Young Hearts Ignited for Jesus

By Gospel for Asia Feb 15, 2011

In 2010, Gospel for Asia-supported leaders exhorted teenagers in South Asia to follow Christ more closely. They held youth events in various regions where the teens worshiped together and listened to Bible teachings, which resulted in many young people drawing even closer to the Lord.

Throughout April and May, a GFA-supported speaker traveled to multiple cities to host some of the youth camps. He challenged the teens to grow close to God and opened the invitation for them to attend GFA-supported Bible colleges.

At the first camp, 75 youths, ages 14 through 19, experienced an inspiring—and stretching—three-and-a-half days.

“I think this was a different camp for most of them,” the speaker said. “Usually the camps are meant to be a time of fun, games, songs and maybe some preaching. But this time was a concentration on learning the Word of God. I must say that it wasn’t easy for most of them—especially the morning devotion at 6 a.m.!”

By the end of the camp, 16 teens had decided to follow Jesus and four made commitments to serve the Lord in full-time ministry.

The next camp went well, too, in spite of a few obstacles. When the missionary speaker arrived May 6, he noticed the town was in the midst of a heat wave, and the temperature had reached a 40-year record high!
But that did not stop 52 young people from attending the camp. Some even traveled seven hours just to get there.

In spite of the heat and electricity outages that frequently occurred, the sessions proved fruitful. The speaker and other missionaries discovered that the teenagers in attendance took their relationships with God seriously. Thirty-three committed to going deeper in their walk with Christ.

By the end of the program, even more teens’ lives had changed. Two chose to follow Christ and 10 decided to pursue full-time ministry.

On September 29, missionaries in another region of South Asia conducted a youth meeting, with 200 teenagers from various Gospel for Asia-supported churches attending the event.

The theme for the event, “Remember Your Creator in the Days of Your Youth,” came from the book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl. 12:1). The youths enjoyed a variety of programs, from skits to cultural dances to Sunday school songs.
The missionaries request prayer for the teenagers who made commitments to wholeheartedly pursue Christ at these events. Pray for them to stand firm and for continued fruit from the meetings.