Southwest district
youth weekend:
The Call to Impact

By Thomas C. Hanson

PASADENA—Forty-eight teens from the Southwest district met in Pasadena Feb. 22 and 23 for a district youth weekend with a theme of "The Call to Impact."

The event began Saturday, Feb. 22, in rooms rented from Pasadena’s First Church of the Nazarene with welcome, orientation and novelty olympics to help the teens get to know one another.

Then an adult and teen praise band led praise and worship. Band members who participated at various times during the weekend were Ben D, Melanie F, Carmel D, Charlie R, Abel D, Nick G, Carmelita D, Steve P, Stephanie and Tiffany P and Lauren S. Steve Ramos, a pastoral intern in the Pasadena Spanish church and a student at Azusa Pacific University, was worship leader.

Then it was off to the Rose Bowl for "The Call Los Angeles," sponsored by The Call, led by Pastors Che Ahn and Lou Engle of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena. The Call California (Feb. 22 in Pasadena and April 5 in San Francisco) is "an urgent summons to humbly pray and fast and cry out to God in the two largest cities in California."

The scriptural theme for the event was taken from Joel 2:15-18: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?" ’ Then the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people."

You can visit The Call website at www.thecallrevolution.com/aboutus/key_facts.php

An estimated 30,000 people attended the event, which took place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Similar events have taken place in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, the Philippines, England and South Korea.

Dozens of immigrants prayed in their native languages for revival in their countries and for blessings on their new home, America.

According to the Feb. 23 Pasadena Star-News, the leaders of The Call said they wanted to urge "Christians from all denominations to pray humbly, to fast and to cry out for God to change their hearts just as the Israelites did in the Old Testament. Then God will use them to bring hope, peace and forgiveness into the world."

Then it was off to the Boys and Girls club, where the Pasadena NewLife and Spanish churches meet for worship services. There the teens discussed what they experienced at The Call, had another round of praise and worship and ate dinner. Activities that evening included billiards, foos ball, table tennis, card games and karaoke.

On Sunday the teens returned to the Boys and Girls Club for breakfast and a slide show of their activities. A district youth worship service was conducted in place of the regular Sunday NewLife Fellowship service. Bermie Dizon pastors NewLife Fellowship and is district youth coordinator.

Micah Royal, pastoral intern, and Kat Clark, both Azusa Pacific University students, spoke on "Impact Your World." During the message, teen speakers Aaron G, Steven R and Cody U gave testimonials of how God had impacted them personally, while Kat and Micah called on young people and adults to reflect on what ways God has been at work in their lives and how they can respond by joining in God’s work of impacting their schools, neighborhoods and workplaces for Jesus.

The worship service ended with a commissioning service led by Michael Morrison, NewLife Fellowship youth pastor, and Steve Ramos. In their prayer they commissioned the teens to represent Jesus and make a difference in their world.

Then the teens joined NewLife Fellowship for its weekly potluck, played games and mingled.

Cody, a teen from Lancaster, California, said: "The opportunity to be with friends, whom I haven’t seen since my last Summer Educational Program (SEP) experience, was an extreme blessing in my eyes.

"It was a time of fellowship with fellow Christian peers, in an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of faith we have with our Lord. We sang, we danced, we fasted and we prayed, but all in a positive environment where we could feel the very presence of our Savior Christ Jesus.

"If I could, I’d spend almost every weekend in the year doing the same thing over. I truly feel inspired to deepen the impact upon the earth and the community of America, to call others to Christ and invite them to heaven."

ROSE BOWL EVENT—Southwest district teens
were among the thousands who gathered at the
Rose Bowl in Pasadena for The Call Los Angeles.
[Photos by Thomas C. Hanson]

SACRED ASSEMBLY—Southwest district teens
gather for photo before entering Rose Bowl.

COMMISSIONING SERVICE—Michael Morrison,
youth pastor, prays for teens.

CHRISTIAN FRIENDS

RESPONSE TO MESSAGE—Teens reflect on
how God works in their lives.

   
TEEN TESTIMONIALS—From left: Aaron,
Steven and Cody.

LISTENING EAR—Dan Rogers, superintendent
of U.S ministers, listens to how God works in
the lives of youths.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2003