We had 513 total in attendance at the New York City Church of Christ Teen Rally at Great Adventures. This is the most we have ever had attend a Teen Rally! We had teens and families come out for a huge day of fun and fellowship.
Matt Fridley, one of our teen parents and Teen Leaders, opened up with a wonderful welcome message with his wife and kids, highlighting the growth of the Teen Ministry, their love for the teens, and how we need to focus on being a spiritual family. It was encouraging and refreshing to so many hearts to see the faithfulness of the Fridley’s extending down to their son and daughter. This is what we dream and hope for as disciples: to see our family devoted and in love with God.
The teen testimonies included teen disciples Elena Tatschl from Westchester and Jerome Cunningham from Harlem. They shared about how God worked in their lives and in their families’ lives to bring them into a relationship with him.
We live in a world where we are so saturated by indecent media, pornography on the internet, a godless culture and so many other distractions. One of our Youth & Family Ministers, James Warren from Lower Westchester, challenged the teen ministry to be devoted to prayer, the word of God, and to each other. His message also encouraged the teens to be humble and to ask God for help in all situations (lust, lies, laziness, and lack of faith and all temptations they face).
After the message, we saw 17 new teen disciples who were baptized after Teen Bash in August of 2008 (pictured left). It was very encouraging to see so many new young brothers and sisters in the faith! What an encouragement to see young people stand on the side of truth! Pray for our young Christians to grow in their faith, knowledge and love for Christ.
The spirit of God is changing the lives of teens in NYCCOC Teen ministry one heart at time. Parents are being inspired to love and guide their teens to Christ by first being an example. Teen workers are not only excited about working with the teens but they have deep convictions about their role as mentors and friends to the teens. Keep the teens in your prayers and let’s work together across the globe to build the future hearts and minds of the Kingdom of God. See you at the Youth & Family Conference in April 16th-19th 2009. In Him!
