Do you know what the word watershed means? If you don't know, don't feel bad, I had to open up my dictionary and look it up as well. A Watershed is an important point of division or transition between two phases or conditions. The term watershed is usually used to define a monumental moment in history like the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the fall of the Berlin Wall. I wish that I could go back in time and be present for some of these watershed moments in history. I wish I could see John Adams sing his name to the document that declared us to be free or that I could have a hammer in my hand and take a swing at the wall that separated East and West Germany. Even though time travel is not possible I was able to experience a watershed moment at our youth devotional this week.
The past several Sunday evenings our minister ,DC Brown, has been talking to the congregation about the idea of vision for the new year. We have been challenged to try to reach out to our community and bring more people to Christ in 2011. I took this challenge to the teens at our devotional to see what would happen. In what I would call a watershed moment the teens decided that they would like to focus on members of the youth group who were not coming at all. I have challenged them to come up with a game plan that we will present to the eldership here. What made this decision monumental is the fact that the teens recognized that some of their peers have fallen away and they want to reach out to them! I have said many times before that the teenagers in Pearland are the largest asset to the congregaiton that meets at 2217 N. Grand Boulevard and this watershed moment just reinforced that idea.
Here is what I would ask from all of you. Begin praying for our teenager's outreach to their peers on a daily basis. I know there are so many of you who remember our youth daily in your prayers but I am asking you to go one step farther and remember them as they reach out to people their own age. I would also ask that you hold these youth accountable to the commitment they made. As Christians we are blessed to have a cloud of witnesses to help us press on towards our goal (Hebrews 12) so let's help our teens in that way. Finally, if you have any ideas for reaching out to the teens who have stopped coming please let me know about them so I can pass them along to our teenagers.
I'll end today by sharing with you some of what I shared with the teens. At our devotional we had six of our boys there. I tried to instill in these young men the ideas of leadership by looking at Joshua. I shared with them how Joshua had to step into a role that Moses had filled for so long and how he was able to lead the children of Israel. The young men who were at this devotional are my Joshuas. These young men are always willing to step up and do what is needed to be done and they have accepted the challenge that Joshua gave the Children of Israel in Joshua 24:15.
But if serving the LORD seem undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, of the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
Who are you serving? Are you serving the gods of cable television or the Internet, or are you serving the one true living GOD? This is a question we all have to ask from time to time. If we are going to take up the challenge of reaching out to the world around us in 2011 then you must decide who you are serving and commit completely. I hope that you are all as blessed by me as I am by you.
Be Strong and Courageous,
Paul
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