In Step With God
Evangelist Encourages Youth to Make a Difference in Their Communities
PHOENIX – "Take that X-box and sell it and give the money to the woman who needs the money to fix her roof," Evangelist Thomas Young exclaimed to the 850 students gathered at the Phoenix Symphony Hall, June 17. Introducing a “four fold personal evangelism strategy,” the Dallas based evangelist exhorted the youth to “Connect with God.”
Should the students allow the Holy Spirit to take control of their lives, said Young, the new evangelism initiative will be effective.
"We're gonna' look at what happened when the church started because we've gone a long way back from where the church started," said Young, as he delivered a message from Acts. 2. "We've got to go back."
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Along with the fourfold personal evangelism strategy - connecting with God, then connecting with a friend, connecting that friend with God and finally connecting that friend to a local church, Young also underscored four things God did in the early churches that he said God wants to continue today.
First, students need to be indoctrinated in the Word of God, said Young. "You gotta' know what you believe," he said. "Many of you have never been indoctrinated in the basic tenets of God."
Second, students must be intoxicated with God. "You should be intoxicated not with anything but the presence of God," Young said. "When you get alone with God, you will naturally be intoxicated with Him. ... When you are one who is indoctrinated and intoxicated, you sense God and have an awareness of God."
Third, students need to become intimate with God. Young said the early church had "that vertical thing going on, and if anyone had a need, people just gave to meet that need."
Finally, Young noted the influence of the early churched. "They didn't go to a church growth conference, they just met with God," Young said of how the church of Acts grew day by day. "Don't go back to your church and be the same. ... Quit beating up people in your society and start loving them."
He concluded with a challenge to make a difference in their communities.
"Become intimate with God because the world is waiting for this [message] to be real.”
