Rock the River Tour – West, a series of evangelistic outdoor concerts, is coming to Western Canada. The concerts will be youth-focused and feature high-energy bands, such as Skillet, Hawk Nelson, and Flyleaf, will present the Christian message through their music. Franklin Graham will speak several times throughout each concert, offering a message of hope through God’s love through Gospel presentations.
The youth leaders and youth of Frasier Valley, Edmonton and Calgary want to be ready. To prepare for this, they are learning to be a light in the darkness so they can reach other youth for Christ through FM419.
FM419 is geared to help youth live a life that pleases God, equip them to share their faith in Jesus Christ, and qualify them to serve as counselors at events held by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The training events also feature high-energy Christian-based music.
FM419 training kicked off at First Alliance Church in Calgary April 9 and 10 in Edmonton. Nearly 900 youth showed up for the training held at Beulah Alliance Church. An estimated 500 of those teens signed up to be part of Community Action Projects. 400 turned in applications to be counselors at the Rock the River event scheduled in Edmonton for August 28.
Best of all, around 100 of them have new life in Christ.
“This is the best FM419 training session we’ve ever had, for several reasons,” says Steve Peterson, youth ministry mobilizer for BGEA. “I thought the overall connection was strong, and more people came than expected. I’m excited about all the kids that want to be involved. Mostly importantly, around 100 of them made decisions for Christ. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Peterson also says these kids don’t take their faith for granted.
“This isn’t the ‘Bible Belt,’ where you have a church on every corner. Between Edmonton and Calgary, two large cities, I have a church mailing list of around 900. Auburn, alone, had 2,300. So, these kids are ‘hot’ or ‘cold.’ Nothing in between.”
Peterson urges everyone to pray for the Rock the River and FM419 events, and most importantly, the teens participating.
“My prayer is that they won’t just sign up to be counselors and it’s over after Rock the River. I want this to spark a lifestyle of evangelism.”
LEARN MORE:
Rock the River Tour West
FM419
Read about Rock the River Tour 2009
