Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - May 2010 Prayer Update

Dear Friend,

It's easy to get numb to all the statistics. Not this one.

In this country, every 100 minutes, a teenager ends his own life.

Dead before he or she has really lived. By their own hand. But that's only the leading indicator of a lot of life-destroying stuff. This young generation has so much hurt so soon. So much divorce and abuse and abandonment. So much cruelty from their peers and wounding from those they love.

These teenagers are making so many mistakes so soon. You can mess up your whole life by the time you're 13. They're choosing to handle the hurt by seeking relief with a bottle, a drug - or a rope. Or living on the edge with a ticking time bomb of anger.

So much hurt. So many mistakes. They so need Jesus. Sometimes it hits very close to home - when it's a teenager you love, or some of their friends.

The young people of this generation never have known less about Jesus. They've never been so far from Him. They're "loster" than they've ever been. But Jesus remains their only true hope.

And they're finding Him - in the same place they've found so much of the darkness that's poisoned their hearts. They're finding Him on the Internet. That's where they go to find laughs, to find music, to find friends, even to find love. The junk is there. But Jesus is there!

Praise God, because of partners like you, we are seeking and saving lost young people every day at the youth rescue website you're helping make possible. At TheDougAndJonshow.com, they're finding laughs ... then straight talk on their life issues ... and then the Savior. Like these visitors to the site:

"Watching one of your videos made me reminisce back to the 15 or so times I've actually tried to take my life ... I'm 15 but I've just always struggled with depression ... I know God has a purpose and a plan for my life: that's why he wouldn't let me take it. Next time I go through something devastating, I know this website can lift my spirit."

"Hey Doug and Jon. I sent the video of you talking about your relationship with Jesus to 4 of my friends and 3 out of 4 of them have become Christians and have been going to church with me! Thank you for what you are doing!"

This youth website is a new weapon in our battle for this generation. But fighting this battle is nothing new for RHM. I've been in this battle since I was 20 years old - and I'm still on the battlefield today. In a few weeks, my son Brad and I will be traveling with a team of Spiritual warriors - all North American Native young people - to the desperate young people on ten or more reservations.

Our On Eagles' Wings team will be fighting for lives on this most neglected front in the battle for a generation. As they share their Hope Stories of how Jesus saved their life and their soul, they will be listened to by some of the hardest-to-reach young people on the continent. If it's like every other Summer of Hope, hundreds of Native young people will give their hearts to Jesus. Hard-fought victories where, over the centuries, there have been so few.

This battle for a generation, whether by Internet or face-to-face, is really a race against time. Their hearts turn hard so soon. If you go to a high school graduation this spring, there's a sobering fact to keep in mind. Seventy-five percent of those who ever come to Christ do it by the age of 18. If they walk across that graduation stage without Christ in their heart, they will probably live and die and spend eternity without Him. If we haven't reached them by then, they may never be reached.

Every gift you send to RHM is ammunition for the battle for a generation. Every prayer you offer for the RHM Team helps another young person come home to Jesus. We really need you. They really need you. With the giving slowdown of the early months of 2010, the financial gap is having a growing impact on our ability to fight unhindered. The gift from your hand frees our hands to reach for the hands of lost teenagers.

We are so honored that you trust us to fight this battle on Christ's behalf and on your behalf. We're so excited about the history-making breakthroughs on the Internet and on hurting reservations. Please join us in praying earnestly for a financial breakthrough to match the victories on the frontlines.

So many of us join David, the man after God's own heart, in this declaration: "Since my youth, O God, you have taught me ... Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare Your power to the next generation" (Psalm 71:17-18 ). The life-taker has taken too many. It's time they met the Life-Giver!

Serving the Hope of the next generation,

Ron Hutchcraft