Last Sunday morning I was out of town. But I found out later that there was a baptism, and one that I did not know was going to happen. The teen that was baptized was Chay Johnson (see above, baptized by Lantz Howard). She was brought to faith by her Christian friend Shawnee, the daughter of Dan and Dalana Squires (Dalana works in our clothes closet and faithfully posts about this ministry on MON each Wednesday.)

I asked Dalana to tell me more about how this came about, and this is what Dalana shared with me:

"Chay is a was a mormon.  She goes to school with Shawnee and is in her culinary class.  One day she asked Shawnee if she knew of a Church where she could just stand up and praise God.  Shawnee began telling her about our church.  Chay was interested and came with her and loved it.  The mormons at school have really been bugging Chay about it, but Chay made her own decision.  Shawnee drives out of her way to pick Chay up every Sunday.  She has been doing the Story of Redemption with her for many weeks.  :)  I'm very proud of my little girl!"

Awesome! What an incredible story. A Christian teen lived a life that caused her Mormon friend to ask her about finding a church. She tells her about her church. She goes through the Story of Redemption with her on her own. And she picks her up for church every Sunday. I can't think of a better story than this! 

Our teens have so much potential to impact people and reach people for Christ. Remember, they aren't the future of the church--they are the church! Let's encourage them, challenge them, and help them be the leaders that God has made them to be. If you want to reach a lot of people for Christ, working through teens and their wide circle of friends and great hearts for God is a good way to do this. Our youth minister, Lantz, has a Story of Redemption study going right now with several of our teens and their friends. Let's keep them in our prayers. And let's especially remember Chay Johnson. Angels are rejoicing in heaven!

How can be better encourage, challenge, and equip our teens to share their faith with others?