"Passing the Torch"

Twenty-one years is a pretty long time to do anything.  I still remember our little rag-tag youth group of no more than twelve looking into the streets of Galveston years ago feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of people and the intensity to which the crowd was partying.  What in the world could we do to impact a crowd so big since we were so small?  Never would I have dreamed that over these past years literally thousands of soul winners, from all over the world, would have worked the streets of Galveston and so many lives, from all over the world, would have been touched by the Gospel of Jesus Christ coming through these soul winners.

I still remember the letters that we have received, from as far away as Greece and Jamaica, declaring that God had impacted their lives through someone's witness at the outreach and sometimes, just a tract in their pocket was all it took for the Holy Spirit to lay hold of them.

I remember stories like a young lady, who we never saw, but as she sat on the seawall partying with her friends, she heard someone say, Jesus is the only way.  She never saw the street preacher, but she was so overcome by the power of God that she went home and wept, broken under the conviction of sin.  She ultimately got saved.  Two years later she returned to preach with us at the outreach.

The sum of it, after all the years of evangelism, is God is faithful!

Why did I choose The Passing of the Torch for the theme of this year's outreach?

First, I believe that we have a responsibility to be bearers of the light of salvation to a world that is getting darker and darker as the years go by.  Jesus said that we are a city on a hill that could not be hidden and the light of the world that should not be put under a basket. (Matthew 5:14-15)  Jesus also warns the churches to be very careful to value what He values or He will remove their candlestick. (Revelation 2:5)

So, as Kingdom Torchbearers, we must carry the light of Christ to those who are drowning in their sins.

Secondly, as a fifty-two year old soldier of the cross, it is my desire, and mandate from Christ, to pass the torch to this next generation.

Though everyone who is washed in the blood of the Lamb and standing under the cross is welcome at this outreach, I will do everything within my power to pass the torch to the young soldiers of the cross that are coming in behind us.  It is time and it is God's timing!  So I want to encourage every young soldier to step up to the call to go ye into the world and preach the gospel.  If this generation does not answer the call to deny themselves and take up their cross to follow Jesus, its all over for our nation.  However, if they do answer the call, the church is facing HER FINEST HOUR and there will be great possibilities for our nation.

We hope that you will prayerfully consider this door of opportunity and see if Jesus is opening it to YOU.  If not, we will see you at another battlefront.  If yes, then prepare your heart for one of the HOTTEST BATTLES you have ever been in.  Hearts that come prepared by PRAYER AND FASTING, bathed in a spirit of humility are ready to be used for the day of battle on the frontline of street ministry.  Submission to the Lord and submission to one another, in the fear of God, are the results of the heart that has been prepared by the Holy Spirit for such a time as this.  Please, be creative this year with some

God-breathed dramas, or some focused tract teams and, always welcome, are some small Holy Ghost filled street worship teams.

My brothers and sisters of the kingdom, the hour is short and the days are evil.  We have nothing to loose, but everything to gain, by crying from the bowels of our hearts, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven! 

- Pastor John Elliott