On Friday night I volunteered to help with the alter call at Courage 2 Stand put on by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting at Killian Middle School which has the largest FCA group in the nation! This is there 5th year to do this. I didn't really know what to expect. I tried to remember what we did when I was in middle school at a private, Christian school all those years ago. We were always having alter calls and signing purity cards and things like that, but I had never seen it done in a public school and I had never been the volunteer leading students in prayer. I was always the student rededicating my life.2 Timothy 3:1-17"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people."
He said this generation is here now and they are our teenagers. They are rude to their parents and teachers and all authority and are not thankful for anything. He said, "You can't say 'thank you' when I hand you a pen and a paper?!" We have seen a serious rise in juvenile delinquents who are violent to society. He said the Bible is talking about this generation and it is the older generation's fault for creating them. He said he has 8 siblings and his Momma spanked each and every one of them and non of them ended up in jail and they all preach the gospel for His Kingdom. He challenged parents to rise up and take charge and stop being so weak.This reminded me of the book No Fear: A Police Officer's Perspective on Kids with No Fear, Parents with No Control, and Violence with No End
"They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."
Mr. Wallace said their are 4 things the Devil is using to get into our minds to keep us separated from God: television, Internet, music and advertising. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” Philippians 4:8, NIV
Mr. Wallace said that his Momma used to tell him if you lay down with dogs you are going to get fleas!
"You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
He said there are 3 things that determine who you are and how far you will make it in this world: skill set, mind set and friends. He challenged the young people to choose their friends wisely to be bold in standing up for what they know is right. The chooses you make as a young teenager will effect you for the rest of your life. Garbage in, Garbage out. Romans 12:2 - Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Then, this public school teacher, went on to talk about Separation of Church and State. He said, "How can I separate myself from myself?! That would be kind bipolar and freaky! I am a Christian on Sunday at church and I am still a Christian on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at school!! When your friend gets hurt and is headed to the nurse offer to pray over them. Be yourself. Stand for Christ!"
Oh it was so good. I wish I could remember it all. So then when we has done talking he ask everyone who wanted to know more about Christ or rededicate their life to raise their hand someone would put a card in it. This was an amazing sight! Lots of hands went up and their were tears all over the place. There were actually more boys than girls that came in the other gym to pray and there is nothing more moving than to see young, teenage boys weeping and crying over the love of Christ. I had never seen anything like it. I was a crying mess. I will definitely be volunteering to do this again.
After the students filled out their information cards I found a young lady to sit with. She wanted to rededicate her life. She said that Volleyball and other sports activities had kept her out of church and from reading her Bible and that her dad rides his bike on Sunday mornings so she didn't have a way to get there. We decided that she would talk to her dad about possibly riding on Saturday and she said the best time for her read her Bible was as soon as she got home from school. She said she wants to go to church so bad that she would even go to the adult service if she had to. :)
I received this email from one of the coordinators of this event:
The Holy Spirit was on the move last night! And, I think if I observed correctly, each of us had one person to talk to- Matt's desire was answered.
I talked to a little guy. He came down to rededicate his life to the Lord and he does this often because he is afraid that sin will separate him from God. I went over the assurance of salvation with him and then with big tears in his eyes he said, "my life is hard". He has crones disease and arthritis in both knees. His dad is an atheist and tells him repeatedly that there is "no God". He doesn't want to disrespect his father but he doesn't agree with him. His parents are divorced and you can see a boy trying to get some footing when the world is crashing and colliding around him. Matt and I prayed for his healing, in the Name of Jesus, and for the salvation of his father. Please pray for him.
There just is nothing better than sharing Christ! What an incredible night!! Be praying for these kids in these next crucial days! Pray for Mr. Wallace as well, sometimes the hardest days are those after an outreach/worship event like last night.
Love and blessing,
Julie
And another email I got:
Josh read a facebook message to me this morning that thanked him for encouraging her to attend last night she was saved because he invited her. Then she sent him blessing. Will get her name so we can pray for her. He said she has had a hard life. Wow God is great!!!! Pray for the Fca leaders.
So this whole experience has made me think about my own kids of course. I remember never really having to stand up for my faith in a private, Christian school. Everyone was standing. It was like opposite peer pressure.I feel like in my circle friends we kind of held each other accountable for being Godly women. However, I did witness some go kind of crazy after graduation. For the first time they were not in their Christan bubble, out from under their parent's thumb and they went wild. I want my kids to be in the world, but not of the world. I want my kids to still be standing when other's are sitting. I want my kids to be the ones inviting someone to an event like this. I want my kids to be the ones who share Christ with someone, pray over them in the hallway, and lead them to Christ. While parent peer pressure is going to want me to enroll my kids in as many sports as possible then to hon in on sport. Parent peer pressure tells me it is good for my kids to compete, specialize and excel in one or more sports. While I kind of want this for my kids, watching the events unfold before me that night helped me clearly focus on what my long term parenting goal is for my kids. I want them to be adding jewels to their heavenly crowns instead of medals around their necks.
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