There’s an urgency

“My heart is with 20-somethings…..I preach the gospel and I see between 10 and 20 kids (college-age) become Christians and give their life to Christ every year…. I preach the gospel and I preach orthodoxy and I believe it is important to defend orthodoxy….I believe that we have to speak the gospel to 20-somethings with an urgency today that we have never seen in American history.”

this is a quote by scot mcnight, a college prof, writer, pastor, blogger, and incredibly influential brother.  i like how he says this.  i wish i would have written it.  it’s exactly what i feel.

this past weekend, i got to speak to a group of volunteer youth leaders at another church.  they didn’t know me.  i didn’t know them.  i got to tell them that they are doing the single most important task of the church today…leading young people to surrender to the lordship of christ.

the coolest part about youth ministry is also the most humbling.  life experience has proved that the overwhelming majority of people who make decisions for christ, do it before they reach their twenties.  through the years i’ve got to be part of that process.  amazing.

but i’m at a spot in my life right now where i just can’t get away from the fact that there are so many more…the “real” overwhelming majority of kids slip through their teenage years without making a commitment to christ that lasts.  and that leaves us with the crazy difficult task of communicating the grace of god to a generation that wants no part of the church.

yeah, there’s an urgency.

#teenagers #urgency #youthministry