Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Are Teens Being Spirit-Led?

Here's part two of the letter written by youth pastor Josh Radford:

All Christian denominations in their statements of faith acknowledge that the Holy Spirit comes to live in every believer. They recognize that, as part of the Trinity, He is God and dwells on the earth today. But if that's the case—which it is—why are we not telling our young people about the need for His power in their lives?

The Holy Spirit is the one who lights the fire of evangelism in a person. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you'll go to the ends of the earth to spread the gospel. We need a generation empowered to do what the early church did. They won the lost, healed the sick, cast out devils and spoke in new tongues. That type of power turned the world upside down. But radical evangelism won't happen if we hide Him or put Him as a second priority.

It's time to act now. It's time for a day of Pentecost outpouring. It's time to see the Book of Acts come alive today in this generation. Who will call this generation to be full of the Holy Ghost and His fire? Who will tell young people today the real way to take a stand and see their generation turn to God?

Sadly, the Holy Spirit doesn't seem to be a popular topic—at least not among those who publish youth ministry resources. I recently spent hours searching for any kind of teaching or curriculum on the infilling of the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Spirit—something I could use with my own youth group.

I found nothing. Nada. Not a single national Christian youth publication gave any prominence to the Holy Spirit. I guess He doesn't sell well.

Despite this, some leaders are boldly teaching on the Holy Spirit to a younger generation. Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, revivalist and founder of Revival Ministries International and The River at Tampa Bay Church in Florida, is crossing this nation on what he is calling the Great Awakening Tour. He's doing something different, though: He's taking high school and college-aged students with him. Before the night crusade meetings, where thousands are being touched and ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit, these students are taking that fire to the streets during the day and seeing thousands saved. As of July 2007, approximately 100,000 decisions had been made for Christ.

"Without the Holy Spirit there is no witness of Jesus on the earth today," he told me. "Without the Holy Spirit there would have never been a day of Pentecost, and the church would have never exploded like it did. We would have nothing more than dry religion. We would be dead preachers preaching to dead people. The Great Awakening tour, which I embarked on in the beginning of 2007, is gaining momentum and thousands of people are coming to Jesus every week. … Just recently at our North Carolina Awakening a 5-year-old boy prayed for a person who was deaf and they received their hearing."

Despite such good reports, Joel Stockstill, who pastors more than 5,000 teens at Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, La., agrees that the Holy Spirit typically isn't given a prominent place in youth ministry in this nation. "I believe people are not willing to pay the cost of the high price of pursuing the Holy Spirit," he says. "People just don't know the Holy Spirit."

In hopes of changing this, Stockstill is planning to gather 1 million young people in our nation's capital in 2009. He believes they will all be baptized with the Holy Ghost and ignited with the fire of evangelism for this generation.

Jesse Quiroz is another pastor who sees the lack of emphasis on the Holy Spirit. "The problem is, people don't think the Holy Spirit is relevant or up to date even in our Pentecostal and charismatic churches," says the director of student ministries at World Harvest Church in Ohio. "And when we don't make the Holy Spirit prominent in our youth ministry, it's proof that we are not tapping into the heartbeat and cry of what this generation really needs. Today we are starving our young people because we haven't emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit and its need for our youth ministry."

This past May, World Harvest Church kicked off its Reformation Generation Student Conference, where students from all over the country were ignited with the fire of the Holy Spirit to change their generation. "We have a senior pastor here at World Harvest Church (Rod Parsley) who will only stand for Holy Spirit-driven youth ministry," says Quiroz.

We need more senior pastors like Parsley who will not settle for fluffy, trend-of-the-month messages to teens. I believe that if we as a collective body of believers gave our time and talents to touching this generation with the truth of the Holy Spirit, we could make a massive impact. If we hope to see a great awakening in this generation, youth leaders must start teaching on the person of the Holy Spirit in youth groups, on college campuses, at high schools and in middle school clubs. We are in the last of the last days, and this generation is crying out for the power of the Holy Spirit. The boats are full, the nets are breaking, and the fish are still jumping.


YOUR TURN: How has your church's youth group emphasized the Holy Spirit? If it's avoided teaching on the Holy Spirit, why do you think that is? What should a youth pastor do if he or she wants to teach more on the Holy Spirit but is limited by denominational beliefs or a senior pastor's orders?

Comments:
This was totally Awesome!! I would like to read part 1 also. I hope that as many people as possible grab a hold of this message so that we can see this nation as well as other nations shaken by the power of the Holy Spirit!
 
FYI: To read the first part of Josh's letter (on the previous blog "Was It Just Another Event?"), or any of the previous Ministry Report blogs for that matter, click on any of the entries under the "Commentaries" tag at the top-right part of the page.
 
Presently, my church has avoided teaching on the Holy Spirit; the reason is unknown to me, however, my past experience at other churches; they are fearful of the "outward show" of the Holy Spirits presence. Who's to say that He isn't the One causing a person to do this or that? Only the Holy Spirit knows what we have need of to get our spiritual breakthrough. Some may need to laugh, cry, shake, scream, see visions or dreams, prophesy or fall back/forward under the power of the Holy Spirit.
If a Youth Pastor is limited on teaching more of the Holy Spirit, he is to respect his/her Senior Pastor or denominational beliefs. While respecting, he/she can pray for their leader(s). God will show Himself strong! His truth makes us free! While praying, the Youth Pastor can allow the Holy Spirit to move, breathe, touch and speak during the praise/worship and prayer times; allowing the Holy Spirit to teach each person on an individual basis. When a person experiences the Holy Spirits presence, they are forever changed; yearning more of Him, more of God, thereby reading the Word, praying, praising and worshipping Him. They will want to be obedient to His call; to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (salvation), with signs following, laying hands on the sick and they shall recover; with the Lord working with them, confirming the Word with signs following.
All men seek Him (Mark 1:37). How will they know unless we go and tell them (Romans 10:13-15)?
 
This is totally true, we need more of the Holy Spirit in our Youth Ministries. This is powerful stuff. Lives will not be forever changed if we don't start acknowledging the power of the Holy Spirit in our students today.
 
I am SO glad to hear that there are people out there willing to speak out on the power of the Holy Spirit. I am a youth and i strongly believe in the teaching of the Holy Spirit. There are three parts to God and so why should two parts, God the Father and God the Son, be taught alone. The Holy Spirit is a very active part of living a Christ-lead life. If we didn't have the Holy Spirit, yes, we would listen to the word and sing our songs, but how would we know that we are connecting to God? The Holy Spirit lets us feel God's touch. Without the Holy Spirit, our churches and our lives would be dead.
 
i think the problem is control the youth sometimes consider the work of the spirit , and outer signs as the most important than any christian values, and even the word of God,and the leaders of the church.
 
I was a Chirstian for three years and had little power from the Holy Spirit in my life. But when I started to seek Him, and give up all those worldly things that were holding me back, He began to change my life. That is when I finally got baptized in the Holy Spirit. There is a huge difference between being a nominal Christian, and Christian who is being filled with power from on high!!
 
This article is so good.... I have also been trying to find materials to better teach and preach about the Person and power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of students as well. Something that they can relate to and be able sink their spiritual teeth into to forever change their lives and the lives of others..
 
Great take on today's state of youth ministry! Refreshing. The MRE style of marketing and packaging of student ministry just will not cut it! Young people need the power of God's Spirit and His word and we sell them short with this sandlot prepackaged goop we plop on the plate when they come to us to be fed. Enough of the events, lets focus on the person of the Holy Spirit!
 
Yes our Church (First Assembly of God), has been teaching the youth about the filling and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in fact my son just got back from church camp and received the gift of tongues while there and the Pastor taught on it when he got back.
 
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