YOUTH GROUP EXPLODING!
In our
last newsletter we mentioned that God was beginning to do a new thing in
the area of “focusing on the youth” of the island. We told you of the
youth group that He was forming by drawing teenagers to the church. Well,
God has turned up the heat. It started with 15 or so unexpected teens,
then 30, then 45 and so-on. Well in September, when Jimmy became the
pastor, God began doing something really wonderful. He not only continued
to draw more youth, but He also began to form a coalition of youth workers
to care for HIS youth group. The youth ministry is being hosted by First
Assembly of God, however, the youth ministry is of, by, and for
the entire island. As of now, this partnership youth outreach is comprised
of 18 leaders--none of whom take individual credit or ownership of the
mission, and this has become a Friday night all-age youth group with the
numbers nearing 200!
The children range from kindergarteners to seniors in
high school. We are using the new school bus that MM helped get for David
Harding, and the church is now having to hire 3 additional school busses
as well! The children stand on the side of the road and flag down the
drivers as the busses make their way to Salt Pond from the very northern
and southern ends of the 75 mile-long island.
The children are broken up into 4 age groups, with
members of the team working with each group for two and a half hours on
Friday nights.
Rick and Sandy are part of the high-school-aged team,
Reuben is part of the 5th and 6th grade team, and Deb is part of the 3rd
and 4th grade team. Each week we spend hours in preparation for youth
night. We work out skits and songs, games and activities, poignant talks
with dramatic hands-on illustrations.
We are beginning to see salvations and numbers of
children coming forward for specific prayer.
This group is where we believe that we will get our
future missionaries. Please pray that we will have wisdom, resources, and
the Holy Spirit’s power as we “focus on the youth”.
