Ministries Focus on Weekend Celebrations in Texas
by Allie Martin
October 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Christians will be sharing and celebrating the love and the goodness of Christ in two east-central Texas locales over the weekend.Hundreds of Christians will hit the streets of Dallas this weekend as part of a coordinated effort designed to help Christians face their fears when it comes to witnessing. The project, which is called "City Invasion," is a ministry of The Great News Network (GNN) that will deploy more than 500 Christians who have been trained to witness using God's moral law -- the Ten Commandments.
Darrell Rundus, founder of The Great News Network, says the coordinated effort features many areas for service, including prayer, drama, music, preaching, and witnessing.
"We have prayer stations, so if evangelism isn't their thing [or if] they're not ready to dive in head-first and face that fear, hey, they can stay at the prayer station and God sends them people to walk up and they're looking for prayer," Rundus explains.
"If they're gifted in drama or they're gifted in music, we have people who are performing on the streets to gather the crowd -- and then we have what's called the Open Air Force preach to the crowd," the ministry leader continues. "We have what we call 'soldiers,' the 'field infantry,' if you will, who actually are passing out gospel tracts or witnessing one-to-one."
The GNN spokesman explains that "City Invasion" brings Christians together for one purpose -- to serve others in the name of Christ. "Pastors are involved, and they're out there dealing with people's felt needs and counseling and addressing whatever concerns, plugging them into churches and things like that," he says. "So there's a place to serve, no matter what you feel like you've been called by God to do. God can and will use you with City Invasion."
Rundus says "City Invasion" will be held in major cities throughout the U.S. The Great News Network is a sister ministry of Way of the Master and Living Waters Ministries.
Teens Taking a Stand
While GNN's project goes on in Dallas, another gathering of believers about 80 miles down I-20 East will be celebrating two decades of outreach to teens.
Ron Luce began "Teen Mania" 20 years ago from the guest bedroom in his home. Since then the ministry has grown into one of the world's largest youth organizations, reaching more than two million teenagers with the gospel of Christ. A weekend celebration is planned at ministry headquarters in Garden Valley.
Luce says from its very beginning, the "heartbeat" of Teen Mania has been to equip teens to change the world and make a difference for Christ -- often through short-term mission opportunities.
"One of the key ways [we prepare teens] is we take them on these mission trips, where they'll go for two weeks, or for a month, or two months, either by themselves or maybe with their youth group, and we teach them how to share their faith," he shares. The opportunity to share one's personal faith, he adds, can energize a believer. "That thing that happens in your heart the very first time the Lord uses you to win somebody for Christ -- it just lights them up on the inside," he says. "It ignites their destiny."
Approximately 53,000 teenagers have traveled to 63 countries on these short-term mission trips -- but that is only one aspect of Teen Mania's ministry. In addition to organizing arena events for teens and producing a weekly television program, Teen Mania also provides a leadership training program called the Honor Academy.
"[S]tudents come [to the Honor Academy] for one year after high school to learn honor, and character, and leadership and passion for God," Luce explains. "And so young people come from all over America to live on our campus for a year, [and we equip] them for life to stay strong in their faith."
The leadership program, says Luce, works with teens to "bulletproof" their faith so that "no matter what secular university they might go to, they can defend their faith strongly."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
