By Dr. John E. Morgan

Pastor–Collinsville Baptist Church

Midnight.   Cars in the church parking lot.  A single light on inside.  I unlocked the door and stepped inside.  Someone ran toward me in the dark shouting, “ Braden’s it, Braden’s it.”

The lock-in was going full blast and had reached hide and seek/sardines stage.  I knew better than to turn on lights.  No lights, no flashlights.  That’s cheating.  In the lit room I found the adult leaders.  Luke, the Youth Minister, looked at me and said, “We aren’t even halfway through.  But everything is going great.”

A lock-in is an event where church teenagers are locked into the church for the night.  There are periods of eating (the kitchen counter was covered with empty pizza boxes), devotions, and games.  And almost no sleep.

A lock-in creates great community feelings.  We call that Church.  The kids will learn a little bit.  And they will have a lot of fun.  The leaders will survive.  Everybody will go home exhausted.

This was Luke’s lock-in to lead.  He does a great job.  I have led more lock-ins than I can count.  I always had as few rules as possible.  Respect the church building and each other.  Clean up before you go home.  Keep a Christian atmosphere in all you do.  Youth need nights away from parents, teachers and pastors.  You helicopter parents would be terrified.  Your teens love it.

The heart of the lock-in is the teaching.  And the games.  You all know hide and seek.  Sardines is a variation where “it” hides and everybody has to find him and hide with him.  Game over when everybody finds “it” in a, by then, terribly crowded closet or hiding spot.

A few years back, I was playing sardines with our youth.  Brad was it.  I started hunting.  I opened a closet door.  The closet was about three feet deep with two cabinets built into the back wall.  Nobody standing in the closet.  I opened the cabinets.  Nobody and really no room for anybody.  I glanced up on top of the cabinets.  There was Brad.

The cabinet had a flat top about eight feet up.  There was just room for Brad on top.  And now me.  I climbed up with him.  We were sure we would be quickly found. As soon as anybody came in and looked up, we would be discovered.

Soon the door opened.  Cabinets open and closed.   Nobody looked up.  Over and over, nobody looked up.

Brad and I smiled.  This was great.  We froze each time the door opened.  Nobody looked up.  After a while, they began to cheat.  We could see flash lights going on for quick peeks.  And then they cheated more.  Overhead lights went on.  Brad and I had been sardines for at least forty-five minutes.  Everybody was bored hunting for us.  Truth be told, we were bored, too. Ready to be found.

The youth began yelling to us to come out.  We did not.  We did not want our hiding place to be revealed.  Finally they walked through the halls saying they were going back to the room and stay there for five minutes.  Brad and I climbed down and went to the room.

“Where were you?”  “We’ll never tell.”  And we didn’t.  If they wanted to know, they should have found us.

Every Sunday at your church there are people hiding.  In plain view.  Right on the pew next to you.  They want you to find them.  They are terrified you will.  And they are afraid you will give up.  They are hiding behind polite smiles and handshakes.  They are people who need Jesus.  And community.  Church.  They need you. But you will have to look at them and work to see who they really are.

Jesus looked at people and saw the ones who were hiding.  The woman at the well.  Zaccheus in the sycamore tree.  Matthew at the tax collector table.  Hiding in plain view.  Jesus looked and saw them.  Can you?