It’s Mike Trame with Ken Allen with Denver Area Youth for Christ. And Ken, today we want to talk a little bit about Revival and Lockup, which is basically Denver teens choosing baptism behind bars. That sounds really compelling. Tell us, first of all, a little bit about Youth for Christ and what you’re doing here in Denver and specifically in your area that you’re responsible for. And then let’s get right into Revival and Lockup. Talk about that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, I really appreciate it, Mike. And it’s great to talk to you. And Yes, Youth for Christ, we have been around for a long time. Our national movement started with Billy Graham as our first full-time employee, and that was over 80 years ago. And in Denver, we just celebrated 70 years of ministry here locally. And we work in the juvenile detention centers around the area and have been in those spaces since the 60s. And then we also have Campus Life Ministry working on high school and middle school campuses. Teen Parents or Parent Life Ministry and City Life. We have an Aurora, we have a youth center up there in Aurora. And so for us, Mike, you know, for us with Youth for Christ, it’s about going to where kids are, building relationships with them and sharing the love of Jesus in a relational way.
SPEAKER 02 :
So Ken, you work with youth in what age range? So someone that doesn’t know IFC as closely would be able to know that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, so we work with 11 to 19-year-olds in the community. And so more of that middle school, high school age is our mission focus for Youth for Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, now in revival in lockup, is that part of the justice ministry that you, juvenile justice ministry that you’re a part of?
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s correct, yes. So this, yeah, it’s our Juvenile Justice Ministry, or JJM Ministry, and that’s where this really neat and incredible story of what God’s doing in the lives of teenagers that are incarcerated in our city.
SPEAKER 02 :
Unpack that for us. So these are juveniles, which means what ages? Similar to what you just said?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, absolutely. It’s 11 to 19. Sometimes juveniles can be a little bit older. They can go to 20, maybe 21. Okay. The specific facility is up in Adams County. Prairie Vista is the name of the facility. And we go in every week, Mike, and lead Bible studies and have Sunday services with young people in this context. And then we have chaplains at each of the different facilities where we’ll have one-on-one times to meet with young people that are interested more in spiritual conversations, wanting to have prayer meetings. And it’s really just a chance to connect with them more on a one-on-one or sometimes in small groups. And so it’s a consistent ministry that goes in every week. And in this case, in Prairie Vista, we lead Sunday services. We’ve got a church partner up there that brings a number of people from their church into the facility. Desiree is on our staff and And she is married to Pastor Luna, the church. And Desiree has been going in faithfully for many years. And so Sunday afternoons, church services. And then on Mondays is also a time where we’ll lead Bible studies and other one-on-one appointments with students.
SPEAKER 02 :
So is this kind of a variation on chaplaincy ministry where they go in and talk to juveniles that are incarcerated? And there’s some crazy, amazing stuff happening that you’re seeing God do in those. So talk about that, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, so what’s ended up happening over these last months, I mean, it started really in the spring, was kids were responding to the gospel and wanting to hear more about who Jesus was. And it was this deepening, this really seeking of Christ. And as we kept going in, more and more young people were interested in having these conversations and then professing their faith in Jesus. And And as the time continued to go on, Mike, what ended up happening was a number of the young people were saying, you know, what’s my next step in this faith journey? What is the next thing that I can do? And part of that is obviously being in God’s Word, reading the Bible. But we also talked to them about what would it look like to be baptized and what does that mean? And so many of these young people. So this is a facility of 30 young people. And so many of these people wanted to take that next step of public profession of faith. And so this was something that in August or end of July, we coordinated with the facility and they were allowing us to bring in a tub to actually baptize. And so what ended up happening was there was this tremendous amount of momentum that was happening. There really was a spiritual revival in this facility. of 30 young people. 24 had professed, you know, saying yes to Jesus and wanting to take this step of baptism, this public profession of their faith. And so 24 of the 30 young people in this facility said yes to Jesus and were baptized just this summer. And it was just an amazing celebration and just a powerful thing of seeing how God is moving in our midst in a place where it can be very dark and very lonely and very hard for young people to be incarcerated. But there’s been a tremendous response to the gospel and to taking that next step with their faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re talking with Ken Allen. Ken is with Denver Area Youth for Christ. And we’re talking about teens and even sometimes younger that are incarcerated and what god’s doing in there and some amazing stuff baptisms as ken just talked about and ken aren’t these pretty sometimes pretty hardened kids and how in the world are they softening their hearts are softening and are they’re finding jesus in these uh in these facilities yeah it’s a great question mike you know you um
SPEAKER 01 :
Boy, I mean, when we are at our lowest, that’s when God can be at work the most. And there’s so many young people, yes, it can be hard on the outside. They may have this hard outer shell, but inside, they’re still kids. And they… They just desperately are wanting to be seen, heard and loved. And that’s one of the things that that’s who Jesus was. I mean, he talks about you visited me in prison. You know, when you think of the least of these that you think you’re serving me. And this is that same case where God is moving in the midst of tough things. And obviously, young people that have made poor choices, they’re there for a reason. But there’s also this great opportunity to really share the gospel. And there’s an openness that we’ve never seen before. I mean, there’s just an openness to the gospel that’s been really exciting for us as a ministry. This is just one of many stories that we are just hearing around our community right now. So I am really excited in just where we are in youth ministry right now and what God is doing in our midst.
SPEAKER 02 :
You have a lot going on in the summers. This is part of it. In fact, I’m guessing this is year round, right? What you do with the…
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, right, yes. We’re doing this year-round weekly. We’re going into facilities. Our juvenile justice director, Tim Butler, who’s been on our staff since 1978, he says to people, if you ever see a young person that is on TV or that’s in trouble, or that’s going to be, you know, that you see or hear about, just pray for Youth for Christ at that time, because nine out of ten times we are going to see that young person in a detention center. We’re going to be able to walk alongside them and really have a chance to share Christ with them as we encounter them in that space.
SPEAKER 02 :
And, Ken, that should give us hope because we do see those situations where they say, this was a juvenile, name’s being withheld, you know, those types of situations or it’s in the news. And I think some people probably do think, well, man, that kid, I mean, hope’s gone, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
Right.
SPEAKER 02 :
They’re starting out this way. Forget it. It’s done for the rest of their life. And that’s not the case.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s not the case. In fact, we have a staff member, James Gillespie, who has been serving with us for the last five, six years. And James was a young person at Mountview. He was one of the juveniles in the detention centers. And he remembers being prayed over as a 13-year-old in that facility. And now he’s serving alongside us and walking into places where he was once as a student. And so I would just say to people, I get it. I understand that it can feel, there’s a lot of hard things. But one of the things, one of my calls, and I think for all of our staff is if we can transform, if God can transform a life, a young person, they truly do have a lifetime ahead of them. And I think of all the mistakes and things that I did at 13 or 14 or 16. And it’s just like, you know, there’s just so much opportunity when we can come alongside a young person and give them a different vision for their life. And certainly God can put a new heart in there. There’s just so many transformations that can take place from that. And that’s—they just have a long time to truly live and live differently, as Christ has called us to. So that’s part of the reason why I love what I get the chance to do, Mike, is— You know, I’m an old guy now, so I’m in the fourth quarter of this game. But for the young people that we’re serving, they’re in their first quarter of a game and this longevity of what it looks like to run the race of faithfulness.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ken, in our last couple of minutes, how do people – our listeners are most likely going to be in that – kids or older teens in their 20s or above or even grandparents. How do they get involved? What can they do to help with other kids where they have a real heart for these kids and what’s going on?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, really appreciate it. And if you’re listening right now, it does not matter the age. There is young people out there that desperately need a mentor. They need an adult, a loving, caring adult that loves Jesus and just needs to walk alongside young people. I’m mentoring currently, you know, hey, I’m 57 years old. I’m mentoring a 12-year-old. These are the things that we need. We need more people to step in and volunteer, to mentor. So you can go to our website, yfcdenver.org. We would love to have you come alongside. Maybe you want to mentor a young person. Maybe going into a juvenile detention center might feel pretty scary, but there’s other ways you can serve on a high school or middle school campus. But I would also just say, Mike, please be praying for us. Please pray for Though, you know, Christ talked about the workers are few, but the harvest is plentiful. And so be praying for young people in our community. And the other thing is, if it’s something that listeners are going, boy, I’d really love to be involved, but I don’t think I have the time to do some of that. You know, consider maybe a donation towards our ministry, because right now that helps fuel and allows us to be in front of young people. So again, you can go to YFCDenver.org and there’s a donate button there. And we’d love to have you as a partner and part of our team. And you’re an extension of what we’re able to do day in and day out.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ken, it’s always good to have you on. And I think you’ll echo this, is for our listeners who are probably in that fourth quarter too, a lot of them anyways, you’re not done. And you’re not done if you’re 60. You’re not done if you’re 70. You’re not done if you’re 50. You’re not done if you’re 80. Amen. I imagine you can plug them in if there’s a volunteer opportunity. They can pray huge to have that prayer covering, and they can give. We have folks that can give if they can help out.
SPEAKER 01 :
Absolutely, Mike, and we’d love that. And at no age, we’re never done. We keep walking with Jesus and keep being faithful, but there are young people out there that desperately would love to be able to see you face-to-face and in this relational ministry that we have the privilege of serving alongside young people. So I’d invite anybody to be a part of what God is doing in our midst.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. Man, use that wisdom. God gave you wisdom. So if you’re in that place, YFCDenver.org. Ken Allen, thanks for joining us, Ken.
