Last night we hosted an event in the youth space called Rock The Chains. The whole night was about awareness, action, and education. The problem is modern day slavery and human trafficking. The whole shebang started out on our youth calendar as a simple battle of the bands to get "those" kids in the doors. However, Kelsie Overton, a junior in our ministry, had become aware of people in our world who were being forced to work in bondage and fear. Obviously this is unacceptable, and thank God Kelsie could not just feel bad for a little bit and get back to her normal Brentwood routine. She began to share her conviction and make some of her friends aware of what was happening to these modern day slaves.
On a youth retreat called Breakthru, Kelsie stood up and challenged the whole youth group to not just feel bad and talk about the situation but to take Jesus at His word and do something about it. Her words were empowering and quieted lots of the voices inside the students that they were to young to really make a difference. So last night after four months and little help from the youth staff, some fired up kids from our youth group turned a battle of the bands in to a benefit concert for slavery and all proceeds, totaling almost $6000, are going to the International Justice Mission (IJM).
The youth area was rocked. Brentwood was rocked. My life was rocked and the chains were definitely rocked!
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