According to the Youth Prayer Conference leaders, there are four vital elements of a successful Christian life — prayer, study of God’s Word, serving others, and hanging out with Christians.
Kristen Bealle from Valley View Adventist Academy in Arroyo Grande has first-hand experience. The year before, at the 2005 Youth Prayer Conference, she had had a life-changing experience. “It was the first time I told Jesus I really loved Him.”
Bealle had memorized Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” It was hanging on her bedroom wall. But when invited to stand while singing, she couldn’t. “I felt ashamed and wouldn’t stand,” she explains. “Then I remembered the verse where God first spoke to me.”
At the 2006 prayer conference she shared her spiritual journey, adding, “This year is a memorial of when I gave my heart to Jesus.”
One hundred seventy-four high school students from conference academies and churches attended the fifth annual Youth Prayer Conference. The four-day event, held Nov. 2-5, was hosted by Central Valley Christian Academy in Ceres. The Youth Evangelism Team planned and led the conference.
There are two Conference Youth Evangelism Teams funded by the camp meeting evangelism offering, each with a specific target group. The Urban Youth Evangelism Team focuses on inner-city youth and worked in San Francisco this past fall. Both team’s members take a year off from school or work to make these ministries happen.
Training for Success
Singing, testimonies, Friday night communion and messages from God’s Word provided meaningful times of worship throughout the conference.
Small-group Bible study was an integral part of each day. Led by teens, the volunteer small-group leaders from several academies had spent an intensive training weekend at Monterey Bay Academy in October.
Workshops focused on real-life issues: victory in your personal life, victory in ministry, becoming a better Bible student, and sharing your testimony.
The Pilgrim’s Progress obstacle course was designed for first-hand, tangible evidence of the Christian’s journey. The stations included: The Tires of Despair; The Fence of Fear; The Cross; The Water; The Church Life, which was a time to learn to work together; and The Enchanted Couches, an area of distraction with candy and entertainment. Scripture promises were read aloud for encouragement throughout the course by prayer team members and prayer conference leaders.
“The experience of Christianity is more than a weekend, it is a journey,” explains Godfrey Miranda, youth prayer team leader. “Wherever you are, keep moving forward.”
The Impact
Saturday night’s testimony time has become a special highlight of the annual conference. Becoming vulnerable, teens shared some of their challenges and the hope and promises they’ve discovered in God’s Word and through united prayer with other believers. When special prayer was requested, the teen was spontaneously surrounded and prayed over by others.
“I had stopped going to church because of a terminally ill friend. God taught me that He really loves me and I can come just like I am. He accepts me!” “In my small group, we learned how to pray for our friends.” “I’ve been really angry at my dad since fifth grade and haven’t been able to forgive him. Here I overcame this and with happiness forgave my dad.” “I was really struggling [with family issues]. God showed me Isaiah 57:19 and gave me real peace! That’s what I had been praying for.”
Students were encouraged to take advantage of their “car time” on the way home to dialogue and plan about what’s next in their lives.
“It’s fantastic!” says Bob Mason, associate pastor at the Ceres church, about the annual prayer conference. “This is one way God is getting His army of youth ready. It breaks us out of the cycle of maintenance into being true followers of Jesus.”
“In John 14:1, it says to trust in God,” Bealle says. “God knows what He’s doing with your life. Let Him!”
