Sunday night, October 23rd.

Our Sunday night youth group meeting is called Frenzy. It meets at 5:30 pm, followed by a 6:30 pm discipleship class called "Experiencing God." Parents and students have been taking Experiencing God together for 4 weeks. Frenzy is typically a fellowship time, we play games, hang out and just talk.

Well, Sunday night, Frenzy kicked off as usual. I played a quick game with the students and handed the winner a bag of Swedish Fish (my favorite). I then wanted to challenge the students to encourage each other. I had all the students sit in the floor and I turned off the lights, so the only lights were the colored bulbs that are in the youth room for effect. I asked the students to look around the room and simply encourage another student. I of course figured I would need to pry the students to do this and I might get 2 or 3 to participate. Well, what happened next was on the most touching, God-centered experience in my 7 years of student ministry. The students took everything very seriously, and they just started right up, without me saying another word. They would go one at a time, just speaking from their heart about how other students had made a difference in their lives and how God was using them. Tears were present, love was present, and the Holy Spirit was present. When we finished, it was almost 8:00 pm. We had talked straight through our Experiencing God class. I had to go explain to bewildered parents waiting for us in the other room how we had encountered God and I didn't want to rush it. They told me that they knew something special must be happening, which is why they didn't come into the room to see what was happening. It was just one of those moments where God says "see Philip, I am still here. Now keep moving."

After we dismissed, students were running up to parents explaining what God had done. I have never seen students so excited about the presence of God in their lives. I have been reading the blogs of students today, and all of them are talking about church and the blessings of friendships and the importance of a daily walk with God. I can't wait till Wednesday, to see my students again.