How many teens or college students can you name that have walked away from the Lord in just the past five years? My parents and I know of a lot, and it hurts to see it happening.
I started noticing several college age students walking away from the Lord when I was about fourteen years old. It broke my heart every time I heard of someone saying being taken off the membership list at our church because they weren’t living for God. As the years went by, I could see Satan working and turning the teens away. More and more often, I heard of another person who was not living for God. I wanted to do something, but felt like I couldn’t do anything.
My friend in the Amana Colonies then told me of a Bright Lights leaders’ training that was going to be going on in Cedar Rapids. I didn’t know a lot of what Bright Lights was at the time, but my parents and I thought it would be good for me to go to. So in October of 2009, I went to the week long leaders’ training. I really enjoyed it being there. There were about twenty-six girls there ranging from 14-25 years old. All but one of the girls were homeschooled. They came from all over the country. Most of them were from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa, but there were some that flew in from Maine and Washington.
Bright Lights is a discipleship group for young girls who desire to live for the Lord. It teaches girls to live strong for the Lord during their teen years and the rest of their lives. BRIGHT stands for “Being Radiant In Godliness, Holiness, and Testimony.” Some of the lessons that it goes through is contentment, truthfulness, modesty, honoring your parents, turning your heart to your father, and purity. It was a Bible study started by a lady named Sarah Mally when she was seventeen years old, and has grown to be over 300 groups worldwide.
Sarah Mally taught most of the time during the leaders’ training, and several other leaders gave testimonies and taught as well. During that week, I learned a lot about how to lead a Bright Lights group, how to rightly divide the word of God especially as I teach, and and rewards and demands of any kind of ministry. I learned so much and was spiritually refreshed.
At the end of the week, I went home and told my parents that I wanted to start my own Bright Lights group for girls here in north Iowa. So I sent in a leader’s application and got permission from my pastor. In February of 2010, we had our first Bright Lights meeting with eight girls.
At first it was discouraging, because we had problems right away. But I got advice from others and God helped me take care of the problems. I’ve also had a lot of encouragement from other Bright Lights leaders and the staff at the main office in Cedar Rapids.
I also thought that Bright Lights would just be some way that I could help disciple young girls and help them to live for the Lord. But as I quickly found out, I have learned a lot as a leader that’s helped me grow spiritually. I’ve also been able to help train a few highschool girls how to teach in a small group setting.
What we do at a normal Bright Lights meeting is we first start with singing. We sing hymns and a few Bright Lights songs, because I want the girls to appreciate the good hymns that were written so long ago. After singing, I teach the Bible lesson, and then we split up into two small groups to discuss the lesson. We also do an activity such as a game, skits, and crafts, and then have snacks that the girls take turns making.
We do dress up during Bright Lights, so that the girls can learn to be young ladies at Bright Lights, and it helps makes the atmosphere as a time a worship God instead of casual and fun. I also try to teach the girls how to serve in the church and during Bright Lights. I don’t want the girls to just be getting more knowledge, but to put it into practice and make it part of their daily lives. If you’re not using the gifts and talents for serving the Lord, it is easier to slip in the spiritual walk and then eventually that leads to the path of not living for the Lord.
I also like to have the parents involved in the girls’ lives. After each Bright Lights meeting, I give the parents a letter telling about what we talked about in Bright Lights, so that the parents can continue to encourage thier daughters in those areas in their lives. I’ve also had some moms help out with Bright Lights meetings, and in November we’ll be doing a Father Daughter night. Parents have an important role in their daughters’ lives and even if they don’t know it, their daughters do look up to them. Without my parents, I definitely would not be the kind of person I am, and I probably would not have started Bright Lights.
Bright Lights has been good for me and it’s amazing to see the results and see how God works. Even though it does get discouraging at times, the outcome is amazing and God is glorified, which is more important. My prayer is that the young ladies in Bright Lights will see the importance of living for the Lord, make lifelong commitments in their lives, and be leaders in their youth groups and churches.
If you have a daughter between the ages of 10-14 and you would be interested in the Bright Lights group, please feel free to contact me at godseternalmasterpiece@gmail.com. There are Bright Lights groups all over the United States. We can see if there is one in your area!

Jennifer - daughter of Jesse and Becky

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