Today, I Offer You No Hope

After our final drama piece at the detention center I walked up to the front of the room. Looking at each of the young men in their eyes I said these words, “Today, I offer you no hope. No hope whatsoever. I don’t promise you a better life. I offer you nothing.” It was silent in the room as I let a few seconds go by without saying a word and just looked at as many faces as I could. Then I said it one more time, “I offer you no hope… unless, you open up the door of your heart to hear what I have to say. Please for just a few moments listen to the most important message you will ever hear. Our team is not here because we feel sorry for you. We are here because we care about your eternal salvation.”

Then I began to speak to them about sin, God’s judgment for sin and finally God’s plan of forgiveness for their life if they repent and put their faith in God. When I was done speaking, my team and I went out into the crowd to pray for as many juveniles as we could.

As I finished praying for one young man another young man named Anthony called me over requesting to speak to me. With all sincerity he looked me in the eyes and said,"You guys came just for me. I thought I was the only person in the room you were talking to.” I spent about twenty minutes listening to him and encouraging him that no matter what happens in his life never to quit. Then I prayed for him and his situation because he was going to be released from the program soon.

I believe that this was a defining moment in this young man’s life. He was hungry to surrender his life over to God, to let go of the past and forgive everyone who wronged him. Please pray for Anthony as the Holy Spirit reminds you.

America Tour 2010

Before the tour we weren’t quite sure what the theme of the outreach would be, but towards the end it became apparent and was best described by a line in a song that one of our students wrote last fall. “You are God above it all. No matter the circumstance, You are still bigger than my hopelessness.”

Despite a majority of our team getting sick, narrowly missing tornadoes, media equipment being lost, and our external hard drive crashing which contained all of our recorded video and pictures from tour, the outreach proved that God was still God no matter the circumstances.

Time and time again throughout the tour we encountered hopeless situations. From the numerous girls who were addicted to cutting themselves to the single mother diagnosed with cancer and raising 4 children on her own, we had the humbling privilege to minister to so many people from many walks of life.

One of our most memorable experiences was the opportunity we had to pray for forty-eight teenagers in a detention center. Many of them came from broken homes with either no mother or father, and consequently their lives were filled with bitterness and poor choices.

Our team did an amazing job ministering 17 times within 20 days at several youth groups, churches, a food bank, Dallas detention center and on the streets of Oklahoma City. All in all we were able to reach approximately 3,000 people with the gospel.