| Youth Minister Urges Teens Not To Compromise | | Print | |
| October 01, 2007 | |
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More
than 500 teens and their families and friends attended the recent
"All-LA 2007 Fall Youth Rally" to hear a powerful message by Alex
Hernandez from the Hampton Rhodes Church of Christ in Virginia Beach. Hernandez, who leads a teen ministry in Norfolk, Virginia, preached that at a time when millions of teenagers host their personal profiles on the popular social networking Web site, "My Space," they also need to "update (their) spiritual profile by making God (their) number one friend." Using Scriptures from I Kings 22, Alex preached about the lessons we should learn from King Ahab, whom he described as an "Old Testament kingdom kid." "A major flaw was that King Ahab compromised," Alex said. He pointed out that King Ahab knew what was expected of him and knew what was right, but he compromised. On the other hand, Hernandez said, there was Micaiah, "a cool man" -- the prophet who was not afraid to prophesy what God told him to prophesy (although it was not in favor of King Ahab). Hernandez described Micaiah's heart and attitude, which basically said: "I don't care whatever God tells me, I will tell -- I will not cower -- I will not compromise -- I am not for sale!" In his conclusion, Alex addressed the teens and asked them to think about Micaiah: "If he walked around in my high school, how would he behave?" Like the prophet, he challenged the teens not to compromise their convictions. The worship service, organized through a team effort by the Regional Teen Leaders of the Los Angeles Church of Christ, began with incredible singing led by a mostly teen band from the North Region highlighting two solo performers: Jessica Evans and Daniel Moreno. Next, the audience watched a powerful video titled "Casualties of War," which illustrated a sobering portrait of the American teen. The video showed teenagers from every walk of life holding up stark statements about teens in the United States: "8,000 of us contract a STD every day;" "1 million of us are pregnant;" "340,000 of us get abortions each year;" "9 out of 10 of us have seen porn online;" "Over 1,500 of us kill ourselves each year;" "65% of us say there is no way to tell which religion is true;" and finally, "All of us need to be reached." Teenagers Angelo Torres and Karen Lopez shared inspirational testimonials. Referring to the video, Lopez said that it was obvious many teens need Jesus and that it takes courage to "reach out and share your faith." While sharing about his conversion, Torres said that thinking about the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus has moved him to tears and that he prays "use me God to help other people." The service ended on a most encouraging note as the audience witnessed and applauded the baptism of a teenager named Adrian Martinez. |
