May 13, 2002

Billy Graham's Metroplex Mission
looks for impact with younger crowd
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___IRVING--Youth ministers are crucial to the success of the Metroplex Mission with Billy Graham, about 500 youth workers were told at a May training session.
___"We are hoping to show you over these next weeks and months that this is not your grandfather's Billy Graham crusade, but a tool for you to reach young people," Mission Director Scott Lenning told the crowd gathered in the Stadium Club at Texas Stadium.
___Graham's Metroplex Mission is slated for Texas Stadium Oct. 17-20. The Saturday night program, Oct. 19, is directed toward youth and young adults.
___Contemporary Christian musicians dc Talk and Kirk Franklin will present a concert that evening before Graham preaches.
___Toby McKeehan of dc Talk explained the mandate from Graham's wife, Ruth, this way: "You boys fill the pond, and Billy goes fishing."
___Music that appeals to younger audiences has not always been part of the Billy Graham crusades, Lenning said. But this is a night youth ministers can point their ministries toward, he suggested.
___The Saturday night program should not be used merely as a free concert for the church youth group to attend, he urged. Rather, youth ministers should see it as a hook to reach non-Christian youth.
___"One of our great concerns is that with the church population in this area that we could fill that stadium for four nights just with people from churches," he said. "That's not what we are here to do."
___Although not of the younger generation himself, Graham takes the youth night seriously, Lenning said. "He's looking at that Saturday night as possibly the most important night of ministry we'll have here."
___Mark Whittaker, director of Youth Outreach Network, urged the youth leaders to get their youth involved in the Christian life and witness classes that will be held in August and September. The discipleship courses can be the bedrock of the future youth ministry, he told them.
___"This is probably the most important part of the whole thing," Whittaker said. "Other than the converts, this is the only thing that will remain when the lights go out at the Billy Graham crusade."
___He also stressed the importance of using the Saturday evening of the mission for outreach. More than 5,000 people made first-time commitments to Christ when the musician Carman filled Texas Stadium with 72,000 people for a concert, Whittaker noted.
___The number of spiritual commitments could have been 10,000 or more if the stadium had been filled with non-Christians, he said. "Let's fill this place with lost kids."
___Whittaker also urged the youth ministers to bring their youth groups to the Ignite the Flame rally Aug. 11. "When your kids come here and pray and then 80,000 kids come here because of their prayers, that's a life-changing event," he said. "You can't buy that. That's the kind of thing that sends people to the mission field."
___For more information about the upcoming event, visit www.metroplexmission.org.

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