Spiritual renewal could start with teens, Ross says
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___ARLINGTON--God used young people through the centuries to bring about great revivals, and "something is up" with this new generation of youth, according to Richard Ross.
___Ross, professor of youth ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, spoke twice during Youth
Ministry Conclave Nov. 5-7 in Arlington. Almost 1,000 people attended the event sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The professor encouraged youth ministers to go home and tell young people that their age group "has been at the center of God's purposes at so many times in history and he might, might be preparing to do that again."
___It could be that God will use this new generation to lau
nch revival again, Ross said.
___God "primarily has gone to young people to be a source of revival," Ross said. He cited examples dating back to the Old Testament of how God worked through youth.
___The First Great Awakening in America started with the young people, Ross said. And the Second Great Awakening "centered on college campuses." Also, a "global awakening" in 1904 started when a 14-year-old girl gave a "simple testimony" to a "little rag-tag" group of youth in Wales, he added.
___"It is possible you ... are ministering to another revival generation," Ross told the youth workers.
___He cited several "hints" of this:
___ Young people are worshipping more fervently than they did just a few years ago. "They know exactly what they're singing about," he said.
___ They're also praying, Ross said, citing the See You At The Pole effort that has spread around the world. As a result, many Christian students now see their campus as "my mission field."
___ The "purity movement" is making a lasting impact. The True Love Waits emphasis, which Ross pioneered, is not a "motivational gimmick," he said. Rather, teenagers are "taking a public stand for purity."
___ High school students "want to do something for God now," not 10 to 15 years in the future.
___While so much potential for spiritual change is possible with today's teens, they face major problems in their homes.
___"This crop of parents" has gotten so preoccupied with their careers, possessions, failing marriages and social lives that "they have turned their attention away from their children," Ross said. "They have gotten distracted."
___Other parents are so "fixated" on good behavior and Christian living that their "warmth and intimacy has simply evaporated," he added. They have chosen to "withdraw their love" because of bad behavior by their children.
___As a result, youth "are reeling with the effects of a broken heart connection" with their parents, Ross said. That separation causes pain.
___"To make the sting stop," teenagers "decide my parents are not going to be as important to me as they used to be," Ross explained. They push their parents away; and in doing that, they push away the faith and values of their parents.
___The vacuum in a teenager's life is then filled with something else, he warned. They typically embrace their peers and the culture. And these teens eventually will take their pain into "disastrous" marriages, he predicted.
___The tragedy of Sept. 11, however, has created an opportunity, as many people are re-examining their lives and their values, Ross said. "The window is open. The window will close."
___He asked the youth workers to "consider the possibility" God is calling them to do something to bring change to homes.
___Ross offered four challenges:
___ To lead parents of teenagers to intercede in prayer for their kids.
___ To prepare parents to "teach their own children the truth," where they, not the youth minister, become the primary spiritual instructors.
___ To challenge parents to model truth.
___ To prepare parents to "rebuild the broken heart connections with their kids."
___In another Conclave session, Greg Matte spoke of the importance of abiding in Christ.
___"Christian ministry is not hard. Christian ministry is not difficult. (But) Christian ministry is impossible unless we abide in Christ," said the director of Breakaway Ministries in College Station.
___Such abiding implies a "desperate dependence" on God, Matte said. "When my dependence is great, so is my prayer."
___It also indicates a person is "restfully resident ... in who you are in Jesus Christ," he said. If young people "can't see our identity in Jesus," they will not want it for themselves.
___When a person abides in Christ, he will produce five types of fruit, Matte said--Christian character, good works that often are unseen, leading of others to Christ, thanking God through worship and giving money.
___Mike Satterfield, minister to youth at Westbury Baptist Church in Houston, spoke about the problem of pride in ministry.
___The opposite of faith is ego, Satterfield said. And ego "edges God out ... before he gets a chance to exercise his muscles."
___A prideful minister wants a large youth group, "a place full of faces," Satterfield said. Or he will want "spiritually obese" students who have "swollen heads" with religious facts.
___God, on the other hand, "is calling us ... to ministries that are deep with mega-loving" and that are "large enough to cause the demons of hell to fear and tremble," Satterfield said.
___Citing the Old Testament story of Midian, Satterfield said, "God downsizes in order to get quality out of your walk. ... On the stage of your heart, God says, 'Let me reign.'"
___Tommy Wallis, assistant principal at Rockwall High School near Dallas, talked to youth workers about what they can and cannot do on public school campuses. He said the key is to build a relationship with school administrators.
___"It's a slow process. Be patient, build that rapport, build that relationship," he said.
___The Texas Education Code states that students have the right to "individually, voluntarily and silently pray or meditate in the school as long as it does not disrupt instruction or any school activity," Wallis said.
___Principals decide if something is a disruption.
___The code also allows a school to "protect the welfare of the students" and to "refuse entry to any person without legitimate business," Wallis said.
___"You need to be friends" with the principals, he said.
___Wallis warned youth ministers not to do certain things on campus. Don't pass out candy or food, don't preach and don't pass out flyers or literature, he warned.
___
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