Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

by Ebony Leito, Joshua Luzbet, Pedro Perez
IMPACT Miami, the summer initiative of the Florida Conference Youth Ministries department, was based out of Greater Miami Adventist Academy (GMAA) during the week of June 22-29. The goal of this week was to train a group of nearly 50 young people (mostly teens) in different ministries, equip them with the supplies needed to do the ministry, and then deploy them to go and do that ministry.
During the week, young people were trained in sidewalk ministry, children’s ministry, cardboard ministry, health ministry, hospital ministry, door-to-door ministry, video ministry, and more. In addition, they befriended the homeless and served in pregnancy centers, food banks, and orphanages.
“From day one, God showed this group of young teens what His work is,” says Joshua Luzbet from Cocoa Church. “Some examples of His work were sending us through the mall to pray with people we haven’t met or volunteering at an organization dedicated to helping young pregnant teens.”
Those present experienced an outpouring of God’s Spirit manifested through confession, discovering spiritual gifts, and making a renewed (or new) commitment to serve God daily. “I believe this experience has been more of a blessing for me than for the people we helped,” says GMAA student Ebony Leito. “I believe I touched many lives with my testimony, and I hope to keep doing that.”
The week of activities concluded with two Live with Hope Festivals—one at Miami Springs Church and the other at the Miami Beach bandshell. Students led a CREATION Health Expo, prayer booths, literature distribution, fun activities and games for kids, puppet shows, and face painting.
The purpose of this event was to help the people of Miami Live with Hope and provide opportunities for our young people to experience what it looks like to live a Life on Fire for God by serving Him, reaching out to their communities, and investing their talents in their local churches.
We pray that the skills these students learned and practiced will inspire them to start ministries in their home churches and invite other young people to join them in their ministries.
During IMPACT Miami, we saw the dream come a little closer to reality—an army of young people, trained, equipped, and deployed to IMPACT others and grow God’s Kingdom here in Florida. Join us in June 2015 for Youth IMPACT Fort Lauderdale/Live with Hope.