Couple groups from the south braved the threat of flooded/washed-away bridge(s) and with the economic crisis all around, funds for participants to attend were limited. Yet determined kids worked – one group selling panades in their village - to raise the funds to be able to attend! They were not disappointed – our faithful God met them there – and all the youth were aglow as they left on Saturday when the conference closed with series of prayers of anointing over all those attending.
Legacy’s role is to be a cutting-edge tool in discipling young people in the ways of God, developing consistency in their daily walk with lives that reflect the values of the Kingdom of God.
The new DTS students served as junior-leaders, and speakers included internationals from Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, alongside those from Belize.
Highlights & Testimonies:
- God continues to do a new thing! Christian Dance was released during worship alongside artistic sketching
- One first-time attender mentioned how she has been very rebellious to her parents and after her time at Legacy, she feels she can return home and be different.
- One boy mentioned how a teaching he had received at Legacy a couple years ago about “Bad company corrupting good character” had really challenged him to make changes in his associations. His young relative had attended Legacy also with him, but had chosen to continue living in gang warfare, and currently lives a violent lifestyle. He has been sobered by the downhill path of his relative and saw what a difference obeying the truth he heard at Legacy has caused for his own life. Also, he found grace to forgive his parents for favoritism, drunkenness and threatening to abandon the family.
- Another girl shared how after being convicted by the Lord and then hearing the young boy’s testimony, she began quickly deleting phone numbers in her cell phone and wiping out contacts.
- Another boy shared how he had been healed from back pain during prayer at Legacy.
- Several youth were shy or restricted/heavy during worship when they first arrived, but found that during their time there, grew freer to express their worship to God.
The youth were challenged by the Word and messages, and were prayed for that they would see clearly – no scales on their eyes – and live the upright lives in intimacy with God, that would enable this generation to have the voice and authority needed to impact their times.It was wonderful to see the youth - some who are Christians but in compromising or ungodly states - now taking a serious look at their choices and the direction they’re headed – including their sexual purity. They asked questions and got prayer in small group times and all-guy/all-girl sessions, and processed their expectations and desires for their spiritual walk, or in one-on-one times with leaders. A key point was a special time of prayer at the end of the conference addressing the dynamics of purity in boy-girl relationships and incorporating what was learned on covenant. Firstly, the girls as a group prayed around the guys and then it was reversed – as steps continue to be put into place to help our youth learn commitment to protect and view their brothers and sisters not just in the light of “objects.”
Introducing Outreach @ Conference
One aspect not done before during the actual Legacy conference till now, was community outreach. A heart for serving, the importance of work-ethic and our individual responsibility for the world were presented to the youth as the Great Commission was introduced.
Over 90% of them had never led someone to the Lord, evangelized nor done any kind of outreach service, so it was a stretching time for them. Some brief training was done in preparation and 7 sub-groups were created to go out into the neighbouring communities of Roaring Creek and Belmopan. Neither the pouring rain nor the bus getting stuck in the mud could stop the groups launching out! It was amazing that as one group in their van were picking up the keys for the widow they were to serve, that they were hearing their comrades being interviewed live on Christian radio telling what God had been doing through their lives at Legacy.
Meanwhile, another group had the multiple kids of a poor family hanging onto them while they assisted the mom with her steep list of chores, and yet another group at two orphanages were interacting with the kids including creative skits and giving touching testimonies. One of the Legacy attenders himself was from an orphanage and was out serving the community. A group of the youth out in the wards at the hospital met with patients, while another group was pouring cement at a church/doing basic construction. Most of the groups also criss-crossed the village doing street/conversational evangelism. At least two teams were able to lead someone to Christ during their community outreach time, and since neither had done that before, it was certainly new and exciting for them. Most of the youth reported how pleased they were to have been able to go out there despite being scared at first, and how surprised they were that adults let them pray for them!
We continue to look forward to what God wants to do in the lives of the youth in establishing pegs to seeing the generation change toward godliness in Belize and to the ends of the earth!
