C'mon, youth keep us youthful!! We love just hanging out with them, picking their brains and allowing them to pick ours. And I guess for us, we're really wanting to build cross-generational relationships, we don't wanna just stick to one age group, one ethnicity, we love knowing people of all ages, races and even beliefs, makes life more fun! And minus the beliefs part, I think that's what Heaven's gonna be, one epic "all ages" party!!
But why youth, why is God so desperate to reach our youth? As we've been ministering to youth for a few years now, we see the below (read on) happening everywhere we go. There's an increase in hunger amongst the youth to know God for real; they're not interested in plain rhetoric, or just sitting in church pews, but they have the attitude of, "If I'm gonna wholeheartedly give my life for something, I gotta know it's real." And once they experience God for real, they're so courageous in boldly walking in what they believe in!! Heck, way more courageous than I ever was!!
For example, one of the high school girls we met at camp this summer, she's kicking butt in her evolution class. Throwing scripture at them, posing tough questions back at them, and not in a condeming, "know it all" sorta way, she's doing it totally in the fruit of the Spirit and because she wants them to come to a knowledge of the truth. And what's amazing is even the teacher's asked her to meet with her so she could learn more about God!!! WHAT?!?!
What about our buddy Curtis, shoutout to Curtis!! Grown up in a metro housing community, he had a hard attitude like anyone else, couldn't care less about respecting leaders, he was a ring leader and had no problem leading others down his path. But he still had the sense to come out to a youth program run by a Christian organization, so with that good influence and a bad run-in with cops, he started making changes for the better and over a year, totally transformed. Everyone in his neighbourhood couldn't believe it, people still talk about it. He didn't care about who or what he had to leave behind, he went after a better education, growing in athletics and a better relationship with God. During the summer, he was voted valedictorian of the CEO program at Muskoka Woods, preaching the word in his speech!! C'mon!!! Recently, the esteemed University of Toronto gave him a tour of their facilities, hoping to recruit him for their football team and this week, we're helping him put together an application for a scholarship for University.
These are just TWO of several, countless youth that are taking their worlds by storm. Yes, youth are reckless, dangerous and too adventerous...haha, and that's why God loves to use them for His purposes. Because they can take risks of faith that the older generations are sometimes afraid to take.
So you can understand why we're very passionate about discipling this generation, they just need love and guidance. We also see how just as much as God is after them, Satan's after these younger generations and we've seen too many fall prey to his evil schemes and that's why we have such deep hearts to disciple youth and young adults in their walk with God, we just want to help point them to Jesus in any way we can.
And the following is some more insight as to why our youth are important to God, on why part of God's calling for us is to spend out lives caring for them. From a well-known teacher, minister, prophet and just one whom we've heard speak many times and brings accurate words from the Lord...James Goll, http://www.encountersnetwork.com/
"And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days." Joel 2:28-29 NIV
In 1967, a youth revival known as the Jesus Movement broke out, sweeping across the country, exploding on college campuses and in coffee houses. The Catholic charismatic renewal, one of the largest movements in neo-pentecostal history, started the same year and ushered thousands of Catholics and Protestants into fresh encounters with Jesus, including the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
All of this has significance for us today, more than 40 years later, because we need another great awakening, specifically a youth awakening, in order to see God's plans come to fruition in this earth.
Revolutions always start on campuses. Almost every revolution—bad or good—has started with students on college and university campuses. From Marxism, communism, and Nazism to the Moravians, the Azusa Street revival, and the Jesus People movement, every one has started with students or has had a great influence on students, who are hungry for change and willing to lay down their lives for a cause.
1. The campuses are where the future leaders are living and being trained.
2. More than 550,000 international students attend American universities and 600,000 more attend foreign universities.
3. Statistics show that more than 77 percent of all Christians make a decision for Christ before the age of 21.
The First and Second Great Awakenings: The First Great Awakening in North America and Europe was ignited by a Yale University graduate named Jonathan Edwards and by Oxford students John Wesley and George Whitefield. The Second Great Awakening was sparked by Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, at Yale University. After his 1797 message to Yale students, nearly half of Yale's student body came to Christ in a few short months.
The "Haystack Five": Samuel Mills was a freshman at Williams College in Massachusetts in 1806, when he met with four friends for prayer about revival and world missions. When a rainstorm hit, they took refuge under a haystack and continued to pray (thus becoming known as the "Haystack Five"). "When the rain subsided, Mills stood up, slammed his fist into his hand, and announced, 'We can do this, if we will!'" These five young collegians stepped out in faith and not only initiated the first nationwide student movement, but also began the first six mission agencies from North America.
Student Volunteer Movement: In 1886, a 20-something young man named Luther Wishard, newly appointed leader in the YMCA, heard the story of the Haystack Five. Inspired by the story, he committed himself to a revival of the same vision and went on to found the Student Volunteer Movement, which became the largest missions movement of all time.
Over the next generation, students on every campus in the U.S. committed themselves to the "evangelization of the world in this generation." Over 20,000 of them sailed to the foreign mission field, and over 80,000 others had personally committed themselves to prayer and to financially support those being sent out.
When prophecy (Biblical or personal) is neglected, the prayer movement is weakened. Prophetic utterances strengthen our resolve in prayer and obedience, providing significant focus.
In 1975, the prophet Bob Jones had the first of a series of encounters with angels who spoke about an outpouring of the Spirit that would be characterized by prophetic intercession. In 1984, the Lord showed Bob that prophetic intercession would need to be joined by "compassion and worship" to be complete. The combination of these anointings would results in several things: revival in the Church, power evangelism in world missions, justice in society, pockets of mercy ("cities of refuge"), and worldwide intercession for Israel. Between 1975 and 1983, Bob was given over 100 prophetic revelations about a worldwide youth movement.
In 1995, I had an intense dream and visionary experience in which I saw stadiums filled with young people praising God. I heard this piercing word, "The stadiums will be filled as out of the belly of the Promise Keepers movement shall come forth a Youth Extravaganza that will rock the nations." I'm expecting to see the fulfillment of this word.
Maturity and Strength
Young people in this "fatherless generation" need to look for spiritual parents who encourage them and intercede for them, helping them find their God-given passions and destinies.
Elders must bless young people with their time, knowledge, wisdom, strength, vision, and every good thing, treating them like full-grown plants and like "corner pillars," bestowing on them a high appraisal of their value and helping them to envision their future in the family of God. They must help them in practical ways by providing necessary resources and releasing authority to them to accomplish their God-given commissions. "Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants, and our daughters as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace" (Psalm 144:12).
Moves of God always involve the younger generation. Every one of us must pray for awakening and renewal among young people!
With a Heart for this Generation,
James W. Goll
Encounters Network • PrayerStorm • Compassion Acts
