Everyone needs to be “revived” once in a while and the youth served by High Impact Teens certainly need to hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. The Chaplain team of the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center worked with key staff members to plan the first ever conference called “Let Us Rise Up and Build.” The emphasis was one of personal revival.
The conference was held Monday through Friday evening , November 30 through December 4. Several are churches and Christian leaders participated in the sessions each evening.
Dave Jamerson, former NBA Houston Rocket, Tarik Glenn, former NFL Super Bowl Indianapolis Colt and Devon McDonald, former Notre Dame and NFL Indianapolis Colt all came to share their personal testimony of how Christ changed their life. These men each shared in their own words the void in their heart that was filled only after realizing they needed a personal relationship with God.
Dave Jamerson, “After one year in the NBA I realized there was a pattern in my life that was already developing and it was time to break the cycle. I called my fiancé and told her the buck is stopping here and my life is going to be different.” Dave had just experienced the death of his grandfather and the true meaning of life was on his mind. He went back to a Houston Rockets teammate who introduced him to Christ.
Tarik Glenn, “Football was my life. It was everything I had poured myself in to. After year one with the Colts and a losing season I felt the very thing I had lived my life for was crumbling around me.” It was through this despair that Tarik realized there had to be more than football and found a relationship with God.
Devon McDonald, “My high school team mates nicknamed me King Devon, the nick name came to me again while playing at Notre Dame and then again with the Colts. Funny thing… the high school, college and NFL players and coaches didn’t know it was my nickname before playing for them.” After being traded from the Colts to the Arizona Cardinals Devon experienced great despair. It was through that despair Devon realized that only God could fill that void. He fell to his face in his apartment and received Christ. Devon told our teens, “In the year that King Devon died, he saw the Lord high and lifted up! And he saw Devon for the sinner that he really was.”
By the end of the week 60+ teenagers had expressed a desire to have a personal relationship with Christ. We are planning a baptismal service and follow up of each one.
