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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
YOU TH DOES IT ByHüben m m
Scenes from Saturday Night Youth Jubilee in the Church of the Open Door. Photographs courtesy of The Los Angeles Examiner.
Y OUTH for Christ" started at Times Square, New York City. The spark was kindled by a young in surance salesman with a first Saturday night youth gathering. The group met in the Gospel Taber nacle located a short distance from the Stage Door Can teen and Times Square. The building was packed to capacity every Saturday night, and at present the meet ings are being held in Carnegie Hall. Last year Madison Square Garden was filled on two occasions. The long arm of radio pulled in the youth from the metropolitan area. Soon young people’s leaders in St. Louis, Wash ington, Chicago, Minneapolis and other cities caught the fire. Last Memorial Day, over 65,000 young people gath ered in the great Soldier Field Stadium in Chicago and, under the leadership of Torrey Johnson, sang the praises of God and listened to the preaching of His Word. The Work Begins in Los Angeles In Los Angeles, California, a group of young fellows had been praying for some time for a mighty work of Christ in the hearts of youth. Upon my return from New York in the fall of 1944, I presented the challenge to our local men. God united us in prayer and purpose, and we launched the Saturday Night Jubilee in the Church of the Open Door auditorium on the night of January 6. For six months, the youth of Los Angeles has been attend ing this meeting. The crowd averages about three thou sand young people each Saturday. We are convinced that the old time Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most potent weapon we can wield against juvenile delinquency. When young people lose their respect for God and Christ, they lose their respect for mankind. The Saturday Night Jubilee programs are geared to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of youth. Young folk who really believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour are given an opportunity to express their beliefs and con victions. In this way, they ar>^ strengthened and en couraged to keep their banners flying high. The singing
of Christian hymns and Gospel songs unite their hearts in a common cause. Quizzes salt and pepper the program and keep it savory. The speakers talk for fifteen or twenty minutes and the youngsters like it. Boys and girls from out of town come in Saturday to do their shopping and sight seeing. Not wishing to go home after the stores close, they go with their buddies to the Jubilee for a whole some Saturday night “round-up.” The World-Wide Challenge We have endeavored to keep the program Christ- centered. The challenge to world-wide evangelism has been kept continuously before the young people. The Los Angeles rally was born in prayer, and there is a great longing in the hearts of the leaders that from the in fluence of these meetings, thousands of young people may be led to prepare themselves for missionary service. The armed forces of the government have taken our best men. Some of them will never come back. Many of them will return, and, when they do, they are going to ask a lot of questions. One of them will be this: “What is the great goal of the Church?” If the goal of the Church is world evangelization, then these men will desire to in vest their lives and talents for this great objective. Older men can shepherd our churches in America and keep the people together. The strong and aggressive younger men should devote themselves to the maximum task. Youth will perish without a vision. The missionary vision is what they need today. Our purpose is not to create a new agency, but to help and encourage every other existing agency in pro moting a Gospel program for our youth. If we do not reach our youth now with the all-sufficient message of Christ, the elements of violence and sin will bring a blight on civilization in the next generation. We do not emphasize any particular church, creed or denomination. We have a firm faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son ( Continued on Page 333)
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