Young Men Preaching in J. E. F. E. S. / 2011 PBC Youth Revival Summary and Pictures

We have enjoyed over the past couple of weeks hearing our young men preach in the J. E. F. E. S. meetings.  This is Andres Ortiz preaching to us on July 17, 2011.  I want these young men to get their confidence in front of their peers by sharing with us what God has given them from their Quiet Time. 

This past week we took a group of teens and junior age kids to the Youth Revival at the Parkside Baptist Church.  On Tuesday, July 19th, 2011, Dalton, my son, told me during the invitation of the evening service that he felt that God wanted him to be a pastor.  Here is a picture of Dalton and Bro. Domelle.  Bro. Domelle preached Tuesday night.  Praise the Lord!

In one of the contests Jazmin (on the left with the WATER GUN) had to put out the candle that was in Nic's mouth (on the right with blue shirt).  For some reason Jazmin's water gun wasn't shooting straight.  For some odd reason she ended up being last in the contest, and Nic's shirt got all wet.  Was it that her gun was broke?  or was she missing on purpose?  Only in heaven will we know...

The highlight of the week for me is always hearing my Youth Pastor, Bro. Bob, preach.  He always does a great job.  I thank the Lord for all the good preaching that we experienced.

Here are some pictures from the Youth Revival from this past week:

Alexis trying to drop a Mentos into a 2 liter of Diet Coke

Nic giving it his "best shot"

Maria Torres in a contest for the Blue Policemen

Bro. Wayne Smith and his favorite dolly Raggedy Anne

Jazmin and Lilia

Silly Sally Imitating Bro. Bulkley (above) / Bro. Bulkley "HARD at work" (below)

Dalton, Obed, Juanito and Josue (Left to Right)

The NEXT Generation

June 20 - 23 we took a group of our church teens to Longview, TX to attend LBT's 17th Annual Teen Convention.  On Wednesday night, our preacher, Dr. Danny Ortiz Jr. preached "I sought for a man among them".  For each group of people on earth, if God could find one man that would intercede for that people with God (as Moses did for people of Israel... as Abraham did for Lot in Sodom.  Job said, "O that ONE might plead for a man WITH GOD.") then God might just hold off his judgment on that people.  He looked throughout ALL OF ISRAEL back in that day and couldn't FIND ONE man that would plead to God for the nation of Israel... not one that was willing to surrender ALL to speak on God's behalf and warn them.  So God had to bring down the judgment. 

America still has some super great people in her that are very hungry for the truth all over her.  The HOLY SPIRIT isn't dead.  The BIBLE STILL HAS POWER to change lives.  God doesn't WANT to destroy America... He would rather SEND REVIVAL.  He doesn't take pleasure in PUNISHING.  HE NEEDS JUST ONE MAN WHO WILL SPEAK TO HIM ON BEHALF OF EACH PEOPLE GROUP IN THE WORLD... if He can find ONE... that people group will be spared HIS judgment, BUT IF NOT...

WOW!  WHAT HOT PREACHING IT WAS!  And that was the second time THAT week I had heard that message. ( I translated into English that message for our pastor on Sunday morning in the back of the auditorium of our church where all the GRINGOS sit... AND THAT MESSAGE WAS HOT THEN.  It was even better the second time around... WOW! WOW! WOW!)  To hear the message you can go to http://www.teenconventionlbt.com/ to hear it.  I listened to it a THIRD time the next week and got cranked up yet again hearing it.  The preaching was superb. 

Here are some of our guys who surrenderred (and one that rededicated) to the call to preach and STAND IN THAT GAP for the people.  (When I was 8 years old, I surrenderred to preach in that SAME SPOT.)

One sermon Bro. Bob preached took me all the was back to Young Fundamentalists in 1994.  I remember hearing the original version of that sermon as a teenager.  He came up to the pulpit with a sword and announced the text.  Sitting there in my seat, I wrote the title on the top of that page in my Bible, BEHIND EVERY DEATH THERE IS A HAND and told the young man sitting beside me that Bro. Bob was going to preach THAT message.  Sure enough, I was right.  It is a message that STUCK into my heart as a teenager and I have NEVER forgotten it.  Through the years, every time I would read that passage in the Bible, I would remember that sermon.  LIFE CHANGING!

One other message that was really good was Tuesday Night.  (Something about Tuesday night messages at the Teen Convention and Bro. Bob preaching...or maybe it is just something about Tuesday night... I heard Bro. Bob in California at Bro. Mark Turner's Youth Conference preacher The Buyer Is Always The Boaster... HEAVEN CAME DOWN THAT NIGHT IN JUNE OF 1998... and it too was a Tuesday night.  I still have that CASSETTE (do you know what a cassette is?) with that sermon on it.  We (the TBC Tour Group) were there along with Bro. Cowling's Hyles-Anderson Tour Group Ladies.  They sang that glorious invitation song of "Come Home"... Don't wait another moment... for he stands with arms wide open... COME HOME!) 

Going back to my original thought of Tuesday night of 2011 and Bro. Bob's sermon... he preached "The smiths are gone... now what?"  He preached about how teens feel sometimes.  They don't feel like that have the right instuments to do battle against Satan in their day and feel discouraged because the smiths are gone.  The smiths represent the great preachers of yesteryear that God is calling home.  We  "peons" (or that is what we think of ourselves) can't do those mighty works that THOSE preachers did... those preachers were just BIGGER THAN LIFE!  He asked the people this.  So the smiths are gone... now what do we do?  Do we sit down and DIE?  Do we sit and do NOTHING?  NO... take what you do have (your farm tools - pitchfork, axe, shear, scythe etc.) and just start shapening them.  One day YOU "PEONS" (or that is what you think of yourself now) will be the CHURCH LEADERS!  Start NOW to sharpen yourself so that when the time comes for our churches to NEED LEADERS... you will be ready AND able to do justice to the AWESOME RESPONSIBILITY of leading tomorrow's Christian into battle against the prince and power of the air. 

My heavenly Father is just amazing in how he works out the messages for just the right time.  His Word preached just DOESN'T get boring.  Good stuff maynard!

2010 - 2011 J. E. F. E. S. Awards Banquet

I am beginning this blog of our J.E.F.E.S. Teen program about a month after we concluded our first year of the program.  What a great year it turn out to be.  From September through May ONLY THE TEENS of the church had seen 588 people saved.  Many of these teens were struggling in their witnessing at the beginning of the year, but over time we were able to get them trained and more consistent.  Most of them average at least one saved per week which is great progress considering where God has brought them from. 

At our first J.E.F.E.S. awards banquet we recognized a couple of outstanding teenagers who excelled througout the year.  They were consistent in their effort and for that came out on top.  We also had the awesome privilege of having MY YOUTH PASTOR BRO. BOB GRAY II come to enjoy this momentous occassion with our church.  He preached the awards ceremony message for us.  He preached "A dream cometh from a multitude of business" from Ecclesiastes.

The first ever J. E. F. E. S. Soul Winner of the Year Award went to Andres Ortiz. 

He worked hard to see 112 people saved during the nine months of the competition. 

The first ever J. E. F. E. S. Championship Trophy went to a solid young lady with some true grit to her Christianity.  Karen Barajas had her sights set like a flint on the prize. 

Please pray for these young people as well as all the others who did an excellent job, that God would watch over them during this Summer.  I am still monitoring their progress.  Our Summer push is "DO YOU HAVE JESUS FEVER?"  The scoreboard has two thermometers on it... one for the guys and one for the girls.  Each week they increase their Top Priority Percentage they receive a 1/2 degree increase in temperature.  Each week they see someone saved, they receive another 1/2 degree of temperature increase. 

Everyone starts at a normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees.  By the end of the summer, I would like to see them all RUNNING A "SPIRITUAL FEVER" FOR JESUS.  I want them to be so HOT for Jesus by the end of the summer so they won't lose any of the spiritual traction they gained this past year.  So far, six weeks into the summer, they are staying on track.  I just continue praying for them each day that God would give them His mercy for when they slip up and grace to help in time of need.