Pray for Paradise

Tonight I got the opportunity to talk to Matt Gillander, a friend of mine since kindergarten (I think) who I've sort of lost touch with since high school graduation. We had a great conversation, and I was both encouraged and discouraged.

Encouraged, because Matt seems to really be following hard after the Lord more than I ever remember before, and he's excited to be going to Multnomah Bible College in Portland, OR next semester to double major in Bible and Youth Ministries. I really sense that the Lord has recently stirred up a passion in him to do ministry.

However, I was also discouraged to hear him talk about his read on the state of the churches in Paradise. From the youth ministry side of things, the Paradise Alliance Church is apparently the only church able to have a full-time youth pastor, and although they don't have any glaring doctrinal problems, the church (and the youth ministry especially) seems to him (and to me from my limited recent exposure) to be pretty shallow and focused more on getting warm bodies into the building than on preaching the truth of the gospel. Matt really doesn't think that many teenagers are getting the gospel fed to them much if at all through churches in Paradise. I think I sensed this vacuum in a limited sense when I was in high school, and I think its worse now. And from what I gather, the main preaching in most Paradise churches isn't that solid either.

What's cool though is that Matt at least seemed open to the possibility of returning to Paradise after getting some Bible training under his belt to help fill this gap. Maybe the Lord will send others as well. God will continue to work His will throughout the entire world, and even in this little unreached people group in Paradise, CA.