The people who are saying the youth movement in the church is dead haven’t listened to 12-year-old Jonathan Williams preach on love.
In a recent sermon at Consuming Fire Ministries in Champaign, Illinois, the pre-teen son of pastors Tony and Ryane Williams delivered a rousing sermon on John 15:12, which reads, “My command is this. Love each other as I have loved you.”
Wednesday is the first day of the celebration of Black History Month. And what a better way to kick it off than for a fiery, young African-American youth to talk about God’s love for us in this amazing video.
“Praise the Lord, everybody,” Williams greeted the congregation prior to his very first sermon. “Can we get some hands clapping for the Lord?
“What is love? Love is an emotion that keeps people bound and committed to one another. If they love each other, they are committed to each other.
“The reason we love is to please God. When we please God, He loves us back. … If you don’t think that God loves you, you must be out of your mind. He sent His own son, Jesus, to die for us.”
Ryane Williams says that, at age five, her son sat his parents down and told them that “God had called him to be a pastor and to preach.” Since that time, he has been consuming the Bible and preparing himself to do just that.
“When he said that, I asked him the question—and he’s very intelligent—’how do you know God has called you to preach?’ He said, “Mom, I feel it in my heart.’ And still today he aspires to be a pastor. So, hopefully we’ll hand it down to him.”
Tony and Ryane Williams were both brought up in the Church of God in Christ, and they planted a Pentecostal church in Tennessee 15 years ago. In 2016, the Williams’ moved to Champaign and founded Consuming Fire Ministries, a non-denominational church.
“We believe in the five-fold gifting’s, and we have a Pentecostal-Apostolic feel to our services,” Ryane explained, and that the growing church of 60 members leans heavily upon the movement of the Holy Spirit.
She says that she is very proud of Jonathan and the path he has taken, and that he has clung to God’s Word to lead his life.
“As adults we tend to overlook the children,” Ryane said. “But God can move through anyone. He allows his spirit to move. Our youth department definitely growing, and now we are looking for another building because we have so many youth and teenagers. They are excited about what God is doing.” {eoa}
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Shawn A. Akers is the online editor at Charisma Media.
