This past weekend I attended a Dare2Share conference in Washington, D.C. It was spectacular to see thousands of teenagers engaging in worshiping, hearing the gospel and sharing their faith. I started dreaming about what God would do with this group of students.
Then it hit me…
On my calendar for the SAME weekend was a Youth For Christ conference called Impact. Once again, thousands of teenagers are also worshiping, hearing the gospel and being challenged to live for Christ.
THEN I started dreaming:
What if the Holy Spirit unites these thousands of student's hearts together? Not in the way I would as a networking guru, but as the Spirit does in connecting the body of Christ.
The first time I remembered feeling a Holy Spirit connection was as I was selling a car. Seriously, that was my job during college. A couple came to buy the car and was nice, almost loving, even to me as a salesman. Their courtesy caught my attention. They also seemed to have this spark of life. During our conversation the gentleman expressed how different this trip was to buy a car. I told him, "It's because we are Christians." (You may think this is a good line to "close the deal", but it really wasn't! It was NOT something I would typically say to customers.)
The couple looked at each other and exclaimed, "I KNEW IT!" The conversation turned to Jesus, their heart for ministry, my call to youth ministry, and ended with us praying for each other.
That day I left my job changed because of what the Holy Spirit did.
Could the Holy Spirit do this same work in students? What if the Holy Spirit unites the TENS of THOUSANDS of students who have committed to follow Christ at the camps, retreats, and conferences this winter ALONE?
Then conviction set in: Who is praying for this?
Let it start with me. Will you join me?