There has seldom been a time in the United States when reaching the next generation for Christ was more difficult and less acceptable. We are at a point where we can no longer choose culture and Christ. We must often make the choice: culture or Christ.
This truth is seen increasingly in all major societal indicators. News writer and commentator Todd Starnes recently published an article that encompasses several recent stories about religious rights in America. These include the removal of Christian symbols from military chapels, regulations against speaking about God in the armed forces, charges against Christian bakers, photographers, and other similar occupations for asking Christians to violate their spiritual convictions and the Internal Revenue Service targeting Christian non-profit organizations involved in pro-life activities. Everywhere you look in the United States, speaking out for Christ is becoming less popular and, in some cases, criminally prosecutable.
Katherine Gloede, a student at Christian Leaders Institute, knows the importance of reaching out to the next generation. She recognizes that even in the educational system there is a constant push to choose culture over Christ. In a reflection paper in the class Sermon Construction and Presentation, she talked about her ministry to the girls in the youth group at her church.
Reaching the Next Generation for God Starts in the Church
It made my heart swell with joy when I saw the faces of these young teen girls just loving God, and wanting to be better for Him, and not just for themselves. A few of the girls that I teach had started to fall into the stereotypical high school drama that a lot of girls deal with. Between peer pressure on things like relationships, immodest dressing, drugs, and just all around discontent, I saw these girls start to fall. I know that God has bigger plans for them, so I made the point to try to cast my net, as well as I could to keep them from falling any farther.
I thought that the story of Esther would be a great topic to share with these girls. The book of Esther never mentions God, no one prays, no miracles happen, and the book is never even mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. It is as if God was on vacation during the time of Esther. The hero of the book is a Jewish young woman who hides her identity. And she’s not just any woman, but an orphaned girl who grew up to be so beautiful that the great King Xerxes chooses her as his bride!
Despite all this, Esther is instrumental in saving the Jews from certain genocide and succeeds in having all of her enemies destroyed in a bloodbath. It’s not exactly the type of story you read your kids at night. No one comes off looking good, and everyone has a hidden agenda. A story full of action, suspense, what’s not to like about the story itself. It’s a Hollywood producer’s dream!
The story of Esther seemed to be in perfect timing with everything going on around these girls. They feel like they don’t have anyone to lean on, that they are totally alone. But, just like these girls, Esther meets God, and she is totally transformed!
I know that I may not change the world just by myself, but I truly believe that I changed a few hearts and minds over those three weeks. It made it so much easier for me to write on subjects after that. So when it came time to write the first sermon in the class, I was excited for it!
Esther was a woman of faith who chose to be identified with God’s people in a time when they were under the most intense persecution. Even knowing the king’s edict that all Jews in the kingdom were to be killed, she came forward and identified herself to the king as one of the Jewish people. She could have trusted in her position as queen to deliver her from death. She likely could have been left alive in the palace while the rest of her people died throughout the kingdom. Yet, at great personal risk to herself, she believed it better to be identified with God’s people than to escape persecution for His name.
Katherine Gloede was empowered in her quest to reach the next generation as she took the class Sermon Construction and Presentation at CLI. In her reflection, she wrote:
Overall, this class really improved my public speaking skills, and made it easier for me to relate to my audience and keep them engaged on what I’m saying. Having a class within the class, on delivering the topic well, and keeping your audience involved really helped out as well. the videos that were used in order to demonstrate different preaching styles gave me pointers, but it didn’t limit me on what to say or how to say it.
If the United States’ current trend is to be reversed and religious freedom to once again exist in our society, we must inspire and motivate our young people to take a stand for Christ. Katherine understands the importance of teaching the youth in her church the importance of living for God, but each of us can have an impact on somebody for Christ. Each of us can take a stand, and teach those we know to do the same. We pray that God will turn our hearts and minds to Him, that we may stand firmly on the cross without wavering. We long for the day that the United States of America may once again be called “one nation, under God.”
Mentorship often seems to be a lost art. We send our youth to school, to church, and to various programs so they can be taught everything they need to know. With the advent of the internet, there is more information available faster today than ever before. Perhaps that’s part of the reason that mentoring young people has fallen by the wayside.
In Philadelphia, Malik Boyd sees this problem every day. He sees youth that are being shaped by the messages the media sends out. People are addicted to sex, violence, drugs, and just having a “good time.” Because the information and the messages are everywhere, even youth in the church are exposed and often swayed by the secular worldviews that prevail in society. He tells his story this way.
My name is Malik. I am currently living in Philadelphia, a city located on the Northeastern section of the United States. Ministry in my county is quite the journey. Some ministries in many other countries may consider the perils in which they face to be quite a challenge. Physical danger, having to hide in order to worship… these things clearly deserve the respect they demand as a danger. I believe however, in a country where church membership is rising, yet discipleship is waning, there lies an equal and present danger. In a nation full of options, media messaging can serve as the worst threat to Christianity. Especially with youth and those who are budding as new converts in Christ. Addressing their needs is my passion… my ministry.
Malik Realizes His Calling in Mentoring Young People
Malik didn’t fully realize his calling until several years after his young adult life. When he did experience God’s calling, he pursued it without hesitation.
I grew up in a small church in Northwest Philadelphia, attending church 4 days a week all of my childhood life. It was my first experience encountering God and corporate worship, however it was my post college years that served as my true introduction to the power of God and His ability to save. It was my “Road to Damascus” of sorts, where I found Him…and found my purpose.I am the founder of Malik Boyd Ministries, a organization that works with Christian ministry leaders and youth groups to develop life-changing mentorship programs for youth, Bible-related products, and other Christian resources for empowering the next generation of leaders. I am honored to serve as the Worship Champion for First African Baptist Church, in Philadelphia under the leadership of Pastor Terrence Griffith. Active beyond the four walls of church, I founded a program entitled MENtors, a mentoring program for at risk male youth. To date, MENtors has been successful at pairing youth with qualified, and passionate mentors, educating youth on opportunities.
Malik founded this ministry as a layman, albeit a layman who has always dreamed of preaching. As his ministry progressed, he saw the need for some more formal training in the knowledge of God’s word. This need led him to Christian Leaders Institute, and he quickly discovered that the training could be very effective.
CLI is strengthening my ability to minister with a layman’s level understanding of the Word. After my first three lessons alone, I found myself in hour long conversations with peers, and non believers, gaining more impact in my conversations about Christ through some of the suggestions and methods that CLI presented. I am convinced that CLI is great tool to help sharpen the iron of ministries across the globe.
Christian Leaders Institute is privileged to take part in mentoring young people in Philadelphia. We are privileged to have students like Malik Boyd who have a vision and calling from God to change their communities for Him. We pray that God will use this mentorship program to change the lives of young people throughout Philadelphia.
But there are many cities in the United States. There are thousands of cities in the world. Every one of those cities has young people in it, and most of those young people don’t have a mentor. In fact, most of them have probably never heard of a mentor! How great would it be if God raised up someone like Malik in every one of these cities! And just as great, every city in the modern world has some access to the internet. Soon, CLI could take part in mentoring young people in every city in the entire world for God.
Thomas Bush pushed the church away as a young man because he was too much in love with the ways of the flesh. For a long time he wanted nothing to do with the church, but a remarkable change in his life put him on a quest for free bible school training. Even more amazing are the results he experienced in his search for something that he believed couldn’t exist.
Thomas Bush experienced his spiritual birth in 1993 after years of living contrary to the word of God.
I was born again March 1993. My best friend and my ex partner in sin talked me into going to church with him after he was born again. I grew up going to Southern Baptist Churches were they preached fire and damnation, and pretty much all told me that I would be going to hell if I didn’t change my ways. I didn’t think too much of it because I was having too much of what I thought was fun living in sin. I never heard anything that moved me closer to God until I went to church with my friend that day. I was amazed by the Pastor. He was telling a story about Jesus that involved Peter. What was so amazing is that for the first time I learned something. I learned that Jesus did not come just to send me to hell. Although it took a second service the following week for me to be born again, that first day God showed me a lot about him, what he is really about, and that’s to bring all to salvation. 21 years later, he’s led me to the city of Sacramento and CLI to teach and preach the gospel.
After growing up for years hearing that God wanted to send him to hell and would not hesitate to do so if he strayed from the path at all, Thomas was disenchanted with church. He was sure that he would never want to go back, but God had a plan for him. God reached out to his best friend. And when his best friend experienced a spiritual birth, he was so excited about it that he wanted to share it with Thomas. Like “doubting” Thomas in the Bible, Thomas Bush was reluctant to believe that church could be all that his friend claimed. Yet his friend’s persistence won him over, and Thomas found himself in a place he never expected to be again: church.
This is where the real miracle starts. As Thomas puts it:
When my wife and I where married, she told me of a dream she had, in here dream I was a Pastor and she was First Lady. I joke with her and asked her not to dream that one again. At the time we were not going to church, and finally I was asked at my church to read the scriptures during church service’s. They started to ask me to more and started to call me Pastor. They would not stop no matter what I said. I prayed about it God spoke to me. He didn’t let me use anymore excuses.
As amazing as all this is, Thomas’s story continues. He desperately needed to follow the Lord’s calling, so he started to look at Bible colleges. To his dismay he found that all of them were beyond his financial means. How could he find the training that God was calling him to without the finances to attend a Bible school? Thomas could do nothing but pray, and the answer that he felt was not what he expected.
I started to look at bible colleges and found that I could not afford any of them. I asked the Lord what to do because I could not afford the cost, and he told me to Google free bible college. I didn’t think that would find free education anywhere.
Google free bible college? How would anyone be able to give free bible school training of the caliber that Thomas needed for his ministry training? Nevertheless, Thomas searched for a free Bible college as he felt called to do. What he found was both a surprise and a blessing to him.
That night he led me to CLI. At that point I took my calling seriously. This is was the first time that heard God and followed his direction with out any hesitation.
Thomas Bush Became a Better Leader Through CLI’s Free Bible School Training
Thomas Bush enrolled in Christian Leaders Institute over a year and a half ago. Since enrolling, he has taken over 14 classes in his pursuit of ministry excellence. In a short excerpt about his ministry that Thomas wrote some time ago, he shared the impact that he felt CLI had on his ministry and leadership ability.
My education at CLI has led me closer to God… …CLI has made me a better person and a more effective Christian Leader. I have attended CLI for 1 year 215 days, and in that time have learned more about God than I have in all my Life.
And Thomas has done much with his ministry training. He now brings the love and the power of Christ to the streets of Sacramento. It is a very challenging environment, as he writes:
We Minister in the City of Sacramento CA USA, in the inner city where it is very challenging. We feed the homeless and other needy families. We minister to gang members, drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes, and inner city youths. The biggest challenge is to change the minds and hearts of the people we encounter. [It is hard for them to understand] that they can change their lives though Christ Jesus, that God forgives and forgets sin, and that they need to have faith in his promise.
As I reflect on this story, I see a man that God had great plans for. I see a man who could not escape God’s plans for his life even when he tried. Now he embraces the plans that God has for him with his whole heart.
Remarkably, though, I also see one of an army. Thomas Bush, in all the great things he is doing and will do for the gospel of God, is one man in an army of soldiers that God is raising up in the world today. It is my dream, my vision, and my privilege to help provide these men and women with the training they desperately need.
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