Three years ago Marty Reiswig was a skeptic.
He was a devoted follower of Jesus. In fact, he spoke to youth groups all over the country. But, he was skeptical about God speaking to him on a regular, daily basis. Maybe God would speak once in a long while about the big issues - who to marry, etc. But, not as a part of daily life. We have the Bible, what else do we need?
But, things have changed in Marty's life. He has come to experience an intimate, daily, conversational relationship with Jesus. And, he's teaching this to teens. Below, he reports on a youth camp where he spoke this summer. He helped 200 Jr. Hi and Sr. Hi students learn how to hear God's voice. He reports, "I had this strong thought/sense that I was to let God be the main speaker - all the students would listen to him and share what they heard."
Before you read what happened with the teens, watch this short video where Marty describes some of his journey. (What if this is supposed to be the normative Christian experience?)
Here's Marty's report about how God became the keynote speaker...
For the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to be the speaker at some teen camps. Each one is unique, challenging, and exciting. At almost every camp God moves on young people’s hearts, brings them to repentance and salvation, and teaches all of us something. This year was very different. God became the speaker.
I took a few teens from CCWC to the CO/NE camp. The first night was filled with God’s compassion for those caught in sin. He freed us. The second night I felt like God wanted me to switch things up and teach on hearing God’s voice and then take a few minutes at the end to let kids pray and listen for God to speak. Reports came pouring in that night and the next day about what God was saying to students and adult leaders alike. The third night I taught about growing deep roots in Him and allowing God to produce his fruit in your life, but I felt like there was something incredibly special coming for the last night.I couldn’t put my finger on it, though.
As adults, we came together in prayer unlike I’ve ever seen before and begged God to show us what we were supposed to do. Should preach one of the messages that I brought? Should we have a worship night? Should we get in groups and pray? We sought Him with everything we had.
As the worship was blasting wonderfully, I went to the back soundboard and joined a few men in prayer about what I was to do. I had this strong thought/sense that I was to let God be the main speaker – all the students would listen to him and share what they heard. I immediately suppressed it. You simply don’t do that with 200 Jr. and Sr. high students. Not with your reputation on the line. There’s too much that can go wrong. Just then, one of my prayer partners said he believed God had already told me what to do. So we proceeded.
I’ve never experienced anything like it. Two hundred students sat in absolute silence for twelve minutes listening to the Spirit of God. Then I asked anyone who heard something meant for the group, not just for them, to stand and share one at a time. And for the next 45 minutes, student after student stood to share. Confession, prayer, scriptures, encouragement. My favorite was students praying for other students. God became the keynote speaker.
http://treasurefield.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/summer-camps-exciting-report/?utm_source=TreasureField&utm_campaign=b9c12d0e67-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
