Our middle school ministry has grown in a short time from its infancy to something that has arms, legs and direction. I know that God is at work in the students lives and continues to bring new faces and life change regularly. If there is one goal we have mastered it is "fun". There have been few nights where students have left hanging their heads and not wanting to return. So what is this chasm that we face?

I think that it is one filled with 5 things for us to discuss and through hard work and God's grace, one that we will easily cross.

Chasm 1 __ Ignorance. This is one that we continually have to combat. We have to make sure that everyone involved (parents, leaders and students) knows what we are all about.

Chasm 2 __ Inertia. Students/Parents/Leaders get it, know it, but are complacent toward it. This is an incredibly frustrating barrier to ministry.

Chasm 3 __ Complexity. How easy is it for our audience to get involved and do what we want them to do? We have done a great job of simplifying our process but have we made plenty of on ramps.

Chasm 4 __ Channel. How well are we getting our message out. We can't pretend to be reaching Lee County's middle school students if they don't even know we exist.

Chasm 5 __ Price. What is this going to cost me... to be combated with value... Is what we offer valuable to all middle school students, their parents and our leaders?

Give me your thoughts on some of these. When we cross this chasm then we will be able to reach more middle school students and their families than ever before.