The Effects of God's Will on His Youth Ministry

After discovering God's will for His people and the church I quickly changed what I was doing. No longer was I trying to entertain teens with games and then sneaking in a quick devotion. I began to incorporate intentional fellowship, encourage meaningful worship, and devotions became sermons focusing on discipleship and evangelism. I also encourage missions work organized and impromptu. When I changed my focus to God's will, everything changed. My brother in faith, Randy, was so right when he advised me; "Do what God says to do."


It takes time and serious prayer applying God's will to youth. It is constantly evolving each and every day. Anyway, the overhead laminate film projector did not seem to matter anymore. It became cool to project the lyrics on a wall with a plastic sheet and play contemporary worship music over the sound system. Instead of sounding like bad karaoke, the youth were singing as to please The Lord. The quick devotions became 20-30 minute sermons. Every week I faithfully pray and seek what God has willed for that weeks sermon.


After several months of the same old routine with 9-12 youth, God began to move. The more I found myself surrendering to His will, the more youth He was drawing in to our youth services. Literally it seemed like overnight that we went from an average attendance of 9-12 to 20-25 teenagers. God was obviously blessing "His" youth ministry in our small town. Most people may think 20-25 teenagers is really not that impressive. Maybe it is not for most towns, but for our town it is. What impresses me the most is the number of youth who continue to come every Wednesday night and worship the Lord in a way that is not the norm for today's youth ministry.


Since May of 2009, God has taken the network of 12 students that I had been blessed to minister to and multiplied it now to an average attendance of 40-50. Through it all, God has truly blessed me by allowing me to network and build relationships with nearly 100 teenagers in our area.


Now forget about the 12, 40, 50, and 100. My real point is not numbers, numbers mean absolutely nothing if all a ministry does is entertain teenagers. What I really want to draw attention to is the faithfulness of the youth to worship in the way God has called us to worship Him. I find it fascinating how God reaches youth and keeps their attention so unconventionally compared to what we think is needed. I have seen teenagers grow spiritually in ways I never imagined. I have also seen students turn from sinful lifestyles that most people would have written off as a lost cause.


When we are within God's will and His plan, He moves. We should never think that our plan is greater than His. We simply do not have in mind the things of God nor could we ever dictate or plan His heart's desire. We simply must come before Him in obedience to His will and submit. We must seek His desire and earnestly serve in such a way as to please Him alone if we are to truly be an ambassador for Christ.

I want to encourage you to apply God's will to your daily life. You will discover blessings beyond measure. I assure you, there is no greater place than to be in the midst of The LORDS will. What I shared in my last post as God's will is this; repentance, following Him, fellowship, worship, discipleship, evangelism, and missions. I certainly have not arrived so to speak and neither has the youth group I have been blessed to minister to. My life and His ministry are constantly and continually evolving and hopefully will continue to do so until The Lord brings me home! I never want to come to the place where I think "I have arrived."


The picture is the most recent I have of the Flippin FBC YOUTH Group! A least some of them from from 2012.


Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.


May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!