Our mission organization, Youth Ministry International, trains youth workers for local churches. In the past few years we have realized the potential impact of training men and women who could train others for youth ministry. This strategy has a multiplication effect where our friends around the world begin to influence more youth workers than we could have ever imagined.
The strategy proves effective as we watch national youth workers in Cuba, Mexico, Kenya, and other parts of the world take what we have taught them and teach others to apply it in their own local churches. Our own trainers have adopted this vision and begun to expand their ministries to other seminaries and Bible institutes. Ukraine is one such example.
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I saw this video posted on Facebook, and I wanted to comment on it here. It’s about a Latin teacher who has cancer. He’s sitting at his window, and outside are 400 students worshipping God and singing a song with him. Watch the video below:
I’m sure there is a lot to this story, but it is obvious that there is an adult–a teacher–who is loved by young people and being honored by them because of the influence he has had on their lives. There is no doubt many other former students who would have been there if they could.
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I’ve read two articles lately on the topic of teenagers and the Bible. Both articles focus on research done by the Barna Group1 and the American Bible Society2.
The Findings
The 2016 Teen State of the Bible report found:
- 86 percent of American teens view the Bible as sacred literature,
- 69 percent own a Bible
- 25% read the Bible four or more times per week
- 42 percent hear it read at least once a week
However, 14% say that their Bible reading has declined in the last year. The number one reason they have not read the Bible as much this year as last year—they are too busy for life’s responsibilities (41%).
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This past week my friend Frank Mills went to teach the 9th course in a 12 course training program at Nassa Theological College (NTC) in Mwanza, Tanzania. While he was there, I asked him to research some statistics about the impact of the ministry there in that East African country. Here’s what he sent back.
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When we first moved back to the USA from Mexico City, we spent about 6 months near the East Coast of Florida, and we took advantage of that time to take the kids to the beach every once in a while. If you’ve ever been to the Atlantic Ocean, you know that the waves and undercurrent are very strong, especially for little kids (and dads that have little kids draped on their arms).
Kids and Waves
I would take each of the kids by the hand—usually one at a time—to brave the waves and walk in the water against the waves. Every time the wave would hit us so hard that it would knock them over and I would hold on to them for dear life while trying to stand my ground. It was terrifyingly fun—for a while. We did learn one truth during our time in the waves, though. They are impossible to stop.
After a few minutes walking out in the waves, I taught Nathan how to simply go with the waves and stop trying to resist them. Once we were out in the water, we could jump when the biggest of waves came and just enjoy them. We could swim with them and ride them into shore, and it was a lot more fun than trying to stop those strong waves or resist them.
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