by: Emily Carstens & Joshua Rarrick
Wednesday marked a turning point in Teen Convention. The final evening service of the convention was held, and decisions were made throughout the day that many people had been putting off.
The 9:00 AM service for the teens included great music, fun contests, and hard preaching. Bro. Jeff Lines brought a message on building walls to keep out enemies. This further builds on the messages brought earlier in the week by Dr. Allen Domelle and Dr. Bob Gray II.
Bro. Lines had a load of bricks delivered to help illustrate his point to the teens. He stated that each time you are tempted in life, you are handed a brick. The title of his message was “Build a Wall, Not a Bridge.” He said that when you’re handed a brick in life, you have the option to either use it to build a wall or a bridge.
The story he used to illustrate his point was of a small island settlement. One night, the island was attacked by an evil king from the mainland. An old man in the village had foreseen the attack and had secretly built boats and planned an escape for the entire village. He brought the villagers to the boats, and saved their lives.
Once the king was gone, they returned to their village. Several months later, the lookout spotted a single boat with one man in it approaching their island. He was waving a flag of truce, so they welcomed him to the village. He explained that he was an emissary of the king, and that the king had a change of heart regarding the tiny village.
The man said that the king wanted to help the villagers market the tools they knew how to make. He offered to supply them with bricks to build a bridge to the mainland, so they could easily move their wares. The old man warned the village not to accept the offer, but the leaders felt that it would benefit them.
So, construction on the bridge began. The old man watched the young men work as he warned them to use the bricks to build a wall, not a bridge. Shortly after the bridge was completed, the king marched his army across and took the whole village captive. The old man watched as all the able bodied people were chained and led away.
Bro. Lines asked the teens to take the bricks that they were handed in life and use them to build a wall to protect themselves, rather than a bridge to justify doing wrong. Many decisions were made, and God began to work in a mighty way among the hearts in the room.
The rest of the day also held much more, as Emily Carstens points out for us:
9:00 AM, once again, came too early for most people. Noisemakers were given away for the second day in a row. Bro. Bob started out the service with a few choruses before the teen guys trio sang. Following their special, Bro. Forgy hosted a game in which there were two participants from each team. One person in each pair was blindfolded. The person who was not blindfolded had to eat a specific type of food, then blow in the face of the blindfolded person. The blindfolded person was to tell what kind of food it was by the smell of the person’s breath.
At 9:30, the youth workers were dismissed from the auditorium to the youth workers session to hear Bro. Danny Ortiz, the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Fundamental in Lewisville, Texas, while the teenagers enjoyed a sermon presented by Bro. Jeff Lines.
Bro. Ortiz shed new light on a familiar parable, the parable of the prodigal son. He explained that parable as the parable of the loving father, not of the disobedient son. In his message, Bro. Ortiz emphasized that if a youth leader still has the heart strings of a wayward teenager, that teenager may be brought back by something as simple as sweet memories.
Bro. Ortiz had three main points. First, the rebellion of a teenager starts in the heart. Second, the repentance of the child was shown. When the teenager looks back on what he has done, he will realize that he did something that he never thought he would do. Third, the father rejoiced to see his prodigal son home. Bro. Ortiz ended by stating that youth leaders must be willing to accept any stones thrown at them for accepting back the wayward teenager.
At 10:30, Bro. Ortiz preached to mainly the men in the auditorium. He preached on, “The Call of a Man of God.” He stated that it is their responsibility to answer God’s call, and that great responsibility will come with the call. God moved and thirteen teenagers and young adults surrendered to the call of being a preacher.
A special invitation was held for only those thirteen men. Bro. Bob had all the men kneel at the altar. He then asked the youth pastors and pastors who were present to pray with each of the men in a pre-ordination service setting.
The 7:00 service started off with the Teen Ensemble singing a song called, “A Prisoner of Hope”, illustrating that once someone is freed from the bondage of sin that he will be bound by the prison of hope from which he can never escape. After the contest and a few choruses, the Wednesday night offering was taken up. After the offering the chorale came out and sang “Jesus is my Joy.” The Men of Revival then sang two songs, “Hymn Praise Medley” and “The Next Step.” Mrs. Kelly Gray continued singing about Jesus with the songs, “Never the Same” and “The Reason I Sing.”
Bro. Bob presented the thirteen men who surrendered to God’s call to preach with a Certificate of Intent. This is meant to be a reminder that they have been set apart by God for a purpose.
After the singing, Bro. Bob got up to deliver the night’s message. He preached a powerful message on, “My Spirit shall not always Strive with Man.” He first mentioned that the Spirit will strive with man for two reasons. One reason is that the person needs to be saved. The other reason is that the person is saved, but he needs to get right.
Bro. Bob then outlined the progression a person goes through for the Spirit to stop striving with that person’s spirit through the preaching he hears. He fights through someone trying to be personal. Concluding that a person will reject wisdom, and wisdom will reject that person.
Bro. Bob then gave two simple points. The first point was that if the Spirit was striving with you to not fight Him. The second point he drove home was to always be a Christian who yields. God worked and people made many decisions. Approximately 10 people made the most important decision of their life. That decision was to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.
His simple illustration of a rope tied to a young man to explain the tugging of the Holy Spirit on our hearts was compelling. By using the illustration and fully explaining how God works through our hearts, he was able to show everyone in the auditorium exactly how we can either be pulled closer to God, or struggle to move away from Him.
One testimony was shared by Frantzlou Daphnis of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia. This was his first Teen Convention to attend. He said that the week has been great. He also was able to meet new people and make new friends. He has made many decisions this week that will impact his life forever. The biggest decision being that he surrendered to the call to be a man of God.
Many lives have been changed this week. With only two more services to go, the week is winding down. Many life-changing decisions were made today. Please pray that many more decisions are made on the final day and that if anyone is resisting God’s leading to make the decision and yield to the Spirit.