Class interview with Jason Lamer

"Find a need and meet it"
"You have to be vulnerable to be taken advantage of."

Average youth group... 20 kids.... spirtual atmosphere 4 to 10...
The first week he preached on repentance. It was not well recieved.
"In a few weeks, I took that youth group from 22 to 13"

After some sexual sin was exposed and dealt with then God began to really move. The youth group exploded. The power of God really moved powerfully.

Made a connection with the local schools. Some youth pastors never set foot on a high school campus. God opened the door to the school when he made himself available. After a student committed suicide, he was invited back to do grief counseling. In the grief counselling, every student said that they had thought of or, a few, even considered suicide. At this point, he knew that he had to go to them, he couldn't wait for them to come to him. He started doing school assemblies. He brought the church to wherever there were large groups of people.
He started to go to schools to pick up a student and take them out to dinner or lunch. In the process, he would meet many other students.

His time at Youth Alive
One of 22 missionaries to high-schoolers in the US. Raises up local churches to pray for their local high schools. Campus missionaries; high school students who are discipled and trained to get their friends saved. Effective campus clubs work through a network of churches.

7 Project:
School principles select the top 6 issues in the lives of students...
Peer Pressure
Coping
Integrity / Character building - "The choices you make will shape the person you will become."
Scholastic Achievement
Drugs / Alcohol

Ones they don't want to touch:
Suicide
Sex / Abstinence

There is NEVER any religion shown during the school assembly. The students are invited back to an evening program and they are always told that at that time the presenters will be talking about their faith. There is never any bait-and-switch.

"Whatever it takes to get a youth to come [to youth group / church], that's what it will take to keep them [in youth group / church]."

Reflections:
He was a humble man and it is easy to see how he could grow a group and connect so many people together. In what he has done, he has shown both great passion and great wisdom. His heart was truly for the youth that he woked with. He was always willing to open his home or his car to youth, whether saved or unsaved. Also, I liked that he never did anything without prayer. He asks churches to stand behind him in prayer with whatever he does in his area. Every major thing that he has done has come from prayer. I also really like how, everything he does he connects with someone else whether they be the town mayor, or the school guidance councillor, or other churches in the area. I think he has probably done much to bring down animosity between the churches in local areas. I really enjoyed that his heart was totally for the youth that he works with.