It’s freezing here. I’m talking 20 below with the wind chill. But that didn’t stop the almost 5,000 teenagers at our Dare 2 Share conference from going door to door to collect canned food and spread the good news of Jesus all across the great city of Columbus. How did they do it without getting frostbite? Two words…rolling heaters.
We told them to think of their church van, bus, etc as a heater with wheels. The driver would roll into a neighborhood with a vehicle packed full of teens. Small groups of teens would get out run to a door or two, collect some food and try to share the good news before sprinting back to their vehicles to get warmed back up. While these f-f-f-f-reeziing teens got their numb hands, feet and faces de-iced another group would be released into the artic chill to collect cans and distribute good will and good news with big smiles and blue lips.
All in all it worked pretty well. I think the “pity factor” helped (how I got most of my dates in high school). Many people felt sorry for these teens and would give them canned food because these young evangelists were out braving the elements instead of playing video games, surfing the net or watching a movie on a Saturday afternoon like most sane teenagers.
Suffice it to say God did some amazing things. Hundreds came to Christ, thousands were trained to know, live, share and own their faith and nine tons of canned food was collected for the Salvation Army.
I call that a good days work.
But now the real work begins as these thousands of teenagers take the good news back to their friends. BTW, if you are one of those teens I want to hear your story. Did you take the 48 hour or the cell phone challenge? If so what happened. It may be cold in Columbus but I hope you heat up this blog with your powerful stories of changed lives.
