Jim Van Gelderen: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast.

This is Jim Van Gelderen, and we are podcasting from Fairfax, Virginia.

We are just finishing the week here at Fairfax Baptist Temple School, and we’ve had a wonderful week with the War of Special Forces, anticipating a great campfire service tonight.

I have with me today on the podcast the youth director here, Craig Christensen.

He was also for many years the youth pastor at Great Hope Baptist Church down in Chesapeake, Virginia.

That’s where I probably got to know him the most, even though I met him earlier.

And I have been encouraged with his pursuit of effectiveness in ministry and burden for young people and the whole concept of youth pastoring, if I can put it that.

And it’s kind of unique, just unique emphasis.

And I would just like to ask him a few questions.

So we’re going to have a little more of an interview style, though I want him to do most of the talking, because I am burdened young people for you, and not only just for you, many of you one day will go into ministry, and you need to start thinking theologically, or sometimes we’d say philosophically, but I’m talking biblically, about ministry, and particularly with young people.

Now, obviously, when we work with young people, it’s the same overall theological concept as a pastor would work with his people.

But with young people, there’s a different stage of life, and as a result, unique challenges, sin issues sometimes that are far more prevalent in their lives that need to be dealt with.

And so we’re going to just talk a little bit about those things.

And so if you’re a youth pastor, I would certainly encourage you to listen.

In fact, young people, I would encourage you to tell your youth pastor about this podcast and encourage him to listen, because I think there’s things said today that will be an encouragement to him as he is in pursuing, really the development of you and your other youth group members to really for you to walk with God and to know the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life.

Well, I’m going to first ask you, Brother Craig, just tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about your youth pastoring, and then we’ll get into more theological ideas of how you would view the whole concept of being a

youth pastor.

Well, Dr.

Jim, just youth pastoring has been just the pleasure of my life.

Just to work with young people.

Psalm 78 calls young people thee Generation to come.

And so they’re the future of the church.

And I’ve had the privilege to, since the time I was a teenager, be involved in youth, even in college with youth programs, and then go directly into youth work after college.

And so I went to Maranatha Baptist Bible College, and then from there to Chesapeake, Virginia, Great Hope Baptist Church, and just had an unbelievable, almost two decades, 18 years there of dedicated youth ministry and just had the opportunity to see the Lord just do unbelievable things in the hearts and lives of young people and see young people begin to serve the Lord even as teenagers.

Sometimes we think there’s some sort of preparation phase for youth, but you can start serving the Lord now, and it has just been the joy of my life to, with my wife, be involved in youth ministry and now actually be the youth pastor of my kids.

I’ve got three teenagers in the youth group, and so I’m youth pastoring my own teenagers now.

I am that old, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Well, great.

I appreciate that.

I’ve appreciated some of the conversations we’ve had.

And I know when people think of youth pastors, they probably wouldn’t first of all think of preaching.

But I’ve been struck with your dependence upon preaching in the role as youth pastor.

Could you elaborate on that?

Well, I just believe that if you have a youth ministry that’s not predicated on preaching, you don’t really have a youth ministry.

You probably have a daycare.

You’re probably entertaining kids.

And if our whole ministry is not based on the gospel, then what is it?

Because that’s the trust we’ve been given.

It’s the defense of the gospel.

God has ordained the foolishness of preaching to change the hearts of men to win people.

And so to me, that is the only foundation that someone could even have for youth ministry.

I couldn’t more hardly agree.

I believe in the power of preaching.

Often when I talk to youth pastors, it may not be the first place we go to.

I think it’s kind of inferred.

But I really appreciated your emphasis on that.

What I’d like to really kind of spend our time with is an event you talked about.

I think it was 2018.

I could be wrong on the year.

We had the privilege of being with you for a week. and then you had a school camp after that where God really met with you.

I think every young person and youth pastor listening to me has had moments where God just shows up.

And we will remember those the rest of our lives.

They’re special times.

And there may be some that just have a burning fire for God to show up in a way he hasn’t yet in their life.

And I’d like to talk about that event, not just about the historical nature of it, but really the theology or the biblical principles that really you saw through that.

And God honors that.

He honors His Word, and He does manifest His presence as a basis of what He says in His Word.

The Lord is nying to them, for instance, of a broken heart.

He always shows up when people are broken and honest, to give you an example of a principle about that.

So if you don’t mind telling a little bit about this story, and then we’ll talk about the biblical principles that really fueled that.

Well, at first day, this event was

predicated on prayer it was preceded by much prayer and the events of what actually happened were outside of our control so there really was as far as a program and the things that we had planned almost went completely wrong so we had planned a school camp and being on the east coast there we often have hurricanes and so we had a huge storm come through completely canceled our beginning of the year emphasis the school camp and we had to reschedule it to october In the meantime, we had the War of the Special Forces come in, and I’d been communicating with Dr.

Jim for probably months, but I knew leading up to this time for weeks he was praying.

Well, I knew he was praying, and so I thought, well, we probably better start praying too.

So I recruited parents to pray.

I really had great support from even the older, the senior citizens in our church.

I had people coming to me just about every day saying, hey, we’re praying for this.

We had teens that were praying.

We had youth staff.

I challenged to pray for a certain amount of time every day.

And Dr.

Jim and the War of Special Forces came in.

We had a great week.

It was a, we saw life change, kids dealing with bitterness, viewing issues, music, and surrender.

We had kids surrender to the ministry.

It was a great week.

But I would say we didn’t have that complete just breaking, the Lord just pouring out moment that you kind of think of with revival.

But it was a great week.

So the Lord had ordained all this, set the groundwork.

Dr.

Jim had preached 0100 Christianity.

That was just really marinating in the hearts and minds of young people.

And so we go to school camp at Pocahontas State Park, a very, very, very primitive camp. and everything that we had planned was based on outdoor activities because there just weren’t facilities.

There was one electrical outlet in each cabin.

They were not insulated.

We were counting on good weather, and the Lord just brought an O’Reaster right through.

The river below us rose several feet.

It was just a complete washout.

We had one good day, and then we were pretty much locked in.

Well, I now know why.

We didn’t really have much else to do but pray.

Our whole program was just basically squelched.

The things that we had on our agenda we thought were maybe going to work well, just were not an option.

And so I was a speaker, and we came to the last night of the revival, and I was nervous like I’ve never been in preaching because I knew that the Lord needed to do something.

And I remember the Lord just speaking into my heart at that moment as I went back.

I went through a monsoon just to get alone to pray.

And the Lord really showed me something for the first time, that Abba Father, and really what that meant.

And he said, Craig, you’re my son.

And I really understood that, and we don’t have time to go into all the theological ramifications of the adoption and just the relation of the Holy Spirit there with Abba Father and then the fact that he’s the God of the impossible.

But the Lord just impressed him in my heart, and he said, Craig, you know, you’re my son, and this is the message that I’ve had you deliver, and I want this to happen more than you do.

And so I went in, and I feel like I didn’t have the greatest message in the world.

It was Romans 12, but we know that God doesn’t need a great messenger, and the Lord just used it in an unbelievable way in the hearts of young people.

And so we had this idea of 0100 Christianity that had been marinating now for three weeks.

And I was preaching Romans 12, 1 and 2, and I touched on it at the end, and it was just amazing.

The invitation, kids just, they just broke.

They broke.

And they kept coming, and they kept coming.

And I thought, we’ve just got to keep this going.

The PNS kept playing.

We sang songs.

I said, hey, do we have testimonies?

People were standing up, surrendering, saying, the Lord has called me to full-time service.

Some of those young people are in full-time Christian service now.

People were standing up confessing sins to one another and getting right there, brothers and sisters, people confessing gossip, and the Holy Spirit just came forth in just an absolute amazing way, and it was nothing that was planned.

But it was completely bathed in prayer.

well i i really appreciate prayer because we mentioned preaching but we know as my brother john has said preaching without prayer is powerless prayer without preaching lacks detonation in other words preaching is the catalyst that god uses and that’s a perfect illustration of that could you elaborate a little bit more on what god has taught you about prayer we’re all on a journey um i feel like i’ve just begun to understand prayer and yet uh at the same time I know that God has given me a growth in prayer for which I’m grateful and it certainly has affected me in my ministry but in your own prayer journey any thoughts you would share first with young people keeping them in mind they need to start their prayer journey but then with youth pastors I’m hoping many youth pastors will listen to this and be stirred not only about their own

prayer journey but leading young people in theirs well I think the greatest thing I’ve learned from Dr.

Jim and Mrs.

Van has been that prayer’s got to be a two-way street the Lord really taught that to me in 2018 i found myself just in a massive monologue with god many times and we’ve got to allow that time for him to speak back that and i would have challenged you young people if your prayers your prayer life is just a list of requests and you just go on and on and on and on and all you do is speak to god you’ve got to hear back from him and just praying the scriptures praying the scriptures allows you to hear back from God and that’s just something the Lord’s taught me over over the years and because it’s a relationship and it can’t be a one-sided thing and and that takes time but I would say in in the context of preaching if you have not prayed before you preach then you’re on shaky ground and I would add this too any man who preaches and then does not pray after his message probably only cares about how well he preaches not how the message is is working in the hearts of people this this is something i i remember years ago i was dr jim corresponded me for several weeks after a war and just said i’m praying for these young people and in the story we mentioned this was the case i knew dr jim was praying for us team members were praying for us for weeks after and it’s imperative for any youth pastor that you pray i tell my preacher boys prepare pray prepare pray prepare pray then preach and then you better pray hard because well satan is going to try to take that seed and you know if it’s just the prayer before you get up to speak lord help me to do well uh that’s really self-centered but if you care about deep change in the lives of your young people you’re going to find yourself on your knees after you pray you got a wednesday night service you preach to young people you’re going to find yourself at home begging the lord that the business and the cares of this life and this this society that we’re in so fast pace that the truth of god’s word is so easily just ripped from the hearts young people you’re going to find yourself begging the lord that that fruit would

remain for to the glory of god amen well that was helpful i think very helpful if you’re a young preacher boy or a young person a young man considering going into ministry what you heard is pure gold because I know sometimes as young men in the ministry, we’re just trying to figure out how it works.

But a walk with God is so important.

And really the time with the Lord, we really hope on thegeneration.org to get some more information on how to spend time with God.

Sometimes we call it the hour with God, but I don’t want you to get hung up on the hour.

I appreciate Brother Craig mentioning that two-way interaction, that it is a walk with God.

You are meeting with God, no doubt about it.

One of the things that I think about your time there that kind of struck me, you mentioned 0-100.

I realize a lot of the generators, we call them, are aware of that concept because it’s integral to thee Generation.

Our forward slogan, total surrender, total dependence, illustrates that. 0% my will, 100% God’s, 0% dependence on my strength, 100% dependence on His strength.

So we’re talking about spiritual strength.

I don’t have any anyway.

Many of thee Generation young people are familiar with that.

But for those that aren’t, really 0100 is the truth that you need God.

Without Him, you can do nothing.

And the Christian life is not a life of inaction.

It’s a life of action, but in total dependence on Jesus to strengthen or enable you with spiritual strength, which you couldn’t do it without it.

Couldn’t do whatever He’s called you to do without that spiritual enabling.

And so I wanted to clarify that.

Just anything else you wanted to add to that particular truth, you mentioned helped your young people in regard to meeting with the Lord.

Well, I just believe the same faith that we’re saved by is the same faith that we live by.

And we would all say that we didn’t have to have an amount of faith to be saved.

I mean, I remember John Van Gelderen saying, how much faith did you have to get saved?

And I remember as a young man hearing that and thinking, I didn’t have to have any amount of faith.

I just had to take God at his word and take that step.

And so now we look at spiritual work, and there’s only one spiritual worker.

And it’s important, whether you’re looking at going into the ministry or in the ministry now, to realize that I can’t do any spiritual work.

I can’t now.

It doesn’t matter how many degrees I get, how good I get at this, how many years I’m involved.

I don’t care how good my youth staff is, how great my resources are.

I can’t do a single spiritual work.

And when we get a hold of 0100 Christianity, then all of a sudden we’ve got a lot to pray about, too.

And when we realize that it is none of us and all of him, then we’ve got to get him involved in prayers the way that happens.

And like you say, Dr.

Jim, that’s where the battle is won or lost.

Amen.

Thank you so much.

Well, you know, here at Thee Generation, by the way, I want to just say I appreciate so much Brother Craig giving us some time.

And just so you know, we try to be honest about everything.

We only have one microphone today on the podcast, so we’ve been flipping that back and forth.

So if something doesn’t sound right, you know we’ve been doing that.

But anyway, we hope the message got through, because I really wanted you to be able to meet Brother Craig Christensen and hear what God’s done in his heart.

Certainly, I’ve been encouraged with what the Lord’s done.

And on the 0100 Truth, we do have the book 0100 that is available.

You can go to thegeneration.org, and I believe you can find information out there.

And we’d love for you to get that resource if that can be a help to you, if that stirs your heart.

Well, I’m going to sign off here in just a moment.

But before we do, I just wanted to ask Brother Craig if there’s anything he’d like to say before we sign off.

I would say young people listening, if there’s any doubt in your mind that you might be or may be insufficient to do what God’s called you to do, I would just encourage you that you are completely insufficient to do what God’s called you to do.

But he’s all sufficient. and I think the biggest thing keeping me from surrendering to the call to preach was the belief in my heart that I did not have the ability to do it.

But I believe this 100% that if God calls you to do something with that calling, he will enable you and give you everything that you need to do it.

I used to look at preachers and think, there’s no way I could stand up there and preach three times in one day.

And I find myself doing that all the time.

And it’s not because of anything that I prepared for or anything that I have in myself.

It’s just the enabling of Jesus Christ.

And whether you think you’re an introvert or extrovert, if God’s called you to do something, he’s put something in your hand he can use.

He gave Moses a stick and delivered the children of Israel.

And he can give you unbelievable power in the weakest vessels.

And he just takes whatever’s in your hand.

And if you use it for him, just like a jawbone in the hand of Ehud or a dagger in the hand of Ehud, and the menial tasks, the menial weapons that the Israelites had sling in the hand of David, he can do unbelievable things in your life.

Amen.

Thank you very much.

Great encouragement challenge.

And I will say to you young people, amen.

There’s nothing like just standing where God wants you to stand, proclaiming the truth.

A couple weeks ago, I was just preaching the gospel, and I just thought to myself, man, this is a blast.

Not every time is it that way.

Sometimes it’s a battle, but there’s some times when God just takes over in a way that sometimes the battle is God’s will, but sometimes he gives you liberty, and you’re thinking, I can’t believe God has called me and enabled me and equipped me to do this.

And it is his equipping, and that’s the joy because he gets all the credit.

He the glory, let him glory in the Lord.

Well, it’s been great to spend some time with you. young people and any adults who’ve joined us.

Thank you for joining us.

And let’s remember, as we sign off again, total surrender to the will of God and total dependence on His grace to live it.