By Tim Ellsworth
CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (BP) – An annual youth evangelism event at First Baptist Church had been slowly dwindling when Tyler Pearce started as student pastor four years ago.
Rather than continuing to rely on gimmicky tactics to attract students to the event called Revolution, Pearce regrouped and refocused the event on discipleship instead of evangelism – teaching verse by verse through a shorter book of the Bible during the four-night study.
The results have been notable. During this year’s Revolution event Sept. 11-14, nearly 200 students – the highest number since Pearce began – attended.
“I think kids are really hungry for something that’s real,” Pearce said. “They’re hungry for truth. Kids are interested to hear what’s being said. They’re advertised to all the time. And I think they, especially right now, want to hear truth.”
First Baptist in Crawfordville hosted the event but partnered with other local churches, with a different youth minister teaching a different section in 1 John each night. Such an approach models cooperation among churches for the students, Pearce said, and it helps the youth build relationships with godly leaders from other congregations.
Stephen Attaway, the youth pastor at Sopchoppy Southern Baptist Church, in Sopchoppy, Fla., brought about 20 of his students each evening.
He echoed Pearce’s sentiment that students today are craving the basics of reading God’s Word and fellowshipping with one another.
“Ultimately, students just want something genuine,” Attaway said.
He was encouraged each evening when debriefing with his youth on their way home.
“It was really cool being able to sit and talk with them and look at their notes,” Attaway said. “They would show me their notebooks and talk about what they got from the event.”
Other churches involved were Grace Baptist Church and Lake Ellen Baptist Church in Crawfordville and a local Assembly of God congregation. A worship team from Baptist University of Florida also came to lead worship and interact with the students.
Pearce said one of the results of this annual Bible study event is that competition between churches in the area, among youth, is almost gone. Students are encouraging other students to attend churches that are the closest to them geographically.
Another result is increased evangelistic efforts among youth. Although the Bible study’s focus has shifted from evangelism to discipleship, Pearce said it has been effective in teaching students how to share their faith with their friends.
“Students are actually sharing the Gospel,” Pearce said. “They’re inviting kids to church, which is not something that I’ve seen as much. Most of the church growth around here has been biological before and now, especially at our church, we’re seeing a lot of people who aren’t connected to our church through families – a lot of kids coming because their friends invited them and were sharing the Gospel with them, and they wanted to hear what was all this about.”
Ryan Ladwig, a high school junior and member of the youth group at Crawfordville First Baptist, said he attributes the event’s continued success to the fellowship and to students’ interest in verse-by-verse teaching.
“They really helped to put 1 John in clearly understood wording,” Ladwig said. “They talked about how to testify when you’re talking to someone who’s interested in Christianity.”
