Category: Interviews
I think young people today very much enjoy the experience of the Spirit and the experience of the services and the experiences they have in church and serving God. I think that it’s possible however to be so experience oriented that we neglect other issues, such as scriptural principles and scriptural truth and things that may not be as sensually exciting, and by that I mean our senses aren’t touched, but they are every bit as important if not more, because they are the anchor of our life. I don’t think it’s either/or. I think you can do both. I think you can certainly enjoy the experiences of God’s Spirit, but you can also be grounded in umbilical truth. Both of those together make a very dynamic life.
My vision is to introduce a relationship with Christ by showing the relevance of the Bible to this generation’s world. If I can show how the Bible relates to the music they listen to, the movies they watch, and the culture they are engulfed in everyday, I think I can convince them that my God is relevant to their lives and that they need a relationship with Him. We must learn to communicate with the youth of our nation because popular culture aims to destroy any ounce of godliness they may possess.
InsideOut: Tell us about your facility and how have you gotten to that point?
Brad Fain: We have “The Crowd Room.” This is our own 250-seat sanctuary, and it has become a place where God is welcome and youth are being filled with the Holy Ghost, repenting, and making life changes. God has allowed us to grow from a smaller youth group, setting up a portable stage every week, to making “The Crowd” the place of choice every Thursday night for over 100 teenagers.
InsideOut: What do you do for outreach?
Jeffrey Goodman: We really stress personal, one-on-one evangelism; that has been proven to be the most effective. Our kids are good about bringing their friends from school to our services and other special events throughout the year. It has not been that difficult to get students to come; the biggest challenge is retention. We also are about to begin organizing an effort to get our kids more involved in the community through such ministries as feeding the homeless, ministering to elderly, volunteer work with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, among other things. We want to expose them as much as possible to the needs of people that live around them and get them involved in ministering to their physical as well as spiritual needs.
Youth Pastor Name: Tim Rutledge Youth Group Name: Refuge Student Ministries (This is our total group name, which consists of junior high—J-Crew, high school—the Rush, and college—the Bridge. All three are separate entities with their own coordinators/pastors.) Church Name: The Pentecostals of Alexandria Location: Alexandria, Louisiana InsideOut: How many young people do you have? Tim… View Article
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