Greetings Youth Commission members!
This update features several encouraging reports we thought that you might enjoy. Since the next several months may include exciting youth events, please keep us updated about what the Lord may be doing in your part of the world!
Global Day of Prayer Report from Etienne Piek, Youth Prayer Coordinator
“With 198 countries involved in the Global Day of Prayer on 4 June 2006, we stand in awe before our God! Never ever has there been a prayer meeting involving so many hundreds of millions of Christians on one single day across the globe. If we truly believe that there is power in prayer, we can expect amazing things to happen in the coming months. God is really raising up an army who will change the destiny of our nations.
“We had an awesome day in South Africa with Christians from 624 towns and villages praying at more than 800 venues. It was also amazing to see the involvement of the youth. We had one youth event in Cape Town with 3,000 young people. It was an awesome night of radical worship and intercession, this generation crying out to God for the healing of the nations. Together with this we had more than 200 Boiler Rooms running in our country for 10 Days leading up to Pentecost Sunday. Kids in more than 1,000 schools did the 30-Second Kneel Down and thousands were involved and still are in different compassion outreaches in their communities. The reports are coming in now and it is so encouraging to hear what God is doing in nations like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and many others. May this encourage us for the future!”
India YC Coordinator goes to jail and court for prayer service.
On Saturday, June 24, two police officers forced their way into a praise and prayer service led by Shavez Williams, our national Youth Commission Coordinator in India. The officers rudely interrupted the meeting, damaged equipment, ridiculed the participants, and detained Shavez in a jail cell until 1:30 a.m. Shavez called for prayer and filed a complaint with judicial officials. In a follow-up email, Shavez shares how God turned this trial into a great blessing:
“I want to share the good news that God has once again been faithful to His Word! I am reminded of the passage that says, ‘They that trust the Lord shall never be put to shame’! Yesterday God gave us the victory when I went to the Patiala House Court for the hearing of my case! It was really amazing to feel the prestige we have to stand in court for his glory and righteousness! It was indeed awesome! Although the Magistrate arrived a half an hour late, he immediately started working on the case! The moment he picked up my file and went through it, he grinned absurdly!
“The police representative spoke up saying that we were doing a program at the school which was a disturbance to which I responded boldly by stating exactly what had happened. I took the liberty and the boldness to pour out my heart before the judge to which he intently listened without interrupting. To my amazement, after my testimony, the judge spoke out, “Would you like to press charges against the police for their actions?” My immediate response was “No! I forgive them!” The Judge immediately marked the file CLOSED!! How strange and fast are the ways of the Lord at times! Amazing!
“Another funny and amazing thing: We went back to the Police station to pick up our sound system. The moment the police saw us, they immediately ordered tea and snacks and gave us a hearty reception! This time they were so different. The Senior Inspector and sub inspector immediately started apologizing for all that had happened and gave their personal contact numbers for any future help we needed on anything! They said, “Sir, why did you have to take the case to the DCP & the ACP? We could have managed it together!” My response was, ‘We went higher than that! That changed the whole case, but I love you all because God loved us!” Praise God! They immediately released our equipment and helped out in loading all our stuff into my car and saw us off until we passed the gate.”
African Games Lead Many to Christ. Report from Solomon Gacece:
“Praise God for a week (12th to 17th June 2006) of action and blessings with TeenGames and KidsGames in Nakuru Town 150km west of Nairobi, Kenya.
“On the final day KidsGames (6 to 14 yr olds) had a total of 400 children participating in Football, Netball, Water-Bucket, Tug-of-war, 10×12 Race and the Obstacle Race.
“Week days visits were made to secondary schools (14 to 18 yr olds) for games, drama/skits and testimonies for Gospel Outreach. A total of 1167 students were reached within the week and 138 students received Christ as their personal Savior.
“Flamingo Primary School with a population of 1200 students was visited on Thursday 15th. Many children put up their hands wishing to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. At the end, the teachers who are born again took over the responsibility of discipling them and having weekly
Bible Studies with them to help them grow spiritually.
One of the Kenya Daily Newspapers interviewed me and covered our story in great detail.”
USA Today includes an article about short-term missions.
On June 18, USA Today featured a brief article reporting that 1.6 million Americans took mission trips abroad last year, according to a survey by Robert Wuthnow, Princeton University sociologist of religion. The article contained interesting commentary on the pros and cons of short-term missions. It quoted David Livermore who will be one of our presenters at the Youth Missions Forum January 15-17, 2007.
We are hoping you are planning to be with us for that meeting and the related Youth Commission meeting held prior to it, January 14-15. We are attaching an invitation with details about the Missions Forum. If you have any trouble opening the invitation, please let us know, recommending how we should send it.
SKYPE – We want to arrange a Conference Phone Call—at no cost.
We are asking everyone to sign up for SKYPE in order to improve our communications. We could talk “live” on a very clear connection, between meetings — but we just need you to download SKYPE and send us your number. Just go to www.skype.com for free download and directions. If you have difficulty, please let us know, and we’ll try to help. So far we have no numbers for:
– Solomon Gacece
– Ef Tendero
– Grahame Knox
– Jorge Zuniga
Again, we love to hear reports of what God is doing in your Youth Commission. Praise God for all He is doing and please keep praying for each of us!
Paul Fleischmann and Daryl Nuss
WEA Youth Commission
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