eZine 03.17.2009

They Came Forward… What Now?
Recently I’ve spoken at several events that were very well planned… until the altar call.

Think about this for a second. A kid hears the Gospel and even has the guts to stand up out of their seat with the desire to make some life-changing decisions. They walk forward to the front of the room… and…

Freeze. Stop and look at this situation. The DIFFICULT PART is over! Realize this. We just got a kid to actually show up to an event (which can be pretty difficult), listen to the truth of God’s word, AND decide to act on it. They stand up, ready to make a decision… and… and we drop the ball!

Eight of the last 10 events I’ve spoken at have “dropped the ball” when it comes to counseling kids that wanted to make a decision. I’m not disrespecting anyone; these were great people with noble intentions. But if we are part of a team that is programming evangelistic events, we need to put a huge priority on the 15 minutes after the altar call. All too often event planners will spend good time and money on bands or inflatable boxing rings… and not think 30 seconds about what happens after kids come forward.

Not too long ago I spoke at an event where three hundred kids crowded into a room. I shared the gospel, gave an invitation and thirty six kids came forward. These kids were led into a nearby room where I was told they’d meet with counselors and be given a Bible. When I walked in the room, I saw about 5 adults, each with about seven or eight kids gathered around.

Only 5 adults? Really?

This is a HUGE mistake.

As soon as kids come forward, the need switches to one-on-one. The Gospel was presented in a large group format, but now each individual might have questions or clarifications with their unique background experiences and distinctive world views. That’s why it’s good to provide counselors to meet with people at events like this one-on-one, asking the question, “Why did you come forward tonight?” That answer can summon a variety of answers:

(Yes, I’ve heard all of those.) Three totally different situations…

Episode #23 (3/14/2009)

Listen to it now for free on iTunes! (CLICK HERE) Or, if you don’t have iTunes already… jump on Apple’s web page for a free download, then click on our podcast page.

Jonathan: Well, good. What’s our next sin?

Todd: This is one of my favorites. It’s a sin to care more about the facility than the skaters.

Jonathan: And this is Sin Three, right?

Todd: Number three.

Jonathan: It’s a sin to give more value to your building… for those who have outdoor ministries, like in California, it would be to your parking lot, or to your outside bricks… than for the kids themselves.

Todd: Yeah, and my favorite story here is, we had a kid who came off a launch ramp and we have our double doors of our gym that goes out into the lobby. He comes off the launch ramp, lands and kinda starts to slide backwards, the skateboard shoots out from underneath him, and I’m standing in the lobby talking to someone and this skateboard is like going 90 miles per hour just comes shooting out of the gym and literally sticks into the wall, the drywall of our lobby just stuck there sideways, and I remember just looking at it going, ?Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem.’

Jonathan: (laughing) And immediately, someone by the name of ?Fred’ is gonna have a problem with that one.’

Todd: Yeah, and we have these benches where people can sit, and I literally grabbed a bench and moved it right in front of that hole, so if any trustees from our church are listening, that’s a confession right there.

Jonathan: Is it still there?

Todd: It is still there.

Jonathan: Dude!

Todd: And I will show people from time to time…

Jonathan: OK, I’ve got a sin for you called ?Not Repairing.’ OK, so people just lost respect for ? well actually ? either gained or lost respect for you. They’re like, ?Dude, sweet!’ Other people are like, ?Disrespectful young youth!’

Todd: Yeah. You know, it was accidental. Once a guy landed so…well… the board went so high that it hit in the middle of the door, just a big hole in the wood doors. That happened before I got here. But there are people in our church who get the fact that there is gonna be damage to the facility by opening up and letting these kids come and skate. And I appreciate those folks so much that they know that there’s gonna be some of that that is gonna happen. Our church, we pay a lot in insurance for this ministry to happen, and that’s something that if you’re thinking of starting one you’re gonna need to do a lot of homework, just the insurance part of it. But you need to get people ready and prepared that there’s gonna be, you know, soda cans, and Pepsi bottles, and Monster stuff, and wrappers, you’re gonna have all that stuff all over the place. You’re gonna have cigarette butts outside, and so you’re gonna need to have people to help clean up, because for the most part, those students are not gonna care about the facility.

Jonathan: Or the people that work with them.

Todd: Right.

Jonathan: Skateboards can damage them, too. Who are my helpers? One-eyed Jake, Peg-leg Martha. And there’s a guy with a skateboard sticking out of his back. We still haven’t fixed that either! We tried to slide a bench in front of him, but it didn’t work. He moved!

Episode Highlights:

• Get a breakdown on which social network your teens are really using, Facebook or MySpace
• Listen to Todd and Jonathan talk about the shirts they’re wearing
• Learn what to do when a skateboard gets stuck into the drywall at your church
• Catch some fantastic ideas on how to attract teen girls to your ministry and manage the teen guys in your ministry

CHECK OUT EVEN MORE PODCASTS ON OUR PODCAST PAGE

Main Point: When we talk to God, words aren’t what’s most important. What matters is our heart!

The Movie Clip: Talk to God
Saving God is a fantastic film about an ex-con named Armstrong Cane (played by Ving Rhames) who returns to his old neighborhood a changed man, after spending several years in prison for mistakes in his past. Though the neighborhood is full of drugs and gangs, Cane tries to make a difference by taking over his father’s old church.

The movie follows Cane’s daunting struggle to help the people in his hood ? especially a young man named Norris ? even though dangerous gang leaders, drug dealers, and silver-tongued preachers threaten his work.

Cane won’t let anything deter him from helping Norris. The two of them form a close bond and Norris strives to change. Cane will do anything to help the young man avoid making the same mistakes he made.

Introducing the Clip:
I’m not sure how many of you saw Saving God, but there were some powerful scenes in this movie, and I want to show you one of them now. In it, Pastor Cane encourages Norris, the young man, to just talk to God from his heart. Pastor Cane tells Norris that “words aren’t the most important thing,” when it comes to prayer. Let’s take a look at the clip and see what else we can learn about prayer.

Transitional Statement:
Prayer is so much more than the words we say to God. Actually, it has more to do with our hearts than anything else. The good news is, when our mouths don’t have the words to say, our hearts can speak to God instead. Let’s spend a few moments talking about how our heart affects our prayers.

Divide into Small Groups:
Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups and talk about this, then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word.