We Who? Re: An Apostolic Declaration for the Third Millenium 1

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In a message dated 3/22/99 9:04:18 PM Pacific Standard Time,
stevstar@prodigy.net writes:

> As always, it is a pleasure hearing from you.  I certainly hope that
>  your youth ministry in the snow was successful.  Please let me know
>  about your outing! 

Thank you for expressing interest in the outcome of our "Snow Camp." I have
already sent a copy of this to a few friends. Since you seem interested,
perhaps you will enjoy the following.  
******************************************************************************
***********************                                                       
                                               What Now? 									

Thank the Lord our "Snow Camp" was a success. Young people from five states
traveling thousands of miles came to receive a closer walk with God. Three
received the Holy Ghost and almost all had milestone blessings. 
 
 We housed and fed about one hundred and twenty people for four days and three
nights. We had early morning services that the young people directed and
exhorted in and noon time and evening services that included preaching from
Elder Mefford and Elder Eply. The preaching was uplifting and inspiring, from
both the young and old. The young people arranged a "camp choir" and also had
a "singspiration" which included many special songs. Late night prayer
meetings were planned, but impossible to implement, the altar services
continued late into the night.
 
 One night, after a alter service which included one receiving the Holy Ghost,
tongues and interpretation, and various "holy rolling," the spirit quieted to
a warm glow. There was whimpering and crying in the spirit. Service had long
since been dismissed, but about forty kids refused to leave. The kids didn't
want to walk away from what they were feeling. There was wailing in the
spirit. There were tears of joy and thanksgiving. There were children lying in
heaps on the dusty floor exhausted from, or drunk in the spirit.

  Finally most of the crying stopped. Boys and young men on one side of the
room and girls and young ladies on the other. I opened my eyes to see a young
man looking at me. I glanced over and noticed that another young man was
looking at me. Then another. I soon realized that almost the entire room was
looking at me with a question in their eyes. The question, "What now?"
 
 The Lord instantly spoke to me. Some inexplicable way my mind was transported
to a different age, a time when another group of people, (probably very young
men and women) was faced with the same question. This other group had also had
a tremendous experience with God. The Holy Ghost had fallen, people came to
see what was going on, Peter preached Christ, and him crucified, and three
thousand souls were added to the church that day.  
 
 In Jerusalem, those people must have been laying in doorways and in the
streets, mud formed from the dust of the ground and their tears on their
cheeks. There had to be sobbing and crying for joy, because at last, the Lord
had come suddenly into his temple. The Sabbath, the day of rest had entered
into them. They had the refreshing that they had yearned for but couldn't
find. The true year of jubilee had really come in their lives.  As the crying
and sobbing finally quieted down in Jerusalem those approximately thirty-one
hundred people must have thought, "What now?"
 
  I slowly stood up and walked to the center of the room, the question marks
still in their eyes. I opened my Bible to the book of Acts and read a few
scriptures. Then I told them the story of Pentecost and how Christ was
preached and how those there that day were pricked in their hearts and wanted
to know what they had to do to be saved. I told them how Peter told them to
repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
I told them about the marvelous outpouring of the Holy Ghost. I told those
young people how at the end of that day they must have had a similar feeling
that we have right now, that between the forty-first and the forty-second
verse of the book of Acts they must have asked the question, "What Now?" 
 
  Luke said they continued steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine. I told the
young people that is now our duty. We can not leave the blessings and the
power of the Holy Ghost in that building, but we must take it with us and be a
light unto the world. This experience must be noised abroad. With this
wonderful experience, we too can turn the world upside down. This is the whole
reason for our existence in this world, to tell others of this New Way. 
 
 I slowly walked over to my seat and sat down. Everyone sat quietly for a few
minutes, then one at a time, they slowly stood up, gathered their scattered
belongings, and left the building until only the Lord, and me remained. What
will they do with they're experience? What Now?   
 

     Mike Reed