Thank you for your continued prayer and financial support of this ministry. It’s good to have you on the team with us. At the beginning of January, we had the opportunity to take our teenagers to a Youth Conference at Metropolitan Bible Baptist Church in Toronto, pastored by Bro. Gamy Romano. They did something very unique by having their youth actually plan and run the conference . . . with careful supervision, of course. The young people of their church preached at certain times, while local/area pastors preached messages. The teens sang the specials, played the music, and organized the games—all with great maturity and trustworthiness. This prompted Pastor Johnston to plan a time when our young people can use their talents for the Lord in ministering to our own church. Thus, Youth Ministry Involvement Sundays were created. We had the first one in February, and it was a great success. We had a teenager playing the piano, teenagers playing instruments, teenagers singing special music, and teenagers giving their salvation testimonies. It was very rewarding to practice special music with them and to see them go from being a little timid to singing beautifully on the platform. A few may have thought they’d actually die if they got up in front of people to speak, but to their great surprise and our great delight, they each delivered clear testimonies—and actually lived to tell about it.
Discipleship with our teenagers is still going on, but not without hiccups. Those of you who have tried to disciple anyone at all know that it’s not always a linear process, which has proven true here as well. Honestly, there have been some challenges lately with faithfulness due to work and other issues getting in the way, but we’re not giving up. Discipleship has not been without fruit though. Recently, I’ve started going out and visiting teenage and adult prospects with two of our young men as a continuation of their discipleship. I hope to show them how to love, care, and pray for people and then have their work pay off with souls being saved, people visiting the church, and a youth group growing. Through this, we’ve seen a Chinese lady visit the church with her teenage son Sky; and we’ve had great conversations about God, the Bible, and faith. In a way, I’m trying to repeat what made such an impact on me in my own teenage years when I hung around my youth pastor and other good men in my home church. What made an impact for me was the translation of hearing into doing. I’ve got a long way to go, but the journey of helping these young men has grown my own faith as well.
Please pray with us about a few of our adult converts from this summer. Satan has fought hard to get each of them to slow down in their faith. For some, it happened after baptism, and for others, before they ever could get baptized. Satan doesn’t fight fair, and he never will, so please pray with us that God would work in the lives of not just our teenagers but also our adults and families that He’s placed in our path to help. We love this place, and we want to see God do such a work that everyone knows it’s Him! Pray for our youth group here that God would develop their faith and walk with Him. Pray for our own growth in grace that we can keep on the firing line and “. . . of some have compassion, making a difference.”
Pressing toward the mark,
Brian Hebert