individuals and conducting ministry designed primarily to strengthen the hands of those who work in some of the difficult and dangerous places around the world.
To learn more about what Jill is up to now, check out Stuart & Jill’s website:
http://www.tellingthetruth.org
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