By: Emily Carstens & Joshua Rarrick
This year’s Teen Convention at Longview Baptist Temple has been a complete success, with many young men and women renewing their commitment to serve God. More than 10 people were saved through the hard preaching and heavy conviction that was presented by the Holy Spirit.
God moved in every service, convicting hearts of sin, bringing people to repentance, and encouraging young adults to step up and become the leaders of tomorrow’s church. The youths who came forward to announce God’s calling on their lives, accept Christ as their Saviour, and put aside sins that were hindering them will forever be changed by the experience they shared at the altar here this year.
Some of the stories we were able to watch unfold are simply amazing! Bro. Jonathan Painter is a Texas Baptist College graduate, a ministry of Longview Baptist Temple, from the class of 2013, and he is now the Youth Pastor of Lincoln Baptist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.
He and some of his youth group have shared their thoughts and experiences with us:
Bro. Painter, on the right, is very proud of his youth group, and says he expects to see changes in each of the members’ lives thanks to the hard preaching they heard here this year. He said he is looking forward to letting the Holy Spirit continue to work in the lives of the young men and women in his charge. Bro. Painter also noted that the sessions for the youth leaders were extremely helpful, and will help shape his leadership plans going forward. The lesson that most captured his attention was Bro. Danny Ortiz’ message on the prodigal son, and how it should have been named the story of the loving father. His favorite activity is dodgeball, and it’s probably a good thing the men and women play separately, or Elizabeth may have left a few marks on him.
Jennifer, the young lady on the right, told us that each message during the conference left her continually convicted. She says that she has realized that no one is too good to be convicted of sin in their life. She also mentioned that the kickball games organized for the young ladies were her favorite activity aside from the preaching.
Michelle, seen in the middle of the photograph, said that Bro. Bob’s sermon on, “What Does Your Donkey See?” left her strongly convicted regarding her treatment of authority figures in her life. She made a decision to improve her attitude towards those God places in authority over her. She also mentioned that kickball was her favorite sport during the convention.
Elizabeth, pictured on the far left, also credited Bro. Bob’s sermon with leaving her heart pierced with the knowledge that she needed to improve her attitude towards her leaders. Her favorite activity was dodgeball, which is hard to believe as she appears so non-threatening in this photo. Bro. Jonathan had better not make her mad when she has something small enough to throw in her hand!
Emily Carstens, seen in this photo proudly holding her uncle’s hand in “The Hole”, a place where people can have people sent during the service for the price of $5, has more on the rest of the day:
The final day of Teen Convention came too fast for most people. The 9:00 AM service started out with a few choruses led by Bro. John Robinson. He then handed the service over to Bro. Bob who gave a few announcements then allowed the teen ladies trio to sing, “Sweet Jesus.”
Bro. Forgy then came up and orchestrated the contest. The contest involved a guy putting his bare foot in a pan of ice water and picking up gummy worms with his toes one at a time. After they did that, Bro. Forgy offered points to anyone who would eat the same gummy worms. Surprisingly, it was mostly girls who ate the gummy worms.
After the contest, the youth workers were dismissed to the youth workers session in the fellowship hall with Dr. Bob Gray, Sr. The teenagers remained in the auditorium to listen to a message from Bro. Forgy. Dr. Gray preached a message entitled, “The Causes of Failure.” He pointed out that for every thing that happens there is a cause and effect. He listed ten items that can cause someone to fail.
Dr. Gray first mentioned that a lack of self-restraint, which is caused by a lack of confidence, can cause failure. He next said that wrong associations can cause failure as well as a know-it-all attitude. Laziness, excuses, and meddling in others business will also cause someone to fail. Gossiping, hatred, and an inability to face your own fault will lead someone to fail. Last of all, hoping someone else will fail is a cause of failure.
Next, Dr. Gray suggested six things when dealing with teenagers who are trying, but sometimes failing. He said to first of all pray for all of the teenagers in the youth group. Have a plan for them. Prepare answers for any questions the teenagers may have. Push them at the right time. Make sure that they understand the difference between a purpose and a position. Last of all, a youth leader needs to praise his teenagers at the right time.
After a short break, the second service started in the auditorium. After a few choruses, the teen ensemble sang for the last time. They sang, “Lord Lead Me.” The last contest of the conference was then played. Two people from each team were needed. One person had to break an egg on the other person’s forehead. The twist being that all the eggs would be hard-boiled, except for one which was raw. The person that kept from picking the raw egg won points for his team.
After the contest the Men of Revival sang, “He’s Still on the Throne” and “Just Pray.” Dr. Gray then approached the platform to preach the final sermon of Teen Conviction 2013. Using the story of Gideon as his basis, he preached a powerful sermon on, “Let Baal Speak for Baal.”
In the sermon, Baal was used to symbolize the things of the world that the children of God get caught up in. It was emphasized that the children of God should not defend Baal when Baal is attacked. Instead, they should let Baal speak for himself.
Many decisions were made the entire week of teen convention, as was evidenced by the tiny slips of paper lodged in the fence at the front of the auditorium. The different decisions included people trusting Christ as their personal Saviour, surrendering to be a man of God, and just simply making things right with parents and leaders. The most important thing for every person who made a decision to do is to stick to their decision and not let their friends at home make light of the decisions that were made. It was a great teen convention and everyone is looking forward to next year’s conference. The leaders of tomorrow are being groomed and prepared today, and Teen Convention is proof that the teaching of God’s Word is still alive and well in America.
For information on next years conference visit: http://teenconventionlbt.com/