With the Young Men of Youth Coalition in Action
On Tuesday, Dr. Sammy, Frank, Bill, Lynda and I went to visit the young men of Youth Coalition in Action. This is a Christian organization in which teenage young men who have no homes and no families are taken off the streets, given a place to stay, and trained in principles of leadership, character, job skills and life skills so that they can become more successful and independent. At the same time, the staff members help to fill the roles of the family members that they didn’t have when they lived on the streets, becoming surrogate fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters to the young men.
Youth Coalition in Action is the personal project of Ambassador Albert Nasasagare, Burundi’s Deputy Chief of State Protocol, who mentors the young men, providing a father figure and a positive role model that the young men have desperately needed in their lives.
Upon arriving at the facility, we met Louis, who would be our translator. Louis has since become a friend of mine. He provided valuable translation services for us also at our leaders conference during the last three days of my week in Burundi.
For our meeting, we gathered the young men in what looked like a computer lab. There were not enough chairs for all of the young men, so some of them sat on the floor, leaning against the walls.
Dr. Sammy and I both spoke to the young men. When it was my turn to speak. I shared a brief lesson about David’s victory over Goliath. I emphasized the fact the David was the least qualified of anyone on the battlefield to face the giant. David wasn’t even a member of the army! But what David lacked in qualifications, he made up for in confidence and fearlessness. Where did his confidence come from? His confidence was gained in his private victories over the lion and the bear. I made the point that it is our every-day, private victories that maybe nobody sees that prepare us to face the real giants that stand in the way of our future success. I encouraged the young men to fully cooperate with everything that Ambassador Albert required of them, even if they thought it was stupid and didn’t make sense to them. These daily private victories can pave the way for their future success in life.
At the end of my talk, I suggested to the young men that it would be even better if we went directly to God and asked Him how He would want to encourage them. “Do you believe that God can speak to us?” I asked.
The young men nodded in agreement, and many of them clapped their approval.
“Should we ask God to speak to us now?” I asked. After many of the young men nodded, I said, “Let’s do that.”
I raised my hands and asked God to speak to us; to give encouraging words for the young men; and to tell us some of the good thoughts that He was thinking about us. I recalled the Bible verse in Jeremiah 33:3 in which God says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you. And I will show you great and wonderful things which you do not know.”
At the conclusion of my prayer, I explained to the young men that I believed God would speak to me, and then I would share with them what I felt that He was saying to them. In the Bible, this is called the gift of prophecy, along with words of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12). The way that this typically happens for me is that I will focus on seeing whatever God might want to show me. Then a picture, or vision, will appear. These visions will appear to me whether my eyes are open or closed. Sometimes I understand immediately what a particular vision means, but other times I have to pause and ask God to give me the meaning of what I see, because it is often symbolic. For example, if I see a vision of a house, it might symbolize the person’s life, or his family, but it could also indicate a literal house—a building. If I see the house breaking in half, it may indicate a broken home; a divorce.
We didn’t have to wait long before messages starting coming for the young men. First, one of the young men would be highlighted to me. I would see a subtle light around him or over him. Then I would receive a message for that young man.
God was faithful, and every single young man in that room received an encouraging message from God that was personalized just for him. I did my best to communicate God’s heart for each young man as it was communicated to me. My translator Louis didn’t miss a beat, translating each message with just the right emphasis for each young man.
Just after I thought that we were finished, another group of young men came into the room, and I was asked to give prophetic words to them as well. The Holy Spirit seemed to be in agreement with this request, and every young man received a personal prophetic word.
Lynda confirmed my suspicions that, for some of these young men, it was the first prophetic word they had ever received. God reached out through the gifts of prophecy and words of knowledge to touch each life in a very personal way that day. My prayer is that it will only be a beginning for them, and that these young men will go on to pursue God on their own and develop deep, personal relationships with Him.
When all of the words were said, Bill presented the young men with a brand new football (for us Americans, that would be a soccer ball) signed by the members of our team. It was another way for us to express our genuine interest in the lives of these young men. After the meeting in the computer lab, we went outside into the courtyard for photos. One young man was also presented with a new pair of shoes that he definitely needed!
It was a good day of ministry to the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of these young men who have been abandoned by so many, but who are dear enough to God that His Son was willing to die for them.
