- Man, hey, everybody. Welcome to Highlands this weekend. Wherever you are, maybe you're in person, still on a last-minute vacation, or in one of our venues where you're watching, from a cafe, or country, or chapel, maybe you're joining us today from television, or online, I just wanna welcome you here. We are honored and grateful that you would give us some time, hopefully to speak into your life and challenge you to live more and experience life with Jesus. So, today I wanna talk to you, sort of a continuation of where we started last week. We've been talking about raising up and fighting for the next generation. Last week, we sort of looked at the why we do that and why we put such an emphasis on that in our church. Today, I wanna sort of move forward and I wanna talk to you a little bit about the how. Last week we focused on children, today we're focusing on our middle school and high school ministry. So, if you have middle-school kids, or high-school kids, man, I wanna encourage you to get them involved, engage them either online or in person, because you'll do them a great service by helping them know and experience Jesus. We got some incredible leaders. So, today, many of you asked me last week, "What's your personal philosophy about raising up the next generation?" I mean, I've been doing this a long time and I've learned from so many others that have helped me develop a philosophy. And today I just wanna speak to you from my heart for a minute, and I wanna give you five things that I've used over, and over, and over. I believe it works all over the world, I believe it works for your business, whatever you're leading, if you will begin to focus in these five areas, you can raise up and fight for the next generation. Here's the first one, all right, if you're gonna raise up the next generation, you just gotta decide that you can't live only for your generation. Now, I get it, right? I mean, honestly, we all wanna live around people who think like us, who act like us, but if you're gonna raise up the next generation, then you gotta be able to go into that generation and value them. We got all these kids at our house, and my son, Timmy, who's a senior this year, I hardly ever ride with him anywhere, it's dangerous, for first thing, but the other day I needed to give him to get me a ride and I hopped in his truck and I'm thinking, "One, I forgot my earplugs," because his music is not music I would ever listen to, all right? So, normally when I try to hop in his truck, I'm thinking, "How in the world can I cover my ears?" 'cause he's taken the whole back seat and put these big bass things. So, I mean, it affects the rhythm of my heart, right, I don't think I'm gonna get out of there alive. But then I think back to when I was young and I remember the same thing, I remember my dad being around me and like, "What is that stuff you're listening to?" Ain't that crazy? 'Cause we all get into these phases in our life where we are so focused on what we like and what we value. If you're gonna raise the next generation, you're gonna have to honor and value different things that they love and they enjoy. There's a verse in Scripture that's sort of become a hallmark verse for me, we find it over in Psalm 71:18. And this is what it says, "Even when I'm old and gray," I guess I'll own that, right, "do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come." Man, I wanna honor God in doing that. I wanna declare to the next generation that our God is a God of hope and healing, that our God is greater than anything else in the world that we can put our life into. And I want my kids, I want the next generation, to put their faith, and hope, and trust, to be anchored in God. So, we're gonna raise the next generation, you can't just live for your generation. Here's the second thing, my dad taught me this one, if you're gonna raise the next generation, you gotta raise some leaders to have a harvest. And this makes sense, right? I learned this principle with my dad when he would take me out and put me in the garden. Now, I don't have a garden though I probably should, but I got a lot of experience as a teenager, okay? And we'd come in from school, or we come in from after practice, and we'd head to the garden. My dad couldn't wait till spring tongue. He'd get the soil ready, he'd till it all up, and then in early May, as soon as the last frost, he'd start planting zucchini, and squash, and tomatoes, and corn, and all these plants, and then we'd keep sorta just investing in those tender, fragile plants until around mid August. About this time of year, dude, there was a harvest and it was always a great harvest. Well, here's what I've learned about raising up the next generation, you've gotta be willing to invest over and over. It takes time, it's not easy, but you gotta value those who are coming up behind you. And you have to be willing to wait, at times, for God to do his work in their life as well, can't force the next generation to be raised, right? But as you value them, and as you establish a relationship with them, and they know you really care about them, and you're not using them, men, I'll tell you what, those guys and gals, they will flourish to be world changers. Don't you wanna be a part of a church that is raising up the next generation, to see a harvest of world changers? Man, I do, and I think we're all about that here. Jesus gave some advice in Matthew 9 to his disciples, in verse 37. And this is what he said, he said, "Guys, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." And this is not a new problem that there are few workers, this has been an age-old problem. But he says, "If you wanna raise up some, ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into his harvest field." This is a prayer I pray almost every day, "God, you know who we need to invest in, you know who we need to train, you know who we need to equip, God, you know who we need to wait on to see a harvest, so, help us not to miss any of those people who are gonna be the ones who have a heart for you so that we can invest and help them along the way, 'cause we're believing for a great harvest." Here's third thing, if we're gonna raise up the next generation, you gotta identify who you want to mentor 'cause you can't mentor everybody, right, I mean, you can't invest in everybody. Now, I love the story of Moses all the way back in the book of Numbers, when he's leading Israelites over into the Promised Land, right? I mean, it's a long journey, I mean, they've been out there for years, and years, and years, they still haven't reached their destination, Moses is beginning to think, "God, why in the world?" If you think God doesn't have a sense of humor, this story, it's almost a funny, it's got some humor in it. Because if you're a leader, you'd probably be in where Moses is when we look at this story. Read with me here in Numbers 11, look at verse 10. "Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance of their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord, 'Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? God, I'm just trying to serve you here. What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? These aren't my kids, God. Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, "Give us me to eat." I cannot carry all these people by myself. The burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you're gonna treat me,'" Moses says, "'just go ahead and kill me. If I've found favor in your eyes, do not let me face my own ruin.'" The Lord said to Moses, now, he's had this pity party with God, right, "Bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people, have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Holy Spirit that is on you," all right, catch this, "and I will take it from you, and I will put it on them and they will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it along." This is a tremendous leadership lesson right from the heart of Almighty God. In other words, we can't do it all by ourselves, God never planned us to do it all by ourselves, but he wants you to develop other people and he wants to take what you've learned, and what people have invested in you, and he wants to take favor he's put on your life, and he wants to put it into the lives of other people. And together as a team, you can move the church forward, you can move the organization forward, all for the glory of God. And you know what, Moses did that, and he stayed in ministry, and he fulfilled his calling. It's so important for us to understand. A lot of times in church life, the pastor becomes a-lid because he has to micromanage everything, and he has a very closed-minded way of leadership. No, the Bible teaches open-handed leadership. 'Cause you know why God wants open-handed leadership? He can fill up an open hand, he can, he can replace an open hand with other capable people and other capability leaders, but he can't feel up a closed hand. So, whatever you're leading, understand that you gotta share that responsibility for your own benefit, for your own health, and for the health of the organization that you lead. When I'm investing in others, I look for five qualities. If you've been around Highlands very long, you know that one of the foundational scriptural foundations of our church is the great commandment that Jesus gave. Let me just remind you of what that is here in Mark 12. It says what he says, he says, "You love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." There's four things that we're to love God with from us. And then he says, "The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself." And this is what Jesus says, "There's no commandment greater than these." And then he repeats it, I won't repeat it today, but you can read that. This is the great commandment from Jesus. And in that, we've determined there are five things that God wants us to look at as we're investing and raising up the next generation. Here they are, the first one is heart, right? He says, "Love the Lord, God, with all your heart." That's the foundation. And if the heart's not right, the foundation's not right, you can't build on that. The heart is the foundation of your character and your faith. And then he says to love God with all your soul. Our soul is that place of conviction. It is the reason we stand for what we stand for, that we're willing to fight for what we're gonna fight for. And then he says our mind, this is a place of comprehension, right? And in our mind, today there's such a battle against our mind, but the Scripture says to get into God's Word and he will renew your mind. That's the reason we encourage you every day to get into God's Word, and your mind will be renewed. Your mind is really your comprehension level. And then he says the fourth thing, when he's given this idea to love God, he says, "Hey, your strength is important." Now, your strength is really your competence. And so many times, especially with young leaders, and this is where I think we can come alongside them, is competence can never outpace character because you may be able to do a lot of things, but if you don't have the character, the heart, the foundation, your competence will always let you down. But if you get it right, and you have that foundation, you have that heart for God, and you know what, you've been investing in your soul, you've been investing in comprehension, and strength, and you are competent, man, God can use you in an amazing way. And then he says, don't forget this, love your neighbor as yourself. It's this idea of compassion. So, I wanna invest in people who have these five things. This idea of loving your neighbor is compassion. And what does Paul say, without love? Oh, you're nothing. So, you can be competent, you can have great comprehension, you can have solid convictions, but I wanna tell you something, if you don't have love, you're gonna miss the boat. So, when we think about raising up and fighting for the next generation, these five qualities are what we're looking for. And then finally, my fifth one, just personal, is I've just chosen never to do ministry alone. Again, I've been in it for a long time. My greatest desire is that I will finish well. You see so many things in the headlines of our papers and press today of guys who had a character for God and something happened where there was a lack of accountability, and they flamed out, and it breaks my heart, it breaks the heart of the church. And I just pray to God, "God I'm am so capable of doing stupid things, but God, I wanna stay accountable." So, no matter where I travel, where I go, if Brenda can't go with me, you know what, I'll take one of these young guys with me and I just don't wanna do ministry alone. And what kinda conversations have happened along the way, along the journey? Man, it's been life-changing for me because I learn from them, I've learned so much from those we're raising up. And I hope that I can give a little wisdom to these guys that we're pouring into, and these ladies that God is calling. It's an amazing opportunity for the church today in our culture. Now, what I wanna do is I wanna shift focus just for a minute. I've talked about these five things, okay, this is my own personal, just from the heart, but I want you to see a product here of Highlands that has actually gone through these five things, it's actually been a part of all the things that we are asking you to help us serve in and volunteer in because when we see a product that we've developed and we've had an investment in, man, it helps us to understand, this is what's really at stake here. We want this for your kids, we want this for your middle-schoolers, we want this for your high-schoolers. So, today I'm gonna bring James Dick to the platform with me. And James is an incredible leader. He's one of the generational guys that I think is gonna just change the world. He has an amazing potential, he's doing a great job for us as our youth guy down at our Bristol location. Many of your young people are learning and growing from him. And I want him to come and share, and wrap up the message today because you can see what the next generation looks like. These are one of those guys I told you last week, that's gonna raise up to crush the devil's head, all right? Men, he is a giant slayer. So, bring James, let's give him a welcome today. James, man, I'm proud of you, I love you, and speak to us from the heart, all right? God bless you.
- Thank you. Well, I will say I'm very honored and humbled to be able to speak with everybody today. The first weekend I was on staff, I actually didn't think I was gonna make it through youth ministry at all. It was my very first weekend at the Bluefield campus, and I had a crew of like 10 students or so there and there was this little young girl there, and my very first weekend, of course, was the relationship message, and it was the message on what is sex. And so, my very first weekend I was given this message. And so, I'm going through this, reading through this, and I get about halfway through the message, and this little girl raises her hand in the back row. And I'm like, "Oh goodness, what did I say?" And I'm like, "Okay, hey, what's your name? How are you doing? What do you wanna know?" And she's like, "Ah, I'm actually in fifth grade, and my parents don't want me to know about any of this yet. So, I don't know what to do." And so, my first weekend I thought I was gonna get fired, I didn't think it was gonna go well. And then that next week we had all staff, I came down here to Abingdon, I got to shake Allen's hand for the first time being on staff, I went for a right-handed handshake, he went for a left-handed handshake, it was another awkward situation. I was like, "I'm not built for ministry." But I'm here today. And so, today I wanna walk through some of my life growing up in Highlands and what that has looked like for me and what it can look like for your kids, hopefully, and as we get to pour into them and raise them up as leaders. So, I started out, I was born in '99, and so, I was kind of born straight into Highlands Fellowship, I've been going here my whole life. All I've known really is being part of this church and being able to be part and pour into others growing up. I was even, for the kids ministry people in here, I know what you guys go through, I know how much you guys give to the church, I know how much you guys invest in people. I'm sure at every single campus we had leaders call out this morning. So, if you serve in children's ministry, you are absolutely amazing, you're an all-star. When I was in children's ministry, in fourth grade, we had a dance team here at the Abingdon campus, and I cannot dance, whatsoever, but they had me on the dance team for some reason. And my all-star of my children's ministry career was I did the robot in front of like 20 kids, and it just slayed, it was awesome, I got a round of applause, it was amazing. Today, if you've seen me dance, you know what I look like, if you've ever seen one of those videos of dogs who like run and sprint in their sleep, that's kind of what I looked like dancing today. So, I can't show you guys how to dance today, but I can tell you guys a little bit about my story. So, after going through elementary school and being part of the children's ministry, and hearing about the gospel, I got into middle school and I went to our church camp called Amplify. And I gotta be part of it, and there I accepted Christ into my life. I finally understood, what does it mean to be loved, and what does the sacrifice of the cross mean in my life? How can a God who created the universe actually care about someone as imperfect as me, as messed up as me? And I finally heard the story of the gospel and it finally penetrated in my heart to where I could understand, "Hey, God cares desperately just for me, just for James, the kid I never thought." And he cares just the same for you. And so, I learned about God at that, and I went on through my high school career, I thought that my life was going to be sports, I was a kicker here for Abingdon High School. I'm sorry for the other campuses hearing that today, we played you guys a lot and won a lot, unfortunately for you guys. But I was the kicker for the high school and I got to eventually kick in college, I was very blessed, I got to kick at Carson Newman University in Tennessee, and then I transferred to Bluefield College in Bluefield, Virginia. And this is where my ministry career really started. I got to sit down with Robbie Gaines. If you guys know Robbie, he's absolutely incredible, he's a great friend of mine. And he got into pour into me and he sent me down one day at lunch after he asked me to come volunteer with the middle school and high school ministry. And he said, "Hey, would you be interested in leading the ministry?" And I was an 18-year-old kid, I had no clue what it even would look like, but I said, "Yes, I'll do that." And so, I got involved over there, we got to see the ministry grow, we saw a baptisms, saw salvations, we saw Amplify go amazing, it was absolutely incredible. And a couple of years ago now almost, I got the opportunity to move to Bristol and become full-time. And it's just been such an incredible blessing to grow up in a church and to lead a ministry in a church where we see people come to know Jesus. There is no cooler thing, there is no better thing, there is nothing neater than seeing a child, or a middle-schooler, or an adult, see how much that sacrifice meant on that cross, to see how much that relationship has to offer with God, how much God desires just for that person, and just for you. And so, I got into that. And the cool part is when I started volunteering and coming down, and then eventually got hired at Bristol, there's a volunteer there, and we're gonna show you guys a video here in a second, but it was a couple of volunteers there who have been there for more than 10 years, it's Mark Gilley and Steve Grizzle. And Mark was actually one of my middle school Amplify counselors the year that I actually got saved. And so, I have a video I wanna show you guys of Mark, it's just telling their story, and Grace, of it's just an incredible moment. So, if you guys will watch that with me, that'd be great.
- Back in, I guess it was 2010, we had a no-volunteer Sunday at the church and Pastor Jimmy's message was basically a call to service. So, I wrote them a little response card, "Y'all, I wanna serve with the HFSM at the time, HFSM." I spoke with our campus youth pastor at the time and sat in on a service, and the next Sunday I started serving. And I can probably count on my fingers and toes the number of Sundays I've missed since then. That's 11 and a half years now.
- I struggled pretty bad with mental health issues and just loneliness, in some ways. And when I graduated high school, I think I pretty much had the idea, "Well, I'll serve anyway," because I grew up, I had good experience, and I had an experience with a certain student that pretty much solidified that this is where I'm being called to, is to serve. I met a young girl, she was in seventh grade, her name was Nicole. After service, one evening, we had broken up into like prayer rooms, and things like that. And I saw this girl go off to the side and she looked kinda awkward, and like, she didn't know what was happening. So, I thought maybe I would go and check on her and talk to her. And so, we ended up sitting down and she proceeded to tell me that as a seventh grader, she had already tried to commit suicide and that she was cutting herself, and she was bullied because of her race, at school. And I just shared a moment with her and I got to share with her what God did for me in my life and my struggles with mental health, and just feeling overall good about myself. And I was able to pray with her and pray over her. And to this day, I'm still in contact with her.
- These students are our future. If we don't build a relationship with them and help them build their relationship with God, and walk with them in that, then where are they gonna go? A lot of these students, they don't have a stable life, and this may be the only taste of stability they get. They come and they see the same person there, or the same people there. If I can help them, sometimes it's just sitting with a student, being an ear for them to talk to. And I'm just blessed and grateful that I get to be a part of this. These students are gonna change the world. And I hope that for all of the youth in this area, not just here at Highlands, but.
- Whether she knows it or not, she's made a very big impact in my life as a leader. And when I came home, I realized that there are Nicole's everywhere, not just in Daytona Beach, where this girl was at, these kids are everywhere, they're in every school, they're in homes, they come in through our doors, and that really encouraged me to wanna be there for those who are hurting, who are scared, who feel awkward, because I was that way. And I thank God that I've been through all that I've been through, because it allows me to relate to people like Nicole so they can feel safe, that they feel comfortable in these types of environments, in HFS, or just otherwise, in general. I think, I believe your story has more weight than you think it does, and your story, if you're willing to share it, might be somebody's survival guide in life later on. I think that's very impactful and very meaningful. So, for the most part, I stand at the front door, I try to welcome kids in. The biggest thing that I've tried to focus on is creating relationships with the kids. But I think the most meaningful of building those relationships is having their contact and being able to text with them. And they call me if they need me.
- I had a lot of doubts before I started myself. I was like, "Will I be able to connect with the students? Will they accept me, or will I be this old guy over here?" All those fears were unfounded. If you will be real with them, they'll be real with you. And I said before, I get more out of this, sometimes than students will, and it just fills me up, this feeds me. But I've had a few parents come and tell me that you wouldn't believe what you've done for my son or daughter. We try to reinforce to the students that we're there for them, and they hear that, they actually believe that, and know that. And if you find out that it's not your cup of tea, we will help you find what is your place to serve.
- Yeah, so, just like they said in the video, hey, we need people willing to build those relationships with students. I wanna share two more stories and I'll pray us out. But the first one I wanna share is, when I was a high school student, I was very, very into church, I was very much so into the youth ministry, and I really loved Amplify. I mean, it's where I gave my life to Christ, it's where I felt called to go into ministry, it's where this foundation of life and Christianity had built for me. And so, one year it was announced that we weren't gonna do Amplify, we were actually gonna do something called Impact Camp. I mean, I called one of the leaders, I was very upset, I was like, "What do you mean we're not gonna do Amplify? What do you mean? Like, there's kids just like me who need to hear the gospel, there's kids just like me who need to be saved, there's kids just like me out there who need the help." And I was so upset and concerned. And so, this camp, instead of being like an Amplify salvation-centered camp, it was a camp where we're just gonna go and we were gonna serve the community. And so, I signed up and I went to be part of this camp and I helped lead this kind of like day camp for elementary school kids. And there was one kid there, we went into like the, kind of an area of like the projects, and there was a kid name there, he was named as Nathan. And I connected with Nathan and Nathan and I hung out throughout the week, this is when the song "Whip and Nae Nae" was a big, so, I whipped and nae nae-d with Nathan. All week, he was an awesome, awesome, awesome kid. And the week went on, we got closer, and a couple of things about Nathan, Nathan, every piece of clothing he had had holes in it. He was from a very poor family, his parents had left him on his grandparents' doorstep when he was just a baby. And so, he was being raised by just his grandparents, didn't have much money, he didn't have much food, any toys, really at all, any clothes without holes in them. And so, I gotta know Nathan throughout the week, and one thing we did was feed him throughout the week. And every time Nathan got food, he would take his little bag, he had like a sandwich, snacks, apple, maybe something, something like that, and he would go to every other one of the kids and volunteers there and say, "Hey, do you need something to eat? Do you need something to eat?" Every single, before he even took a bite, probably one of the most kids in the most need at the camp, he went and served others and said, "Hey, are you hungry? Can I help you? Can I do anything?" I gotta see this kid grow throughout the week. At the end of the week, it was an awesome situation. Nathan ended up giving his life to Christ. I mean, it was just a celebration unlike any other I'd seen before. And Nathan goes up to the youth pastor at that time, and he says, "Hey, I wanna get baptized, but I want James to do it." And I was a high-school student, I had no idea what baptism meant. And so, I was like, "Hey man, you gotta help me out. What do I say? What do I do?" And he told me what to say, and he told me one other thing, he said, "Make sure he goes all the way under water. Make sure he goes all the way under water." And so, I'm like, "All right, I can do this. I can drown this kid, kinder, but I can make sure it happens." So, I get down there, I jump into this creek, again, it's in a poor part of the town. And so, there's broken bottles and tires, and so, my high school self, I'm like tiptoeing down through this water, and Nathan just flunked like cannonballs in the river, it makes me look like a wimp. I'm like, "All right." So, we get to the center of the creek, and I say the words and I start going down, I have him by like the back of his head and by his shirt, and all I'm remembering is that youth pastor saying, "Make sure he goes all the way under water." And so, Nathan goes down about halfway, it's all going great, and he stops, like, I don't know what he's doing, a sit-up or he needs abs, whatever. He stops, and I'm like, "Oh goodness." So, I grab him by his hair and by his shirt, and I just yank him under her real quick. And everyone starts clapping, and it's a great moment, and everything. And it was cool to have that first moment with Nathan. But the really cool thing happened when we were leaving the camp. You see, we gave all of the students t-shirts, and clothes, and shoes, and toys, and Bibles, and food, and snacks, we gave them everything to make it for a little bit. And Nathan, like, as I was boarding the bus to go back to the camp we were staying at, Nathan comes up to the bus doors, I mean, I was already on my seat, and he asked to see James. And so, I get up and I go talk to Nathan and he has his hands behind his back. And I'm like, "Hey, what's up, man? Like, congrats. Well, keep up. Like, whatever it takes, man, I'm proud of you," all this stuff. And Nathan, he's like, he goes, "James, I wanna give you something." And he pulled his hands out from behind his back, and he had the biggest toy we gave him, the biggest one, probably the most expensive. And he says, "James, I want you to have this. I want you to remember me by this, and remember the week because you made an impact in my life." And man, that moment at a camp that I didn't even wanna be at, at a place I didn't wanna go to serve, at something I was just mad because I was so focused on what I wanted, this kid's life changed forever, and that changed my life forever. I realized what serving was about, it wasn't about what I wanted to do, it wasn't about where I wanted to go, it was just about being obedient to God in that moment, and seeing a kid get to spend eternity with Jesus because we were willing to say yes to go to this camp. And so, I don't know where you are today, I don't know if you're thinking, "I could never, ever serve in any ministry. I've been too messed up. I've done the wrong thing. I just don't want to, I don't have the time, I don't have the schedule," here's the truth you don't have time not to serve in a ministry, you don't have time not to be part of a local church, you don't have time not to get involved in sharing the gospel, you don't have time, your family doesn't have time not to be dedicated to serving, you don't have the time, you don't have time. And this is my last encouragement, and then I'll pray, is that maybe you're thinking, "Man, I'm too old, James. There's no way students could get to know me well. I cannot relate to them. I can't be a part of them." Maybe you're like, "I don't have the energy to serve in children's ministry. I don't have the ability to do this. I don't have that." Well, I wanna tell you guys about working at the Bluefield campus. So, when I first got hired, we didn't have a building to meet up for youth, we ended up meeting in seven different buildings in one year and outside, and one of them was a double-wide trailer, it was a really cool place, we gotta see people get to know Christ in that space. But the first place was the stage of the chapel, and the music people at Bluefield had left this music just stand there. And so, I didn't have a table or anything to preach with, so, I just grabbed this music stand right here and I started preaching with it and I laid my Bible on it. And throughout the years, I grew close with this music stand. Every time the students would get loud or something, I would smack it and it makes a loud bang, I won't do it 'cause I have a microphone on, I don't wanna deafen anybody, but I would go bang, and the students would stop talking. And so, one time I went down to smack it and I actually hit the side of it and I broke it off. But everywhere I've went to speak or to preach, I've taken this music stand. And the reason I do it is 'cause it reminds me, we didn't have the best building, we didn't have the coolest lights, we didn't even have a microphone, or a megaphone, we didn't have the coolest of things, what we had with students was a relationship. All we needed to do was spend time with someone, show them the love of Christ, and say, "Hey, I care more about a building, I care more about my commitments, I care more. I want to share the gospel with you." And just like what Mark and Grace talked about, even if it's just showing up on a Sunday morning, or Sunday night and saying, "I care about you. I'm gonna be here to serve you. I'm gonna be here to stand beside you. I'm gonna come to your sporting events and support you. I'm going to be in your life 'cause I know a savior who wanted so desperately to be in mine that he would go to the cross for me. I wanna be part of that." And here here's my main point, is that everybody needs the gospel, not just youth ministry, not just teenagers, not just children, not just adults, not just the elderly, everybody needs the gospel. And so, maybe you won't ever come serve in youth ministry, that's okay, maybe you won't ever serve in children's ministry, here's what I want you to do, you need to serve somewhere, you need to serve somewhere. Why, 'cause it fills up your relationship with Christ. Man, getting to see kids and people grow closer to Jesus, there's no more refreshing thing in the world. Getting to see people have that relationship and start that relationship, and remember just where you were, how much you needed Christ and you didn't even know it, man, there's a fire and a passion that comes with that. And maybe that's you today. Maybe you're the one sitting in that seat, right where you are, saying, "Hey, I've never met Jesus. I don't know Jesus. I just came to church 'cause someone brought me, 'cause someone invited me, maybe someone made me come to church, but man, I'm messed up. I'm so full of sin, I don't know where to go next. I've done everything I thought was right, but man, it just led me here." Hey, I wanna encourage you, man, Jesus wants a relationship desperately with you, too. No matter what you've been through, no matter what you've gone through, Jesus loves you so much to go to a cross for you. And you get to know in the power in his name, he can rise from a grave. Just overcome whatever you're going through, whatever you've been through. And so, maybe that's you today. I wanna encourage you, this is just for people wanting to take this first step with Jesus, all you gotta do is accept him into your life. And you just say a prayer, it's just saying, "Jesus, I believe you went to the cross for me, I believe you died on the cross for me, and I believe you did it to overcome my sins and so you can have a relationship with me. I just wanna invite you into my heart. I repent of my sins. I wanna turn away from what I've been doing, and I just wanna get closer to you." That's why I'm gonna pray here to say, I wanna encourage you, take this first step. If you've never done it before, just pray with me right now, say, "Jesus, God, I wanna invite you into my life. I believe you died on the cross for me, I believe you gave your life for me so I can spend eternity with you. God, I wanna repent of the ways I've been going, I wanna turn from what I've been doing, I wanna seek you, I wanna serve you, I wanna live for you." And hey, I wanna encourage you, if you just said that prayer, please tell somebody. If it's online, if it's at a campus, please tell somebody, please. It's an amazing first step. We wanna celebrate with you. We wanna throw a party with you. We wanna say, "Hey, you have any eternity with your Savior now because of that first step." God, thank you so much for loving us. God, thank you so much for today. We got to talk about raising people up no matter what age they are, no matter where they're from. God, thank you so much for loving us, and we love you, too, amen. Hey, I got one more thing for you guys 'cause you might be here and you might be saying, "James, I don't know how to serve. I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I could even be part of that. I don't know." Hey, I wanna encourage you that a middle-school me just needed someone to show up in my life, I just needed someone to be there and say, "Man, Jesus loves you so much. Jesus cares about you." I needed someone in my life just to show up. Maybe that's you today. Hey, at every one of our campuses, and online you can go to the HUB, but at every one of our campuses, we have these cards right here. You can check children's, students, or adults. I wanted to tell you, man, there are people in your community that desperately need the gospel, that desperately need someone to show up in their life and say, "Hey, I love you more than anything because Jesus loved me enough to die for me." Every community that we're in at Highlands Fellowship, everywhere we're in. All you gotta do is check one of those, put your name, your phone number, your email, your campus. Fill that out, man. Be part of raising somebody up and drawing them closer God. It's the best thing you can do, man, after you accept Jesus, it's the coolest thing, it's the most rewarding thing, and I wanna courage you to do that. So, in a moment, if you're at a campus, there's gonna be someone come up on stage and tell you more about how you can serve. Man, get involved, if it's with student ministry, if it's with children's ministry, if it's with adult ministry, if you can just run a tech booth, something, get involved in telling people about the gospel. There is nothing better, after you know Christ, than to see other people come to Christ. So, think about it, and listen to what those people have to say.