This past Friday (3.7.08) was an absolutely extraordinary 24 hour period in Kids for Christ USA. Actually, I am convinced that it was an extraordinary day in THE KINGDOM of GOD.  Testimonies such as these are not an everyday occurrence in our ministry, but are far more prevalent than I typically share in this platform.     

To begin with, on Thursday evening God was reaching out to a young lady (14 years old) to help her overcome the temptation to "cut".  Cutting if you are not familiar with it, is a sick demonic attack against our youth.  I find it amazing that we as a nation spend insane amounts of money teaching kids to say no to drugs and alcohol.  Meanwhile cutting is not something people talk about very often, but for an estimated 2 to 3 million Americans it is a serious problem. The majority of people who self-injure or "cut" are women between the ages of 13 and 30, but there are "cutters" of every age, gender, and economic group.  (read the story on our website called "Trying to Cope..." about cutting.)

My young friend sent me a text message after getting very disturbing news about her boyfriend/best friend.  When the text message came into my phone “I don’t know anyway to get this out except the way I used to…cutting” I excused myself from my wife and sons and personally worked with her via (get this) text message, counseling her through it for an hour and a half last night.  I attempted to get her on the phone, but she refused, saying “I don’t think I can hold it together enough to talk (my fingers were exhausted).  We got through the crisis.  God clearly had this young lady contact me and I don’t think she really wanted to get back into that self destructive cycle, or she most likely wouldn’t have reached out.  No doubt in my mind that she was being led by the spirit of God to send me that text.  God gave her the words that she needed.  After that I felt led to scrap the message I had planned for the school the next morning.  I must say we had a powerful time in her school this morning as we talked about prayer.

I went from there to the intermediate High School a mile away for the club we call FUSE.  The club had struggled all year because we had an inconsistent teacher sponsor.  My oldest son had been telling me about this incredibly bold History teacher he has, "Dad he practically preaches to us".  

I put that teacher and the young lady who sponsors Fuse club together a week before and listened as they planned.  On Friday (the first-time working together) they had 62 kids attend to hear a local youth Pastor. I expect this club to easily hit 150-200 by mid April.  The expressions on the faces of the TEENAGERS as they left for class was priceless: everyone I saw was SMILING.  It was especially thrilling for me from a Dad's perspective (my son was excited)! Brayden (my son) said that he thinks the club will “blow up, because it’s so nice to know who the other Christian kids are”.  They are looking for a new room for next week (I am looking for eight more people to buy donuts one time between now and the end of the school year...YES THAT WAS A HINT).

When I got to my car, I had missed a call from IOWA where the club there had 11 new kids this week and 2 more decisions for Christ, which makes 12 in three weeks in a little bitty school in rural Iowa.  I also received an email that there is another family in a nearby school district that is planning to approach the principal about launching a club in their school.

Speaking of rural! This was crazy, in a rural area just outside Tulsa, the elementary school Bible club had over 90 kids in attendance!  That is a RECORD by about 30.  This club has benefited from consistent leadership from people who genuinely love kids.  If I have said it once, I have said it 1000 x’s: kids can spot a phony a mile away.  We already have an invitation to launch a club in the intermediate school there next year.

Then, last but certainly not least, the morning show host on one of the local Christian stations talked about the club he facilities on the air today.  He told the story of a little boy who asked to sing at his club.  When the boy got up to sing he pulled his beanie (aka ski cap) down over his face and began to sing with an astounding voice.  That’s is a funny picture!

All I can say is GOD IS MOVING IN THE SCHOOLS and we are right in the middle of it.  As the reports kept coming in, all I could think was, “this is a great day to serve God”!! It is so humbling to see results like this, because I can’t help but wonder how many more stories we would hear if we were working with clubs across the whole nation.  If you study revival, you’ll find that it rarely comes in a way that could be classified as conventional.  Charles Wesley was looking for it in the Church and heard about a man preaching in the fields.  When he went out to the fields and began preaching he found himself smack in the middle of it.  STOP looking for revival to come through adults in the church look to the children in the schools AND GET INVOLVED.