The Power of Be…

Today was incredible. I’ve never been so proud of my teens before, never so proud about how they came together and took on the world. I have a good feeling about our ministry and I feel this year is going to make an impact in so many young lives. This morning’s message from Erik Rees pumped them up. He told the teens that discovering who we are not will help us become who God created us to be, then followed it up by saying when we do what God has made us to do we feel His pleasure.
When we met as a small group after the session we overlooked and debriefed the 4 steps to discovering Ephesians 2:10.

1. Surrender to God. When all is said and done what do you listen to when the music is not playing? What words and comments are you letting shape who you are? Because, God loves us all and wants to build us up.
2. Seize your SHAPE from God. What are our spiritual gifts? What does our heart beat for? What Abilities do we hold? How has our personality shaped us? And what experiences have impacted our lives?
3. Serve People and pur your faith into action.
4. Strengthen your life with God

Like I said we debriefed as a group and it was amazing to hear these teens open their hearts and really think about the issues that had been laid in front of them. It’s amazing how God is working in their lives. The teens were challenged today to go around the community and collect coins. We stationed them at an intersection where they held up signs asking people in cars to give what they had. They did well, but at one point they got a little frustrated. They pointed out that no one who was driving a BMW, Lexus or nice car would really give anything. It was really the people who drove “junky cars” who gave the most. I decided to challenge them to see if they thought whether or not that was fair. That’s when the Holy Spirit shined through. One of them pulled out Luke 21:3-4 ‘I tell you truly, this poor widow has put in more than any of them; for these have all put in money they could spare, but she in her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’
This might not mean much to anybody really reading this but that is the first time a youth in my three years has pulled out an exact bible passage to make a point. It was a beautiful moment. It was a win for our youth ministry program.
These kids were exhausted by the end of the day; however, you could tell they were satisfied with serving the Lord. And I hope to build on that. I hope to build on the love they have been feeling for the last couple of days and I hope that we can continue to bring that back to Baltimore.