Sowing Into a Younger Generation
   by Shawn Bolz

Through many of my writings I have written numerous articles involving the younger generation. I am not considered a youth leader or young adult minister. However, the Lord has often encountered me as an "older" one of the younger generation who has grown up with purpose and destiny as part of Joel's army.

Our ministry loves and is called to equip people of all age groups. We as an entire generation are about to enter one of the greatest spiritual purposes in history.

Theresa Lea, a good friend of ours and a powerfully anointed prophetic person, has often said, "We must see each other at the end of the race holding a trophy."

Bob Jones, one of our mentors and friends goes so far as to say that his ceiling must become our floor. That is the mentality of our training, to allow people to walk on our experience, not come up under it.

While at a wonderful conference held by Frontline Worship Center in Alberta Canada, this phrase took on significant meaning. During a session conducted by Heidi Baker, I went into a spiritual trance that transitioned into an open vision.

The vision revealed many young people on the earth right now. I saw that God had made an investment into them and that it was time to harvest this investment; it was a fullness of time moment. The revelation seemed to emphasize people who were young adults, though every age group will be vital in God's plan.

As I observed this future army there was not much about them that seemed compelling. Suddenly the Holy Spirit began to hover over them and my eyes were opened to see them from God's perspective.

The young people in front of me were transformed as though they were at the end of their lives having finished their race as champions; each one was holding the victors trophy. It was amazing because as I looked at each one of them my spiritual eyes were opened to see the fullness of what was available to them. I could see their opportunities for greatness and the ability offered them to find Jesus in a way that was rare and awesome.

Eyes of Eternity
"This is how I see them." The Holy Spirit said to me. "I see them at the end of their race with the trophy in hand." I remembered Theresa's voice saying these same words.

I looked again and I saw them normal; the glory had faded. They were in the same condition as when the vision started; they were not visibly special. They were no longer in their fullness as I had seen them spiritually. They were just irresponsible young people that seemed more self absorbed than any generation before.

"What do you see in front of you?" The Lord asked. "I don't want to tell You; I liked what I saw a moment ago when they had their
trophies and crowns," I responded.

The Lord then said, "That is how I always see them. I want to invite you to see them in their fullness, at the end of the race, fully rewarded for their "Yes" to me. If you see them this way with My eyes then you will treat them this way. If you treat them this way, then they can rise up to the occasion to run the race of life as overcomers. They will rise up and live after the spiritual truth that you awaken and invite them to."

The Lord then revealed John in the book of Revelation chapters 2-3 when He spoke to him about the seven churches. Jesus was very honest with their weakness but invited them into His fullness. He promised them many things based on His expectation that they would desire to say "yes" to His Spirit who would empower them to "overcome." The key is that He didn't hope they would, He knew already the ones whose desire was for Him. To them He imparted the virtue to overcome.

John's Great Revelation of the Fully Prepared Bride
I then saw John in Revelation 19 as he was given the vision of the radiant bride who had embraced the righteousness of Christ. Obviously the whole bride of Christ is not yet perfected, but John saw her as though she was. It was the most sacred thing that John saw besides Jesus Himself.

Because of this, John was able to love those that God loved on earth in a supernatural way because he saw them in the Lord's perfection. He saw her at the end of the race fully prepared as a bride to meet her Bridegroom and say "YES" with all her heart.

This is the same principle that God desires that we use in looking at the younger generation. Not necessarily who they now are but who they can be. Many people are aware of their calling to invest into the younger generation but oftentimes do not know how. I challenge you to see them with the eyes of heaven from God's perspective in eternity. This will cause you to help them go higher toward their eternal destiny; not just treat them based on their current level of maturity (or lack there of).

God is calling forth a generation that will advance in a Kingdom way. A paraphrased definition of growth in Kingdom principles involves maturing at an escalated pace. The speed of eternity is even faster than the speed of light. What takes 20 years for previous generations to learn becomes common for a Kingdom generation to gain in only one year. Peter understood this principle in
2 Peter 3:8.

Expression58 Internships
In light of these revelations, we wanted to honor the vision by investing into the younger generation of leaders. They are the ones that may not even know what they are called to, but can feel the serious tug of eternity upon their destiny.

I oversee Expression58 internship programs in fulfillment of a vision that the Lord birthed in me to train young people. It is designed for the ages 17 to 25 (sometimes a little younger or older are included).

The disciples who were on the road to Emmaus didn't initially know it was Jesus who was with them causing their hearts to burn within them, but when they found out they were never the same. They always had anticipation of encountering Him again in real ways and they never felt alone or without direction again. They maintained a place of conviction built both by the Word and their spiritual experience.

I believe this story is a parable of what God is doing in this generation. He is causing hearts to burn within us, and then revealing Himself to us. We want to encounter Jesus together this way and discover all the burning passions that He has inspired us with.

In this internship the young people live together, eat together and press into worship and intercession together; they will travel on ministry trips with Expression58 teams and participate as part of the ministry team; get exposed to some serious mothers and fathers of the faith who also burn with passion; and basically see God in themselves in a way that will cause them to never look at anything but Heaven as a goal.