Bobby Bosler: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. I’m Bobby Bosler. And I am Jim Van Gilderen.

And we are broadcasting live from the lobby right after the conclusion of the 2025 Thee Generation Youth Summit, the War Max. And boy, tonight was an exciting night, wasn’t it, Dr. Jim? It was a very exciting night.

It was something we’ve never done before. So that was a little bit kind of what’s going to happen, but it was exciting to see what the Lord did. Yes, it’s been a good week here.

Just for those of you that maybe weren’t in the loop, one of the things that the Lord led the leadership here to do this year was to have a big recruiting effort before the Wormacks came from the community. And then on the final night, we were going to have the young people come in from the community, and we’re going to do a big final rally. Dr. Jim preached the gospel tonight.

The Lord seemed to really work. It was very exciting. In fact, I’ve been talking to people here in the lobby.

You can probably hear some of the background noise folks here in the lobby as we’re giving this podcast. But one lady says she talked to a mother whose son came and is 15 years old. And one of our recruiters stopped at Target and invited them to come.

And she has been burdened. I don’t know where she is as far as a walk with God, but she was burdened for her son, evidently to some degree spiritually. And asked him if he wanted to come, and he said yes.

So this 15-year-old boy came, and during the invitation, he stepped out to get saved. So hopefully that family can be reached, but that was encouraging. Amen.

Well, the week was just an encouraging week in general. We had several hundred young people here from all over the country, and young people here with a tender heart, a heart that wanted to serve the Lord, that resonated with the message of total surrender and total dependence. And really, the preaching all week long has been targeted towards the saved young people, really focusing on how God can use them, that they are more than conquerors.

That’s their identity. That’s their destiny. And it’s been encouraging to see how the Lord has worked in the young people throughout the week.

Well, I felt like a lot of the messages were woven together without trying, if we can say that. Obviously, Brother Bowser lets folks know what the theme is, but it was clearly, how do I say this? The Holy Spirit was burdening preachers to preach on things that complemented one another.

And I think the young people left with a greater understanding of who they are in Christ regarding the victory that they have won through Christ. Yeah, yeah, amen. You know, one interesting thing, I told the young people before that workshop session the other day, I said, you are now on our team.

You are now on, for this week, on the Minutemen Evangelistic team, and I’m going to train you in how to recruit. This is something we’ve never done. Not only did we have college students for a week or so prior go out recruiting, but on Thursday afternoon, we actually had the young people go out inviting and recruiting, and we trained them.

And one of the things I personally loved on Thursday afternoon, these young people were shaking in their boots because they knew they were about to go out. But that’s where you meet God. Yes.

Yes. Well, I appreciate your dealing with 2 Corinthians 12.9. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

And it was presented to the young people that their weakness is not a bad thing because weakness gives you an opportunity to lean into God. And I always think of the hymn Francis Havergal wrote, I think it’s the third stanza, Weakness will be power when leaning hard on being. I think some young people began to learn that by just going out and leaning on the Lord.

Yes, yes. Well, you know, overall, this week was pretty exciting with the competitions, too. I mean, that was definitely an exciting part of things.

Yeah, I think there were even teams. I felt like some teams were better at one event than the other, but things seemed to even out. Had a good final score.

Everybody was in it on the last night. And a lot of excitement. The team captains did a great job.

You know, and watching the score throughout the week, it really was back and forth all week. I love it when that happens. It is like every team is in it, and you’re not manipulating.

Of course, we don’t manipulate. And it was exciting to see it come back and forth. Everybody knew they had a chance, but the Army came out on top here just by a few thousand points.

Very close. I bet you the kids really, you know, even when you put up those double numbers on the end, I don’t think they were sure. No, I don’t think they were sure.

I don’t think anybody was sure. But anyway, it’s exciting. How do you put it?

The program is just a program. I always tell my team, God can use the program, and sometimes he doesn’t use the program. It’s a tool.

So the greatest issue is obviously God has to step down to work. And we had a great week. The program was embraced by the kids.

But the greatest thing was to see them respond to the preaching and the word of God. Yes. Well, even tonight, you know, just the fact that young people, I think my count was 17.

There were 16 cards. I heard from somebody via text that one young man led somebody to Christ in the auditorium in addition to all of that. Yes, that is correct.

That was over here. Yes, I saw that. Unless that card was counted in there, I think there were 16 to 17 salvation decisions here tonight, which is really encouraging.

Well, the thing that’s encouraging about it is a lot of the kids that came did get saved. Yes. Oh, yeah.

The percentage of kids that came in that same was really high. I think, I mean, from those that stood up in the inner rally, I think there were maybe around 20. And if 16 to 17 got saved, that’s almost all of them.

It is almost all of them. That’s the power of the gospel. It is the power of the gospel.

I tell people all the time, the gospel doesn’t need our help. It just needs to be given. It’ll do the job if we give it.

Amen. Amen. Well, and one thing that’s exciting to me is for the young people here to feel like they were a part of it.

Yes. You know, not just that they were watching us do everything. In fact, I’m pretty sure there were several that came back from the kids who were attending here who said they would go back with them or tap them on the shoulder.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And there were some that, what we recall afterwards, they got fished.

In other words, somebody started talking to them, and they acknowledged that they needed to be saved, and then they obviously take into account the way the gospel was given. So it’s always exciting when young people have that burden to reach others.

And I think, in fact, there was one boy here who’s not from our church, and I don’t know if he’s been a part of a couple of days here or not, but he had his friend come forward to the invitation. He was so burdened for him. And so he was just a junior high kid, but it’s exciting to see him get that kind of burden right now.

That’s great. That is great. These are moments that these kids will never forget.

Right. They will never forget. That time that those crazy people of these generations had them go out recruiting, and God used them to bring some people in, and they got saved.

Oh, amen. Amen. Well, as you can hear, there’s a lot of noise in the lobby here.

Everybody’s milling around right now. They’re fellowshipping. They’re maybe buying a BCM T-shirt or getting selfies.

Right now, Maggie Henderson is getting a selfie with the group here. And it’s great to see these young people form bonds of friendship, even just to identify with people who also have a heart for total surrender and total dependence. Can I say this?

You might be listening right now, and you might think, I do. I listen to the podcast all the time. I’ve got a heart of total surrender and total dependence, but maybe you feel alone.

You are not alone. God really is raising up a generation of young people who are committed to total surrender to God and total dependence on his power. And listen, 17 people got saved tonight.

That’s a good dent. I mean, that’s encouraging. God wants to do something great in you and through you.

And just excited to watch him do it here this week. Absolutely. And young people, I think one of the themes of the week was that God has something for you, not just way out in the future.

It’s now. And actually, the future will be contingent on your steps of faith right now to follow God’s call on your life, whether it’s talking to your next door neighbor or challenging your youth group or whatever it might be. And don’t diminish the fact that your youth, God will use your youth in a special way.

Well, it’s been an encouraging week for sure. And we’ll be, the live streams, they are online. I do plan on taking those and putting them out on the VGeneration YouTube channel.

We’ll get the recordings of the different preaching sessions. And we’ll put those out on the podcast feed over the next couple months. I’m a pastor now.

I’m really busy. I don’t know when in the world I’m going to have time to do that. But we’ll try to get it out as soon as we can.

But I really want to encourage you young people as these come out, listen to them in order. And then just open your heart. And even that panel discussion that we had.

Yes, absolutely. About Charlie Kirk a little bit, about his life, about the memorial service. I don’t know if you wanted to say anything about that briefly.

Well, I feel like that you get encouraged and challenged. I think some things were said there that I thought were insightful and helpful. And young people, there’s something special about right now.

God is doing something. And how do I say it? The Charlie Kirk thing was certainly a part of what God’s doing.

But God’s doing something. How do I say it? It’s before that.

In other words, God used that. There’s no doubt about it. But it’s bigger than that.

And so get encouraged and get on board with God’s stirring in your heart. Amen. Well, thank you for listening here today.

You know, honestly, it’s encouraging to hear young people yielding themselves to the Lord, to see the work that God did in their hearts, to hear them pray prayers of dependence on the Lord, of desperation. And if that’s something that resonates with you, keep listening to the Thee Generation podcast. Keep saying yes to Jesus.

Keep stepping out in your weakness, expecting God to deliver you. Keep conquering in the power of Jesus Christ. And I think if you do that, your life, your personal life will make a dent in this world.

It will bring people to Jesus Christ. It will turn the world upside down with the gospel. So thanks so much for listening, young people.

It’s been great. It’s been a wonderful week. We’re thrilled with what God did.

Looking forward to what God has for us and for you in the future. Thanks so much for listening. To share your testimony, please visit thegeneration.org slash testimony.

That’s T-H-E-E generation.org slash testimony.