Hyper

Hyper- over, above, excessive

Have you ever felt hyper? Have you been a bit excessive in your behavior?

Have you gone over the top or overboard in your reaction?

In Cottonwood, Arizona, that word was picked for the youth group at a church. It is defined in another way as well. Holy Young People Eternally Radical 4 God. They are hyper. They are teens. They get excited. They are teens. They act crazy. They are teens. But all their energy is directed towards God. I work with this youth group at a church in Cottonwood, AZ called Emmanuel Fellowship. I am privileged.

Right now our church is in a period of fasting and praying that the pastor felt called to do. I had also felt the call just several weeks earlier. But the call came from the top to all the workers in the church. So now we are praying and fasting for God's kingdom to be on this area, the Verde Valley. I guess I am going to use this blog to share what God shows me and use it as a log to follow what changes happen. The pastor feels that in 4 months, we will have evidence of a revolution.

The teens had a very rough year in 2004, starting with one of our leadership teens dying in a hiking accident on Dec 18, 2003. It tore the heart out of everyone and the year's events were always seen through that. It ended with 2 teens and a pastors family from 2 different churches locally being killed in a car accident on Dec 31, 2004. It has been a hard year emotionally. Several teens were also hit at home with family situations that I cannot even begin to imagine. Many of the teens left the church. We started the year with over 100 teens coming regularly. We now average about 25 to 35 a week. In the youth group, we see a need for change. We are desperate for God.

We started fasting a praying on Tuesday, January 11th. On Thursday, a church member was arrested for molesting a minor that went to our church. God is cleaning house. He brings issues to light so that he can heal and bring change. The pastor announced on Sunday morning that this happened. He said our prayers are with the family of the perpetrator, the victim and the family of God. There was much weeping in the church and the pastor took several moments to collect himself to continue with the service.

We have been asked to pray at least 3 times a day for 5 minutes. Let's see what God does with 15 minutes a day.