 don't see any sleepy eyes here just fall asleep I'm just gonna believe that you just encountering the Holy Spirit and I'm not taking a holy nap by Passive Vlad said amen amen awesome so I think we're kind of settled on that we got the people beautiful so those of you guys don't know me my name is Zach I lead the youth ministry here and been part of this church since the day it started was actually born on the first pew joking but a little bit of trauma but it's all good no I love this church I love our pastors and so I'm very grateful and very thankful for our pastors for giving me opportunity to lead this session and so I want to I'm gonna preach teach and talk about what God is doing share some testimonies from our students talk about what God is doing in our church in our youth ministry and also in our schools some of you guys that don't know we started about one year ago we started an unashamed clubs that goes into our local high schools in middle schools as of right now we have four high schools about five to six clubs in those high schools we are about to release one middle school and then one more high school within the next two weeks and we see weekly monthly about 20 to 30 40 sometimes salvation's a month of local high schoolers giving their lives to Jesus we give glory to God we thank God for that and so today I want to when I think about the young generation when I think about Gen Z in the youth I think about a few stories in the Bible and so can I just preach for a couple minutes not too long and so I just want to encourage you guys I don't know it all I will not act like I know it all but what I do know I will give and I pray something you guys get something out of this my goal my prayer is that you guys leave this place some of you guys as youth ministries are a million times bigger give me advice after this but what we do have God is moving in our youth ministry and in our leaders in our high schools and so I want to just give what we know amen you guys ready amen the title of my subject today it will be called the youth are the leaders of today are the leaders of today let's pray and then we're gonna go into that Father God we come before you we thank you for your spirit in this place we thank you God for what you've already done God we ask you come into this place come into the session blessed God I pray God I may not be my words God but your words that come out of my mouth God and it will land on good soil God I rebuke every enemy that's gonna cause the to steal the seed I commanded that I'll stay they will leave and that this word will go into the hearts of many in Jesus name amen amen very simple message very easy message but I believe the youth are the future not of tomorrow but of today and I believe the devil knows that sometimes more than the church does I believe the devil is has an agenda not only I believe you guys see what is happening in our world right now and I want to read from a few stories we're gonna bounce between Genesis and Exodus but I want to read from Exodus 2 to it's the story of Moses's birth you know we all know Moses yes all right sounds good I would hope so and so Moses is being born he gets born and Moses's mother the Bible says in Exodus 2 about this time a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi I got married the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son she saw that he was a special baby someone says special baby and kept him hidden for three months and so here we have Moses he's a baby and we have Moses's mother looks at Moses and says I see something special inside of this baby I see I see greatness inside of this baby and during that time the reason she the Bible says she kept him hidden for three months the reason why is because it was a name came there was a king named Pharaoh Pharaoh during this time he was no good no bueno he was not a good king and he was scared in them in that time because the Hebrew people were multiplying they were expanding and Pharaoh was scared that because they're expanding so much and they don't really like Pharaoh that much that maybe in the future if an enemy comes the Hebrew people because they're multiplying will partner with the ally with the enemy and overtake Pharaoh and so this what Pharaoh does he puts out a decree he puts out the man that all the midwives kill the Hebrew babies keep kill all the newborns isn't it like what is happening in our generation right now we see the Washington law just released a bill that they can the government can take I think it's 13 and older babies teenagers from their own families if the teenagers confuse about their identity or who they are their gender and the parents of consent with it the government can take them put them in a into a shelter not even disclose the location to their families I mean completely demonic and they will operate operations and surgeries that can never be changed in this person's life in this teenagers life and this is exactly what the devil is trying to do in our generation he is trying to go after the youth this is why every single agenda this is why every single plan right now is not planned for the elderly is not planned for the people with the white hair or I like to say the seasoned people amen just so no offense or anything amen it's not planned for that everything the algorithm of the enemy is pointed towards teenagers and this is what I love the Pharaoh was scared that the Bible says this was there was if there is a future attack on Pharaoh these babies in order to prevent a future attack I have to take out not the soldiers right now why does he go all the way down to babies because the devil understands the youth are the future the youth are not leaders of tomorrow they are leaders of today this is why that the Pharaoh of our generation the Pharaoh of our culture is after the babies because he understands if babies if teenagers grow up in Christ there will be an attack on the enemy's camp and they're gonna go after everything that he stole in our generation so what does he try to do he tries to put an agenda he tries to put bills laws to kill babies to kill teenagers to kill and put drugs inject different things surgeries this and this that were irreversible to destroy the youth he's after and he he understands there's a future attack on his camp and he doesn't go after elderly doesn't go after this I mean of course he does but he focuses and he focuses on the youth it's because the devil is scared of young people we see it all over today teen agency they are loud I mean you see the riots it's it's all caused by Gen Z it's young people the moment they believe in something whether good or bad they are passionate about it and this is not this is not a desire that the enemy gave up this passion this drive is something God put inside of them it's just the devil and the lies of the enemy are taking that passion diverting it towards culture taking it and driving it so us as youth leaders us as pastors we have to understand we can't we there is no we got time oh the youth got time it's not now they got no no no no now we have to start pouring into them we gotta start putting on them on the stage now we gotta start believing in them now we gotta start putting them in positions to lead now whoa if this is gonna happen they're not ready the devil doesn't think like us he doesn't care that they're ready he's gonna make them ready in the same way they might not look like disciples right now but the Bible says go make the disciples like pastor glad said let's take him in under our wing and begin to nurture them and make him into soldiers in Jesus name I want you to see in Exodus 3 just one chapter later Moses obviously escapes Moses's mother releases Moses down the Nile River to hide to get away from Pharaoh and then obviously Moses grows up Exodus 3 verses 9 and 10 about this is God speaking to Moses and he says now therefore behold the cry of the children of Israel has come to me and I have also seen the oppression which the Egyptians have which the Egyptians oppressed them come now before therefore I will send you to Pharaoh do you see Pharaoh one chapter before was trying to kill the young babies trying to kill Moses because he the devil understands the very thing he was trying to kill the reason he's trying to kill it because he knows in chapter 3 God is gonna use those very babies to go back to the Pharaoh's camp and free the children of Israel guys the youth we have to start to look at the youth not as babies if your babysit teenagers you will birth babies if you lead teenagers you will get leaders I want you to write that down if your babysit teenagers you will get babies if you lead teenagers you will get leaders you will get soldiers amen we have to pour into them we have to believe into them not the leaders of tomorrow but the leaders of today you know when I started the youth ministry I came in a transfer from pastor Vlad a couple people and then came to me and I was the one foolish enough to accept the offer I was like God yeah I'll just give you the rest of my life and and so I came in it was youth young adults and it was great and all that kind of stuff but I realized it was more young adults and married people than it was youth and I was like something's wrong and so we switched the beginning of 2022 right 2022 we switched to youth ministry and I felt clearly from God God speak to me he says Zach the devil is working behind the scenes you also have to work behind the scenes the devil is working quietly one day he will be loud so you the you don't attack once it's loud you attack once is quiet and so you have to start preparing I remember hearing this clearly he says if you focus on the youth when their teenagers you won't have to fix them when they're adults you won't have to how many people here and let's be real and raw your life would look a little bit different if at a teenage at your teenage days people would have believed poured in and you would have received it you would have left would have looked a little bit different of course God works things out for the good we believe that but I remember preaching sometimes and I have security guards as parents and the parents would come to me pull me to a side crying I'm like oh okay sounds good they'll pull me aside they said Zach you're preaching the teenagers but you don't understand if if I wish at 40 years old I wish I was in this youth ministry because this would have saved me so from so much and so I began to step back and realize a lot of the issues at 30 40 50 60 70 are because there was a neglection of youth when there were 10 11 12 13 14 15 and so now we're playing damage control now we're working on their problems when we could have empowered them to be leaders to work on other people's problems and so I realized as a youth pastor hold on I'm doing everything backwards I'm getting all these people that I'm like dude you first of all I was 19 at this point and I got 35 year olds that are crying at the altar I'm like yeah I just got out of high school I really can you go to a married couple to figure out the problem with your kids I really don't know I'm like I'm still a problem to my parents so I can't help you buddy and so it was I was working backwards and I was like no no no we can be on the defensive as a youth ministry oh one day one day they will when they get out of high school that's a lie straight from the enemy because the devil is not waiting for them get out of high school at 13 years old the government could take them and change their body forever so why is the church taking longer I gotta I gotta cry to I'm passionate about this so I sometimes I step on a little toes I make sure to put on my Jordan so when I do step on the toes it's nice and firm and so it doesn't my foot doesn't slip or anything and so we need to pour into the youth more we need to believe and take a risk I this is what I tell myself this is what I told God God I'd rather be a fool for believing in a teenager before it was their time than be a fool that regressed or did my decision for not believing them and the world took them but you're gonna be a fool either way my pastor which is pastor Vlad my father his pastor Vasili the one that stood up he's my he's my dad trust me people laughed at him when he took 14 year old 15 year old Vlad and pastor Vlad pastor Ilya that spoke zero English just only Coca-Cola high and bye and all they did was they liked girls and stole bikes okay he was he looked like a fool for believing in them but you know it takes a great mind and a mature spiritual maturity to see greatness before it's in there it takes a great mind to look in a teenager that strain out on drugs and say you're gonna preach the gospel one day I remember there was a teenager and I walked past my bad the one of the bathrooms like oof that is very unpleasant fragrance coming out of that bathroom and you know they came out and I'm like I know you didn't experience a Holy Spirit in there I'm like that's not why you're crying and so and I'm like I know they spoke weed or something like that and I'm like I look at them and I have a choice do I bash on them do I do this and I looked at them I said one day you will be preaching up here on stage one day Moses three months old I mean the only good thing Moses could do is no not poop ten times a day but for some reason Moses Moses his mother looked at Moses said this is a special baby there is a calling in this baby there is a destiny there is a calling in this I know he can't even walk right now but one day he will walk the Israelites out of Egypt I know right now he can't speak but one day he will speak to Pharaoh that's trying to kill him I know right now he can't do anything except cry but one day he will answer the cry of his generation my God believe in the youth come on someone shout youth someone shout youth and I want you to see in Genesis 39 there's another story of Joseph we all know Joseph okay and there's another Pharaoh and Joseph in the Bible he gets a dream that one day you know it's a pretty radical dream I would encourage if you got the dream Joseph God probably don't tell your family you know you probably gonna get a good slap but anyways he told his family anyways Moses Joseph in this point he's about 16 17 years old he's a teenager what does God do when giving a teenager this kind of a dream you know what I mean and so but later on in the story when Joseph is in Pharaoh's house his thing the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph so he prospered and he lived in the house of the Egyptian master when the his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success and everything he did first point I want to bring to you guys here today is to believe and speak into your youth simple message simple message I don't want to do too crazy I don't got 30 slides of five points I'm getting to that annoying team pray for me but I'm not there yet and so believe and speak into them you guys will realize this whether you guys have or not this is something I am realizing as a youth pastor majority of the time I have to see the greatness in teenagers before they ever do you have to speak it into their lives you have to plant that seed into the hearts I remember for you if you were to ask me four years ago Zach what you want to do you can ask any leader any pastor here and they said would you did you want to be a youth pastor youth pastoring was the last thing on in my life I wanted to do and I'm gonna say this not that I was rebelling against God I was a drama I played drums and so I was like God I want to be the world's best drummer you know I was always dreaming big and so I was like I want to be the world's best drummer this is drumming is my thing this and so everyone would tell me you're gonna be the pastor no no no I don't want you're gonna lead youth no no I don't want it it was the last thing that I wanted to do but people spoke people believed people would put me into places into rooms I was like why am I even here because they believed brahbers 22 verses 6 the Bible says train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it do you see what I was talking about focus when they're young so you don't have to fix them when they're old when I read that I read that thing you they say trying to know kids ministry that's like the go-to verse train up a child when he's young so he will not derail when he gets old and I read that a million times and it didn't click into me until that one time when God says focus on them he said and he pointed me to that verse he says do you want to let's just take that verse focus and all focus on them train them up when they're young so that when they get old they do not derail so if they're derailing from their when they're old people might not have trained them up when they're young so do you want to stop them from derailing with their when they're old focus on them when they're young believe in them when they're young of course there's cases where people just slip off and you can do whatever you can and it's not us that saves people Jesus saves people so we can't change their lives but of course we can train them up and raise them up in the ways of the Lord amen Joseph was given a dream and throughout his life throughout his pit throughout his prison throughout his circumstances he stuck to the dream that God gave him when he was a young boy one day he stepped into that Moses was sent down a river when he was three months old we as mature believers as pastors as youth pastors as leaders we have to be the ones to prepare our children we have to be the ones to believe in our students it might look foolish in the beginning it might look foolish in the beginning it might look like you're a fool like you what are you doing you got this great big ministry and you're gonna believe it and you're gonna hand it off into young people of course with wisdom and all this it doesn't make sense when Pastor Vlad was leading youth ministry there was 250 to 300 people here every single Wednesday night he handed off to me I grew it all the way from 250 300 all the way down to about 15 people I mean that thing the youth ministry sunk faster than that Titanic and there was no room for the board for anybody to get on I mean I was kicking beer even if they wanted to get on that board Jack he there was no room for him I mean it was when so far down it looked like a like a foolish decision in the beginning people mocked Pastor Vlad they said are you crazy he's 19 he's 18 he says he want to do youth ministry like doesn't make sense we got these people that can lead it we got these people but it takes the maturity of a Christian a believer to say I understand he can't walk all he does asleep eat and poop but one day he will lead of someone out of people out of Egypt one day I know it doesn't look like it right now I know like they're just draw on drugs there this and this and this and this but one day in chapter 3 this same Moses will lead people out of Egypt this same Moses I was crying in chapter 2 will answer the cry in chapter 3 come on somebody let's go prepare your children prepare your students so you don't have to repair them the let's youth ministry can't be to elevate just the all the young adults and all the pastors I want to preach we don't need that youth ministry's got to be a platform to champion young people if you invest in the youth now you secure your future of the church if you don't believe in your church mark this is what Pastor Vlad says if you don't believe in youth right now in 20 30 years your church will become a retirement home why because there is no room there is a platform that's too small that teenagers that got a talent that got a potential future that got a calling they had no room to step on that platform and when the time comes that you step off teenagers no longer want to be on there why because now there's damage control you've got to fix them you got to work with them you got to do this this is it's better get them burning for Jesus so they don't get into bondage get them burning for this so they don't get burnt out with church get them burning for the things of Christ so they don't let them get burning to do Friday night prayer so they're not in the club on Friday night teenagers will be passionate about something there's nothing we can do to stop that but we can't provide an outlet for that passion to come out there I mean you you guys see it on social media I mean the people with the most tiktok followers the people with the most influence they are Genziers their team I mean it's a ridiculous amount of money they make the innovations they make it's young people they're passionate they're loud but it but the problem is is the church a lot of times doesn't have an outlet doesn't have a platform to say here take this passion that God has given you and release that passion but it's no no no no I can't I I don't want to because I'm scared that's the no it will get to their head and all this kind of stuff I'm gonna tell you this teenagers catches I want you to listen to this there's one thing you can get out of this message teenagers are usually ready for the baton before you're ready to give it up they're usually ready for the baton before you're ready to give it up it tickles some people it hurts why watch I have more students leading on schedule than sometimes adults this is you need to get a team around you that's so sold out for the future and for what God wants to do with the generation that youth ministry is not their platform of course put them up to speak but it's not their time to shine and do their best prayer it's time to champion the best leaders it's I imagine what if passofly would have waited forever until he's like yeah but youth ministry is thriving right now this this is to give it up there was a time when it looked foolish but with the maturity you never buy a stock when it's up there you buy stock when it's on the bottom is there a risk 100% I am not giving you financial advice right now so do not take my financial advice don't go buying stocks but no one with the right mind buys at the top you sell at the top you buy but you buy at the bottom it takes great the the best you get the most outcome the most reward the most benefits when you believe when they're young so when they do get old you're not doing damage control but you're releasing them to go into the world win souls and make disciples amen amen my second point that I want to bring is release them Moses Moses his mother understood there's a greatness there's a there is a burning there is a calling in Moses but in order for me in order for Moses to step into this calling I need to release it I can't have it in my hands there was so many teenagers in your youth ministry that can pray phenomenally they can preach phenomenally they can do lay hands on the six on the sick amazing but if we just keep him hidden it never gets activated if we don't give him a platform and opportunity to release this passion this gift this calling that they have in their life it will lie dormant and I want you to see this Moses his mother released Moses because she understood there's a Pharaoh that is looking for babies catch this it came to me last time if you keep this gift this anointing this calling hidden for far too long there will be a Pharaoh of culture that will come and steal it there will there is a Pharaoh look at what's look what's happening in Washington the bill that's just passed that's not just a bill that is a Pharaoh that's after babies that is a Pharaoh that's saying these 13 year olds got a future these 13 year olds 15 year olds they got a calling God wants to use them what can I do let me take them from their families so if we hide them for far too long and let us shine but don't lift up people underneath us there will come a day where they're like I want to burn for God but it's being hindered is being hindered is being hindered is being hindered and the world's like here come here come here I got a room for your passion I got a room for your talents I got a room for your gift in the church has a closed doors there will be a day where the Pharaoh of culture the Pharaoh of the evil agendas and schemes that the devil is coming will come after the babies but the best place for their gift is not to hide it it's to release it it's to release it here I know you don't feel ready night night prayer grab the mic pray I don't I all I know has prayed for food okay pray the for the food you ate today start somewhere start somewhere hey I only know how to play three key three cores okay let's find the song where there's three cores that you know and we're gonna play it on Wednesday night during you let's champion young people because there I will not allow the Pharaoh of culture to believe in the teenagers in my city more than I do I will not let the pharaoh of this culture and the evil agendas to believe in the students in tri-cities more than on hungry Jen does more than our leaders do I feel it I feel it no way no way will they with the will the people that are in witchcraft the people that are just the minds are demonically just demonize all that will they believe in young people more than the church does we serve a God that is powerful and if the devil can take their lives and do something how much more can our God do but we have to step out of fear as pastors as leaders well if I put them on the stage too early the pride might might get to them well that's why you're there to guide them what what lie is that that I'm just scared that the stage will get to them stage might be getting to you because you don't want to give it up truth is a pill easily given my not easy swallow so you have to see is this pulpit to equip and power and the thing is there's this fear that it will get to them 100% there is there is that thing that it will get to them this is why you have Moses people like Moses's mother to nurture to say here let me let me raise you up in the ways of the Lord let me teach you let me correct you let me send you down the river of discipleship let me send you down the river of mentorship of correction of weekly meetups let me send you down I believe in you but I need to send you I need to release you because there was a calling that you're gonna step into one day but if I don't release it you will never step into what would happen to the people of Israel if Moses's mother was too scared to release her own baby not only Moses would have died because Pharaoh was looking for him the people of Israel who knows this is why I tell our leaders I say guys it's not just gonna be us that leads our generation out of the hell that it's in it's gonna be these teenagers yeah I know they got a drug addition yeah I know they got a lust issue yeah I know they're in relationships they probably shouldn't be in we'll figure that out but one thing you will know is we're gonna believe in them there will be no shortage of belief and investment into our teenagers the safest place for the gifting in the calling and anointing on the teenagers life is not underneath the stand it's not hidden it's in it's in the center of God's will that's a safest place no I don't want them to be out there because they might God doesn't call us to be in the world and and then pride might get to them and the station might get to them no no no if you release it into God's hands if you're there to nurture them and and raise them up the safest place for them as teenagers is in the center of God's will there's far too many stories of of people in our community family even of ours that they literally would tell their children do not go to this crazy hunger generation church don't go I want to protect you from that church there was a demon haunting this this this this this yeah maybe we might be radical in this area but one thing we were in we were in the center of God's will and the same thing they tried to protect and hide their kids from that feral of that thing came and got them and this is not too old you I told you so or something like no no no this is to tell you teenagers need to be empowered need to be given something they need to be given purpose the Bible says to flee youthful us but pursue if all you telling a flee flee flee flee don't do the but you're not giving something to pursue it's like a stake in a shoe we who here has steak right now on you no no one has a steak if you did that would be a little bit weird but we all got shoes shoes are like sin it's everywhere and you know if you have a dog I don't have a dog I'm not gonna get a dog maybe but the dog loves to bite into a shoe because it's everywhere it's on the floor it's available to him but the moment you take a fat piece of steak and you wave it in front of the dog guess what the jaws of the dog unleashed and he says game over he's I want that steak that's exactly how it is when you believe in young people people are in drugs people on this and we're so busy don't don't don't don't don't don't and this is where they get they don't want church I just feel Christian life is born are they right for it probably not but this is what they believe I don't like this I don't like this I don't like this let's get busy championing them and giving them steak called purpose giving steak called opportunity to serve give him a steak and I promise you that all the jaws of sin will be get to unlock and they're gonna be like oh I'd rather do that for God the sin yeah it leaves a distaste in my mouth I don't like how the shoe stays I do want a steak though I do I want that give them purpose believe in them Joseph when he was in Potter's first Potter first house and his what a pot of first wife came to Joseph and says I want to sleep with you he says now Joseph was a well-bid man and handsome gotta put that and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said come to bed with me but watch this I mean if this is pot of first wife Potter first Pharaoh's a keen a pot of her Pharaoh's wife she's probably beautiful no keen not gonna get someone that's not beautiful and Joseph's probably all alone perfect opportunity to sin and get away with it yes our generation is struggling with sin with sexual immorality with with this and this and this is struggling with it perfect especially in the moment of secret of privacy I'm gonna I'm gonna fall into it but watch what what he says but he refused with me in charge he told her my master does not concern him with anything in the house everything he owns he entrusted into me into my care no one greater in this house than I am my master house withheld nothing except you from me and watch this because you are his wife how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God because the master entrusted and gave so much responsibility to Joseph he says yes this look does look good this I am tempted with this but God has given me so much more and I will not forfeit the calling of God I will not forfeit the stake I will not forfeit this even though yes I'm used to this I will not forfeit what he's entrusted into me he's entrusted me with too much he's giving me too much responsibility he's believed in me too much and for that reason I'm gonna withhold from this I don't want this and in the face of sin Joseph flees because he was entrusted he was champion he would at a young age he was given things in Jesus name I'm gonna bring it to an end you have to believe in them before they're ready I have two students here in of cash Bella UK's you guys can come up here come on let's put our hands together for them they are both unashamed club leaders in their local high schools come on let's put our hands together for them and I want them first of all your name how old you are what school actually you have to do school they probably don't know but kind of just your life before Christ in a short capsule form and what happened when you came here and and when people started just to pour into you believe in you and how long did it take you to be coming on a shame club leader so you go ahead hold the mic and just in that form my name is Isabella Flores I'm 16 years old and my life before Christ my parents divorced when I was like three years old four years old and my mom moved from California with my dad to Washington State and through the divorce like it left like avoided my heart and like absence of my father because he didn't follow her so like never having my dad or having my dad super far away it like left the absence in my heart or something that I always longed for like a father figure and then so in 2018 I got introduced to the New Age crystals and through the crystals they so-called promised healing like protection safety and all these comforts that I've always looked for or always like wanted to seek but I didn't know where to look and that was the first thing that I saw like like a truth or whatever but that wasn't the truth because later and last year for camp I received healing and I really see the Holy Spirit through one of our leaders she prayed for me and three days in a row so two times every single day like for those three days I literally had an encounter with God and he healed me he protect me he showed me the truth and everything that the New Age and the crystals and the horoscope so all of that everything that they promised it's deceiving because I'd never found it there the only time I've ever found it was in Jesus and when I had an encounter with him and so that was June of last year and and like throughout those months I barely became an under shame leader like a month last month so it took a long time for me because I always try to run away from my calling like Zach believed in me Genesis they all believed you're gonna be an under shame leader you're gonna do something great and I was always didn't believe in myself I was like no like exactly was Zach preach today I was always running from it and I never like or I always like oh I'm not I'm not good enough or I don't deserve it like what did I even do for them to be telling me this but you don't need to like have any of that because God will give you grace and God is like the truth and everything that I try to look for I found it in him amen amen she ran you can run but you cannot hide all right Bella you can run but you cannot hide so good thank you Bella you could you could chill here for a bit actually yeah chill here for a bit cash just your life before then what God did and right now you're on a shame club leader and you're on fire for God why what happened when you encountered God and when people just believed in you all that what did that do inside of you um okay sorry so um at a time in my life so I grew up Catholic in the church and God was always like I've always heard about him but I never really had a encounter with him I didn't have any relationship with God so as I grew older I started to stray further and further and further from God and started to turn to things to my friends and my friends were in drugs they were in girls so that's what I started looking for and I started to fall into drugs and girls and then one day I had a basketball game and pastor Zach happened to be there and he told me about hunker generation youth and so I came there on the first day that I was there he had an altar call and they said if you are ready to give your life to Christ gave an amazing word said if you are ready of your life back to Christ please come up raise my hand as soon as I raised my hands and I left this room I felt lighter a burden had to be lifted off of me and ever since I started to progress but there was still always a distraction always me running away I had friends and I would always laugh and giggle with my friends while church was going because I was still scared and then one day my best friend moved to Hawaii and I wasn't really close with anybody else so it was just me and God at church and I remember the first service without him I cried because like that's that's my best friend so I don't know how I'm gonna do church without him and through him and through God God told me he would want you to use this pain to get closer to God and say I'm just gonna give it all to you then soak and run away from God so I so when he left I was able to become closer to God I was able to worship better give it all to Christ and I ended up becoming an unashamed leader and so this calling has been put upon me and yes the enemy attacks me every single day life as a leader it's not perfect people will look at me and how are you doing this how are you doing that this looks so hard I'm just a teenager like I struggle with everything everyday things that a teenager does but the difference between me and other teenagers is I have God's strength to back me up not just my life cash why are you super because I see all the chats that I'm in with you and sometimes you push your the other leaders in your in your club to just go after and they're like I am trying you're like more how much more more and even when they're like I don't got more to give and you're passionate you you can see the passion what are you passionate about I see how great my team is and sometimes they're like cash is I'm nervous I'm scared I'm doing this and doing that and I peer pressure them into it and then they get on stage and people start to break down crying because of the presence of God coming into them all that fear all the nervousness disappears and because I believed in them and because I said you got this God will just give it all to God he will take care of you they were able to save lives they were able to start a fire in a teenager that could end up who knows where but because I believed in because I see the truth that God has for them and because I continue to push them they have become to develop into people that is that would change the world truly amen thank you Bella thank you cash let's put our hands together for them it took a while for for Bella to to become an unashamed club leader and I remember I was in a different school with a different team and I get the text the first time Bella comes to unashamed clubs and she speaks first time first of all like there's no way she will speak because I'm like she's just too nervous first time she speaks there's a girl in the back of the room begins to encounter God encounter just in a classroom in a high school where darkness is everywhere but even in the darkness if you champion people and you believe in them they can bring light into their schools they can bring light into the place that are in amen amen amen amen so I hope did you guys get something I know it's kind of I hope you guys get something I pray that it touches you we're gonna go into our Q&A session right now but I just want to pray over every person right now just for you youth ministries if your youth ministries are thriving I pray God puts more and it gives more systems if they're struggling if you don't got a youth ministry I just pray well I'm gonna pray right now that just God's anointing fresh fire will begin to come over you guys father God I come before you got I lift up every pastor every youth pastor every leader every youth leader right now I lift up the churches that are represented God here in this building I pray that you begin to move with power God I begin to you I pray that you begin to raise up young people God the leaders God that will lay their lives down God to raise up teenagers God I pray God their teenagers in their house God in their garden church will begin to get on fire for you God I pray that the clubs will begin to get started in their youth ministries God I pray God that teenagers God will not just be changed but they will be radically changed God they will be encountered to the point where they should their friend circles change God I pray God they will get encountered to the point where addictions begin to change God God I pray that their taste buds begin to change God what they used to be passionate about will be changed in the name of Jesus I pray over them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ you're praying everybody said amen amen thank you guys I think we're gonna set up for Q&A right now and there might be a QR code up here so you guys oh you got yeah check as we're setting up for the Q&A right now with some of the youth leaders I just want to say is this not reminiscent of as they're talking all I can think is Jesus movement all I can think about is what God is doing in the youth and my I'm just encouraged by it I'm thinking about as us because there's many adults here in this session right now my question to you is where's the Chuck Smiths for every Lonnie Frisbee there needs to be Chuck Smiths the older generation that will be the fathers that will give place for the young people to do what they need to do to win the generation and so it's just a really phenomenal what's happening with the youth right now what was that is doing with the unashamed clubs and the teams they have and so right now do we have Zach do we have the people ready to come up on yeah come on up we won't without further ado what we're gonna do right now you guys Danny oh perfect there is a QR code here I want to ask you guys just to take a moment scan the QR code we're gonna start taking in some questions because as you can imagine all of this stuff requires a lot of day in and day out for these guys of preparation there's also a lot of things you know I know with Zach and with Sal a lot of things that they put into it behind the scenes so I just want to take this moment for you guys now to go ahead and ask some questions that you may have about what they're doing and either it can be about the heart behind it can be about structure whatever it might be so I'll give you that moment now right now as you guys are putting in questions I'm just gonna have them go real quickly well actually we already know this is faster Zach the QR is not working okay yeah I guess we can do that Danny yeah let's go ahead and we'll introduce right now go ahead and start alright what's up guys how we're doing fantastic you guys enjoying the past this conference a beautiful so my name is Sal I'm actually the director of Unashamed clubs and then these two these two one of the teams for Pascoe High School which is a public high school in this district and so yeah I've been a part of been doing Unashamed clubs since January I absolutely love it seeing these kids just step up and grow it even coming off what Zach said a lot of the times to empower your students it takes as well to get out of the same thinking that you know what the structure is gonna look like right because with these guys we all work together and then I asked them hey what are you doing like what are you doing and what can we do to make it better because I can see something but then they can have a different perspective because they're in the school so yeah being the director Unashamed clubs is tough but it's exciting at the same time and also I'm from Sydney Australia so my accent might be a bit different alright hey man hey guys you saw me earlier my name is Cassius Blaisdell I am a leader at Pascoe High as Zach said sorry Sal my name is Isabel Flores I'm also a leader at the Pascoe High School I'm also a leader at Pascoe High School no I was talking obviously Pascoe High and yeah I'm a leader in it but yeah so while you guys are well as we're getting this QR code fixed I'm just gonna ask a couple of questions and Zach or Sal or students here guys are feel free to answer how but you talk about the Unashamed clubs that you have how did that begin like just kind of give us a brief synopsis yeah yeah absolutely so it happened I've I've always just had a heart for young people sad story but I lost a loved one lost a best friend of mine when he was in middle school and had a whole life in front of him one of the best sport in sports and had a birthday with him the next next day he he was gone he took his life and I began to think if my best friend that I hung out with I didn't even know that he was struggling how many more students are in high schools and middle schools are struggling and they have a whole life in front of them and so I knew from that moment there needs to be something in schools it happened years later where God just went when I switched into youth ministry student ministry for middle schoolers high schoolers I know other people got different things but for me it was like I need to focus on middle school high schoolers and God just put on my heart you need to focus and go to not wait for the fish to jump into your boat and walk in you know it's like asking a criminal to walk into police station probably not gonna happen I realized we need to go to them we need to do what people are not doing and we need to reach them where where they are at because there's statistic I think Barna says about 35 to 45 percent of US teams would come to church if someone invited them so half of their friends would come to church if you wouldn't invite them so I figured what's the best way then go into them and I tell our students this I'm a youth pastor of 150 200 teenagers you have the opportunity in your school to be a youth pastor of 3,000 kids like you can have a bigger youth ministry me like this so I yeah I just realized a lot of kids are hurting and broken and we need to go to them they will never just step in and fall into our youth ministry they need to someone needs to go to them and bring them this Mike it keeps going in and out so you said you know that's how you guys got started what does the what is the unashamed club look like practically speaking and and like how did you guys actually get into the schools because I'm assuming there's gonna be a lot of people here asking that question and also to let you guys know the QR code has been changed so now is the time you can start asking the questions but maybe Sal you can answer this more logistically how did you guys actually even get into the school so firstly to get into the school unit of volunteer form each district across America actually probably across the world has a volunteer form to get into schools because any parent can volunteer right so you sign your volunteer form that way you're clear with your district you're clear with your city and they do a small background check but it's so they can say okay this person is legally able to come into our school with no issues and then after that it comes down to the students even if you have one student going into their high school they can start a club all they got to do is go up to their teacher or someone in their school office and say hey I want to start a lunchtime club and then the teachers ask okay what is it for us when we first do unashamed we say it's a safe space it's a safe space that's faith-based so space a safe space that's faith-based right and they're like okay that's what does that even mean right so they don't even know what they're talking about but because the teachers in their schools that kind of just want to just okay yes no just like yeah I just want to have a place for my friends and then we invite a volunteer that has signed the form to come and speak every now and then and so that's that's how the school solidified now it's up to the students to always find a teacher and the classroom and the students go into their schools find a teacher classroom and then we can come in we sign into we sign into the school office saying hey I'm here we give them a smile say how are you have a small conversation become their friend and then go into the schools and we make we ask our students to communicate what's the yes we can do in your school and what's the note some schools two schools only allow one church leader and that no one school only allows one church leader and then two schools only allowed us to go straight to the classroom and we can't talk to any students on the way to the classroom but then two other schools allows us to just come in and invite kids to use the invite kids to unashamed club and so each school looks different it's just your you have high communication with your students to know okay what can we do in your school from your teachers and then you make sure you guys are covered legally through the school districts and volunteer form so you can be there and then they will never ever kick you out once the students started I would add to that so if there is a club already in your school want any club at least one you can protect it by the law you can start a club they can't tell you know if there is no club absolutely like the school is like it's either you allow one or you allow none that's basically so if there's one you can start they're like no I don't like your club your know their your purpose I don't want you well I mean you have this one so you can have ours they legally have to allow you the best thing is do if you have a youth ministry and you got five ten fifteen twenty go get the amount of kid the kids that the most kids go to a certain school start with that one because you know it's better you can start with one but it's better when you get a group of people together say hey let's all of us and then like Sal has solidified roles president vice president secretary treasurer they're all sign things what to do and then you come together cuz you know some are shy some are bold and they come together they feed off of each other and you start usually best to start where there is most of your students and you don't just go at it right away cuz you don't force them like Sal said you want to empower them believe in them speak into them and say you will you you will do it one day I believe in you you have a chance to to really change lives of people and then let them start to be like hey do you want to do you want to and then one day they'll get that and then you solidify that and get that going but like Sal said it has to be a student led and they invite the speaker there because and know this when you want to start a club government everything is against Christianity so there will be opposition some teachers when we went in some teachers like how can you have this club how are you getting prayer into your club and then they start to talk amongst themselves so understand you will get some push back we started off with free reign like Sal said but now some of us some clubs they're like don't even talk to anybody go straight to the classroom so we take what we can obviously if they're like hey you have to go around back doors whatever is what it is we want to do whatever we can remember if you get one student from your club then normally wouldn't step into your club or a Bible club or your youth ministry you win you win just one student so doesn't need to be a massive club one day it will grow but all you need is one student to come in that normally wouldn't actually mom Sal was telling me there was Muslims that step into our club because we really push unashamed clubs and not a Bible club because there's many Bible clubs and people automatically if you're not a Bible believer or you don't care about church you would never step into a Bible club yes you know I mean like I was in high school I was a Christian I didn't go to Bible Club so I can imagine a non-Christian wouldn't go to a Bible Club so we really tried to form it like he said a safe place that's faith-based it's for everybody so everyone can come and obviously as they're there they came for the pizza or the donuts God encounters them like one time Bella was speaking God counter one girl and she didn't come for a Christian thing but you know Holy Spirit gets them anyways come on whole ghost come on so Zach you actually mentioned and I just want to highlight that for a moment you mentioned that you did get some pushback one of the questions here says what are some of the oppositions that you faced as a student this is maybe for the kids these students here as well you what are some of the oppositions that you guys have faced in the classrooms the pushbacks and how do you handle that both as the administrators of it and for the students I'd like to hear it from the students as well for Pasco High School we are very blessed our school district we're not school district but our school allows basically full reign so our leaders can come in they can come and invite students however among the students I've noticed people will come in and they'll feel something and they'll feel vulnerable and they get scared and once people start to feel fear and they start to feel vulnerable they start to get defensive so I've heard some of my friends start to mock the club start to say oh we do try to pray so there definitely is a mocking and there can definitely become just bad intentions about the club because people are scared to be vulnerable people are scared to be encountered people are scared to change so definitely a big pushback from the students at times so that can be definitely rough and with that before we ask Bella you with that pushback how does that affect you as a leader but what what do you what is the what have you done to overcome that personally it's definitely tough hearing it from your friends and these are people you hang out with you're like are you dumb like are you following God like that's definitely rough but it's a clear sign from God saying you need to distance yourself from these people these aren't who I want you to hang around the closest that I've come to God the more I've looked to him for strength and not for me because if I would have heard those things and looked to me for strength I would have broke down I would have got defensive as well and I would have started a huge argument but because because I look to God I stay calm I say yes I am trying to follow God and I go on with my day come on how did and I'm kind of putting you on the spot here but how did you learn that because I'm just thinking like when I was a teenager you know I I wouldn't have thought that I would have gotten into a whole thing but it was a very mature response so I want to know like how did you did you hear that somewhere like you hear that a youth group I don't know you tell me again it's big with my relationship with God and I still struggle with getting defensive and sad and then like the other day I had a very I had a vulnerable point in my life I messed up and I became embarrassed and I got into a huge argument and that was something that I was ashamed of in myself because I know I am better that and I know that God has made me to be better than that so I'm far from perfect but I am coming closer and closer to God each day and he is saying hey Cassius I love you I don't need you doing these things look to me don't look to yourself doesn't it seem like he's kind of a better disciple than most of us actually doing the work of Jesus and taking persecution it's crazy it's awesome I want to shift gears for a moment oh yes so actually Bella please go ahead and tell us also just something how do you what are some of the challenges you faced so one of the challenges that most excites me when I go out and to reach people and try to bring them to club and like encourage them I do want to come most of them for me it's like like right away oh I can't I'm Catholic oh I can't my mom doesn't let me because we're Catholic and then like for me before I would like any little rejection out of like be a bears like why did you reject me and then just like dip like but now like after like it's been more than once like after that first time I asked somebody the first time they told me oh I can't I'm Catholic and then I was kind of like thrown back like wait why don't you want to come because I know what I've experienced like church and youth and then what the undershames can do for you I'm like because I know what they can do for you so I'm like wait why don't why don't you want to go like and I've been on the side where my grandmother is Catholic and I would go to the Catholic Church as well so I understand like both sides but like each time like they would tell me that I would just be like okay no worries let me know like if you ever change your mind or like I'll come back to them later like next week or a couple weeks later or I would just like I would just like accept to be like okay that's cool but like if they're my friends and they say that I just kind of keep like talking about like Jesus and stuff and then they get that curiosity they're like wait I didn't know that before we like what was that so and then I just talk about it more and more and then like the more you talk about Jesus and more to talk about the truth they get more curious about it and then instead of just taking that rejection and being like oh I'm never gonna talk to you about it again because you reject me that first time I just take that and like move on and just kind of plant the seeds and plant more curiosity so if they want to know more come on I feel like as I listen to cash and Bella speak I'm realizing and this just goes everything was access you give you give students an opportunity and a purpose and look what they're already doing I mean they're figuring things out that even us as adults are not even doing and it's just amazing I want to I want to point this question this next one towards Sal because someone asked how do you go to them cash mentioned that Zach you had you had gone to your youth spoke to him at a game I think Sal you can answer this question really well the question is how do you go to the students how do you connect with the students and in that regards because you know throughout the week everything is student-based how do you make a student-based ministry I think you have a perfect answer for this with that you gotta ask you gotta ask yourself why you doing this you gotta ask if am I doing this for my own glory am I doing this because I want to help young people when you truly want to help young people you truly want to raise leaders but you truly just want kids to experience Christ you become so selfless in your time and you become so selfless in your decisions that you will if you know a young person because I bet you all do you'll know young person you know they have an event throughout the week right you go to the event absolutely changes their life the fact that you're showing up at their school event first right without you just ask them how I'm here to see you what that student does now is more than likely will introduce you to their friends and then that's when you talk you just talk to them and you're not talking to them to hey I'm gonna talk to you right now so you come to youth and come build my youth ministry you're talking to them because you generally want to get to know them okay so who are you like my name is my name is such and such we're meeting for the first time and you would you get to know them you get to know who they are then you get to even know your student even more because they're shooting could be someone completely different out of youth so it's becoming okay I'm selfless for this because I want kids to speak Christian and to make better life choices right then from there okay how can I be in their life more than them coming to me right it's we go to them okay what what do you have on why have kids messaging me hey I got I got banned I got a band concert and I'm like I'm Australian I don't even know this stuff existed in schools right and then you go to you go to their events I went to a football match is one of the greatest things ever of course kids would rather go to a football match then come to youth but then the fact that you're there sitting in the crowd cheering them on then after that you'll see them jump on their bus going back to their school you get to know more of your student then their student like well that's my leader then all the kids will look at your student and be like well I don't have anyone like that showing up for me I want that too so who are they and that's it you have a full fluid conversation I guarantee you because it happens to me all the time happens to Zach probably happens to these students now these kids will be like well what are you doing this weekend I want to hang out I know the best spot we can hang out may come to church come to youth alright and not just not just that the moment their parents see you show up as their youth pastor their youth leader to their kids game done deal it shows that you generally care it's just taken off a number you generally care about their kid yeah yeah I remember one time we went football game I didn't meet Sal and Jake or someone or Julie and we went to a football game and and by the end of the football game I mean me and Sal are talking to 40 parents we're in a circle you know we're just doing youth manage yourself so I hey how are you doing barbecue or anything and we're talking to their kid to their parents and I like if we can't get the parent the kid to go we're gonna talk to parents to make sure the kid goes so it's beautiful I'm telling you I remember one kid I was sitting we're sitting on that side right there and a kid said thank you for coming on football game for sure bro and he says I've never had a friend show up to a game I was like don't make me cry but it was beautiful and I was like wow and I saw really did introduce this to our youth and because we didn't again we're youth young adults we didn't really do that much but once it came to that make the the teenagers feel like you believe in them don't just talk about it actually do it and so beautiful yeah and I just want to say even as a testimony my my younger brother-in-law had a very rough upbringing tough tough kid to try and reach and Sal actually is the one that ended up connecting with him and actually went to his hockey game and Sal John Paul does in like he's obsessed with you you know like and I've seen a transformation in my own my younger brother just simply because someone took the time to know him and be with him and he's accepted Christ he's he's serving the Lord and does he always come to church right now no but he is actually changing on the inside and Sal you've made a huge difference in his life just simply by being there and so I think that's just such a powerful thing what they're doing here and just that specific specific like intentionality that they're carrying another question and I know we're kind of cutting into time here but I think it's really important to kind of address this one is what is the actual club look like and once you go once you get there is there a speaker what does it look like so there's right now we have a week a and week B we have a build week and then a big week build week is more intimate and where the goal is to do more of a Bible study and more to check in on our students in their own school because that makes a difference as well than taking them out of school we're in their territory hey check in with them how are you how are you feeling are you okay and then build week is the students actually now they come up with the whole structure of what build week is what big week is and it's coming in we go out we invite students to come to club or nine times nine yet for about ten minutes go out invite students come to club or talk to students that you asked last time to come to club that said no you go and see them say hi to them and then come into club usually we have a icebreaker game and there's a bit of snacks being passed around and then someone comes and speak and says a word but the word is like a dagger it's not we're going around the circle it's a straight dagger straight to the point and then we do an altar call if we don't do an altar call after that there is absolutely no point in doing this right so we do an altar call and also to get kids connected so we have two QR codes we have a QR code for skids to scan scan to get connected which will which comes back to me and then I can see I can see who's who they are what's their name then we have another QR code if they want to give their life to Christ right so the both of them I get their details then I take that information and then pass it on to our leaders and sometimes to our students but that's basically the rundown of club depending on your lunchtime and how much time you have we might not play a game if we've taken too long inviting students on our second week on our big weeks we do have pizza as well because kids are hungry and even though this country is blessed and gives food in the cafeteria which is still insane to me I'm used to eating jam sandwiches I mean jam jelly jelly sandwiches sorry he's Australian forgive his English well I'm used to eating jelly sandwiches and just calling the day but no they they're hungry and they're only high schoolers only have like one one time in the day to eat so we make sure we have food food for them and so that's basically the structure very straight forward and we got to be quick we can't waste time we got to be efficient yeah so one of the questions was how do you address sin but I think you already answered that question you guys go straight for the altar call every time straight dagger no messing around after the lunchtime nine times out of ten kids you're walking to the office to leave to sign out they're walking with you talking to you asking you questions and then there that's when we have our youth has a touch card you give them to you give them to them so they can know where to come find you again if they need to talk if you don't know them that well or they just asking they keep asking you so I didn't get it or I'm struggling or okay I want to be more involved yeah and I would say this for altar call just do it like don't be shy I know it's in a high school first time we were doing it I was like anybody want to give their lives to cry I was like shaking at the knees but then once I realized one student second third four fifth six seven eight ten fifteen students I begin to weep while kids wanted they're just waiting for someone bold enough to talk about it Zach how many what was like the most that you guys have seen because I've seen videos that you guys have posted literally whole classrooms raising their hand to give their life to Jesus how many kids have you guys seen and just like one what's the most yeah we saw one was like 26 27 and it did happen right away I happen and no one raised their hand and I just again this was a moment like God I'm throwing myself off this cliff you got to come save me because of this is I'm telling preaching preaching here was easy preaching from a race to deliver Congress easy you get 30 high schoolers in a thing you're shaking at the knees and they're laughing at you didn't know when you get what your friends are cocky and they're pointing at you and you're like am I do I got something on I mean intimidating intimidating but it the most route the best reward is like I got report from Kennewick High and they were like the same kids that were laughing laughing laughing were the ones that raised their hand when the altar call was given beautiful but yeah I would say about it was 27 it was in the high school it was just it was absolutely phenomenal I was I was shocked just in tears that's amazing I want to ask you guys and then we're already over time but are you guys enjoying this right now yeah I want to ask you guys another question because you guys do sponsorship for your clubs we've got Jonathan here can you come up here can you come up for a moment I just want to Jonathan Botker he takes care of our we don't have an official role but he goes by COO I don't know what I am and CFO CEO but yeah Jonathan takes care of our sponsorships but yeah so you guys obviously you have sponsorships going on you guys are obviously even now with these undershamed clubs you're more than just having the clubs you're part of the heart and maybe before we have Jonathan answered this I want you to answer this Zach because I know me and you have actually had conversations about what is the purpose of what you're trying to do other than just have the club how are you like solidifying your stay at the schools yeah absolutely so again like the goal of what we are doing here is not to be another Christian club that is not what we want to be again I was a Christian and I avoided Christian clubs I did not want to be there I mean I went to Little Caesars every single time with the with my cousins I had a car they had money so I was like this is a trade I drive you you pay for my lunch but not a Christian we don't because there's even like other Christian clubs that they're like it's for Christians for athletes I'm like so what about the non-Christian addicts Christian athletes what about the non-Christian people that are suicidal depressed what about them so I was like Bible says go out into the world go into the darkness I was like light doesn't need more light darkness light so that we are gonna be a club that we go to be a light and so we don't want and we also want to put our foot in we want to stay for a long time we don't want to just we don't want to burn bright and then burn out and so we want to be have longevity even after this is why again we're raising up students so even when me and Sal we end up going Australia for vacation students still take this going students still run it and it multiplies like in the next two weeks two more clubs are being released two more schools in our local city it's next week next week and so what we're also doing and this is in like here in the near future we're gonna be it's gonna be a massive operation what we're gonna do is each club it not only brings the gospel in a way of preaching but we want to show love in the way of giving to our schools so we tell our students look watch what's going on in your schools what is the need of your school maybe it's coats what how amazing is it that an unashamed club comes into school and they're ready defensive as no America defensive against Christianity the wall of defense in offense drops the moment we come in we don't just say we're gonna preach the gospel but here's a hundred coats during winter here's food for the kids that don't got food and so what Jonathan is doing is he's going around he's gonna explain it but even people are wanting a partner with us to say hey we want through you guys to get food to the kids and send kids with food back home every single day and I was like how good is a Christian club doesn't only speak about the gospel but shows the gospel in a way of giving back and then it puts our foot deeper into the school system to eventually I mean this is how it works you go little by little but to get our church to get Christians around the table where decisions are made about our children to put our parents to put our church Christian Bible believing Holy Ghost filled people in the table in the talk when it comes to the direction of our education of our systems of our children we don't want to be everyone else make those decisions and then we have to suffer the consequences but the best way is not just coming in with a riot sometimes it's like that but it's also it's also no going in and giving showing love and then they're like hey you're a Christian club but but you give to our kids you take care of our kids and it softens their heart so this is what we don't want to we want to be a well-rounded club that lasts for a long time and then we want to be a tool in the hands of our school system well that's amazing and so Jonathan this question is for you and I kind of want you to answer it in two ways because the question here technically is how does sponsorship work and how do you keep your clubs afloat if you can answer it from the point of do you guys even have expense costs or anything like that but then also how are you raising funds for the things that Zach was talking about yeah no guaranteed and I think actually just recently I was reminded of why Jesus came down to this earth and I think two of the the pivotal points is grace and truth and I think pastor Zach spoke to it earlier a little bit on really why you you're focusing on the on the on the youth I'll just kind of give you a backdrop here with regards to kind of what got me compelled to come alongside Zach and and Sal and and really the group because I started back in actually end of October so kind of even before a little bit that this really blew up I have four kids under the age of four under the age of eight so for me as a father of three beautiful women and one finally got the boy in June you know praise the Lord a mission accomplished but you know as thinking about my future I hope I can you know surpass and see my my grandchildren my great-grandchildren but you never know what's going to happen in this world and what kind of things you're going to struggle or whether you'll be here for that long so I want to make sure that I plant seeds that will grow and prosper well beyond my time and I think one of the things that that Jesus gave us in him come into earth was really grace and truth and how are we actually doing that so we're not doing it like pastor sack said because this is really what brought me in the heart was when he said why are we helping and we should obviously help those in their 20s in their 30s but why not start at the beginning before they go through all that you know I had my prodigal years myself and if I and which started actually right between my junior and senior year in high school when my parents split up right and had I had someone bold enough to make it into my private school that was only 113 kids of my graduating class which was just tough I didn't go to a big school that were had a bunch of different clubs people poured into I didn't really have that but what we're doing now is sowing those seeds to see the great harvest and trying to make sure that we don't do that so kind of to answer your question I would say it's twofold one we must find generosity because generosity is not only just in this church there is plenty of businesses out there that I'm finding out more than I even thought that are willing to they're already have in their business plan their business model is to give portions out of their profits to nonprofits to organizations to some that are bold enough to even say two churches Fred Meyer currently actually gives about three hundred million dollars a year this is annually two nonprofits two churches and everywhere around around our city so if you all are going back and trying to get this started and thinking up from a monetary standpoint how am I being gonna keep this afloat like like the question asked well actually look around you come up to your front stage and ask who are the business owners here who needs to give due tax write-offs right who are the places that we can reach out to local businesses national businesses that are willing to give money so one of the first things that I'm I started to do is really come in and start from the bottom up right reaching out to businesses local and national and asking politely and also there's there's a bit of business acumen that you must have behind it because there's a lot of people that knock on the doors but if you come with your best foot forward if you can actually you know compile a nice sponsorship request letter which is what I leverage to reach out to these companies it goes a big way and I think that the second thing and it's something that I know I kind of picked up after someone had already started I think is is follow-up that's huge it's not only because and recently actually just came into one of my one of the sermons I recently listened to that that kind of goes to the story of Elijah and Elisha it's that the questions that you ask define and decipher your destiny right so if you're not asking the right questions if we're not right right asking them in the right way in the right tonality it really can lead you one way down the road or to a whole different other road right so I think that's that's a huge part and the second second fold to this is really making sure that you have the ability to lead your people towards that generosity right towards the heart of that because that's really where we're we're we're all coming in here all of our directors our pastors our students that are leading everyone kind of plays a role has their lane but there's always a role to find in from from how do we actually keep resources going right Jesus Christ had and that been for the women that actually gave to his his ministry he wouldn't have been able to go around and do everything right he didn't necessarily work he didn't do all those things so I think that just making sure you find that people and the generosity there's a lot of it we just got to be diligent about it that's awesome and and there there's there's a so we do we get about what you said you were telling me before about a thousand to fifteen hundred and food donations a week yeah thousand so we get about a week throughout the local stores about a thousand to fifteen hundred a week from our local stores every single week from snacks to drinks they have a loaded with the Lynch and Lee ality work without professionality to go to those stores and they said no they just straight in our first face and said no and even when we came back they're like no and then he came on board and he really with professionality and how he spoke and then some of you guys can even come talk to Jonathan afterwards and ask how he writes those letters all that kind of stuff very well with wisdom and these non-Christian companies will give because a lot of them will give to a cause more than they'll give to a church they'll give to a cause and we're we of course we say we're faith-based but our cause is for young people and people will give throw money when it's there to benefit their own kids their own schools local schools and so we leverage that and we really try to work with that and mainly with local companies too much when you go into corporate it's tough we want to we're believing we're gonna get into that so that it's no longer thousands that give a hundred of thousands and millions and we believe we're gonna get to that point and it belongs to us it belongs to us in Jesus name amen amen and thank you Jonathan for coming up let's put our hands together for Jonathan I want to ask as a final question and this might be kind of a long-winded one this is why it's our last one so we can be done here by three o'clock we I want to shift gears when we spoke a lot about the unashamed club but there was a question you're asking how does your youth ministry look and what does what is the thing that what is the structure what is the it's kind of an open-ended question but you kind of get the gist yeah of course so again I started came in really quick as the youth pastor it was youth young adults always that's how it's kind of been it was more so youth but then because Sunday wasn't doing too good pastor Vlad was a fire preacher it basically became more of a lot of a young adult so when I came in at 19 years old it didn't really work not a lot of people wanted to listen to me and so I took a lot of time of trying to prove to people that they can listen to me and I realized what am I doing and so 2022 when I felt that word I felt that tug I switched completely to student ministry middle school and high school the reason why is because middle school age that bracket in their minds is the year the years psychologically they absorb and they form the most and who they are how they think everything statistically proven middle school age in church are the most underserved group where's the problem so that age group they should be poured in the most they're poured in the least so that's where I began to when I felt that call obviously I went into books I went to studying I wanted to I didn't know what student ministry was I thought student ministry was for kids for I thought it was kids own that's literally legitimately what I thought I thought you'd ministry look like this youth young adults and if that's how it looks like that's cool but for me I knew there was already divide between high school and middle school and so to add a young adults and to add babies it's just it's again I'm not just another Sunday service and I would see our teenagers come to Sunday but not to our youth service now ask him why why it was actually Frankie it's Frankie I was like why why didn't he why don't you want to come to you he was like oh it just looks like another Sunday service and I was like okay and so and then I sort of asked more and more and more and more why don't you come to you why don't you come to you and then I was like when I was preaching I see a no parent come in with their three kids to a youth service and I like or like their babies I'm like I don't think you belong in youth service I was like I you should I was like why are you coming to listen to me preach possible I preach is way better than me and so and and I realized there was a legitimate problem if I want to do a youth camp how do I do youth camp that way if I want to do realize I was running to a lot of girls and 13 year olds it was so I was running to a lot of issues so I switch the student ministry how I do it now and it's been taking off God has been moving because middle schoolers that come in and high schoolers they know this service is for them this is their service young adults when I switched I kicked out all young adults I told them within three months no you pack your bags and you got to get out like you can't come to our youth service anymore unless two things this is the only way you're out of high school and you can come to youth service you're serving and you're leading only two ways I said other than that why you here again if you're here to get poured into passive lads a better preacher than me go to Sundays go out on a date on our youth service but if you're going to be here it's it's for the kids we're believing in them and so how it runs is we open it up we switch to Sunday night the reason we switch to Sunday night is because there's no football games basketball games during on Sunday night throughout the week during the school year most of you guys know if you guys are parents of kids in school and sports it's so many practices with so many games and then like you can never find a time to get them I'm passionate but I got a football game and so I didn't want to take him from that but I also want to be here so we switch to Sunday night no games nothing no practices then they can make it and so we usually open up with praise worship we go into prayer we go into like announcements a testimony or a game we go into the preaching we go 30 to 40 minutes we don't shy away and then we go we never neglect alter call this is where students encounter I believe in three things in youth ministry the fun three F's the fun the fire and the fellowship you got to have fun you don't don't be like in the like such a no we can't have fun fun is from the devil and we're only gonna read the Bible 24 hours a day no they're teenagers you got to have some fun the camps the conferences like do a game do giveaways do prizes do the fun part of it do face pain and go crazy she makes your senior pastor doesn't see and then like my dad I told my dad was okay dad honestly if I think it's best you probably don't come to our youth services so you're probably not gonna like no it's nothing bad it's just music super loud and like kids got face pain and so he's gonna probably cast a demon out of them like dad it's just face pain and so and then the second F is you got to have the fire preach a good message take time pour into them do alter calls allow the Holy Spirit one time we were doing Super Bowl service and kids were complaining why don't we have service so we just spontaneously did a worship night and God just moved like crazy moved insanely the song we sang today in the morning pour it out that came out of a youth just worship night and so we allow we open up our altar calls and third of all is the fellowship aspect we we have our connect groups life groups whatever you guys call them Barna study says 70% of students after they leave youth after they leave youth will completely leave church it's because a lot of us all we do and not a lot of us a lot of youth ministry they just entertain entertain students and they get them why because I mean three pizza prizes you might win a longboard or something of course I'm gonna come but you get them to fall in love with youth ministry not with Jesus that's the problem and this is why you got such a high dropout rate that's 70% of youth ministries they will shrink after they leave they graduate and get out of high school they will leave church completely so we believe in no entertainment let them have fun but also empower them and then get them into connect groups into life groups so that they grow in their relationship with Christ so when they leave youth ministry they love Jesus not youth ministry and they stay and the goal is I tell our pastors and I tell our South the goal of youth ministry is in 10 15 years not to keep them in youth ministry for the rest of their life but in 10 15 years that they walk in with their husband or their wife and their children into Sunday morning church and they disciple they have a home group this is what we're here for youth ministry is a transitional ministry I believe a lot of the kids will come around because we believe in them there you go they believe in them they will come back around and youth ministry to be leaders and and to to lead and do that kind of stuff and so we have bi-weekly life groups connect groups and we one week we meet with our students next week we meet with our pastors our leaders to pour into us next week we pour into them and we have unashamed clubs that happen weekly and am I missing something nah like you said everything right but appreciate it the youth ministry youth ministry is one aspect but for what we've seen that really grows youth ministry and what really see that gets kids connected is life groups life groups are essential you're not meeting with it you're not meeting as a life group throughout the week your youth ministry will stay where it is it's a part it's happened to us in Australia it's happened to us here once we have consistent life groups grows like a charm well that's it yeah and then also unashamed clubs we actually we've gotten about 60 to 70 students from our local high schools and middle schools to come to church and to youth groups and I'm gonna end on this I believe the revival that's getting ushered in will be a campus revival and I believe the students will usher in in one of the greatest revivals mankind has ever seen and not just that remember how it's always been parents would drag their kids to church I believe something is shifting in the world in our nation though as we empower teenagers Bella is trying to invite her parents some of her parents like one of her dad their students that are believing praying over their family there is a time is coming right now where it's gonna be that kids will bring their parents to Christ man what a what a great ending Mike drop all right you guys well we've come to the end of our Q&A session can we just put our hands together for these young awesome leaders it's just amazing to see what you guys are doing you can see it all over you guys even what Pastor Bob was speaking about this morning discipleship this discipleship isn't just happening on the church level it's happening in the youth as well and so with that you guys we're gonna go ahead and release you we have our service later tonight at 6 and so we'll see you guys then God bless yeah if you want to know more about Unashamed clubs and about our youth when you exit throughout the car park and just here at the door there's a banner says Unashamed clubs and you'll see