(Photo Adobe Stock)
By Marrick Reeve
One of the hardest parts of youth ministry for me is waiting to see the fruit. It feels like planting a garden, sitting down, and watching the seeds; you don’t see very much, if anything, right away. It takes patience, water, sunlight, and the hand of the Creator for that garden to grow. The same goes for the seeds of faith planted in the hearts of young people. “I wish I had come in other years,” and “it may not have looked like it, but this was the best day of my life” were sentiments shared from a few youth after the 2026 My Generation Youth Rally. Even young adult volunteers shared thoughts of a fulfilling day.
The My Generation Youth Rally, also known as “MyGen”, started as an initiative of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Archdiocese of Regina, the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Women’s League, and the Regina Catholic School Division. It has been hosted at Archbishop M.C. O’Neill High School since it started in 2013. This year’s event took place on Saturday, March 21. The day included games, delicious food, praise and worship music with a live band, service projects out in the community, Colm Leyne as the keynote speaker, small group discussions, activities, Eucharistic Adoration, fellowship amongst and between the generations, and so much more. There were approximately 160 high school participants and 100 adult volunteers.
Usually, I would have my boots on the ground, surrounded by youth, leading small groups, having one-on-one conversations, feeling as though I was sowing seed after seed for the Lord, but this year was different. As an emcee, I spent most of my day on stage, leading games, watching the schedule, and transitioning from one thing to the next. It gave me a unique vantage point: intentional listening. In order to even get a glimpse of God’s handiwork, I had to slow down and listen to small group leaders and the conversations they were having, intentionally go out of my way to chat with the participants, and make space to encounter others (participants and volunteers) outside of my duties for the day.
One of my favourite parts of the day is the open mic after the youth return from their service projects. This year, service projects including making bagged lunches and handing them out downtown, making blankets for babies in the NICU, having tea and conversations with seniors, bowling with the Special Olympics bowlers, making muffins for Carmichael Outreach and writing letters to the elderly, service work at the Marion Centre and Visitation House, making rosaries for those at Wascana Rehab, putting together bags for patients in the children’s ward at the hospital, and so much more.
The youth are invited to bravely and boldly come to the front and share what they did and how it touched them. The sharing that stuck with me was a young man who talked about handing out food downtown and said, “It didn’t need to be a once-a-year thing.” He encouraged his peers that service doesn’t happen only at MyGen, but that they could go out at any time to help those in the community. It is a blessing for me to hear how the Lord touched their hearts as they went out to serve others.
Although my role looked different this year, the heart and love of the Father did not. He still showed up in big and small ways that I will most likely never know in this lifetime. My vantage point on the stage allowed me to be silly for the Lord, and it helped me to plant what I was able to without judgement on anyone receiving the seeds. It allowed me not to hold back from planting seeds because I assumed they wouldn’t grow. It gave me the freedom to say what God asked me to say and leave the rest up to Him, without trying to micromanage how the seed was received. The sower didn’t stop to inquire if the ground was worthy of the seed, and he didn’t return to condemn the ground that didn’t grow. “It may not look like it, but this was the best day of my life,” will stick with me. This youth was not wrong in saying, “it may not look like it.” From the outside, the perception was one of disinterest, not wanting to be there, and closed off. And yet, outside of my human self, God showed up, and He worked. If I stop to look, He gives me glimpses of the deep work He is doing: a taste of sweetness to fill my bucket, and although this is one beautiful, possibly life-changing story, I trust that there are so many more.
Good and gracious God, may we continue to plant your seeds in the hearts of young people. May they flourish and bear fruit, fruit that will last in this lifetime and the next, in spite of our humanness and shortcomings, and may our hearts tune into the sound of your workings.
If you have a testimony you would like to share (what seeds were planted in your heart or in the hearts around you) about MyGen, please contact Michelle Braden ([email protected]) or Braden Kuntz ([email protected])
