Footprints and Funds is focused not only on prayer on our campuses, but also requires the generosity of people who align with our mission to lead young hearts to Jesus on school campuses and juvenile detention facilities across the US.
Over 33 years I had the privilege of serving with four churches in Florida, Kansas, and Indiana. In that time I saw God transform hundreds of lives and over 50 individuals enter full-time ministry, hundreds serve with local churches, and many others get involved in ministry to some degree.
Through my very small seed of obedience, the kingdom expanded. "Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains a single seed, but if it dies it produces many seeds,'' John 12:24 (NIV).
Youth Are More Likely to Hear and Accept the Gospel
When I began serving in youth ministry, I heard the statistic that 75% of people make a decision for Christ in their teen years. More recently, that number is said to be 85% before the age of 15. Read that again: 85% of believers make a decision for Christ before the age of 15!
Whatever the actual number is now, the crazy part is that this demographic is often the least funded and least resourced. When I consider that businesses assess where they receive the biggest bang for their buck, I realize the church has been investing poorly. Too often we cater to congregants who are over the age of 15, where-truth be told-we receive a much smaller return on investment.
We Follow in Jesus' Footsteps in Winning Hearts for the Kingdom
As I read in Luke that Jesus' primary mission was to seek and to save what was lost, I can't help but think that the biggest impact for our resources is to reach young people that are more lonely, depressed, anxious, suicidal, and distracted than any generation that has ever lived in the Western world.
This leads me to think that the best place to invest financially is in this demographic through the ministries and individuals who are seeking and saving the lost among this next generation. When it comes to reaching these young people, we know where the greatest return on investment is to be found. The harvest is plentiful!
We have a harvest that is ripe and workers who are ready, but need the resources to step into the fray to seek and save those who are lost.
Investing Time and Resources in America's Young People
In a time during which we have seen hints of revival among Middle and High School students and those in their first years of university, these rumblings demand we turn our attention to those who are searching for hope, who are searching for answers.
If we are talking business language then the greatest return when it comes to investing in the Kingdom is in this generation of young people. That's where I am going to invest my time and my resources. How about you?
Your investment makes a difference! Even if your donation seems small, He is faithful to multiply. God is at work in the hearts of America's youth; join Him with a heart of generosity.
Every contribution enables us to support, train and encourage youth leaders working together in every community for every student. Thank you for your prayerful consideration to invest in youth ministry and the spiritual growth of America's young people.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matthew 9:36-38 (NIV)
