SURGE Lock-In Recap

269 days ago by Katia Droira

Last Friday night about 150 people swarmed the church as we started off our Surge Lock-In. We had 114 teens that stormed through the doors to have great fun with friends. The remaining people were adults that volunteered their time and talents to make our night unforgettable!

We started off with music from our Youth Band. Suddenly, Joel Collins announced that there had been an edict from the government announcing that being a Christian is no longer lawful. Thus, our ‘Underground Church’ game started. It was the start of an awesome game!

Have you heard about it before? Most of our teens had not. Most of our adults have not. But at the end of the night we all were faced with the reality of those persecuted Christians around the world. The game called for pastors for the underground churches/safe houses – one being fake, contacts that would reveal clues and passwords to get you to those safe houses. And of course, police – both, normal and undercover police agents and jail keepers for those who would be standing up for their faith and willing to go there because they would NOT deny the name of Christ.

At the end of the night, a lot of them made it to the safe houses. But, a good portion did make it to a FAKE safe house without a pastor – which meant that they either did not get their clues and passwords (biblical questions) right or fell for misleading contacts, OR that sadly, their competitive side got a hold of them and were willing to deny their Christian faith, His name and anything Christian in order to save themselves!!

We wrapped up the game with Pastor Brown. He explained the reality of those who are giving of their lives in so many places of the world as we speak. But also, the chances we have to stand up for our faith in our own lives, whether we are with friends or family that would much prefer to see that we make other choices; the choices of the world!

So, at the end of the night, what I heard were stories of regret, also stories of those who hurt when they saw their friends deny Christ so easily. I heard stories of survival as they surprised themselves and others by their reaction when faced with persectution – even if they knew it was only a game.

I, as a leader, see the need to continue to bring His Word and His light to this next generation. We need to move from coming to church and following the motions to make it real in our day-to-day lives as we are confronted with our REAL challenges in our own culture. But of course, in order to do that, we first must understand that God came in human form: Jesus, who never demanded His own divine rights and who was obedient even unto death bearing the weight of my sins, your sins and the sins of the world.

If we don’t understand this, we would have no basis for conviction when faced with choices as we go along our day. I heard today that C. H. Spurgeon said: “If you don’t lead to a drastic change in your behavior, it (being His follower) will never change your destiny.”

So, yeah, the rest of the night continued with a midnight snack, more games and a movie, breakfast with half-closed eyes. We were exhausted! And as they left, what I kept hearing was: “Can we do it again?” ha-ha… We will, we will. So be informed and come to Surge to keep up-to-date!

See you there!