Participants: Karen Thomas (Host), Richard Valenzuela
Series Code: IAADD
Program Code: IAADD000005A
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00:28 Welcome to Issues and Answers.
00:29 Today we're going to talk about issues and conflicts of youth 00:32 in today's society. 00:34 And what the church can do to rescue 00:36 and save our young people. 00:38 Our guest today is Richard Valenzuela. 00:40 Richard is President of Leadership Diversity Institute, 00:44 the former Education Director for Silicon Valley FACES, 00:47 former Executive Director and President of Anytown USA, 00:51 International Council of Christians and Jews. 00:53 Internationally recognized for as a diversity specialist. 00:57 He was an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement 01:00 and now consults regularly with schools, 01:02 colleges and universities across the US. 01:05 Richard is going to share his life experiences 01:07 and working with over 10,000 young people 01:10 across the country. 01:12 Welcome to the program, Richard. 01:13 My pleasure. 01:15 So glad that you could make it. 01:17 So what's happening today with our young people? 01:22 Well, you know, my experience comes from working with 01:26 what I call out of classroom education 01:28 which is doing camps and retreats and workshops 01:31 and we'll get more into that later. 01:32 But what I've observed and what I've learned from these kids, 01:36 thousands of kids are some of the major issues 01:39 that are constantly coming up, 01:41 constantly affecting their lives. 01:44 And one of the big ones is of course suicide. 01:48 Teen suicide is at epidemic proportions right now. 01:52 I was working with one school in California, 01:54 they had up to four suicides in one year. 01:57 And it made national news and it just keeps happening. 02:00 You know, when we take the kids up to camp, 02:02 they begin to reveal, many of them think about suicide. 02:07 A lot of them attempted and then thank God 02:09 only a few succeed but it still, 02:11 it's happening too much. 02:13 How did you get involved in working with young people? 02:15 Have you always, 02:17 has it's always been something that you've done, 02:19 do you have children of your own for example? 02:21 Oh, yeah. 02:22 I only have five children they're all boys except four, 02:25 four fantastic daughters and one son 02:28 and now have eight grandkids. 02:30 But I've always had a passion for youth, 02:32 I worked in student government high school and college 02:36 and it's just, it's just something 02:38 that I wanted to do. 02:39 You know, it kept directing me, 02:41 I keep being directed to human relations 02:43 and even though at one time I wanted to go into business, 02:46 I ended up in the nonprofit field and in education. 02:50 So that's basically the interest is just working 02:53 and changing and reaching these kids because they've got, 02:57 lot of them have a lot of problems. 02:59 So what were some of your first experiences 03:01 in working with young people? 03:05 You said right out of college you started 03:08 working with young people? 03:09 Even before I went to college 03:10 I got invited to this one camp program 03:14 and which was called Anytown. 03:16 And from there I thought, gee, this is fantastic, 03:19 we're educating, 03:21 we're not necessarily just marching or protesting, 03:23 this was in the middle of civil rights in 1965. 03:26 And so I thought this is an answer to some degree 03:31 of how to reach kids before it becomes promise, 03:34 especially when you're dealing with prejudice too and racism, 03:37 bias and all that. 03:39 It was a good time to work with them 03:41 and so I volunteered for seven years all way through college 03:44 and then I got into military when I was in the service. 03:47 I was one of the first race relations directors 03:49 or coordinators in the US Navy. 03:53 And then I did it in the reserves. 03:55 I was one of the first to do it in the reserve unit in Phoenix. 03:59 So it just kept leading me to this and so I went to work, 04:02 I got to finish my degree and went to work 04:04 for the National Conference of Christians and Jews 04:07 which at that time was a national organization 04:09 working in interfaith relations, 04:11 in a group relations and they had the camp going 04:14 so I helped expand it, took it nationwide, 04:17 you know, many years. 04:19 And so, now we're in about 20 different cities 04:21 across the country with about 100 different high schools 04:23 involved in it. 04:25 I like to do more of that or train more people to do it. 04:28 So you mentioned that suicide is a very big issue right now 04:32 with young people. 04:33 What are some of the other issues 04:35 that young people are facing? 04:36 Oh, well, you know, one of the other ones that's constant 04:39 is the idea of assault and abuse and date rape. 04:45 One of the segments that we do in our-- in many of my programs 04:48 or workshops in is dealing with male female relationships 04:53 and how can we improve them. 04:54 And how they have messages that they're receiving 04:59 that are negative messages. 05:00 And I'll get more into that later. 05:02 But it's just the constant idea that this is happening. 05:05 There are predators on every campus 05:07 and we need to be aware of what we can do to, 05:11 to cut that down. 05:12 Especially which is the 30 show I wanted to bring up, 05:15 especially when you involve drugs or alcohol. 05:17 Then that creates a lot of problems with abuse 05:21 and molestation et cetera and then date rape. 05:25 So those go hand in hand 05:26 and again a lot of kids are still thinking, 05:28 it's cool to smoke and drink and do all this. 05:31 And they just don't control it. 05:35 So we're going to be talking today about 05:37 what churches can do and some of the issues 05:40 that young people are facing 05:42 and how churches and other groups can help that. 05:45 What is the whole concept about out of the classroom 05:49 experiences, learning experiences? 05:52 There's one more issue I want to touch base 05:54 or can I do it now. Sure. 05:55 Okay, this is this fourth issue that I think is very important 05:58 especially where churches are involved. 06:00 And that is to the amount of students today that I see 06:04 at camp or these workshops that are turning away from faith, 06:08 turning away from religion, the growing number of atheist, 06:11 agnostic students. 06:13 I did a camp recently where we had the kids stand up 06:16 for the different faith groups 06:18 and there were a few Protestants, 06:19 a few Catholics, a few Jewish kids. 06:21 But all of a sudden about almost 50% of the camp 06:24 of 50 kids said they were agnostic or atheist. 06:27 So I think that's something 06:29 that really needs to be looked at and worked on too. 06:32 Because in, you know, 06:34 I think it has something to do with suicide. 06:36 Many of the great percentage of the kids 06:38 that they've analyzed or studied that have no faith. 06:42 And so it's an easier, you know, 06:46 way to just give up and so. 06:49 But you were telling me, you were asking about 06:51 the out of classroom education concept, correct. 06:53 Anything in particular is the idea. 06:56 So, is every-- Can all these issues be taken care 06:59 of inside of the regular classroom? 07:01 Well, that's it. 07:03 This is why this type of programming 07:04 is can be so effective because, you know, you've got classrooms 07:08 where the bell goes off in 45, 50 minutes 07:10 and you've got to move on. 07:12 At least when you have them away from the classroom 07:14 and that's what out of classroom education is, 07:16 is taking them away from the classroom 07:17 and having them to have time to work out their issues, 07:21 to discuss their issues. 07:23 You know, that's where the churches have been the leaders 07:25 in out of classroom education, maybe they weren't aware of it 07:27 but every time they did a camp, every time they had a retreat. 07:30 Right. 07:31 Out of classroom education also include sports, 07:35 especially if they're done right 07:36 and for the right reasons, totally effective. 07:40 After school programs are becoming more and more popular 07:43 because there's no one home to take care of the kids, 07:44 so after school programs are becoming more necessary 07:48 in many schools across the country. 07:50 So it really works very effectively 07:54 when you have those students in an isolated environment, 07:57 in a safe environment where they're, 07:59 where it's open for them to talk 08:00 about any issues or concerns. 08:03 So when you have these kind of a situations, 08:05 what are some of the staff that's helpful to have 08:08 to be able to support the young people? 08:11 Well, that's a real important ingredient in any of these 08:13 out of classroom education programs 08:15 is how qualified the staff are, how well trained they are 08:19 because you're dealing with all types of issues 08:21 that they can come up very, very freely 08:24 and very openly with. 08:25 Once you create that safe environment, 08:27 kids become trusting and then they open up 08:30 and that's when we hear about these issues 08:31 over and over again, so definitely qualified staff. 08:35 Usually when we do a retreat with school, 08:39 we have, most of the staff come from the school 08:42 so they can go back and support the students 08:44 when they go back to school, 08:46 but we also get community people to participate. 08:49 Like who? 08:50 Like who? 08:52 Like yourself. 08:53 Yeah, remember that, when was that 5 years ago 08:55 when you came to one of-- to the camps in California. 08:58 Yeah. And it. 09:00 And I should say I'm a teacher in a school psychology as well, 09:02 right. 09:04 So you get like a psychologist, you get some of the counselors. 09:07 Counselors, we get high, 09:08 we get college students to be in the cabins with the students 09:11 especially if the faculty can't do that. 09:13 Right. 09:15 And we also have police officers 09:16 that sometimes come in 09:18 and that's another major prejudice or you know that, 09:21 that often happens. 09:23 So what about in a church setting 09:25 if you know they're not necessarily tied to a school, 09:29 what would be some of the church people, 09:31 of course, I guess you could have the professionals 09:32 that are in the church, right? 09:34 Sure, professionals in the church, 09:35 community people that have other jobs, have other thing, 09:38 but they have an interest in reducing prejudice 09:41 and helping kids. 09:43 It takes a whole group of diverse staff as well as, 09:48 as much as you can diverse student too. 09:50 Because basically what happens at these retreats is 09:52 they learn from each other 09:54 more than when they learn from the staff. 09:55 And they're not based on lecture, you know, 09:58 or necessarily extensive preaching 10:00 but it's based on them exchanging them 10:03 learning from one another. 10:06 You mention basically the four issues that you see, 10:08 the top issues are suicide, 10:12 the effects of drugs and alcohol on the young people, 10:18 effects of sexual molestation 10:20 and some of the other issues and assaults, date rape. 10:24 I mean, bullying is nationwide. 10:26 It's good to see that many schools have 10:28 instituted programs in bullying, 10:30 but now we're cyber bullying, it's a whole new area you see. 10:34 You hear kids committing suicide 10:36 every other week in newspaper 10:38 about because they were cyber bullied. 10:41 And that's where the cyber bullying is 10:43 where a person goes on Facebook or social media. 10:48 Social media. And what kinds of things. 10:50 Sadly to say, but what kinds of maybe explain to our audience 10:54 what is cyber bullying? 10:55 Well, basically if these kids are looking for friends 10:58 on the internet and or they are on Facebook or whatever 11:02 all these medias. 11:04 And somebody gets on their and invites them 11:07 and wants to be their friend, 11:08 it turns out that they want to do something more, 11:11 they do some harm to them or they tease them 11:14 or they harass them. From classmates. 11:16 Yes, classmates and so eventually, you know, 11:20 and this constant harassment and, you know, 11:22 there's been lots of cases like this 11:24 and so the kids can't handle it, 11:26 you know, no more so they say I'll give it up 11:29 and that's what suicide is about, just giving up. 11:33 One of the things that we try to teach up in the retreats 11:36 and I picked this up from a young counselor years ago 11:39 and that is to try to tell the students 11:41 that suicide is only-- it's a permanent solution 11:45 to a temporary problem. Right. 11:47 But, you know, when a child is going through this, 11:48 they don't think that way, 11:50 they have to really look at in the future. 11:53 And then you said the whole concept of 11:56 not having any concept about God. 11:59 What do you think that all comes from right now 12:00 in today's society? 12:02 You're saying that you're going to camps that years ago 12:04 that people had different faiths 12:06 and they would identify their faith 12:07 but now they're saying they don't even believe in God. 12:12 You know, I think there's a lot of things going against it. 12:15 You know, lot of parents have made the decision 12:17 not to take their children to church and so they say, 12:21 you know, I've heard said this several times, oh, 12:23 they will make up their minds eventually 12:25 or they'll make up their own choice. 12:26 But you've got to give them, 12:28 you've got to give them something to choose from 12:31 I think-- That's a good point. 12:32 Yeah, if you don't do-- Say that again. 12:35 I think you really got to give your children 12:37 just like me and my wife did. 12:39 We took them to church every Sunday and eventually we said 12:42 okay, now it's your choice to whatever religion or faith 12:45 you want to attend but at least you had a basis, 12:48 at least you had a foundation. 12:49 And that's what, you know, 12:51 this thinking that you don't give them a choice. 12:55 You know, that they will get your choice 12:57 even without nothing to work from. 13:00 I think another thing may be that we become very scientific. 13:05 You know, everything is scientific oriented 13:08 and so if you can't prove it 13:11 and that's what whole faith means you know, 13:13 is to have faith and believe it. 13:15 But so many people, young people today 13:17 are just into science and saying it's not working. 13:22 Or they see some of the-- And I've heard this argument, 13:27 I'm sure you have too over the years about 13:29 all the things have been done under the violent 13:33 or the worse things have been done 13:34 under the name of religion. Right. 13:36 Just like what's going on in the Middle East right now. 13:38 Under the name of religion, there's some terror going on, 13:41 there's some violence going on, killing going on 13:43 and you can look at that historically 13:45 but that was a misinterpretation, 13:48 a misguidance, a misused, misleaders I guess. 13:52 Right, the Bible doesn't teach violence with religion so. 13:57 You're right, people kind of take it on their own values, 14:01 groups of people and therefore, so you're saying that 14:04 youth today are looking at that seeing the violence 14:07 and the terrorism and the problems 14:09 that are associated with religion 14:11 and so they're walking away from religion. 14:12 Yes, some are. 14:13 Some are saying that they, there must not be a god 14:16 if all these problems are here. 14:18 But if they don't have that anchor in the word of God, 14:21 then like you said when they hit a problem, 14:25 where do they go with it. That's right. 14:27 They don't know where to go 14:29 and that's where the suicide and the other acting out 14:32 harmful things come into play. 14:37 Wow. 14:38 So what can churches do? 14:41 Because you said that churches were the leaders. 14:43 Church, it's true, churches were the leaders 14:45 in the Civil Rights Movement for example. 14:48 Maybe give us a little background on how 14:51 some of the churches help to be able to make things 14:54 better in society and how you think it can help here 14:57 with the young people today? 14:59 Well, let me give several areas, 15:00 one I think is they do they need to do more camps, 15:04 they need to do more retreats. 15:06 But not only for their own members of their-- Children, 15:09 you know, children of other members 15:11 but also reach out to nonmembers' children. 15:15 I really enjoy when I see these churches that bring buses 15:19 into the inner city and bring kids into their church 15:22 because these kids are not getting any direction, 15:24 their parents don't want to or can't go to a church 15:27 for some reason, but if we got those non then I think 15:31 that would make a big difference. 15:33 I think the other thing too I think churches need to expand 15:35 their missionary work. 15:37 The idea of providing more opportunities 15:41 for young people to go on a mission 15:43 on one or two year commitment where they have to sacrifice, 15:46 so they can mature where they can have that time to think 15:51 as well as support the church and support God etcetera. 15:55 So you think mission trips may be even I know, 15:58 I've heard of some that go like maybe during their spring break 16:01 or during the summer or even if they can-- 16:02 Even though it's short term ones 16:05 but one of things that I've always admired is 16:06 what the Mormon Church has done is that 16:09 they've got extensive missionary program 16:11 and so does your church-- 16:12 Seventh-Day Adventist they can go and serve for whole year 16:15 as a missionary worker. 16:17 But I think it needs to be made because a lot of young people 16:20 are coming out of high school not knowing 16:23 what they're going to do. 16:24 Some are not ready for college, 16:25 some don't want to go to college. 16:27 So why not go on a one or two year mission. 16:29 I mean, I even support the-- I mean, 16:31 I'm not even but I've always supported military service too. 16:35 Get away for a while, 16:37 learn I mean I spent two years of active duty 16:39 in the US Navy and it was such an experience 16:42 but it made me think and then I was ready to 16:44 because I wasn't going anywhere in college, 16:46 I was changing majors every semester. 16:48 So I figured out, okay, maybe I need to get away for a while 16:52 and think about what direction I want to go 16:54 and the military service gave me that. 16:56 And it also gave me the other reason 16:58 why I went in the service and it's still available 17:00 is the GI Bill go on school. 17:03 So, there's a lot of avenues to just for children to grow. 17:09 I also have found that some churches are taking on working 17:13 with foster care programs supporting foster care parents. 17:18 How do they do that? 17:20 Well, basically the one church I was attending 17:22 in the East Valley in Phoenix, 17:24 basically they got involved with the foster care program 17:29 with the state and they brought in speakers 17:32 and lectures and they have people, 17:33 some parents in the church became foster care parents 17:36 but not everybody can do that. 17:38 But they can sure support them. 17:40 They can mentor the students etcetera. 17:42 So the church took this on as a mission project. 17:45 They're actually having people come in from the state 17:48 or the county explain the foster program, 17:50 get their training and then actually go 17:52 and this is what you see is the missionary work 17:54 that the church can do-- That's another major. 17:56 Beyond the children of their immediate congregation. 17:59 It's a beautiful idea. 18:01 Let me tell you, foster care is one of the biggest social areas 18:05 today in the social area or support area 18:08 I guess you call it. 18:10 And I learned that 20 years ago when I was working with 18:13 one of the private foster care programs 18:15 that were sending students to our program 18:16 because here's what they found. 18:19 Many, this is 20 years ago 18:20 and I'm sure it's still pretty much the truth. 18:23 They found that many of their parents were of white 18:25 or European background they were foster cared 18:27 but many of their students were minority 18:30 so they had a cultural conflict, 18:31 they had a racial conflict in some families. 18:33 So they started sending their kids to our program 18:35 because we talk about race and about, 18:37 you know, all those issues. 18:39 But anyway it is a growing phenomenon 18:41 and another reason why it's growing. 18:43 Well, there's more and more foster care kids out there. 18:45 They used to support the idea of keeping them 18:47 with their families no matter what, 18:49 but then they found there was more violence, 18:51 there was more problems later on and it was better, 18:55 you know, not to keep in with certain family. 18:57 Certain families are not capable of raising kids. 19:00 So now they're pulling more and more of them out, 19:02 so now the foster care program has just mushroomed. 19:06 There's many more in every state. 19:09 And I know in Phoenix or in Arizona it's quite big 19:12 because a lot of people come from other states 19:14 and they come with their problems 19:15 and they don't always solve them. 19:18 So that, their area would be a good area to expand it. 19:23 The churches to be able to-- 19:24 And just, you know, 19:26 nothing without even getting into foster care. 19:28 I think there's a lot of adults in churches 19:30 that could be mentors to students 19:32 that could help just guide them 19:34 like big brothers and big sisters do. 19:36 You know, play that role 19:38 because there are so many families today 19:40 that are dysfunctional or that are missing a parent 19:44 especially fathers. 19:46 And so, if somebody could supplement a father, 19:49 you know, it would be fantastic. 19:51 So those are some of the areas 19:54 and let me real quickly check it. 19:56 You have a nice little list of things that we're looking at. 19:58 Yeah, I just don't want to miss any of the areas. 20:03 Oh, you know, one of the biggest things 20:04 that I've missed here is that. 20:06 Encourage the students in your church, 20:10 the young people that are role models of the faith 20:13 to participate in workshops like ours 20:16 because here's a problem I have found over the years 20:18 is some of the religious groups 20:20 did not want to send their kids there 20:21 because they had their own camps. 20:22 And they want to reinforce their own beliefs. 20:24 But I always ask, well, send me your role models, 20:26 send me the kids that know your faith so they can teach others 20:30 and that's how we can overcome the issue of so many kids 20:33 I would think, I mean they could reach out 20:35 as peers to those nonbelievers. 20:38 So if you can send your kids, 20:40 don't just keep them all to yourself. 20:42 Just, you know, 20:45 let them be little missionaries in other workshops. 20:50 And so that would, that would be real helpful. 20:54 Yeah, I think that sounds really good so the foster care, 20:58 the attending workshops that churches could have more camps 21:02 you're saying where they can invite 21:04 beyond just their regular environments. 21:07 I know that Seventh-day Adventists 21:09 they have Sabbath school, they have pathfinders 21:11 which is kind of like boy scouts and girl scouts. 21:14 So you're saying don't just focus 21:17 on just the kids in the church, 21:19 go beyond the walls of the church 21:21 and reach out into the community 21:24 and try to make a difference. 21:26 There's one other area that I want to mention 21:29 if we have the time. 21:30 Sure. Okay. 21:31 And that is, you know, one of the things I think 21:33 the churches need to reinforce again 21:35 which I was told as a young man. 21:39 I was in the Catholic Church at the time and this priest, 21:42 older man, and he taught me 21:46 the concept of sacred mind and sacred body. 21:49 And I know that your church is very much involved with that, 21:52 that, but for young people, they don't see it that way. 21:54 They don't see their body or their mind as sacred 21:56 until years later most of us and that's where all the drugs 22:00 and the alcohol and negative behaviors sometimes come, 22:04 you know, the smoking. 22:05 I mean, I've heard some stories where, you know, 22:08 I've not only-- See one of the areas 22:12 that we touch on at camp is disabilities 22:14 and I'll cover that more later 22:16 but the idea that sometimes we cause our own disabilities, 22:19 you know. 22:20 What do you mean? 22:22 Disabilities can happen to us by chance by fate 22:23 what have you. 22:25 But if we cause our own disability by drugs or alcohol 22:28 like my uncle. 22:30 He started smoking cigarette at the age of 16 or 14 22:34 I can't remember for sure but anyway by the time he was 20, 22:37 he was smoking a pack a day. 22:39 Time he was 30, he was smoking two packs a day 22:41 and about the age of 35 he was diagnosed with emphysema. 22:45 And so all you know having the disease of the lungs. 22:49 And let me tell you that they gave him 22:51 a small little container of oxygen 22:53 to breathe in every once in awhile. 22:55 Well, the last 25 years of his life, 22:57 he had a tank that he had to roll around with him 23:00 wherever he went 23:01 and so he lost out being with his grandchildren, 23:05 he couldn't go outside, it was just this tank followed him, 23:08 this oxygen tank. 23:10 But he caused it, 23:11 he could have prevented that and, you know, 23:13 you hear of other things and accidents 23:15 that happen is a result of being intoxicated 23:18 can result in being disabled. 23:23 So we need to teach more of that sacred body 23:25 and sacred mind concept I think. 23:27 Yeah. 23:28 How about parents or extended family? 23:31 What do you see their role in being able to help 23:33 some of the young people? 23:34 Well, I, you know, I wish that we had more parenting workshops 23:38 that's for sure. 23:40 I like one of the concepts I heard about LA 23:42 about 15 years ago or so they were, they were. 23:46 Whenever they arrested a young person, 23:48 they would go after the parents and say okay, 23:50 now you have to go to a workshop 23:52 or a seminar on parenting 23:54 because this child is out of control 23:55 or making too many mistakes etcetera. 23:57 And I think we need to look at those type of training 23:59 workshops too. 24:02 I think there's a lot of single parent families, 24:04 it's becoming a phenomena 24:05 that how many children are being born 24:07 out of wedlock today. 24:09 So here's kids that need support they need, you know, 24:12 somebody to mentor them as I was saying before. 24:15 Hopefully that, yeah parents can do more there's no doubt. 24:20 And we can reach out to other students or the kids. 24:24 So are you available to travel and to be able to do trainings 24:28 for people? 24:29 Yes, I'm kind of semi retired right now 24:31 but what I've come down to the conclusion. 24:34 And I think God has been involved in this decision, 24:36 He just said, you know, you need to train other people. 24:41 You need to make a difference now 24:42 in getting other younger individuals to do the work 24:46 that I've been doing for years 24:47 and I've trained others I've got mentees 24:50 and I've been a mentor to several 24:52 that have become you know national speakers etcetera. 24:57 But I need to do more of that, 24:59 I like to initiate programs in churches 25:03 and schools wherever, school districts 25:07 and teach them how to do it themselves 25:09 so then I can walk away and it continues. 25:12 In fact I have several school districts in Phoenix 25:15 that are now doing these workshops all in their own, 25:17 and it works out just great. 25:19 So what kind of, how would you set that up as far as, 25:23 what could a person expect 25:24 if they're going to be having a training, 25:25 is it like a one day or two day or, 25:29 you know, how many? 25:30 What kind of people should be pulled together 25:32 to be able to do that? 25:35 Well, what I like to do the best is, 25:38 the best I think method would be to have 25:41 bring him to a workshop, 25:43 a three or four day workshop that we do. 25:45 And then have him go through the activity. 25:49 Because the first time around, let me tell you, 25:52 our workshops not only work effectively on young people, 25:56 adults, teachers have all said 25:59 this is one of the best experiences 26:01 or in service trainings I've ever attended 26:04 and they get to go through some of their issues. 26:06 And I think they have to do that. 26:08 And then the second time they come around, 26:10 they go through experience, then they start looking at the, 26:12 at the way it's done and the dynamics and the process 26:17 that makes it successful. 26:19 And so you need to have him there. 26:21 I can do a one or two day workshop 26:23 and show them some of the exercises and go over 26:25 because here's the other thing I've found 26:26 is many of these exercises are out there, 26:28 they've been out there for years. 26:30 But if you don't know how to process or debrief from 26:33 and get the maximum out of these activities, 26:35 you know, sometimes you can work to the negative side 26:39 rather than the positive side. Right, right. 26:42 Well, I certainly appreciate you coming to the program today 26:45 and explaining to us about the youth issues 26:49 and how churches and other community groups 26:52 can get involved in helping and making a big difference. 26:56 And certainly, you know, 26:58 you can attest to the work that's been done over the years 27:01 that has reached so many people. 27:04 Again I just want to thank you so much 27:06 for watching this program today. 27:08 And before we leave, I would like to be able to just take 27:11 a moment right now to have prayer for those 27:14 that are watching the youth leaders, the pastor, 27:17 the parents and even some of the young people 27:19 that may be involved in some of the challenges that we face. 27:23 So let's have a prayer right now 27:25 and ask God's help for that. 27:28 Thank You heavenly Father for all that You've done for us. 27:31 Thank You for Your Son Jesus Christ, 27:34 Who died on the cross to save us and most importantly 27:37 He came down on this earth and lived the life. 27:39 He was a young person at one time and Lord, 27:42 it's Your power to the presence of the Holy Spirit 27:45 and the angels dear God that are going to come to search 27:48 and rescue your young people, 27:50 so we just want to ask for Your help 27:52 in anyway that we can especially as church 27:54 is to intervene and make a big difference 27:56 in the lives of young people today, 27:58 and we thank you the name of Jesus, amen. 28:00 Amen. 28:01 Again thank you so much for coming-- 28:03 My pleasure. 28:04 And wish you well as you go back to Phoenix 28:06 and to your family and continue to do these wonderful camps. 28:09 And again thank you so much for joining us 28:12 on Issues and Answers today, 28:13 we hope that it was helpful and I will see you next time. 28:17 God bless. |
Revised 2016-04-14