I'm 15 years old and I'm apart of a group where we all share the love of one thing. Him. We all go to school together (majority) and our school has a high percentage of Jewish people. We do not hate the Jewish people. I have heard that we do. No. Almost every single one of us has a best friend that is Jewish or know somebody Jewish. As a group, we do a lot together. We spend from 11:15 am to 3 pm together every Sunday. We have rare occasions where we go bowling, laser tag, hang outs at somebody's house. We are so close. This past weekend we all went to something called Blast. I've had several people tell me.. "that thing you went to, had to much God, for me" That's fine. But don't say it to me. Like I said, I'm 15, I'm a freshmen and there's people in this group from freshmen to seniors. Joining this group was the best thing I had ever done in the past year. I met incredible people. I met my best friend for one thing. A thing that sticks out to me is the seniors. The seniors in my group make me feel as if I'm not a freshmen, I'm just another human being that they talk to because they like too. When coming to high school, I was terrified. It was huge, I didn't know where I was going, who I was gonna have classes with, ANYTHING. I went to a camp called Sandblast the summer before I started my freshmen year. It saved me a TON. These seniors and juniors were telling me to not worry and that they would help. They made my experience 10x better going into high school. At Sandblast, I understood what a community was and let me tell ya, I was so proud to be apart of this specific one. Like I said earlier, We just got back from a camp called Blast. This was the best weekend of my life. I became a lot more closer with Him and my youth group. I was hanging out with juniors and seniors, I had never talked too before this trip. I became closer with a guy that I would have never thought in a million years I would be friends with and I'm slowly getting closer with him. The quarterback of the football team called my smile contagious. A bunch of these seniors told me I could lead this house group someday. I hear people in the hallways, in my classes, on social media, that Willow Creek and the people apart of it, are just too religious. We have our beliefs, we spend 2 whole weekends a year learning about God, praying together, putting our arms around each other and worshipping together but people don't see that really all we are, is a community who believe in the same thing but most importantly, we all are a shoulder to lean on for another. No matter what grade, what race, what gender, what anything, we come together when we need each other most. I have other Christian friends who say "dude, you're church looks lit" and right there and then, I encourage them to come! If you're a freshmen or even older, don't hesitate to come, whether you know somebody apart of the community already or not, JUST COME!!! It will change you're life for the better. Willow Creek and the Stevenson House Group, are the most amazing things I have ever been apart of it and I think of each one of them everyday, and thank God for what he has placed me in. I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without these people, and I am not afraid to admit that. ☺️