Roughly one minute after a Space Shuttle launches, it must withstand a condition of extreme force known as Max Q, which is when the Shuttle is experiencing "maximum dynamic pressure" on the vehicle.  This is the most critical point in flight from an aerodynamics perspective, and is where the most stress is on the vehicle. Max Q happens around 40-50 seconds after launch, just at or just after the Space Shuttle goes supersonic, at an altitude of around 25,000-35,000 feet (5-7 miles high).

Mission success demands that all systems perform at the highest level. When designed properly, prepared carefully, and executed perfectly, the Shuttle and its crew safely reach orbital velocity of 17,600, eight and a half minutes after launch.

There may be no better explanation of our task as youth leaders. Our students exist in a constant state of “maximum dynamic pressure.” Theirs is a world that has reached a pace of incredible proportion. The “whistling sound of the wind” grows in volume every day. We may not hear the volume rising or feel the pressure as their leaders, but mark it down: they hear it and feel it. In a teenager’s life, Max Q demands the same commitment to excellence. It requires that we far surpass typical standards of goodness for our students and begin to develop students of greatness. It hinges on students learning and gaining balance, passion, courage, and the wisdom gained from adversity. It is an outcome as well as an attitude.

Our role is difficult yet so significant. We must create an environment that simulates and breeds influence.  We must develop students that can withstand the pressure. Students that can be light in dark places. Students that will not waver from their faith while passionately pursuing relationship with their peers. Students that earn influence and the privilege to be followed. We serve as launch directors for students into a life that God gave them to know Him and make Him known.

The great reformer Martin Luther once said, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battlefield is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”   

We can spend all of our time, energy, and resources developing and maintaining the greatest youth programs, the coolest environments, the best homes and students of stellar behavior. But this is the point of attack. The battle line is drawn. The front is where teenagers who know Christ personally must invest and influence peers who desperately need Christ.

May we as youth leaders flinch no more.