Well it was with a bit of uncertainty that Hayley and I went to the chapel last night to kick off our weekly friday night basketball outreach. I had sent out emails to the guys, seen them at their highschools, told them on MSN and called them, but I wasn't sure if they would show up this week, seeing as it was the first week of school.
I'm very happy to report that we had a good turnout and more importantly a good response to the message. Over 20 guys that we know showed up, which means the Lord has helped us to maintain contact with these guys. Last year at this time an entire "wave" of kids disappeared because their "leader" had run away from home and so they just stopped showing up. Over the past year we had put alot of time and effort into the new "wave" and I was afraid that we might have the scenario of a complete turnover this year. Thankfully God has answered our prayers and continues to work in the lives of these teens! Thank you Lord for drawing people to yourself!
It was just like old times as Clayon, Kevin, Deshawn, Jamoy, Kellz, Cookie, Jordie, Sebastian and others poured through the doors. Katherine after that with her Ipod shuffle. Kyle, Dominique and Sabrina after that. A few other late stragglers got to hear the message.
I preached through Revelation 8,9 & 10 talking comparing this warning from scripture with the warning the folks in New Orleans had. I challenged the guys to not ignore the warning but to repent, trust Jesus, start coming to church and reading the Bible. 3 of the guys immediately wanted Bibles, or said that they would bring their own Bible from home next week. This was very encouraging as we had talked about increasing the Bible study, but weren't sure how that would go over with the guys. The community kids were keen to not only study with us on the Friday, but come to our home to study with us, and hopefully we'll see them on Sunday.
It just goes to show you that prayer and love works. We pray for these guys, love them despite their challenges and God continues to bring them out. I'm looking forward to big things this year. Please pray with us, as I can see a breakthrough coming! The soil is good. The teens are interested and keep coming back. The Word is the focus. Christ is lifted up. Please pray for our first youth rally Saturday, September 24th that it would be a turning point for some of these guys and that we would be able to hook them up in discipleship relationships with older believers.
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