I am a creature of comfort. I like my routines and I really don’t like surprises. Well, I enjoy surprises like finding extra money in my pocket, but definitely not surprises that bring hardship. I live by the motto “work smarter, not harder” and I like to anticipate what’s coming next so I can plan and be prepared. But what happens when your crystal ball isn’t working and you can’t see into the future?

Back in September of 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall on the east coast of Florida and started making her way up north. Our church is based in Greenville, South Carolina, so we knew we would get a lot of rain as a result. However, a day before the storm made landfall, reports indicated that the storm would change course resulting in high winds and flooding in the likes we have never seen before.

If you know my story, PTSD started setting in rather quickly due to my experience during Hurricane Andrew (you read about that here: https://shorturl.at/cdv4F . Western South Carolina and North Carolina got ravaged by Hurricane Helene. Lives were lost, homes and communities were destroyed, and so many people lost power for days and weeks. Now, as someone who likes comfort, if you take away electricity we have a receipt for discomfort.

Waking up that morning to see the damage across my state and neighborhood was the most sobering experience of my life. Neighbors started checking in on neighbors and the sounds of sirens echoed throughout the community. Communication to others was impossible because cell phones and internet were down and driving to go see someone was incredibly dangerous due to trees and electric poles blocking roads.

Once reality set in, my focus moved from my immediate family to my church family. How are my students? How is the church building? What is programming going to look like for this week? Will we even have church? Will gas and food be available around town? My normal routine of doing ministry was gone. I could either roll up in a ball and complain or embrace the hard and look for the opportunity.

After a day or so, roads began to clear and cell phones started to work. Our student ministry team got together and started making pivots. The easy decision was to cancel youth group because we still didn’t have power, but something didn’t feel right about doing that. We knew we needed to get our youth group family together to process everything going on, but our church was in no way, shape, or form operational. However, it hit me like a ton of bricks to seize the opportunity. Our team always flirted with the idea of having an outdoor service under the big blue sky but we never really pulled the trigger on it. BUT … this was the PERFECT opportunity to pull the trigger. Here’s what we learned in seizing an opportunity in the midst of hardship.

1) Perfect Opportunity to Fail 

No one thought we were crazy for making this pivot. In fact, people thought it was brilliant. Our people gave so much grace and mercy in the areas we didn’t get it right. The extra hustle that went into making this happen covered a “multitude of sins” and the extra hustle started becoming contagious. Once parents heard what we were doing, they started helping in ways we have never seen before. One parent wanted to bring their smoker and smoke up extra meat they had that would eventually go bad due to no refrigeration. Another parent donated a few generators for us to use to help power the worship band. Parents wanted to help get cars parked efficiently. There were so many other ways people chipped in as well. Students started sharing this hurricane pivot all over social media, and since nothing else was happening in town, everyone’s friends outside of youth group wanted to join us. The biggest win was seeing students come to this event that honestly may have never graced the presence of a church without it. The outreach opportunity started to grow!

2) Perfect Opportunity to Learn 

We learned so much…. especially on what NOT to do the next time we attempt something like this. The event was a huge success, but the newly seized opportunity birthed areas we didn’t know we needed to grow in. Something we were previously hesitant on quickly became a highlight of our semester. We also learned new ways to reach students in our community and how to empower our people to step up. We learned that the extra hustle goes a long way with people. We also were reminded that God doesn’t get caught off guard. This hurricane didn’t take Him by surprise. We learned that when you embrace hardship for Kingdom opportunities, it gives the Holy Spirit a platform to move in ways you normally wouldn’t see in your normal routine of ministry. We saw kids engaged and worshipping like never before. We saw small groups connect with each other and cry with those who lost their homes. We healed and bonded as a student ministry. We learned to hold all things with open hands.

3) Perfect Opportunity to See, Serve, and Love 

The number of “Thank-Yous” we heard from people outweighed the amount of “Thank-Yous” we heard in the past year. “This was awesome!” and “When can we do this again?” was being echoed all throughout the event. We hit our ultimate goal of serving our people and making teenagers feel seen and loved. They weren’t just seen, served, and loved but given a space to connect with Jesus in a unique way. A really difficult hardship brought forth a beautiful opportunity that we didn’t see coming.

I would encourage you, the reader, to think about a hardship you are currently going through right now. It might not be as crazy as a hurricane but what’s your “hurricane” right now? This could be in your personal life or in your ministry. Lean into the “hard” and ask God what He’s doing. Don’t miss the opportunity quietly brewing in your midst. Don’t miss the opportunity to fail or grow in ways you didn’t think possible. Hardship can bring incredible opportunities.