Uneducated and Untrained

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

When I was in my twenties and about as zealous as a young believer could be, I was invited to a denominational meeting at Baptist headquarters in Los Angeles because the Executive Minister and several other key staff wanted to hear my perspective on the future of Youth Ministry in SoCal. The letter that invited me was so official it both thrilled and scared me a little. So the handful of us upstart Youth Directors from the San Fernando Valley went downtown to share our hearts with the denominational execs, not really knowing what to expect. After they talked about a few serious concerns regarding the typical complaints about music, fashion (we forgot to wear ties :) and why so many youth were gathering at events we were planning, the conversation turned to asking us what we thought and why. Well, myself included, we boldly explained our love for Jesus, and passion for young people, and desire to share the truth about Jesus, and that it didn't seem to us that in light of what we were doing-- that how we were doing it wasn't important as long as it didn't conflict with the Word of God.

I must explain that our words were extremely impassioned and heartfelt to tears, for we feared we were about to be scolded or censured or shut down or worse. After an awkward silence I said, "So what do you guys think of that?" As soon as I said it we all smiled ear to ear, but wondered what would happen next. Dr. Downing, The Executive Minister, rose to his feet and cleared his throat and looked over his glasses and said "I'll tell you exactly what I think!" ( Uh-oh I thought, here comes a lecture about how things are not gonna change, over his dead body or something like that ) But, much to my surprise he grinned ear to ear and said... "This is exciting, you young men truly love Jesus and are on fire for Him. This is like a "fresh of breath air!" I swear he misquoted those very words. Well, we all got tickled and started to laugh uncomfortably and uncontrollably, and he said, "what did I say?" Then everybody cracked up together. We explained what he said and that we knew what he meant to say.

Needless to say, that was the beginning of big changes in youth ministry for our churches in the 70's. The breath of fresh air had begun and we breathed a sigh of relief and took a giant breath of inspiration away from that meeting.

When I read today's verse from Acts 4, I felt what they must have felt back then remembering my own zealous boldness. We were indeed uneducated and untrained young men, terribly in love with Jesus, and passionate about reaching young people and the world for Christ. It was undeniable that we knew Jesus and it was so marvelous that it gave us all a "fresh of breath air". So, let's breathe deep, be bold, share Jesus and see what other marvelous things he will do. Isn't that a refreshing thought? I am emboldened by these memories today and hope you are too.

I still love Jesus,
Pastor Fred

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