Post by Jesse Morrell on Jul 23, 2005 0:40:53 GMT -5
SKATE PARK OUTREACH
They all stopped skating and listened
Saturday June 18th
Take the liberty to forward this or print it off to give away, share however the
Lord leads.
There is a group here on the Teen Mania campus called "Terra Nova" which is a student leadership group. They organized an outreach at the local Tyler Skate Park.
Posters were put up all over town, flyers were given out to youth groups, and it was put in the local paper as well as on the local radio.
At first there was going to be a drama team and a step team. But at the last minute the drama team had to pull out because they couldn't get a ride and didn't have enough people.
At the park there were maybe 20 of us from Teen Mania and then 40 or so skaters. It was perfect weather for skating so many people came out there to skate on a day that wasn't too hot. There was an entire youth group that went to the "Skate Complex" instead of the "Skate Park" which was unfortunate, but I figured maybe the Lord wanted them to do ministry there so we could cover both areas at the same time.
A group went around door to door inviting people to come and then around 3 we started with the step team. We asked a few skaters if they thought anyone would mind if they performed right in the middle of the skate park on one of the large ramps. They said go for it. We made an announcement and the team went there to do their performance. Everyone stopped skating and watched.
After the performance a brother named Drew gave his testimony. Drew has been saved a year and was saved from drugs etc. The entire skate park just listened, except for one kid who obviously didn't like us being there. He continued to skate and when Drew mentioned hell the guy said "stop it, your scaring us." Drew quickly responded with "you should be scared, hell is a real place."
After the testimony I gave a salvation message. And again everyone listened except for a few people who started skating. After talking about sin, death, and judgment I spoke on my favorite topic; the new birth! "If you're born once you will die twice. If you're born twice you will die once. You must be born-again. It's not that you become a better person, but that you become a new person. It's not that you merely change your life, but that you receive a new life! You get new hands to replace those hands that love to hold sin. You get new feet to replace those feet that are quick to run to do evil. You get a new heart to replace that heart that takes so much pleasure in iniquity. Have you had such a radical, extreme encounter and experience with God that has changed your life so dramatically that the only terminology you could possibly use to describe it is; a new birth?"
I really felt the Spirit of the Lord was there and that people were being touched. I explained how the bible has the answers to some of the hardest questions of life, "questions which I know all of you have thought about at one point or another".
After the message it was time to do one2one witnessing. The older crowd was harder. One kid who said "Yea I'm a Christian, but I want to live only for myself. Why live for others who don't care at all about you?" He also admitted that he valued happiness more then holiness. I reasoned and talked for quite some time on repentance and selfless living and encouraged him to read his bible.
What was really encouraging was a 12 year old kid named Kyle. He came up to me and said he really enjoyed the sermon. I asked him some questions and found out he had no assurance of salvation. He said that he went through some religious ceremony as a child and thought he might go to heaven because of that. I took him through the Law and he saw himself as a sinner deserving hell. I then explained how wonderful God is by sending His Son to die in his place and then explained how amazing the new birth is.
"You've never had that experience have you?" I asked to which he said "No". "But I know you would like to have that experience wouldn't you?" to which he responded "Yes". I'm not going to give you a few quick and easy steps to becoming a new person. I can't do anything for you. Only God can make you a new person. Kyle, seek after God with all your heart and tell Him you want to be born-again, and He'll do it for you." He was very excited to do that, we later gave Kyle a bible and his older brother also prayed for salvation!
It truly was a blessed event. God is good, God is great!
They all stopped skating and listened
Saturday June 18th
Take the liberty to forward this or print it off to give away, share however the
Lord leads.
There is a group here on the Teen Mania campus called "Terra Nova" which is a student leadership group. They organized an outreach at the local Tyler Skate Park.
Posters were put up all over town, flyers were given out to youth groups, and it was put in the local paper as well as on the local radio.
At first there was going to be a drama team and a step team. But at the last minute the drama team had to pull out because they couldn't get a ride and didn't have enough people.
At the park there were maybe 20 of us from Teen Mania and then 40 or so skaters. It was perfect weather for skating so many people came out there to skate on a day that wasn't too hot. There was an entire youth group that went to the "Skate Complex" instead of the "Skate Park" which was unfortunate, but I figured maybe the Lord wanted them to do ministry there so we could cover both areas at the same time.
A group went around door to door inviting people to come and then around 3 we started with the step team. We asked a few skaters if they thought anyone would mind if they performed right in the middle of the skate park on one of the large ramps. They said go for it. We made an announcement and the team went there to do their performance. Everyone stopped skating and watched.
After the performance a brother named Drew gave his testimony. Drew has been saved a year and was saved from drugs etc. The entire skate park just listened, except for one kid who obviously didn't like us being there. He continued to skate and when Drew mentioned hell the guy said "stop it, your scaring us." Drew quickly responded with "you should be scared, hell is a real place."
After the testimony I gave a salvation message. And again everyone listened except for a few people who started skating. After talking about sin, death, and judgment I spoke on my favorite topic; the new birth! "If you're born once you will die twice. If you're born twice you will die once. You must be born-again. It's not that you become a better person, but that you become a new person. It's not that you merely change your life, but that you receive a new life! You get new hands to replace those hands that love to hold sin. You get new feet to replace those feet that are quick to run to do evil. You get a new heart to replace that heart that takes so much pleasure in iniquity. Have you had such a radical, extreme encounter and experience with God that has changed your life so dramatically that the only terminology you could possibly use to describe it is; a new birth?"
I really felt the Spirit of the Lord was there and that people were being touched. I explained how the bible has the answers to some of the hardest questions of life, "questions which I know all of you have thought about at one point or another".
After the message it was time to do one2one witnessing. The older crowd was harder. One kid who said "Yea I'm a Christian, but I want to live only for myself. Why live for others who don't care at all about you?" He also admitted that he valued happiness more then holiness. I reasoned and talked for quite some time on repentance and selfless living and encouraged him to read his bible.
What was really encouraging was a 12 year old kid named Kyle. He came up to me and said he really enjoyed the sermon. I asked him some questions and found out he had no assurance of salvation. He said that he went through some religious ceremony as a child and thought he might go to heaven because of that. I took him through the Law and he saw himself as a sinner deserving hell. I then explained how wonderful God is by sending His Son to die in his place and then explained how amazing the new birth is.
"You've never had that experience have you?" I asked to which he said "No". "But I know you would like to have that experience wouldn't you?" to which he responded "Yes". I'm not going to give you a few quick and easy steps to becoming a new person. I can't do anything for you. Only God can make you a new person. Kyle, seek after God with all your heart and tell Him you want to be born-again, and He'll do it for you." He was very excited to do that, we later gave Kyle a bible and his older brother also prayed for salvation!
It truly was a blessed event. God is good, God is great!