Youth speaker wants to point students to real catalyst for change

Posted: 1/30/08

Youth speaker wants to point
students to real catalyst for change

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

SAN ANGELO—“Change” may be the buzzword of the moment among presidential candidates, but youth communicator Kevin Kirkland has spent the last five years telling students, “Jesus Christ is the only catalyst that exists for change in a lost world.”

Before he established an itinerant ministry in 2003, Kirkland served as a student minister. During that time, he sensed God calling him to develop a ministry that taps into young people’s desire to make a difference.

“Since surrendering my life to God’s call, he has given me a real passion for students. I believe them to be the most passionate and incredible group of people on earth, and I truly believe that revolution starts with them,” Kirkland said.

“My ministry and preaching is intentionally relational, and my expectation for students is extremely high. I am not an entertainer or professional speaker. I am simply a sinner saved by grace, qualified by a supernatural call and extremely compelled by Christ’s love to see the world come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

Kirkland, a member of PaulAnn Baptist Church in San Angelo, keeps a busy schedule with speaking engagements across the country, including what he calls Katalyst Weekends.

“Katalyst Weekends are not designed to be an in-depth study of just one particular topic, but to prompt students to take an honest look at whether or not they have truly given their life over to Jesus,” he said.

During Katalyst Weekends, Kirkland creatively communicates the gospel and spends time investing in the lives of students and adults.  One of his most memorable mo-ments took place during a small gathering in New Mexico when a parent’s life was changed.

“A couple of years ago, my team and I were at a Katalyst Weekend in a tiny—and I mean tiny—town in New Mexico,” he recalled. “On Saturday, we held an adult conference for parents of teenagers and community leaders. As we were starting the conference, a man came in the back door who looked like he had literally ridden his horse to the church. He sat in the back row, and from the look on his face, I figured he was not too happy about the challenge that I was putting before the adults.”

After the conference, Kirkland asked the host pastor about “the cowboy in the back row,” and he said the man’s family was falling apart at the seams.

The next morning, the man returned and sat in the same spot on the back row.

“About the third verse of the invitation song, the cowboy in the back row stood up and began to walk to the front,” Kirkland re-called.

“I was still a little nervous about his approach because I could literally hear his spurs clicking back and forth as he walked. With tears in his eyes, he came all the way to the front row and then made a deliberate, right turn and quickly knelt at the feet of his two young boys. In a moment of incredible humility, he grasped his two sons and pulled them close to himself.

“I have no idea what he said, but I know that God heard him. My heart was never the same. … God spoke to me right there in that moment. I was in the middle of nowhere, and there were no fancy posters on the wall with my name listed as the keynote speaker, but God found us. He heard the cries of a broken man, and he answered them. It was an awesome moment, and I live to see it more and more.”

In addition to Katalyst Weekends and other speaking engagements, Kirkland is leading a weekly Bible study for college students. Later this year, Kirkland’s ministry will open the Mattaw Children’s Village—an orphanage in Kitale, Kenya.

“Two of our past college team members are living there full-time, heading up the construction and ministry of Mattaw,” Kirkland said. “It is our dream that one day, we will play a huge part in not only housing the 1.9 million orphans of Kenya, but also discipling them to be strong, righteous followers of King Jesus.”

Kirkland says his favorite part of this ministry is making an impact on lives for the glory of God.

“I can’t get over the look on a young man’s face when he accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior or the sound of hundreds of students worshipping in one accord the God who loves them,” he said.

“I love to see families healed, to see young people become passionately in love with Jesus, and I love long van rides with college students who are hungry for the things of God. I cannot think of anything better than seeing the reality of the cross radically change the reality of the lost.”