Friday and Saturday 31 teens from our church attended the ‘Encounter God’ conference at Soul’s Harbor Assembly of God in Auburn. It was a great experience for them and the adult chaperones. After they returned Saturday afternoon they attended the church service, where they sat as a group in their green ‘New Hope’ T-shirts.

After my message, I opened the altar to people who felt they might be under demonic oppression. About a dozen came forward. To my disappointment, none of the teens responded. I figured, at that age, there should be someone who is having some difficulty. But when I asked for prayer support behind these dozen at the altar, the entire youth group, 31 strong, immediately walked to the front and began laying hands on people. It was awesome.

And the Lord taught me a valuable lesson. Don’t judge. These young people had just had a powerful encounter with God at the ‘Encounter God’ conference and had already dealt with that. Now they were ready to serve others. Praise God for His mercy on the next generation of church leaders.