It was September 19th last fall when my friend and illusionist, AJ and I headed to the high school in Negaunee, Michigan in the upper peninsula of Michigan for two assembly programs and a rally presented to 730 students. AJ brought down the house with his gravity-defying performance. Hearts were softened and defenses came down. Then, I spoke on values, courage and respect. Kids laughed at my personal mishaps, and cried when I told the story about my brother, Tim and my friend, Ronny. Hearts were touched.
When it came time for the rally that night, we expected about 150 kids to walk back through the doors of the auditorium. Instead, 500 students and families came streaming in. We scrambled to find more chairs and quickly ran out. Every seat was filled with people sitting in the aisles. We couldn't believe it! As I shared the gospel, hundreds of hands reached to the sky, symbolically saying, "Yes, I need Jesus." 183 of those filled out a card and indicated that it was their first time ever responding to the gospel.
At this point I often share stories about the impact on a student's life. But today I want to share about the impact on the life of a community. Following our time in Negaunee, our local coordinator, Pastor Steve, took it upon himself to stay connected with the team of people he gathered to help with follow up for the rally. No one could deny the effectiveness of having several churches working together to care for youth. Why should it stop there or be reserved for a special event? Why not have it be a year-round effort?
So Steve and a few others decided that they needed to invite every church in the area, along with some surrounding communities, to be part of a collaborative effort using the National Network of Youth Ministries new tool called "QuickStart" to reach youth and minister to them. Here's just a snippet from his invitation to area churches:
"...Ever since the wonder of seeing 500 plus people (mostly youth) gathered at Negaunee High School Auditorium, hearing the gospel through the Bob Lenz outreach event in September, we have been wondering about next steps in area youth ministry. One of those steps, we've concluded, is this invitation and what we hope will be the resulting conversation.
Would you like our youth connecting with one another in the greater body of Christ??Would you like to further encourage them in their ministry places at school and in the world? ?Would you like to see youth who have yet to know Jesus come to know a united, yet diverse witness from Christ's body? ?Would you like to ally together to be of greater support to each other's congregational youth ministries?
If so, please come..."
That's the body of Christ! That's lasting change! We're talking lasting impact of people responding to Christ and the church working together and now reaching out to youth all year round!
I get so excited when I see business leaders, various organizations and churches that have caught the vision to unite within their community and put aside their differences for the purpose of reaching this next generation. It's humbling to know we played a small part of changing this whole community's view on reaching youth and changing people for Christ. My hope is that communities across the nation will work in a united effort to reach every student in their community with the gospel before they reach the age of 18!