Welcome to Issues and Answers. 00:00:30.69\00:00:31.99 It's great to have you back join us 00:00:32.02\00:00:33.49 for another wonderful program. 00:00:33.52\00:00:35.56 Today our guest is Pastor Jason McCracken. 00:00:35.59\00:00:38.53 He is a marketing representative 00:00:38.56\00:00:40.99 with Review and Herald as well as a youth evangelist 00:00:41.02\00:00:45.30 and has done evangelism around the world 00:00:45.33\00:00:47.75 and he is fluent in many languages 00:00:47.78\00:00:50.81 Portuguese, Spanish, English you name it he can speak it 00:00:50.84\00:00:54.33 or at least give you a greeting. 00:00:54.36\00:00:55.39 As a matter of fact could you give us your famous greeting 00:00:55.42\00:00:57.94 that you do when you go places? 00:00:57.97\00:00:59.54 Well, I actually do 30 00:00:59.57\00:01:01.35 but maybe I can do a couple right now. 00:01:01.38\00:01:03.29 Okay. Okay. 00:01:03.32\00:01:04.35 From the Philippines is Magandang umaga po. 00:01:04.38\00:01:06.87 In fact, matter of fact, talk to that camera over there. 00:01:06.90\00:01:08.96 Okay. Yeah. 00:01:08.99\00:01:10.02 How about this one? 00:01:10.05\00:01:11.14 This is from Africa. 00:01:11.17\00:01:12.51 The other one is from Fiji, Bula vinaka. 00:01:14.68\00:01:18.97 How about this one from, all the way from-- 00:01:19.00\00:01:21.33 now this is a little difficult. 00:01:21.36\00:01:22.75 This one is French. 00:01:22.78\00:01:24.78 Now of course, I love Portuguese. 00:01:28.32\00:01:31.27 So this one's like this one. 00:01:31.30\00:01:33.45 That's great. 00:01:39.67\00:01:42.37 I'm sure people watching in those language 00:01:42.40\00:01:44.15 appreciate getting that nice greeting. 00:01:44.18\00:01:46.29 So tell me now what do-- we are gonna talk about today? 00:01:46.32\00:01:49.54 Today we're gonna talk about some issue of youth evangelism. 00:01:49.57\00:01:52.79 One of my concerns is that in small churches 00:01:52.82\00:01:55.99 we have a number of young people 00:01:56.02\00:01:58.05 and they are sitting there on the bench 00:01:58.08\00:02:00.35 doing nothing and they are saying 00:02:00.38\00:02:03.28 "How come I can't get involved in youth evangelism? 00:02:03.31\00:02:06.33 Do I have to be an adult to actually evangelize?" 00:02:06.36\00:02:10.15 And I'm saying no. 00:02:10.18\00:02:11.73 You can be a youth evangelists as early as 12 years old. 00:02:11.76\00:02:15.71 Jesus, at 12 was doing youth evangelism. 00:02:15.74\00:02:22.47 And so tell me what does the Bible 00:02:22.50\00:02:25.23 say about youth evangelism? 00:02:25.26\00:02:26.63 Well, the Bible is very-- 00:02:26.66\00:02:29.61 Jesus gave us some tremendous indications here 00:02:29.64\00:02:32.88 in Matthew Chapter 28 reading from verse 18 it says, 00:02:32.91\00:02:39.47 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, 00:02:39.50\00:02:41.68 saying, all power is given unto me 00:02:41.71\00:02:44.70 in heaven and in earth." 00:02:44.73\00:02:46.98 Verse 19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 00:02:47.01\00:02:51.60 baptizing them in the name of the Father, 00:02:51.63\00:02:55.21 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost 00:02:55.24\00:02:57.93 teaching them to observe all things 00:02:57.96\00:03:01.31 whatsoever I have commanded you 00:03:01.34\00:03:05.45 and, lo I am with you always, 00:03:05.48\00:03:08.86 even unto the end of the world." 00:03:08.89\00:03:12.83 This is the commission that Jesus gave His disciples. 00:03:12.86\00:03:19.57 People do not understand that the disciples of Christ 00:03:19.60\00:03:23.53 were very much young in heart. 00:03:23.56\00:03:26.14 They were not old people of 100 years old 00:03:26.17\00:03:29.08 they were young and Jesus had to teach them 00:03:29.11\00:03:34.06 that they have to go into the world, 00:03:34.09\00:03:38.05 into the communities, into society 00:03:38.08\00:03:40.85 and preach the everlasting gospel. 00:03:40.88\00:03:42.55 Now why is that so important that a person 00:03:42.58\00:03:45.41 who believes in Christ actually has to go? 00:03:45.44\00:03:48.50 Because witness, when a person witness, 00:03:48.53\00:03:52.00 now we-- let's flip it around. 00:03:52.03\00:03:54.45 Jesus says to go. 00:03:54.48\00:03:56.88 Now when the person is going 00:03:56.91\00:03:59.22 which is that they are now going. 00:03:59.25\00:04:01.96 Now he has to witness. 00:04:01.99\00:04:05.27 Witness mean he is going to testify 00:04:05.30\00:04:08.54 or to be a witness of Christ 00:04:08.57\00:04:10.92 everything that Christ has taught him. 00:04:10.95\00:04:13.32 So now when the young person go into the society, 00:04:13.35\00:04:16.99 into their own community and talk to young people 00:04:17.02\00:04:20.05 who has no relationship with Christ or un-church 00:04:20.08\00:04:23.94 they are now going to witness about Christ 00:04:23.97\00:04:28.40 and sometimes that can be difficult 00:04:28.43\00:04:30.29 because young people just can't take a Bible to high school 00:04:30.32\00:04:34.72 but if they learn about what Jesus taught them 00:04:34.75\00:04:38.46 now they can go to school and they can talk about Christ. 00:04:38.49\00:04:44.38 That's Youth Evangelism. 00:04:44.41\00:04:47.32 And how do we get from the person 00:04:47.35\00:04:51.82 that sitting in their pew, 00:04:51.85\00:04:54.72 the young person and then getting them motivate, 00:04:54.75\00:04:57.61 are young people interested in this kind of thing at all? 00:04:57.64\00:05:00.21 Well, first of all-- Would you find? 00:05:00.24\00:05:02.59 First of all young people have to be taught how to witness. 00:05:02.62\00:05:07.08 I was talking to my daughter just the other day 00:05:07.11\00:05:09.39 and she's only 12 years old. 00:05:09.42\00:05:10.94 She is a little taller than I am and she's 12. 00:05:10.97\00:05:14.09 And recently we had death in our family 00:05:14.12\00:05:17.76 and of course, she understands death 00:05:17.79\00:05:20.23 through what we have taught her in the Bible. 00:05:20.26\00:05:22.84 But now she was witnessing about what happens, 00:05:22.87\00:05:26.45 she said I went to the casket 00:05:26.48\00:05:28.04 to say goodbye to my grandmother 00:05:28.07\00:05:31.43 and when I got back to my community 00:05:31.46\00:05:33.47 I told my friends about the funeral. 00:05:33.50\00:05:36.76 And I told them, I said, "My grandmother, 00:05:36.79\00:05:39.27 I watched my grandmother go down in the ground." 00:05:39.30\00:05:44.08 And I'm going to pray that when Jesus comes back 00:05:44.11\00:05:47.41 the second time and all of His glory 00:05:47.44\00:05:49.65 with millions of millions of angels 00:05:49.68\00:05:52.06 Jesus is gonna call her by her name 00:05:52.09\00:05:56.59 and she is going to be resurrected. 00:05:56.62\00:05:58.80 And so the kids were saying 00:05:58.83\00:06:00.21 "Well, ain't she dead or she in heaven?" 00:06:00.24\00:06:03.60 She said, "No, she's in the ground. 00:06:03.63\00:06:06.59 She is in the ground. 00:06:06.62\00:06:08.13 Do you hear what I say? She is in the ground." 00:06:08.16\00:06:11.14 And so they said, "Well, some people believe that 00:06:11.17\00:06:14.38 you know, there's this ghost," 00:06:14.41\00:06:15.60 she said "Look, Casper the friendly ghost 00:06:15.63\00:06:17.76 is only on television, you shouldn't be watching it." 00:06:17.79\00:06:21.20 And that's witnessing, it's natural, it's spontaneous. 00:06:21.23\00:06:25.47 It's not about sitting down with the Bible studying 00:06:25.50\00:06:27.72 and showing the Bible and pointing these things out, 00:06:27.75\00:06:29.38 so you ought to believe what the Bible says. 00:06:29.41\00:06:31.10 But there was something that she said in the home, 00:06:31.13\00:06:33.77 the mother was present, the daughter was present 00:06:33.80\00:06:36.25 and so is my daughter. 00:06:36.28\00:06:37.91 And she turned to the mother and said, 00:06:37.94\00:06:41.50 the mother said to her, 00:06:41.53\00:06:42.77 "Well, there are so many religions in the world," 00:06:42.80\00:06:46.18 and my daughter said, 00:06:46.21\00:06:48.00 "Don't worry about the religions in the world 00:06:48.03\00:06:51.75 just worry about what the Bible is saying." 00:06:51.78\00:06:54.12 That's beautiful. That's youth evangelism. 00:06:54.15\00:06:56.12 It's not a tip it's person to person 00:06:56.15\00:07:01.21 relating about Jesus and His life. 00:07:01.24\00:07:06.00 And you know what they said? They said, hey, that's cool. 00:07:06.03\00:07:10.45 Cool to know there is something at their fingertips. 00:07:10.48\00:07:11.68 That's right. 00:07:11.71\00:07:12.94 And she didn't take her Bible because it was her memory. 00:07:12.97\00:07:16.96 It was from an experience that she had recently 00:07:16.99\00:07:19.92 with the death of her grandmother. 00:07:19.95\00:07:22.28 So now obviously being the great father that you are 00:07:22.31\00:07:25.59 to have had this wonderful witnessing experience 00:07:25.62\00:07:28.21 that you are able to see your daughter in action 00:07:28.24\00:07:30.81 what kind of things would you do to prepare her 00:07:30.84\00:07:32.88 so that when she was in that situation she had an answer? 00:07:32.91\00:07:37.06 Well-- Or something to say. 00:07:37.09\00:07:38.13 We most adults would like to dialogue with their kids 00:07:38.16\00:07:42.33 and they think you have to be in a formal setting, 00:07:42.36\00:07:44.57 you have to be on a couch 00:07:44.60\00:07:46.17 and you have to wear shirt and tie and you open the Bible. 00:07:46.20\00:07:49.46 No, you can be outside on the port, 00:07:49.49\00:07:51.73 you can be in your car, you can be at a picnic aground, 00:07:51.76\00:07:55.86 you can be at a baseball field, 00:07:55.89\00:07:57.67 you can be in the backyard or even in your bathroom 00:07:57.70\00:08:00.27 while she is combing her hair, you can talk about Christ, 00:08:00.30\00:08:03.27 you can talk about the Bible 00:08:03.30\00:08:04.41 and remember young people are going through 00:08:04.44\00:08:06.80 difficulties in their lifestyle. 00:08:06.83\00:08:09.01 So you relate these difficulties in their lifestyle 00:08:09.04\00:08:12.15 and you talk about Jesus when He was a teenager. 00:08:12.18\00:08:16.36 People forget the Jesus was a teenager at one time. 00:08:16.39\00:08:19.91 He was that-- He was a baby. 00:08:19.94\00:08:21.69 He grew up to be a young man and also a teenager 00:08:21.72\00:08:25.19 and He had to wrestle against temptations 00:08:25.22\00:08:28.63 in His lifestyle, in His life time. 00:08:28.66\00:08:30.92 So well, what about us? 00:08:30.95\00:08:34.89 We did the same thing, so are young people 00:08:34.92\00:08:38.06 are children going through the same thing now 00:08:38.09\00:08:40.13 so we relate the simple things and correlate it to the Bible 00:08:40.16\00:08:44.70 and it makes it easier for them to go out and witness. 00:08:44.73\00:08:48.24 We don't tell them to go witness, 00:08:48.27\00:08:49.74 they do it spontaneously just say. 00:08:49.77\00:08:53.95 Oh, that sounds pretty easy. 00:08:53.98\00:08:57.43 Now, let me give you, let me share this to you. 00:08:57.46\00:08:59.46 Okay, all right. 00:08:59.49\00:09:00.52 Here we are at a small little church, okay, 00:09:00.55\00:09:03.42 and basically if you have a youth leader in your church, 00:09:03.45\00:09:06.53 a youth leader in your church, 00:09:06.56\00:09:08.14 that youth leader really needs to understand 00:09:08.17\00:09:10.44 what is youth evangelism. 00:09:10.47\00:09:11.78 That he or she needs to understand 00:09:11.81\00:09:14.95 the essence of youth evangelism 00:09:14.98\00:09:16.63 that why we should evangelize then open the Bible 00:09:16.66\00:09:19.99 and express that to the young people 00:09:20.02\00:09:21.60 and give them some creative ideas. 00:09:21.63\00:09:23.68 Let me give you a creative idea that we did in Brazil. 00:09:23.71\00:09:26.61 And they are still doing it now. 00:09:26.64\00:09:28.87 Mother's day will come up eventually 00:09:28.90\00:09:32.15 and so all the young people of course, 00:09:32.18\00:09:34.03 they are gonna give their mothers a little flower, 00:09:34.06\00:09:36.76 a little card or maybe sing to her. 00:09:36.79\00:09:39.48 What we did, we did a national project. 00:09:39.51\00:09:42.26 We started from the local church. 00:09:42.29\00:09:44.62 We said we are going to visit in all of Brazil 00:09:44.65\00:09:48.83 one million mothers on that Sunday. 00:09:48.86\00:09:52.02 Wow. 00:09:52.05\00:09:53.08 And so the young people said, 00:09:53.11\00:09:54.14 wow, we're gonna visit one million. 00:09:54.17\00:09:56.09 No, you're just gonna be a part of the hundreds of thousands 00:09:56.12\00:10:00.50 who will be going out knocking on doors 00:10:00.53\00:10:02.81 saying happy mothers day. 00:10:02.84\00:10:05.40 Well, how do we gonna do this? Very easy. 00:10:05.43\00:10:09.03 On mothers day we want you to get a t-shirt 00:10:09.06\00:10:12.85 that has something that reflects your church, 00:10:12.88\00:10:15.06 a symbol, Adventist youth. 00:10:15.09\00:10:17.37 We want you to go and get a rose or a flower. 00:10:17.40\00:10:21.41 We will provide you with a card, 00:10:21.44\00:10:23.98 a beautiful card, a national card, 00:10:24.01\00:10:26.14 it's the same exact card on billboards, 00:10:26.17\00:10:29.51 on the bus, on street signs 00:10:29.54\00:10:32.62 and you're gonna give that same card 00:10:32.65\00:10:34.34 even we will have a television spot created. 00:10:34.37\00:10:39.06 We will now teach you the song 00:10:39.09\00:10:41.46 that the name of the mother's day campaign was 00:10:41.49\00:10:44.25 That means we applaud you mothers. 00:10:46.28\00:10:49.25 And so Sunday morning there would knock on doors 00:10:49.28\00:10:53.59 and they would sing the song. 00:10:53.62\00:10:54.84 And they would go on and then they say. 00:10:58.46\00:11:00.39 And then would all clap. 00:11:04.93\00:11:08.49 And give her the flower, give her the card 00:11:08.52\00:11:09.55 and then invite her Sunday night at a school 00:11:09.58\00:11:13.75 at elementary or public school to this mother's day program 00:11:13.78\00:11:17.88 free of charge sponsored by the Adventist youth. 00:11:17.91\00:11:21.19 All the overwhelming response across the country 00:11:21.22\00:11:25.17 more than one million mothers were reached in one day. 00:11:25.20\00:11:29.58 Now, that's a simple project 00:11:29.61\00:11:30.93 that started from a little church 00:11:30.96\00:11:32.61 and expanded throughout the country. 00:11:32.64\00:11:34.09 Now what about that little tiny country church? 00:11:34.12\00:11:36.60 You don't have to go and do a national project 00:11:36.63\00:11:39.74 but you can do it locally. 00:11:39.77\00:11:41.11 You can take the same format 00:11:41.14\00:11:43.33 we're gonna buy some roses and some flowers 00:11:43.36\00:11:45.70 and we're gonna go and knock on doors 00:11:45.73\00:11:48.22 and we're gonna give them flowers 00:11:48.25\00:11:49.47 and a beautiful mother's day card 00:11:49.50\00:11:52.41 and we're gonna sing to them in English or Spanish 00:11:52.44\00:11:55.36 or Tagalog or Portuguese or whatever 00:11:55.39\00:11:58.36 and express your love for mothers 00:11:58.39\00:12:01.37 and then invite them to a mother's day program 00:12:01.40\00:12:04.68 that you're gonna put on in a high school. 00:12:04.71\00:12:07.69 So you don't have to have 00:12:07.72\00:12:09.86 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 60, 80, 90 people, 00:12:09.89\00:12:14.11 you can just have five young people 00:12:14.14\00:12:15.97 and a small little church 00:12:16.00\00:12:17.37 to do something nice for the community. 00:12:17.40\00:12:19.58 That's called youth evangelism. 00:12:19.61\00:12:22.89 Just getting the young people up and going. 00:12:22.92\00:12:25.17 Getting them involved. 00:12:25.20\00:12:26.23 Now in some places we have this gender, 00:12:26.26\00:12:31.32 I don't say gender but generation issues 00:12:31.35\00:12:34.11 where the people who are older 00:12:34.14\00:12:35.99 and they have more leisure times 00:12:36.02\00:12:37.43 some of them are retired or maybe not even those 00:12:37.46\00:12:41.07 that are retired those that are working 00:12:41.10\00:12:42.46 they really don't feel that they are ready 00:12:42.49\00:12:44.99 to give the young people that much the attitude? 00:12:45.02\00:12:51.31 How do you overcome that challenge? 00:12:51.34\00:12:53.16 Let's say you're in a small church 00:12:53.19\00:12:55.67 there are 50 people who come to church 00:12:55.70\00:12:59.16 more than half, 75% are old. 00:12:59.19\00:13:02.28 25% are between birth and maybe 15. 00:13:02.31\00:13:06.89 Now you don't need to ask permission to go out 00:13:06.92\00:13:09.51 and do community work, you just go. 00:13:09.54\00:13:12.76 Jesus said go. 00:13:12.79\00:13:14.68 He did not say you need to go to church board and say, 00:13:14.71\00:13:16.89 "I approve you to go and knocking on some doors 00:13:16.92\00:13:18.90 and telling a mother about mothers day." 00:13:18.93\00:13:22.98 What they have to do, the youth have to organize themselves 00:13:23.01\00:13:26.22 telling that we're gonna do something here in the community 00:13:26.25\00:13:28.52 and I know that they will get all the support. 00:13:28.55\00:13:32.34 Some of the older people might even give them 00:13:32.37\00:13:34.20 ideas and suggestions. 00:13:34.23\00:13:36.11 It's a collaborative world, we must work together 00:13:36.14\00:13:39.19 but the youth are the foot soldiers 00:13:39.22\00:13:41.38 because they have more energy than the adults. 00:13:41.41\00:13:44.09 So let them go out there and do the work. 00:13:44.12\00:13:49.05 Well, that sounds great. Give us another example. 00:13:49.08\00:13:51.13 Okay, sure. 00:13:51.16\00:13:52.26 Well, the Insight Magazine carries an issue, 00:13:52.29\00:13:56.29 a special issue once a year regarding youth evangelism. 00:13:56.32\00:14:00.73 Now this youth evangelism is very interesting 00:14:00.76\00:14:02.82 because this is called UW, ultimate workout. 00:14:02.85\00:14:07.49 Now they are actually going to use 00:14:07.52\00:14:09.21 their physical bodies work hard 00:14:09.24\00:14:13.11 but witness at the same time. 00:14:13.14\00:14:15.83 They had 163 students divided into five different projects, 00:14:15.86\00:14:22.11 ADRA projects and they went to Nicaragua overseas 00:14:22.14\00:14:25.94 and they built houses, churches, 00:14:25.97\00:14:28.97 schools and clinics within a two week period. 00:14:29.00\00:14:32.56 In the evening time they would have 00:14:32.59\00:14:35.11 some form of evangelistic program, 00:14:35.14\00:14:38.19 they would take their guitars, 00:14:38.22\00:14:39.52 they would song songs with the kids 00:14:39.55\00:14:41.15 because a lot of children would like to learn English, 00:14:41.18\00:14:43.92 especially in Spanish speaking countries. 00:14:43.95\00:14:45.87 So they like to learn English 00:14:45.90\00:14:46.94 so they were like to all those cute little songs in English 00:14:46.97\00:14:49.96 and those beautiful-- 00:14:49.99\00:14:51.37 and so the children are learning English, 00:14:51.40\00:14:55.45 learning about Christ in song 00:14:55.48\00:14:58.48 and then you would have one of the young person come up 00:14:58.51\00:15:01.28 and give his testimony about what the Lord has done for him. 00:15:01.31\00:15:04.63 Now the interesting thing about this Karen, 00:15:04.66\00:15:06.81 is that when they leave the shelter is still there, 00:15:06.84\00:15:09.76 it is a reminder, a constant reminder 00:15:09.79\00:15:13.13 what God has done through the young people 00:15:13.16\00:15:15.52 by building that particular church or school. 00:15:15.55\00:15:18.88 So every time they go to school, 00:15:18.91\00:15:20.49 every time they go to church, they will always 00:15:20.52\00:15:23.40 think of young people working for them. 00:15:23.43\00:15:28.35 You know, I am really excited about what you are saying. 00:15:28.38\00:15:31.95 I have seen a lot of really good projects 00:15:31.98\00:15:34.60 that have been going on with young people. 00:15:34.63\00:15:37.50 I'm wondering what would be like the next step 00:15:37.53\00:15:41.79 between maybe doing a project as a church 00:15:41.82\00:15:45.68 and then actually kind of growing beyond friendship 00:15:45.71\00:15:51.24 to active soul winning and guess it's-- 00:15:51.27\00:15:54.63 Okay, before I even get into that 00:15:54.66\00:15:57.28 I'm gonna share another testimony with you. 00:15:57.31\00:15:58.88 Oh, good. Okay. 00:15:58.91\00:15:59.94 Just a few weeks ago in West Virginia, 00:15:59.97\00:16:03.04 the Southern part of West Virginia 00:16:03.07\00:16:05.52 there were floods. 00:16:05.55\00:16:07.14 I mean, these floods were not two or three feet 00:16:07.17\00:16:09.38 15, 16, 17, 18 feet of water. 00:16:09.41\00:16:13.45 Just walls of water, just wiping out communities. 00:16:13.48\00:16:18.87 The young people of Heyward, South Marlene 00:16:18.90\00:16:20.99 got an urgent call from a member of a church, 00:16:21.02\00:16:24.32 he said, "Can you come and help? 00:16:24.35\00:16:26.21 We are old we can't pull up the carpet," 00:16:26.24\00:16:28.79 because after the floods recede they have to pull the carpets, 00:16:28.82\00:16:31.69 they have to pull everything out of the house 00:16:31.72\00:16:33.51 and they have to let it dry, 00:16:33.54\00:16:34.57 and they have to start building their lives all over again. 00:16:34.60\00:16:37.82 About 15 to 20 young people said, "Okay!" 00:16:37.85\00:16:41.22 In the congregation who's predominantly old, 00:16:41.25\00:16:44.85 they found 15 young person, they jumped in a van, 00:16:44.88\00:16:47.55 a couple of vans, they took a lot of medical supplies 00:16:47.58\00:16:50.31 and they were flying down to Western Virginia 00:16:50.34\00:16:52.78 and they stayed there 00:16:52.81\00:16:53.84 for approximately about five days. 00:16:53.87\00:16:57.35 And they worked, and worked, and worked 00:16:57.38\00:17:01.08 and a person who was un-churched, 00:17:01.11\00:17:04.17 who would never go to church, they worked on his house 00:17:04.20\00:17:07.27 and these kids were working hard 00:17:07.30\00:17:09.36 15, 16, 17 hours a day, 00:17:09.39\00:17:11.81 pulling out carpet and boards and taking furniture outside 00:17:11.84\00:17:16.28 so the military can actually carry it away. 00:17:16.31\00:17:19.50 And this man who was un-churched said, 00:17:19.53\00:17:23.02 "Why are these young people smiling? 00:17:23.05\00:17:25.40 We are the ones who are depressed, 00:17:25.43\00:17:27.43 we discouraged you." 00:17:27.46\00:17:28.79 But he said, "Every time I see them 00:17:28.82\00:17:30.81 I feel good about myself. 00:17:30.84\00:17:32.67 Who are these young people?" That's youth evangelism. 00:17:32.70\00:17:36.16 And then he said, "Where do they go to church?" 00:17:36.19\00:17:40.32 That's youth evangelism. 00:17:40.35\00:17:42.06 Now let's take another example of youth evangelism. 00:17:42.09\00:17:46.13 The young people in a small church 00:17:46.16\00:17:48.07 or a medium sized church in their community 00:17:48.10\00:17:50.03 might have a lot of young people. 00:17:50.06\00:17:51.55 They could gather seven different topics, 00:17:51.58\00:17:55.57 plan one week of youth evangelism. 00:17:55.60\00:17:59.08 Years ago they called it 00:17:59.11\00:18:00.14 the week of prayer, not anymore. 00:18:00.17\00:18:02.81 Youth evangelism or youth week or net or whatever 00:18:02.84\00:18:06.44 and from Sunday all the way through the next weekend, 00:18:06.47\00:18:10.21 they can have a youth speaker come in 00:18:10.24\00:18:12.24 and speak to the issues of young people. 00:18:12.27\00:18:16.94 So now the young people are witnessing 00:18:16.97\00:18:19.62 in church to their friends and the next day 00:18:19.65\00:18:23.08 as they talk to their friends about the sermon, 00:18:23.11\00:18:26.66 now they can witness spontaneously 00:18:26.69\00:18:29.16 and some of those young people need to go home 00:18:29.19\00:18:31.35 and read their Bibles again 00:18:31.38\00:18:32.77 because they've forgotten those important truths. 00:18:32.80\00:18:35.30 And says, "What is that again, 00:18:35.33\00:18:36.36 I've got to find out, where is it again?" 00:18:36.39\00:18:37.87 And so what's happening is that young people will do this 00:18:37.90\00:18:41.66 naturally like breathing just in one week. 00:18:41.69\00:18:45.15 I think that's superb. 00:18:45.18\00:18:46.21 Now I'm sure those of you who been watching at home, 00:18:46.24\00:18:49.64 listen to all these great ideas 00:18:49.67\00:18:51.05 that Jason's has given to us, you picked your favorite. 00:18:51.08\00:18:54.07 That's probably one of mine because it's easy to do that, 00:18:54.10\00:18:57.72 and that's a fabulous idea. 00:18:57.75\00:18:59.58 Just having the young people in the church 00:18:59.61\00:19:01.83 or just pick what topics they like 00:19:01.86\00:19:05.12 and what is something they want to study about 00:19:05.15\00:19:07.46 and they have a speaker come in and share that 00:19:07.49\00:19:10.24 and then they have something to share with their friends. 00:19:10.27\00:19:12.39 Right. 00:19:12.42\00:19:13.99 Who-- you know, young people 00:19:14.02\00:19:15.23 really are getting hit hard with a lot of issues. 00:19:15.26\00:19:17.71 A lot of issues. 00:19:17.74\00:19:18.77 And they may not be talking 00:19:18.80\00:19:19.83 with their parents about some things 00:19:19.86\00:19:21.04 but they're certainly talking amongst each other. 00:19:21.07\00:19:23.62 I have found over the years 00:19:23.65\00:19:25.33 conducting more than 50 youth evangelistic weeks of prayers 00:19:25.36\00:19:30.97 that in that week they will listen to you. 00:19:31.00\00:19:36.91 I go to the, when I go to the locations 00:19:36.94\00:19:39.38 around the country and other places around the world, 00:19:39.41\00:19:42.88 I will tell them this week I speak only to the youth. 00:19:42.91\00:19:47.02 But the adults, they're saying, "I need it, too." 00:19:47.05\00:19:50.02 Because there are topics that they need revisiting. 00:19:50.05\00:19:56.73 For example, topics on sexual behavior and deviance, 00:19:56.76\00:20:00.51 topics on dating, marriage, divorce, 00:20:00.54\00:20:03.57 topics on even music, this drug culture. 00:20:03.60\00:20:10.07 There is so many different topics out there 00:20:10.10\00:20:12.44 and the young people want to hear it every day or weekly 00:20:12.47\00:20:16.42 you don't get this in church ordinarily. 00:20:16.45\00:20:18.57 It's a special week designed for them 00:20:18.60\00:20:21.58 and then a call is made an appeal is made for them 00:20:21.61\00:20:25.37 to give their life to Christ and to come to baptism. 00:20:25.40\00:20:30.10 And the result is phenomenal 00:20:30.13\00:20:32.68 just in this year alone, just this year alone 00:20:32.71\00:20:37.42 there have been over 200 decisions 00:20:37.45\00:20:40.33 with just preaching to young people, 00:20:40.36\00:20:42.40 200 decisions just with young people in youth evangelism. 00:20:42.43\00:20:47.31 That's wonderful. 00:20:47.34\00:20:48.80 And so, I have we've actually had baptisms the next day. 00:20:48.83\00:20:54.81 And so the results are instantaneous. 00:20:54.84\00:20:58.92 Now, what about you know, 00:20:58.95\00:21:00.53 lot of times the people talk about evangelism 00:21:00.56\00:21:02.35 they want to know about ground work 00:21:02.38\00:21:04.07 and what needs to be done well in advance. 00:21:04.10\00:21:06.18 How much of a person said "Hey, I really like 00:21:06.21\00:21:08.78 what Jason McCracken's talking about in this program 00:21:08.81\00:21:11.07 and I want to do it in my church? 00:21:11.10\00:21:13.35 I'm gonna get started right away." 00:21:13.38\00:21:15.06 It would take about four months. 00:21:15.09\00:21:16.33 Four months. 00:21:16.36\00:21:17.39 Four to six months to make the preparations 00:21:17.42\00:21:19.62 you can't call a youth evangelist 00:21:19.65\00:21:21.26 and say, "Okay, next week I want you to preach." 00:21:21.29\00:21:24.34 What you have to do is you have to come in, 00:21:24.37\00:21:26.32 talk to the youth and say, "Look, 00:21:26.35\00:21:28.47 I have ten youth before me. 00:21:28.50\00:21:31.34 How many friends do you know?" 00:21:31.37\00:21:32.81 "Oh, I know five, I know three, I know four." 00:21:32.84\00:21:35.47 "Okay, what we're going to do is have a plan 00:21:35.50\00:21:38.22 we want you now to feed your friends with literature." 00:21:38.25\00:21:43.04 Sometimes I use the Insight Magazine really well 00:21:43.07\00:21:45.15 because it's youth talking about their lives with Christ. 00:21:45.18\00:21:50.24 And so, teens reading about teens is very powerful. 00:21:50.27\00:21:54.86 So, here they're gonna be reading religious material 00:21:54.89\00:21:59.19 and then they are preparing their minds. 00:21:59.22\00:22:01.48 Now the young people we're gonna give them 00:22:01.51\00:22:02.91 some topics to talk about, discussion topics. 00:22:02.94\00:22:06.45 And when they discuss these topics then, 00:22:06.48\00:22:08.81 when they come to that week everything is prepared. 00:22:08.84\00:22:11.52 Then the Spirit of God will fall on that church 00:22:11.55\00:22:14.43 and young people will make decisions for life 00:22:14.46\00:22:16.96 not just because of the emotion but for life. 00:22:16.99\00:22:19.68 Praise the Lord. 00:22:19.71\00:22:20.74 Let me share this with you, 00:22:20.77\00:22:23.26 last Halloween most people don't celebrate it 00:22:23.29\00:22:27.21 because we understand the implications. 00:22:27.24\00:22:28.86 Yeah, most Christians. 00:22:28.89\00:22:29.92 But now I witnessed during the 31st of October 00:22:29.95\00:22:37.82 there are so many young people in my community 00:22:37.85\00:22:41.23 it would be terrible for me to slam the door 00:22:41.26\00:22:44.46 and say, "Get out of here." 00:22:44.49\00:22:46.69 What I do is open my doors I have gospel music blasting. 00:22:46.72\00:22:53.87 I have a pumpkin with a cross 00:22:53.90\00:22:56.74 rather than the ugly little smile, 00:22:56.77\00:22:59.77 have a cross with a candle in it. 00:22:59.80\00:23:00.99 When they come to my house they're getting the gospel. 00:23:01.02\00:23:05.95 And so here we're passing-- What a great idea. 00:23:05.98\00:23:08.27 We're passing out magazines about drug education, 00:23:08.30\00:23:13.51 about education about life. 00:23:13.54\00:23:16.32 They are getting religious material free and one time 00:23:16.35\00:23:20.01 we had some magazines called Listen Magazine, 00:23:20.04\00:23:22.28 it's a magazine that talks about 00:23:22.31\00:23:23.47 drug and alcohol addiction. 00:23:23.50\00:23:24.99 And you have a lot of celebrities 00:23:25.02\00:23:26.92 on the cover of Listen Magazine 00:23:26.95\00:23:28.98 and I had Shaquille O'Neal on the cover, 00:23:29.01\00:23:30.86 I had Venus Williams on the cover, 00:23:30.89\00:23:32.46 I had some football players, some basketball players 00:23:32.49\00:23:35.10 and the hockey players and ski players, 00:23:35.13\00:23:37.47 it was a famous Wayne Gretzky. 00:23:37.50\00:23:40.04 Famous and I'm yelling "Hey, I got the hot stuff." 00:23:40.07\00:23:43.41 The kids where running to the community ramp 00:23:43.44\00:23:46.10 and said "He even got 'N Sync on the cover." 00:23:46.13\00:23:49.61 And they where running to my house 00:23:49.64\00:23:51.16 and 200 young people got 200 pieces of literature 00:23:51.19\00:23:54.44 in a matter of hours on that day. 00:23:54.47\00:23:56.75 Thanks to Lord, on that day 00:23:56.78\00:23:57.89 that people celebrate the double. 00:23:57.92\00:23:59.29 That's right and so what happens is 00:23:59.32\00:24:01.45 if you have a cross America people open up their doors 00:24:01.48\00:24:04.59 and feeding the community with the religious literature 00:24:04.62\00:24:07.58 on the day the people expect candy and gum 00:24:07.61\00:24:10.12 and then popsicles or whatever, 00:24:10.15\00:24:12.63 you're actually doing youth evangelism 00:24:12.66\00:24:15.16 and guess what Karen, 00:24:15.19\00:24:17.22 it was not me sitting on the porch 00:24:17.25\00:24:19.53 it was my son, it was my daughter. 00:24:19.56\00:24:22.23 Praise the lord. 00:24:22.26\00:24:23.29 And they where handing out the magazines 00:24:23.32\00:24:26.18 and they where saying, "Say no to drugs." 00:24:26.21\00:24:29.86 Here no trick just a tweet that's creative. 00:24:29.89\00:24:35.20 That is creative. I like that one. 00:24:35.23\00:24:36.26 That's the type of evangelism that we need. 00:24:36.29\00:24:38.91 I like that one, I really like that idea 00:24:38.94\00:24:41.86 and I hope those of you're listening at home 00:24:41.89\00:24:44.52 isn't that great? 00:24:44.55\00:24:46.00 I mean, what a great way to really do something on a day 00:24:46.03\00:24:49.28 where people are celebrating their death. 00:24:49.31\00:24:51.78 You know lot of times Christians 00:24:51.81\00:24:52.88 we don't know what to do on that day 00:24:52.91\00:24:55.82 because we don't really want to feel like 00:24:55.85\00:24:57.28 we're getting involved in ghost 00:24:57.31\00:24:59.32 and goblins and ghouls and all these other things. 00:24:59.35\00:25:02.05 Yeah, that's right. 00:25:02.08\00:25:03.11 Yeah you understand the social implications 00:25:03.14\00:25:05.84 of doing all of that 00:25:05.87\00:25:07.28 but you know I really appreciate you coming today 00:25:07.31\00:25:10.39 and sharing this of with us 00:25:10.42\00:25:11.72 all this different kinds of ideas 00:25:11.75\00:25:14.33 and I like to just give you some time 00:25:14.36\00:25:17.33 and we got it about a little more than a minute, 00:25:17.36\00:25:19.90 couple of minutes to just talk to the young people 00:25:19.93\00:25:22.23 who are watching the program today 00:25:22.26\00:25:23.66 and just share what's on your heart to them 00:25:23.69\00:25:27.22 on what Christ can do through them. 00:25:27.25\00:25:30.23 Jesus Christ, when He lived on this earth as a teenager, 00:25:30.26\00:25:36.65 at 12 He really began His ministry 00:25:36.68\00:25:40.00 from there He died as a young person in His 30s. 00:25:40.03\00:25:44.71 But now if Christ witnessing the community 00:25:44.74\00:25:48.67 every example in the Bible 00:25:48.70\00:25:50.35 about Christ witnessing was in the community. 00:25:50.38\00:25:54.85 I must stress the point, in the community. 00:25:54.88\00:25:59.34 Christ would go to the temple to celebrate His holy day 00:25:59.37\00:26:03.13 but Christ preach, walk, talk, relate to people, 00:26:03.16\00:26:08.08 common people every day in the community. 00:26:08.11\00:26:11.14 Young people you can do it. It's very simple. 00:26:11.17\00:26:13.82 You don't have to wear a shirt or a tie, 00:26:13.85\00:26:15.67 you don't have to wear a church clothes just go. 00:26:15.70\00:26:18.80 The Bible says, "Go Ye therefore into all the world." 00:26:18.83\00:26:22.90 But a different translation would say 00:26:22.93\00:26:24.98 go and make disciples, baptizing them 00:26:25.01\00:26:30.31 that is the secret of youth evangelism. 00:26:30.34\00:26:32.35 It can be in your church, it can be in a community, 00:26:32.38\00:26:35.11 in a community center, it can be at a poolside, 00:26:35.14\00:26:38.74 it can be anywhere that there are people 00:26:38.77\00:26:43.31 that need witnessing about the love of Christ. 00:26:43.34\00:26:46.42 Since Christ is in your heart 00:26:46.45\00:26:48.92 it's easier to talk about somebody 00:26:48.95\00:26:51.14 that you know about it. 00:26:51.17\00:26:52.87 Well, we pray about this. Okay, thank you so much. 00:26:52.90\00:26:56.29 Father in the heaven, we're so thankful 00:26:56.32\00:26:58.75 that You have been a loving God. 00:26:58.78\00:27:01.39 A teenager preaching the gospel, 00:27:01.42\00:27:04.81 sharing Your love and we're thankful that 00:27:04.84\00:27:07.88 young people can do the same thing, 00:27:07.91\00:27:10.22 here abroad and around the world. 00:27:10.25\00:27:12.71 So Lord, bless the young people may they be focused, 00:27:12.74\00:27:17.32 may they tell about the love of Christ. 00:27:17.35\00:27:21.05 And we pray that You would give them the power 00:27:21.08\00:27:23.95 that they need to go out in the community. 00:27:23.98\00:27:26.56 Thank You for hearing and answering our prayers 00:27:26.59\00:27:29.75 in the name of Jesus we pray, amen. 00:27:29.78\00:27:32.46 Amen. 00:27:32.49\00:27:33.67 Well, thanks again for coming back to our program again. 00:27:33.70\00:27:35.94 Thank you. 00:27:35.97\00:27:37.00 And it's been a real pleasure to have you back. 00:27:37.03\00:27:39.09 Thank you for your wonderful ideas and youth evangelism 00:27:39.12\00:27:42.02 and how young people can get up and get acted. 00:27:42.05\00:27:44.82 Thank you, okay. 00:27:44.85\00:27:46.14 And for those of you who are watching the program 00:27:46.17\00:27:48.02 if you have any questions, 00:27:48.05\00:27:49.81 just feel free to call the 800 number on your screen 00:27:49.84\00:27:52.22 or go to the website for 3abn, 3abn.org. 00:27:52.25\00:27:57.57 And until next time God bless you. 00:27:57.60\00:27:59.61