We’ve been having a Vida Joven Bible study every Wednesday night at El Puente since last September. The numbers have grown to about 20-30 regulars every week, and we’re currently studying the book of John.
Romy, an avid server in VJ, and I had a vision to do something a little different one week. Instead of the regular Bible Study, we wanted a night of pure worship and prayer, giving the kids a chance to come and be still in the presence of the Lord in a way they might not usually get to do.
Even though we talked and prayed about it for a couple of weeks, we weren’t quite sure how it would go. We organized everything we could: cleaning the floor, picking out music, setting up the room. We were mainly hoping and praying that the Spirit would use this time to get to kids. That was really the whole point of it all.
On Wednesday, the room looked great. The wall sconces offered just the right touch of illumination. We had one lonely candle burning because the rest had been blown out by the fans. Carlos was ready to lead worship. The kids filed in, and we began to sing the usual songs. It was going fine.
But fine just wasn’t good enough, and after singing “El Espiritu de Dios esta en este lugar” for the hundredth time in my life it dawned upon me, “Oh no. Is this boring? Are these kids just waiting for it to be over so they can get the heck out of here?”
The song ended and we opened up a time for prayer telling kids that they could get on the floor, get on their knees, or grab a leader if need be. A few minutes into watching them sit frozen in their seats not knowing what to do I thought, “This night cannot end this way. The Spirit has to move here.”
I stood up and spoke frankly with them. I said I realized they might be thinking about what they would do later, but there was brokenness in the room that needed to be addressed. I pleaded with them through tears to give the Lord the opportunity to address it. For just half an hour to let him minister to them. To come up and ask for prayer if they needed prayer. To let the Lord move in their lives.
So we waited. And not long after, people began coming to the leaders asking for prayer. Young men broke down as they finally let their hearts open up.
A former gang leader who started coming to VJ as a heckling bystander was on his knees weeping. He eventually walked across the room, grabbed another guy and just held him as they both cried. I don’t know their stories. I don’t know what they’ve seen. But they let themselves be vulnerable enough to be touched by the Spirit. I’ll never forget that sight.
Something I thought about on Wednesday is that you can’t contrive the Spirit of the Living God. No matter how many songs we sing or how cool the lighting is, if the Spirit doesn’t show up, the whole thing is empty. But I don’t think it was empty on Wednesday at all. Afterwards, I spoke with a person who told me that a kid actually walked to the street during worship and started telling people, “Dude, you have to go in there. It’s different.”
Different is right, and so much more. I want kids to get that. To see that our God is not boring. He’s wild, and he wants their hearts. It looks like he’s getting a hold of them, too.
