Strathmore teen goes to Germany for TeenStreet

It’s not everyday that a Strathmore teen can join her voice and heart with more than 3,000 others from around the world. But that was exactly the privilege enjoyed this summer by Victoria Loeffler when she traveled to Offenburg, Germany for TeenStreet

“I read about it last summer when it was happening and 17 was the last age [at which] you could go,” said the Strathmore High School senior. Known as Tori to her friends and on her TeenStreet ID pass, she will be 18 in February.

“It’s an international Christian event for teens,” she explained, sponsored by Operation Mobilization. Not a missionary or outreach gathering, but an effort to “equip Christian teens to have a real friendship with Jesus to reflect Him daily in their world,” according to the TeenStreet Web site.

 “When I got there, I was just blown away,” she said. “I’m around so many other people going through the same things as me – being with so many other teens that care and actually get it.”
For Loeffler, that was key.

“They understand exactly what it’s like to believe, to have the strength to stand up against everyone else’s prejudices.”

From August 1 – 8, teens from the ages of 13 to 17 congregated each morning in the main exhibition hall for meetings based on this year’s theme, “iMpossible.” 

During “Net Time” teens broke into micro groups of six or seven for Bible study. Following lunch, “Interact” sent young people into town, to the lake or to workshops with topics ranging from discipleship and self defense to

African cooking or demonstrations by a world-famous unicyclist.

After supper the entire group met for “Throne Room” – Victoria’s personal favorite —  a worship service with headphones available for several language translations, led by the TeenStreet worship band.

“Worshipping for two hours in the Throne Room with over 3,000 people,” she said. “We made it God’s throne room when we worshipped.”

And it wasn’t only for the vocally inclined. “There’s a prayer section and an art zone,” Loeffler explained. “You could go over there and paint, worship through art.

“It was really an awesome time.”

Each night ended with “Interact” on site and the opportunity to get to know some of the people there. A second “Net Time” with the small group capped off the evening, and lights were out at 11:55 p.m.

One of the week’s many impressive moments for Loeffler occurred during an afternoon Interact visit with a local citizen.

“We went out into the community and, as a service to them, we asked if we could take their glass bottles to the bottle bank,” a non-paying recycling center. After collecting bottles from one man, “we asked if he needed prayer for anything.

He just wanted to give thanks for how life is now,” Loeffler said. As a young man during Hitler’s regime, he was imprisoned in Russia.

“Now he was home and he just wanted to give thanks.”

Loeffler believes she experienced a change of perspective through TeenStreet, particularly where her faith is concerned.

There’s a difference between knowing about God and actually knowing him, she said. A week of intensive music, expression, study and sharing with like-minded young people helped her distinguish between the two and press deeper into her own journey.

“I have a lot more faith in what God is doing in me now,” she said. “I actually have a relationship with Christ now.”

It’s like growing close to one’s family or friends. “You talk to them and spend time with them,” she said. “You have to spend time with Him to keep up that relationship.”

Though a tight schedule empowered the TeenStreet event, Loeffler says a time investment shouldn’t be simply squeezed out of an already overloaded day for a quick “Please, God,” and “Amen.”

“God isn’t a Coke machine,” she said, using a TeenStreet analogy. “You don’t pay your offering or a tithe, push a button and then get what you want. It doesn’t work that way. It’s a relationship.”

As Loeffler spoke, she fingered a length of once-white cotton string knotted around her left wrist, as if thinking over a recent change of focus.

“Every time we see this we’re to talk to Him,” she explained. It’s an any time, anywhere kind of thing, a sort of casual, up close and personal availability.

“It’s not so much about doing; it’s about trusting God to work in your life,” she said. “You just need to trust what He’s telling you. You need to have a relationship with Him and develop that … trusting Him that He’s leading you.”

Since 1993, TeenStreet Germany has drawn young people from primarily European nations for a week of intense worship and study, helping them to better know the God of the Bible. Loeffler wants to go back, even though she’ll be too old to be a participant, she’d like to return as a Service Team member, working in the kitchen, as security or in other various jobs.

Loeffler raised this year’s $275 attendance fee, and her parents, Cliff and Maureen Loeffler gave her the airline ticket as a birthday gift.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Maureen Loeffler said of her oldest daughter’s two weeks in Europe without Mom and Dad. “I knew she was with our friends.”

Those friends, Nap and Brenda Del Prado, met Victoria’s plane in England, and escorted her through France, Belgium, Luxemburg and into Germany. The Del Prados are missionaries sponsored by the Strathmore First Baptist Church, and Victoria first learned of TeenStreet through their newsletters.

“It was really a great experience for her to be outside the United States in a European setting to see how the Christian faith is spreading in other parts of the world, and how teens her age have developed a passion for Christ,” said Strathmore First Baptist pastor Charles McGarry.

“It seems like it’s made a big difference in her life and perspective, both locally and globally.”
Loeffler admits that things which once seemed important in her American teenage life have since faded into triviality.

“When you travel you learn things about yourself,” she said. “When you’re with all these other people it’s a way to figure out who you are.”

Handling currency exchanges, the metric system and a ferry ride across the English Channel kept this straight-A student’s attention for her first few days in Europe until she stepped into the presence of more than 3,000 other teenagers in a highly focused pursuit of God.

“It’s a learning time,” she said. “We’re all going through the same things. It’s an encouragement. It’s a place where you’re surrounded by people who care and really understand.”

Loeffler returned home to an over-packed senior year at Strathmore High School where she takes Advanced Band, AP English 2, AP Civics, Choir and Chemistry. She works as a library assistant and also participates in Academic Decathlon during zero period – the hour before school officially begins.

Her post-graduation sights focus on Biola or Azuza Pacific with a graphic design major. But she also hopes to return to Germany for next year’s TeenStreet.

“I met so many people; I have so many friends. Hopefully, if I’m able to save up my money, God willing, I’ll be able to go back.”

Thanks to her family, home church, and friends on another continent, the world became a little smaller for Victoria Loeffler this summer.

And God became a lot bigger.

For more information on TeenStreet, visit http://germany.teenstreet.om.org.

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