A few months back we were in the middle of worship at our night service, and we started declaring God’s promises and singing of His love. He was tangibly present and I began to see in my minds eye these boys with snapbacks, I couldn’t see their faces, coming in from the street drawn in by Him (definitely not by the music, as I was playing guitar ;-)). Well I opened my eyes and we began to pray them in and you wouldn’t believe it, but standing at the doorway were these 5 young fellas. They were just staring at us. They walked away, but a few minutes later they came again to the doorway, peering in. We smiled and invited them in but they made some excuse they had to leave.
That was the last we saw of them… that night. I felt it wasn’t the end of us seeing them, and knew we should keep praying for them even though we did not know their names. These are the ones that we know Jesus loves. The ones He calls in. The ones He goes and finds.
It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that we saw the same boys again. We were already having a crazy night. On our bus run to pick up our regular mob, we stopped at one girl’s house and all her sisters and cousins were in town so they hopped on. The night was messy and great. We were nearing the end, when Ben my husband who was in the hall next to us ushered in these 4 boys. They came in boisterous and ready to disturb, but they volunteered for a game and we got them involved straight away.
Afterwards, they were asking who we were and what we were doing, when do we meet etc… But again we didn’t see them for a few weeks.
4 weeks ago they hailed down our bus on our way around. They wanted to come to youth. They came and joined in. The next week they were there again, but they brought a different boy with them who just wanted to cause trouble, so not long in they left.
The following week, the ringleader and one other small boy came without the others. I had a feeling that God was working on their hearts and they were keen to respond. Sure as anything, when the gospel message was shared they were the quickest to raise their hands in response. They wanted to become a part of God’s family.
We know it’s baby steps. There is a lot stacked against them. But I know our God is greater. I haven’t seen them again since that night yet, but I know that the seed is planted and that they said yes to Him.
Please pray for these boys. And the others like them. Alice, like many small towns has a reputation for the young people just walking the streets and getting up to all sorts of mischief. We know that God can break the cycle and give them hope.
I know the gospel is as relevant today as it has ever been. I know that smoke machines, and fancy music mean nothing when the presence of God is here. You could say it’s the context I am in, and that it won’t work in the big smoke, but I beg to differ. I have seen Him at work with my own eyes here and in the city. We don’t have much in the way of the fancy things that many say you ‘need’ to reach this generation, but we have everything we need, because we have Him. Never stop believing that He can and will do what He has purposed, if we just say yes!
Our youth having some fun
Centre Peace 