‘Ask The Lord – ATL’ has become my favorite type of ministry activity to do with participating teams, especially with youth groups. I love seeing the skepticism of the young minds, hearing the amazing stories that happen, and perceiving the realization from the youth that God actually speaks to them. This is the linchpin where true transformation really occurs with the participants.
Throughout the week I have been able to speak life over many of the older teens, knowing that they are entering a critical phase in their life as many start to age out of the youth group. They are at the cusp of entering the adult world of college, military, and the workforce; a time where many faith believers walk away from their beliefs. God has personally blessed me the opportunity to lead and serve a particular youth group for three trips and I have seen many of these teens grow in their faith from the time we have spent together. God has laid one particular youth on my heart because of the talents and gifts that God has blessed him with. This young man is so artistic and creative through medias of both drawing and music. His old soul thinks about God’s word on such a different level than many of his same age. His quiet nature is refreshing in a world that is loud and crazy. Throughout the week, I have encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone to verbally evangelize and outwardly pray over others. Last night, it was a beautiful sight to see him and his youth pastor have a heart to heart conversation about the struggles he’s having in high school and with his peers. After the conversation, both the Youth Pastor and myself agreed that he is on the brink of feeling God’s calling and annointing on his life; and this is what I prayed for prior to starting ATL.
Below is an excerpt from the reflection of this particular youth…
“I’ve done ATL before on previous trips, but I’ve never seen it really play out like how others have described. I know that God talks to me, but maybe I was just doing everything wrong. Everything changed this time! As others talked about seeing an angry dog and the color of sky blue, I saw small white flowers. So with this vision I was ready to seek out the nearest flourist within the community, but God lead my group on a wild goose chase at first stopping at a car dealership, then a home where no one answered, and down a couple of sketchy streets. As I was ready to give up we turned off on this gravel road where I instantly saw a barking dog in front of a sky blue trailor home. Since the owner was outside, we stopped and walked up to talk to her. Immediately her husband came storming out yelling and cursing at us. Our group adult leader spoke to him in explaing who we were and what we were doing. The guy was angry about the racism that he was feeling from the world as I stood uncomfortably listening. Our group adult leader asked if we could pray for him and he was abrupt to say no, but then something happened. His demeanor changed as he looked at us. He personally called me out saying that he felt the Holy Spirit was on me and that I would play a part in pointing the world to God. I mean, this is my 3rd mission trip with my youth group and I understand the importance of them. I take my faith seriously, but I thought that the only part I was to play in all of this is to be a participant. But this guy saw something different in me. He saw me as a leader now and in the future. His brash voice quickly turned into kindness as he spoke to me and about my future. Although he said that he didn’t want our group to pray for him, he personally asked me to do so. That night I spent some extra time in the chapel speaking to God about this man. This experience has really changed everything!”
Prayer request-
1. God to continue to heal the hearts of the people in the Mayfield community.
2. God to continue to send people to help rebuild the business buildings, churches, and destroyed homes.
3. God to show society the destruction of racisim in communities.
4. For people to strive for a relationship with God.
