Giving Him My Best

TeenPact’s vision is “Changing Lives to Change the World.” We want to take the opportunity to share some of the stories of those changed lives with you in a series of Student Testimonies.

This post comes from Jude Crandell, a student from Michigan who was elected as one of three class Senators. His story is an example of God stretching not only the minds of our students, but also growing their character. We hope you will be encouraged by his words!

My first experience with TeenPact was the Four Day Class in Michigan in 2015. It was one of the best weeks in my entire life! Leading up to the class, I didn’t know what to expect. I got to the class on Monday and met the staff team and my fellow students. In my committee, we had a great Chairman and Clerk. I ran for both positions, but won neither. The bill I wrote never made it to the whole student body legislature because it failed in committee. I didn’t make it past the primaries in the election process, either. This may sound like a failure of a week, but it wasn’t. Over the course of the week, my life took a 180 degree turn. I went into the week as a shy introvert and I came out as an outgoing extrovert. I felt much closer to God and I realized the potential he had for my life.

After my first class, I could hardly wait for the next year’s class. It took a while for the year to go by, but after months of anticipation, the 2016 TeenPact class in Michigan had arrived. I was more confident in myself going into the second year and was excited for the ways I would be challenged. Over the course of the week, I made relationships with everybody. I gained new insight into the character of God. Also, there was awesome worship through which I could truly feel God. Not only did I have a great week back at camp, but I was quite successful at the Capitol, too. My bill made it all the way up to the governor’s desk and I was elected to the TeenPact Michigan Senate.

I now realize the huge potential God has given my life and nothing is holding me back from giving Him my best.

More important though, was the character growth I experienced. This was another amazing week because I got to talk with and learn about everyone else in my class. I am able to make great relationships with people because of skills I learned at TeenPact. Because I learned to talk to people, I am able to glorify God more by blessing him with my conversations. TeenPact also taught me to lead. With the skills I learned at TeenPact, I lead Bible studies so that other teens can feel closer to God.  I now realize the huge potential God has given my life and nothing is holding me back from giving Him my best. If there is one word that has changed my life, it would be TeenPact.