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.

During my “family session” visit, *Terry leaned forward to whisper as an instructor was talking. He said, “Ken, will you promise to spend time with me when I am released from here? I really want to follow God but I know I will need help to stay on track. Would it be possible for you to have a Bible study with me, my mom and my little brother? And will you pray with me before you leave today? And I want you to know I pray for you and your family and can’t wait to meet them.”

The ministry God has given me with troubled youth in Indianapolis is very rewarding. You get the feeling that ten years from now, people’s lives will be completely different because you stopped and listened and invested in them at a crucial time. I guess that makes the words of James 1:27 mean more to me than ever before. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

There are approximately 2000 youth who pass through the detention center in Indianapolis each year. Every one of them has a “story.” You look for those “God moments” when He connects you in a unique way to another person.

*I use an alternate name to protect the identity of the youth I minister to each week.

I have always believed “everyone has a story” and the “Joshua Goodling story” is truly amazing. It’s because of his amazing life journey, following and trusting God through incredible difficulties, that I knew the youth I minister to each week would be touched.

Joshua Goodling was diagnosed at the age of four with a disease doctors called “incurable” and was given one week to live. He is now forty-three so in his own words, “It’s been a long week!” His cure did not come without major life-altering changes that would stay with him throughout life. Stunted growth and paralyzed vocal chords are the two things you notice but there are other issues he does not even talk about.

What Joshua Goodling does talk about is His faithful God and his unwavering belief that God loves him, wants to use him and has great plans for any of us who will trust him. It’s that message of struggle, trials, faith and overcoming impossible trials that resonated with the troubled youth he spoke to last week.

Joshua joined me in Indianapolis last week and ministered to the troubled youth in the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center in Indianapolis, IN. After sharing his personal testimony over the two day period, eight teenage boys accepted Christ as their personal Savior. Several boys said things like, “I’m always going to remember this man… his story is amazing… if he can overcome that, then God can help me through this… if God can use him, God can use me, etc…”

If you would like to know more about Joshua Goodling, visit his website at…

www.joshuagoodling.org
www.inspritnews.com

In Christ,

Ken Turner

I truly appreciate the prayerful support given to my ministry to troubled youth. I wanted to share this quick ministry update.

1. Monday, June 8,  four more young men accepted Christ as their Savior in my Bible study. The way God is working on a weekly basis is like the stories you hear from the mission field.
Update: On Thursday, June 18, 8 more young men accepted Christ.

2. I have been asked to lead a small group of young men who have developed a presentation to be given in public schools called “DTB” Death Through A Bullet – Ant-Gun Violence Program. I have already met with schools in the area and the youth have presented the program in a middle school just before school released for the summer.

3. A team of surgeons from Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis who specialize in gunshot wounds have asked to meet with us to form a partnership with this special program.

4. A representative from All Pro Dads, former Colts Coach Tony Dungy’s organization, has made contact with us and wants to discuss forming a partnership with the Mentor Outreach Team which I lead through the detention center. I have been in correspondence with them today and they would like to come up from Tampa to meet on July 13 or 20. There may be significant opportunities here to expand my ministry focus in reaching troubled youth.

5. Please pray for additional funding for our ministry and for God to continue to expand our efforts. There are significant financial needs for May and June ministry expenses. I know God is working to bring forth people who will partner with us in reaching troubled youth. I hear from youth each week who say they have no father figure and no true “mentor” in their life.

Sincerely,

Ken Turner

High Impact Teens

By Ken Turner

Seriously… it is possible because I almost succeeded at both! I graduated college in 1987 with a degree in youth ministry. I married the woman of my dreams on August 29 and started my first youth ministry on September 13, 1987. Of course like most first time youth guys I had a few other responsibilities beyond just  being a youth pastor, like teaching about five hours per day in our Christian school. I decided that I wanted to be a good husband and I wanted to be a great youth pastor. One of my first goals was to visit in the home of every teenager on the Sunday school roster. We had around thirty teens attending and around seventy on the roster. I began to set appointments for every night of the week (except Wednesday) to get in to these homes. Each day my final class would end at 3:30 PM and if I could get away from the office by 4:00 PM my wife and I could inhale our dinner at home and be at the first appointment by 6:00 PM which often was followed by other appointments at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM. If we could not fit in to a families schedule on a weeknight, no problem, we would come on Saturday! Usually I spent Saturday’s visiting 5-7 hours targeting new prospects for our youth group but I could squeeze in a “church family” if I had to. I was on the fast track to becoming a great youth pastor! Our attendance started growing. My wife and I spent the first six months of our marriage out almost every night of the week visiting teens. By the time we hit the first year anniversary our youth group had grown from around 30 to almost 60 on a good night in youth meeting. Ah yes, the joy of success in the ministry! I could easily see 100 teenagers in our youth meeting within the next six to twelve months! But wait, something was wrong. You see Jennifer and I were struggling. We were tired, we were even kind of empty. That sinking feeling you get when you know something is not quite right was becoming all too common. I began to do some serious soul-searching. The real question at hand was, “What is a successful youth ministry?” I began to realize that we could be big. Isn’t it possible to be big but not Godly? Our youth group could be strong in outreach but weak in unity. Our youth group could be strong in unity but very weak in outreach. We could have high standards but also be very judgmental and critical. I had to come up with an answer to this dilemma. How can I justify my methods as being pleasing to God? Here’s how I did it…

God wants me to be a good Christian more than He wants me to be a good youth pastor.

Are you more concerned with gaining respect and recognition for your ministry accomplishments or are you mostly concerned with cultivating a relationship with God? I realized God wanted my heart first. This was very freeing for me.

God wants me to be a good husband and father more than He wants me to be a good youth pastor.

The Bible says of Jesus that in Him was found no guile. This means that in Christ was found no hypocrisy, no inconsistency  or nothing fake. If the whole world thinks I am the greatest Christian leader but my wife and children do not then the applause of the world means nothing to me. If my wife and children think I am the greatest Christian leader but the world does not agree it really does not matter because the opinions that count most are from those who know me best and those I love the most.

God wants me to evangelize and disciple and He wants me to make it my way of life.

God does not want me to attempt to reach my entire city in twelve months or less! He wants me to reach my city, period. He has given me the ability to do all He wants me to do in a 24 hour period and He wants me to do it gracefully. He does not intend for me to live life at the speed of light but to know that His call for me is to be fulfilled over a lifetime, not just within the next few months.

God wants me to be a principled leader.

If I develop principles to guide me in leadership decisions then I will be a consistent man and God will not have to be ashamed of me for having huge blind spots in my life and ministry.

So remember that you have a life and a ministry. Speaking of having a life… why don’t you stay home tonight and enjoy your wife without feeling guilty about it. Better yet, she might want to go out on a date! It wouldn’t be a waste of your time. Besides, it’s what God really wants!