Last night was an interesting evening. We had put out a call, sent out facebook event invites, made announcements and we weren't sure what was going to happen. There was a treasure hunt scheduled for the youth group that I help with and it was a toss up to see what was going to happen. A treasure hunt in this way, is probably not what first comes to your mind. We weren't going to send the teens on a search for an amazing prize of candy or gifts or a physical take home object. Nope. We were sending them to find people that they felt God had told them that they needed to pray for, and to do just that- pray for them.
We, the leaders didn't know what to expect for attendance. Honestly, I hoped 15 would come, I prayed for more, but I expected 10. But alas, God has better planning skills than I or the other leaders. We had 27!
This idea of a treasure hunt, was first introduced to me in N.Ireland. You take an intentional 5-10 minutes, and just ask God to reveal to you someone that needs to have prayer. For ways of identifying the person, you just pray over an location, an appearance, a name, the need for prayer, and an unusual item. It could be a single word, a partial thought, or anything. Then you go in search of God's treasure. It's risky. You look and feel like a fool. It's super uncomfortable. But it can do amazing things. You've got to go with the expectancy God is going to show up, and He will. He's already there waiting for you.
... So we gave the teens a sheet of paper and had them pray. Then we loaded them up in several vehicles, headed down to the mall and split up to treasure hunt. I know in my group, we approached 5 groups of people and were able to pray for 2 of them. It might seem like failure, but it wasn't. The others we didn't get to pray with them but still we could pray for them.
On my list I had swings, and diamonds. Tthe girl I was with had job change, sweatshirt, boots, and long brown hair. Off to the kids playground we went and she saw a couple who fit the description somewhat and so we approached them. Sure enough, the guy, was in a bad job and had just started looking for a new one. I think they were shocked we'd stopped them and that we were willing to pray but they accepted our offer. When we finished praying I realized that then entire time we had been standing in front of a jewelry store with diamonds in the title. This story isn't a cool as some others. But to those people it could be life changing.
Upon returning to the church with the teens, we asked what they thought of the experience and it was almost 100% that the wanted to do it again. There were some who felt they failed because they didn't find their person. One or two thought the whole thing was coincidence and not of God. But almost all are wanting to do it again. I want to!
These teens I get to work with, continuously amaze me. They all put on this front of coolness. But when it comes down to it, they go after what they want. And right now we're seeing a tide of them really wanting to be apart of something bigger than themselves. They want to do something for God, and they are. It's incredible to watch.
So yeah, last night was a good night. :)
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