YFN-IAM, We Have Just Begun

Personally I am not a fan of big evanglistic events, unless they are done in partnership with local churches. What is the point of hundreds of youth getting charged up or of dozens of new believers being welcomed into God's kingdom unless those being ministered to can get plugged into a good local church for continued discipleship? It's great that we can have an incredible week long youth event, but there are still fifty-one more weeks in the year.

That is why for this year's YFN-IAM event we started meeting with local churches and their pastors months and months before the event. Through the leadership of Calvary missionary Nate Shuck and Sonshine Center director, Pastor Chris Patricio, we approached local churches, offering the YFN-IAM event as a catalyst for growth for their churches and youth ministries. Our desire was to partner with churches in Iloilo so that these new believers and energized youth could maintain their commitments through the ministry of a local church.

It is this partnership with local churches in Iloilo that has made this year's YFN-IAM event such a huge success. Each night hundreds of youth were in attendance (for last night, the final night of the event, we had almost 700 in attendance).

Each night's meeting had a theme, the final night's theme was a challenge to the youth to give away what has been deposited into them, they were challenged to reach their families, their friends, their schools, their city, their nation, and the world for Christ.

The youth came forward to sign their names, making their own faith declarations.

Now the real work starts.

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