Often within minutes of someone finding out that I work with middle school students, I hear a response along the lines of "I'm glad someone can do it."  I suppose that some people might call me crazy for loving to spend time with students who are young teenagers, but I love it.  I love the fun we have, the relationships that we build, and the life change that happens.  When I was a senior in high school I fell in love with this age group and am lucky enough to spend my time week in and week out getting to share Jesus with these kids.

Here are 7 Things I love about this age group:

7. They are fun. Other ages might be fun too, but middle schoolers really know how to have a lot of fun.

6. They can still act like kids. They haven't gotten "too cool" to do dance around and do crazy things.

5. They can have great conversations. While they can still act like kids, they also can have incredibly in depth conversations that are a privelige to have.

4. Middle School is hard. Most people would never want to go back to their middle school years; there need to be people in their lives that love them in the midst of this difficutl age when everything changes.

3. They are building a foundation for the rest of life. Because of brain development, the faith development that happens during this age is foundational to the rest of their life.

2. They are overlooked. A lot of people tend to overlook middle school students; I love that I can minister to them and teach them what it means to follow Jesus.

1. They are awesome to teach. I love to teach middle school students; there is not much greater than having a room full of middle school students engaged as we open the Bible.

Photo Credit: Candrews