Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #211 Reviving the Next Generation: A Summer of Transformation and Prayer with Aubrie Kimbrough

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#211 Reviving the Next Generation: A Summer of Transformation and Prayer with Aubrie Kimbrough · The OneCry Podcast

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Music.
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Well, hello, OneCry family. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today.
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I'm so excited about what God is doing in every generation across all diverse
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lines right now, but especially with the younger generation,
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with Gen Z and the Alpha, which follows Gen Z in our culture today.
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And to see God working this way has just been an amazing thing.
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So thank you for joining the One Cry podcast.
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And today I have Aubrey Kimbrell.
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Now, many of you may not know Aubrey, but some of you who may have tuned in
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or listened to the podcast or watched us from our.
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Revival roundtable last year
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may remember Aubrey shared and then we re-aired it here on the podcast.
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But Aubrey, welcome. It's so good to be with you. And you're in Ohio today, I believe.
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And you just returned from six intense, thrilling weeks of never the same camps.
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But give our audience, if you will, just a little context and who you are.
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What is never the same? What are these camps?
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Yeah, we want to get to know you a little bit. And then I'm going to jump in
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and ask you some very, I think, helpful questions to all of us as pastors and
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leaders in the context of what God is doing today.
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Hey, introduce yourself. Yeah, yeah. I'm Aubrey.
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I am first and foremost a child of God.
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I love Jesus and I love doing life with him and being in friendship with him.
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But I also work for an organization called Never the Same.
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And Never the Same is all about reaching young people and building up the church.
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And so we have four different ministries that fall under Never the Same,
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which is our parent organization.
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One of those is Claim Your Campus, which is all about students praying in their
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schools and starting prayer groups.
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NTS Camp is also one of those ministries. And they do summer youth camps.
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And so we do six weeks of summer camps where our team plans and facilitates.
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And we bring in speakers and a worship team.
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We create all the content and all the games and then youth groups get to come
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with their youth pastors and their adult leaders and just experience it.
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So youth pastors and adult leaders don't have to worry about the weather or
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the messages or the band.
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They get to just come and enjoy it with their students and have the really important
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conversations with their students.
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The youth pastors and the adult leaders, they're the counselors actually doing
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the deep ministry conversations with their students And we just get to be there and serve.
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And it's been really awesome seeing the Lord move this summer and do things that only He could do.
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But it's a beautiful time for youth groups just come and be filled up and then
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get to go back home and do life together after encountering the Lord in such a powerful way.
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Wow, that's really fabulous. And the president of Never the Same,
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I believe, is Jeff Eckert.
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Is that right? Our National Prayer Committee chairman, and he's the one I think
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founded it, and it has just been growing.
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And the other thing, just for the context here before we jump in is,
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I just remember when you shared at the National Prayer Committee annual meeting
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in New Orleans, I think it was this past year, and as you shared at the Revival Roundtable,
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God has just, I think, amazingly put in your heart an understanding of the heartbeat
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of the younger generations today.
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And it was so helpful for me and for, I think, other leaders to be able to hear
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from a Gen Z-er exactly what you are seeing,
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what you sense, and how we should understand your generation and even the alpha generation.
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So I just want to say thank you, Aubrey, for being there where the rubber hits
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the road and into the heartbeat of those younger generation students.
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And I would also like to just jump in and say on social media and elsewhere
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from Jeff, I heard how this summer there were some things that seemed to be
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very distinct from other summers.
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And I'd like you to talk about those and even your approach.
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I was blown away by the amount of prayer that was invested in and apparently
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a part of the gatherings this summer. So tell me from your heart what you saw and what excites you.
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Yeah, yeah. I think we know this, but prayer ushers in an open door for the
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presence of the Lord to come and do what only He can do.
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And we've seen that time and time again. But yeah, I think it was it was different this summer.
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Something about this summer was our team was just ready to pray.
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Our team was just ready to seek the Lord. And we would start day one of camp
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before any students got there.
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Our team would fast and we would pray and we would pray for every student by
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name that they would come to know Jesus, that they would have an encounter with
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the Lord, that he would meet them.
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And then the day that we would share the gospel, we invited youth groups and
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students to sign up for an hour of prayer for 24 hours.
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And so that day leading up, students were praying for their peers.
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They were asking the Lord to come and move for 24 hours, seeking his face and
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asking him to do something that we could never do by ourselves.
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And then after we saw the Lord do what only he can do, and hundreds of students
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come to know Jesus or recommit their lives to him, our team would gather together
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and pray and thank the Lord, but also continue to seek him for what he was going
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to do in their small groups that night.
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And yeah, there was just, there was a fervor for what the Lord can do in prayer
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and an understanding that when we seek him, he answers. And we just saw that time and time again.
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One of my favorite moments, even in like the session where we would share the
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gospel was students, like as they were giving their lives to the Lord,
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coming back down, coming back to their friends, like friends circling around
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and praying for their peers that just gave their lives to the Lord.
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Like there was just a passion and a hunger to seek the Lord and to ask him to
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move, um, and to, to kind of give it to him and just say like, do only you can do.
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Um, and we saw that time and time again, this summer, um,
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As students were praying, our team was praying and seeking the Lord,
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like the Lord being faithful to do what he says he will do when we seek his
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face, that he'll heal our land and he'll heal our hearts and he'll bring transformation.
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And he did that time and time again.
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And I truly believe a lot of that was because we just came to him and said,
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Lord, we can't do this by ourselves.
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We can put in all the effort we can, but we're not going to save students. Only you can.
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And so it was really cool to just like face, like in our face,
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see the Lord answer prayers in such a real way.
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So you sense a greater measure, perhaps, of just the presence of God.
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And you attribute that, surprisingly right, to prayer, which we all know in our head.
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But we don't always lean in and leave in reality the difference that that is going to make.
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And so you saw your whole team really do that this summer.
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And so how much, this is something I'm just kind of curious about here as we chat.
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How much do you think students hearing about what God is doing elsewhere,
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really since the Asbury days and the movement a few years ago,
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how much do you think what the reports they're seeing, the social media posts
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about what God is doing elsewhere, is that fueling any of this,
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either in the leadership or among the students themselves?
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Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a.
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There's a desire for leadership and for students of like, if that can happen
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for them and in that space, and surely it can happen for us in this space.
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We've seen that with students starting prayer groups. We've seen that at youth camps.
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Testimony is so powerful. And so we love to testify what the Lord has done,
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how he's answered prayer, how he's moved students' lives.
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Because what we've noticed time and time again is when we testify what the Lord has done,
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there's an alarm that goes off in students' heads and leaders' heads that say,
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if God is moving like that somewhere else, then surely he can do that here for us as well.
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I mean, that's the power of personal testimonies when sharing the gospel with
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people is I've walked through things, but I'm not the only one that's walked through those things.
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There's other students that's walked through those too. So I can't stay quiet.
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I have to share my testimony of what the Lord's done in my life.
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And it gives hope to students that he can do the same for them.
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And the same goes for moves of God that are happening on campuses and at Osbury
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and in high schools and middle schools.
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Like surely if the Lord's doing it there, he can do it here if we just ask him.
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So yeah, I think it's, it's opening students' eyes to see that the Lord is doing
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something special and it can happen where they're at if they just ask.
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So revival spreads on the wings of testimonies, somebody has said.
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And so you mentioned about what you have been through and you share that and
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what others have been through.
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So what are some of the issues that you think in the alpha generation,
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particularly that you think they're grappling with,
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dealing with, are hurting from and how and what are they facing?
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What do we need to know that these Alpha students are living with day by day
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that they're looking for an answer?
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Yeah, I mean, I think the hardest thing is probably just distraction.
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Like there's things for them to constantly be looking at. Their eyes can always
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be looking at something between social media, television.
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I mean, everything in this world is going for their eyes. It's going for what
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they can look at. And they have so many options.
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And that is what we see the beauty of camp being, is it's a time for them to
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get away from everything to turn off their cell phones and say,
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okay, like, is this man named Jesus real? Is he who he says he is?
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And what we've noticed time and time again is, is when we take away the distractions,
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there's a moment for them to actually come face to face with the one who loves
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them the most and knows them the deepest.
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And it's changing what happens when they go home.
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And so, yeah, I think distractions is the biggest thing for this next generation,
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for, for Gen Alpha. a, um, they have grown up with smartphones.
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They've grown up with television.
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They've grown up with AI now, like that's a huge part of them growing up.
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And so there's distractions and immediate answers all the time for them.
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And so it's, it's learning that slow pace of heaven.
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Um, Jesus is not in a hurry. He's never has been, um, and he's going to take
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his time and his timing is perfect.
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And so it's, it's, it's for them, I think getting out of the distractions,
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locking eyes with Jesus instead of anything else and allowing themselves to
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slow down and say, okay, Lord, like, what do you want to say? How do you want to speak?
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And we're seeing that. We're seeing that happen. We, that was something that
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blew me away all summer was the desperation middle schoolers.
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I, I had shared this with, with a friend the other day, but my heart just got
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completely wrecked by the Lord.
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There was one week where this little middle schooler had come up.
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He was in like sixth or seventh grade, small middle schooler,
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and he had come up to respond to the gospel and to give his life to Christ.
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And he had these big tears in his eyes and this huge smile across his face.
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And I was just looking at him and I'd heard the Lord say, like,
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Aubrey, this is my friend. And after tonight, he will never be the same.
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And it's like wrecked me that this this little middle schooler just had an encounter
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with the Lord and his friendship with God started in that moment.
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And it's just, it's crazy. It's crazy to think about that.
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Like these little middle schoolers are running around getting met by Jesus and
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it's changing the way they're going to be friends with people in their school,
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the way they're going to love their family.
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Um, and it's a beautiful thing. So yeah, I think, I think distractions,
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the biggest thing they're facing, but I think when we can get them in rooms,
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um, to encounter the Lord, to shut all of that stuff out, um, he's meeting with them.
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Like those are his friends and he's meeting with them. So. Wow.
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So, uh, let's Let's pretend here. Well, maybe we aren't pretending.
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This is really happening.
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You're speaking to pastors, youth pastors, those who are listening to this One
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Cry podcast that all have a desire for God to move.
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And they want to see God do what you just described and that you saw God do these past six weeks.
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As leaders, what advice, what would you say to them?
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Maybe cautions, maybe, yeah, how might they think differently and pray differently as they,
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even especially this fall, as they jump back into the fall season of ministry,
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yeah, to their people? Yeah.
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Yeah, wow. I think, yeah,
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I think a big thing would be pray against distractions.
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Encourage students. Like when you come to youth group, turn off your phone.
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Like it might be uncomfortable in the beginning. Students might not like you
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very much, but in the beginning, just say like, hey, we're going to turn off
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our phones because we want to lock eyes with Jesus.
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And then be real with them. Like students, students can sense when people aren't being authentic.
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This next generation can sense unauthenticity from a mile away.
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So I would just say be real with them. get rid of the fluff.
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They don't need it. They are ready for the gospel. They're ready for the truth
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of Christ. They're ready for what he did.
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Be real with them. Share it with them. Share the gospel with them in the entirety
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of what it is. We don't need to add fluff to it for students. They're hungry.
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They're so desperate for the truth. They're so hungry. They are longing to know
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the one that they were made for.
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And when you take the fluff away, they see it for what it really is.
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And that was one of my favorite things was this summer.
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Like we come on the night we shared the gospel, we stripped,
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um, worship completely back, um, which is something we haven't really ever done.
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We're a pretty high production, um, we have a 10 foot by 40 foot led wall.
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We have lights, we have a full band normally, and we stripped it all back and
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we did minimal lighting and we had a guitar and a cajon and two singers on stage.
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And it forces students to come
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face to face with, without all of the other things, is Jesus still worthy?
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Is he still worthy of my praise? If it's just a guitar and I can hear myself
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singing, like, is he still worthy?
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And every single, every single week I was blown away with how much harder students
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were worshiping the Lord, how much more they were giving him in worship,
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because without all the things they recognized, he still is who he says he is.
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And so, yeah, I'd say you don't need the fluff.
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Be real with them. Share the gospel. Let them know who Jesus is.
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Help them find who Jesus is.
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And they'll get there. It's the Holy Spirit that reveals these things.
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And that's what I was blown away with every single time was we can say the most
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amazing sermons. We can have the most amazing worship, but ultimately it's the
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Holy Spirit that's revealing these things to these students in time.
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And we're seeing it. When we strip all the fluff away, when we're real with
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them, when we get to know them, when we love them and we share the gospel with
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them, they're finding him every single time. So.
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So you're telling me God can move without smoke machines? He can move without flashing lights?
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He can move without the highest volume necessary that we can imagine?
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Yeah, and I think there's been like this misunderstanding that we almost have
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to entertain students to get them in the door because of what they're growing
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up around. But that's just not true.
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I think they're coming in the door because they're looking for something real.
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And when we strip it back, it forces us to come face to face with, oh, is this real or not?
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And the Holy Spirit's showing up and saying, no, I'm real. I'm here.
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And it's really beautiful.
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So I don't know if you remember back in New Orleans, there was a moment,
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and you were emceeing this gathering of all the National Prayer Committee.
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So proud of you. It's like, if that wasn't intimidating, humanly speaking,
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I don't know what would be.
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But there was that moment where I so appreciated, and I know Jeff helped facilitate
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this, where he just kind of said, we're not going anywhere.
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We're just going to pause and make room for God to move and speak.
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And throughout that room of, I don't know, 40, 50, how many minutes there were,
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God really did come and just, because we gave him space. We gave him time.
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And I see churches are starting to do that.
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And I just felt all summer, I'll bet at your camps, you're making space for God to move.
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And sometimes it is seemingly just that quiet moment of silence where God does
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meet them eyeball to eyeball, you said, and face to face.
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So as leaders go into especially campuses and as you particularly go this fall into, yeah,
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student prayer gatherings that you have, are you approaching it any different
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than maybe three years ago or two years ago?
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Are you giving some, I'm sure you are, prayerful thought about how do we continue?
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Uh, accelerate only God can do it.
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Revival cyber, but how can we accelerate his work this fall on these campuses?
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Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's, it's what you just said.
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It's, it's to sit and to tarry, to wait, to, to see, Lord, do you have more
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to say? Is there more you want to do?
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Like, we don't want to be people that are quick to shut off what the Holy Spirit's
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doing. Cause we have somewhere else to go.
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Like we, we're willing to sit for a second, even if it's awkward,
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even if it's uncomfortable.
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And that's what we tell students all the time is when you're learning to pray,
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when you're learning to listen to the Holy Spirit, it can be awkward.
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It can be uncomfortable.
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Sit in it, like learn to sit in it because sometimes it's there where we go
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a step deeper with the Lord, where we hear something we wouldn't have otherwise.
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And so, yeah, it's helping students learn how to sit in that awkward moment
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of, Lord, what else is on your mind? What else are you saying?
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What else do you want to do?
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And if we don't learn that, if we don't teach students that, they'll never do it.
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They'll say the quick one minute prayer and then they'll move on their way when
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the Holy Spirit actually wanted to spend 15 minutes with them,
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but they didn't know how to sit in the uncomfortable and awkward moment of silence and listening.
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And so that I think is a big thing for us as we go on the road in a couple of
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weeks to be with students and to pray with them and to visit their Christian
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clubs and their youth groups, like to teach them that that awkward moment of.
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Just tarrying in the presence of the Lord to, to wait, to see Lord,
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is there something else? And we did that this summer. Like we did.
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And we saw the fruit of it where we would say, if there's one more,
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like we believe there is, if there's one more, this is your time.
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And we're just going to tarry here. We're going to wait.
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We're going to see if there's, if there's something else the Lord wants to do.
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And every time there was this one, two or three more students who would come
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to the front and get on their knees.
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Um, and they just needed a moment. They needed that one more invitation.
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They needed that space to really sit and to think and to see what the Lord was doing.
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And so, yeah, I think giving those students space and also giving the Holy Spirit
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space of, Lord, we're just going to wait one more moment to see, are you done?
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Can we move on? Or is there more you want to do?
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So maybe one of the, and maybe you don't encounter this, but I know I have seven
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years of, well, really decades of camp ministry that we've done,
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many years for teenagers, then families.
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But especially back when it was just the youth, they would say,
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well, camp is just an emotional experience.
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It's not something that really lasts.
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How do you, yeah, how do you respond to that tendency for people to think it's
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just emotionalism? Yeah, I would challenge them, go volunteer to serve at a
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church camp. Go be in the room.
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Because I think you step in the room one night and you see what the Holy Spirit's doing.
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You look in these students' faces and there's no question, this is the Holy
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Spirit. He's moving and he's speaking.
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If I'm getting met by the Holy Spirit in a way that's about to change my life,
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for a lot of these students, it's going to be emotional.
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Every answer they've been looking for, everything they've tried to fill the
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void with, everything they've tried to make themselves feel better with in a
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moment has been answered when they've been met with the greatest love of their life.
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So, of course, they're going to cry. Of course, they're going to laugh.
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Of course, they're going to be jumping.
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Like, this is a huge moment. What they were made for has finally come to realization.
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And they're going to cry.
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But I think to stand in a room and watch the Holy Spirit move in young people's
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lives, you could look at that and say it's emotions. But I would challenge people
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that are questioning, like, is this emotion? Is this real?
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Go stand in the room. Go serve in a youth group and watch the Lord move over
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time in students' lives.
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And it's going to be an up and down as they're figuring it out. Like it just is.
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But students need a space to come and hear from the Lord and encounter him.
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And I think all of, I mean, all of our walks with the Lord at some point are
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up and down as we're figuring out how to walk consistently with the Lord.
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And so for students, like they need a moment to come and encounter the Lord
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and to remember and to have that revelation and to experience healing and forgiveness
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to go back refueled and walk with their youth groups again.
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And so, yeah, I'd say go be in the room and be open to the fact that you may
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be wrong, that this isn't just emotions.
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The emotions are coming out of people are encountering the Lord and their eyes are being opened.
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But it's not based on emotions. It's based on the Holy Spirit and then emotions
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are flowing out of that because of what he's doing in their lives. That's right.
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I appreciate your answer on that because uh i
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used to always say you know when god works he won't bypass
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the emotions but it's never predominantly emotional
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it's much deeper than that then you articulated that so well so aubrey here's
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a uh here's your chance anything on your heart you want to share and then i
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want you to pray i want you to pray for other leaders i want you to pray for
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this fall season coming up as school begins.
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And just bear your heart to the Lord.
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And we'll join you in that. So anything you want to share first on your heart?
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Yeah, I'd say for the students that are listening, keep pressing in.
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It might be hard when you go back to school, um, as you go back to friend groups
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and you're different, but they're not, um, I would just say,
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keep pressing in, keep seeking the Lord.
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He is so faithful to show up every single time. Um, and I would just say,
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keep giving him your yes and keep pressing in, cling to mentors around you,
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cling to your youth pastors, cling to your adult leaders.
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Um, they're gonna, they're gonna help you through it, but keep showing up with
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the Lord, Keep being present.
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Keep asking him what he's doing and what he has and where he's moving.
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And then for the leaders, I would just say love them patiently. And that's so hard.
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But Jesus, Jesus does it with us so perfectly.
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Sometimes students, you know, they're figuring it out.
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They're figuring out how to live differently in a world where to be Christian
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is to be so polar opposite from everyone else they know.
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And so love them patiently as they're learning to count the cost and die daily.
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It's going to take time. And so love them patiently and love them consistently.
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And you'll see the fruit of the Lord moving in their life.
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That is great. And in a moment here, Prey, I want to encourage everybody that's
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listening right now to share with others what you heard from Aubrey.
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I just believe this is critical.
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You have friends, you have colleagues, you have others that you want to encourage
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and help them as they try to reach next generation and subscribe to this podcast.
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And Aubrey, is there a website that Never the Same, can you share that so our
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listeners can go to that?
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Yeah, yeah. So Never the Same's main website is neverthesame.org.
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And then NTS Camp, if they want to check out NTS Camp and think about coming
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next summer, it's ntscamp.com.
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And then if they want to hear about Claim Your Campus and how they can start
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a prayer group on their campus, it's claimyourcampus.com. So that's great.
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And also, we'd love your response to this podcast.
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Whoever's listening, would you go to onecry.com, info at onecry.com,
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just share what it is that maybe spoke to your heart.
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And maybe it's you becoming honest and just saying, hey, pray for me and pray
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that God would work in my heart in an area that you heard today.
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Aubrey, would you close our time and just let's just seek the Lord together? Yeah.
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Jesus, we just love you. Lord, we love you so much.
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And we thank you that you are alive, that you are breathing,
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that you are moving, that you are speaking to all generations.
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But God, we specifically thank you for what you're doing in Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
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Lord, what we've seen you do over the past years and what we're going to see
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you do this year. Lord, we are so expectant.
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And I thank you, Lord, that you have allowed us to be in rooms,
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that you've allowed us to be in spaces where we get to see firsthand what you're
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doing and to testify about it. And.
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Lord, I just lift up middle schoolers and high schoolers who are going back
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to school this fall, who have been transformed at youth camps all across the
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country this summer, who have encountered you, who have met your spirit.
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Who have an encounter that will change the rest of their lives.
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Lord, we pray for boldness over those students in Jesus' name.
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We pray for confidence and courageousness over them in Jesus' name.
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We pray, God, that they would see their campuses in the mission field going
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back. Lord, I pray as they go back to their friend groups, as they go back to
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classes, as they hang out with their peers again, that there would be something
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evidently different about them that their peers ask about.
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Lord, that you would open the door for them to share what you've done in their
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life this summer, that they would boldly proclaim the gospel,
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that they would pray for their peers.
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I pray, Jesus, that you would break their heart for their campus and for their
28:00
peers that don't know you, that they couldn't just not do anything with it.
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Lord, I pray that what you did in their lives, this encounter that they've had,
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the way that they've met your love would actually change the way they love others,
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that they would have a deep passion, that the people around them would experience
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the same thing that you did in their life, that their eyes would be open to
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the love that fills everything they've ever needed.
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Lord, I pray that we would see revival spread across campuses in America because
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of what you did in students' lives this summer.
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Lord, I pray that their friendship with you would only grow.
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I pray, God, that their families would be transformed, that students that are
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going back to households that are not Christian,
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where their parents don't know you, their siblings don't know you,
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where they're the only Christian in their household, I pray God that you would sustain them,
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that you would protect them, and that you would give them the boldness to share
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the gospel with their parents, to love their siblings in a way that points to you.
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And Lord, we lift up the leaders that are going to be walking with them,
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the youth pastors and the adult leaders and the.
29:01
Club directors that are going into this next year of ministry.
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Lord, I pray for creative ideas for how to minister to students.
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I pray, God, that you would give them ears to hear your voice,
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what you're speaking over students, what you want to do in students' lives.
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I pray, God, that you would give them direction by your spirit.
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Lord, I pray that you would allow them to see things this year that they've
29:22
never seen before in students.
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I pray, God, that you would allow them to see the fruit of their labor in a
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way that they never have before.
29:28
I pray, God, that they would be encouraged, that they would be lifted up,
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that they would be filled with discernment and wisdom going into this next season of ministry.
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Lord, we pray for revival in middle and high schools this year in Jesus' name.
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Lord, we believe that you can do it and we're expecting for what you're going
29:45
to do. And so we ask that you would blow our expectations out of the wall.
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Lord, we know that you can do above and beyond what we could ask or imagine.
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And so, Lord, we're imagining big. We're asking big of you. And we ask Jesus
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that you would do even more.
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Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it does not return void and
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the hope that we have in that.
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And so Jesus, we ask, would you come and do what only you can do?
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That we would see bullying and we would see suicide cease.
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We would see school shootings never happen again in Jesus' name because students
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on campuses are praying and sharing the gospel and loving their peers,
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loving their teachers in a way that they never have before.
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Lord, we ask that your presence would come and fall on every middle and high
30:25
school across the country in Jesus' name.
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Lord, we love you and we praise you in advance for the way that you're going
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to be glorified on campuses this school year.
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Lord, we love you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
30:37
Amen. Aubrey, just an encouragement. I don't know if you remember this past
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spring, but we contacted you about God starting up a Bible study with one brave
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student here in Southwest Michigan.
30:50
And I want you to know that Bible study grew and grew and they didn't want to
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stop this summer. So they continued at these students through the summer.
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And I think there's 15, 20, 30 of them meeting this summer and all because of
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the advice and counsel that you gave there along with your colleague, Olivia.
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So thank you for helping our little corner of Michigan have a first time really
31:18
in decades, probably a vibrant Bible study going on in school.
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Thank you. Thank you, everyone who's listened to this podcast.
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And please share it with others. I think it will encourage them. It will help them.
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And yeah, let's commit together to pray for our campuses this fall, all across the nation.
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He's at work, and I believe he's going to accelerate that work in amazing ways as we.
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Music.