I went to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes rally in a neighboring county, and I was absolutely amazed.
Now, keep in mind that I was a public school educator for 23 years, as well as the mom of two athletes who loved participating in this student-led ministry. So FCA is not new to me. Neither are FCA events of all types, including rallies.
But the atmosphere at this rally was different from anything I had ever experienced before.
It’s hard to describe, but if I had to put my finger on it, it was the intensity of the students and athletes in attendance. Not only were they intensely determined to worship God individually and corporately, but there was also an intense sense of urgency.
First of all, let me say that I don’t think we give today’s kids enough credit. They are not stupid or unaware, as many would have us believe. Without a doubt, they know exactly what shape their world is in, and they fully understand the overall hopelessness of this generation. They see that hopelessness and experience it up close and personally day in and day out.
To begin with, various studies show that more than 25% of these American teens live in a home without a father present. Their collective fatherlessness presents a myriad of other problems for today’s youth. For example, 90% of teen runaways are fatherless; 85% of those with behavioral issues are fatherless; 70% of incarcerated youths are fatherless, and 63% of teen suicide deaths are fatherless.
In fact, according to the Pew Charitable Trust and Pew Research, “Youth and young adults (ages 10-24) account for 15% of all suicides, an increase of 52.2% since 2000.”
Even though the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that in 2023, teen use of illicit drugs remained virtually the same as rates since 2020, teen fatalities caused by that drug usage continue to rise, suggesting that teen drug usage is becoming much more dangerous.
Plus, the teen identity crisis is unbelievable.
The UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute found in a 2022 survey that 1.4% of teens between 13 and 17 claim to have a gender identity different from the one assigned at birth, a rate that has exactly doubled in the last five years.
Yep! The statistics go on and on and on, each one offering further proof that this generation of teens is drowning in a veritable sea of hopelessness.
But I saw a determined flicker of urgent hope rising in that group of teens participating in the FCA rally. And I watched as they wept and worshipped the One who was offering them a lifeline of hope.
I wept too. Profusely.
I wept in repentance for not praying for them more diligently than I do. I wept because they deserve better than the world that we are handing them, a world devoid of God’s standard of truth. I wept because I felt God’s Spirit moving mightily in that place, and I wept because I saw a generation desperately and urgently hungry for a move of God.
But I soon dried my eyes and stopped to look deeply at the hope in their eyes, their prayers, and their heart of worship for God.
And I grabbed hold of that hope with them. I believe that God is only getting started with our young people. After all, He promises in Matthew 5:6 that “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, shall be filled.”
As young people all across this nation begin to diligently seek God, join with me and pray that God will honor His words found in both Joel 2 and Acts 2:
And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (ESV).
