By: Emily Carstens & Joshua Rarrick
This year’s teen convention at Longview Baptist Temple may very well be the catalyst of something big for Christians across the nation. Young people and youth workers from across the nation were in attendance, and for many of them, their lives will never be the same again.
With hard preaching, encouraging music, and a theme of being a prisoner of the Lord, the conviction throughout the week was heavy. Many decisions to follow Christ and become more holy were made, as well as 13 young men standing up and committing themselves to become men of God.
The youth of today is the leadership of tomorrow, and Teen Convention 2013 has definitely given these future leaders a strong base to build on. With youth workers, church members, and teenagers all in attendance, God moved upon hearts and worked in the lives of hundreds of young people this past week.
Emily Carstens has a recap of the messages for us, detailing some of what was heard by the youth groups from as far away as Georgia and Kansas this week:
From the first song to the last “Amen,” God was moving the whole week of Teen Conviction 2013. The week was full of powerful sermons affecting not only the teenagers, but also youth workers and LBT church members. Every sermon helped to reinforce the theme of the week that being a prisoner of the Lord is the greatest decision a person can make.
Monday night, “Bro. Bob,” as he asked to be called throughout the week, spoke on, “There Arose a Generation Who Knew not the Lord.” In it, he emphasized that if the teenagers wanted the generations following them to know about Jesus Christ, then it was up to them.
On Tuesday morning, Bro. Domelle built on Bro. Bob’s sermon from the night before with his sermon, “Changing Your World.” He drove home the fact that changing the world will only come about by changing your own world. Tuesday night, Bro. Bob preached a moving sermon on, “What does your Donkey see?” He drew an analogy between how Baalam acted toward his donkey and how a teenager acts toward their leaders and parents. This particular sermon led many people to make things right with their parents and leaders. A few teenagers even left during the sermon to make things right.
Wednesday morning, Bro. Ortiz preached a sermon on, “The Call of a Man of God.” He gave his testimony about his call to the ministry and encouraged the young men to answer the call. Thirteen young men answered that call and surrendered to be a man of God.
Wednesday night, Bro. Bob preached one last sermon, “My Spirit shall not always strive with Man.” He elaborated that the Spirit will strive for someone to get saved and for someone to get right. He pleaded with the teenagers to heed to the Spirit before it is too late. As a result of this powerful sermon, approximately ten people trusted Christ as their personal Saviour and many more heeded to the Spirit’s striving to get right.
Thursday morning which came all too quickly finished out the week with Dr. Bob Gray, Sr. delivering his sermon entitled, “Let Baal speak for Baal.” Dr. Gray illustrated that many children of God, instead of commending people for getting rid of worldly things from their life will go on a crusade for those same things. Dr. Gray charged the teenagers to back up their fellow teens in decisions they make for God and to let the things of this world speak for themselves.
The entire week was a life-changing experience for many people. People trusted Christ for salvation, surrendered to God’s call, and simply made decisions to become a prisoner of the Lord rather than of the world. Please pray for everyone, as they are now back home, that they will keep to their decisions and continue growing in the Lord.