The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of the great controversy between good and evil:

“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:12)

God lifts the curtain and gives us the perspective of the other side. The devil has “great wrath.” It’s not that he’s a bit upset. The Greek word for wrath means “passion, as if breathing hard.” He’s in a state of panic, a state of passionate anger.

But why?

The answer is right in the text: “because he knows that he has a short time.” So there it is. It’s a time factor. Satan is well aware of the times in which we live. He’s familiar with the news. In fact, the effects of his work is what too often makes the news. He’s acquainted with the prophecies that are being fulfilled. So his reaction is appropriate. Is he more convinced …
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I live fifteen minutes from the highway to hell.

I’m talking about Interstate 5. Many of us know it simply as “I-5,” or the Pacific Highway. It runs like a vein up and down the west coast connecting Seattle and Los Angeles. That stretch yields some beautiful scenery. But it’s also a major hub for one of the most wicked evils imaginable: sex trafficking.

As a global enterprise, it’s the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and the fastest growing.

Approximately 80 percent of victims are girls and women, and up to 50 percent are minors.

The total revenue for human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion.

Today there are 28 million slaves in the world. That’s more than any other time in history. More than the entire 400-year course of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Something deep within wants to cry out for justice. Somehow, someway.

But all this sounds like the kind of stuff that happens in India or Africa or Southeast Asia. Not fifteen minutes from my house. But the reality is …
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In order that the work may go forward in all its branches, God calls for youthful vigor, zeal and courage. He has chosen the youth to aid in the advancement of His cause. To plan with clear mind and execute with courageous hand demands fresh, uncrippled energies. . . that through the exercise of their powers, through keen thought and vigorous action, they may bring glory to Him and salvation to their fellow-men – Gospel Workers, p. 67.

I’ve had an unshakable burden for Europe for over a decade now. I’ve just never been able to accept the sad and ironic reality that the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation is now so tragically spiritually dormant. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Europe is not exempt from the desperate need for revival. The church in France, I would say, is high on the “needy” list.

Thankfully, God is privy to this need. Though few in number, there is a new wave of on fire Adventist young people there, and they are beginning to make some noise. A group of nine young adults …
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I thought I was excited about Jesus. I thought I was in love with the Gospel. I thought I was passionate about the Word. But then I preached my first sermon to a room packed with 400 young people from all over Nepal, India and even Tibet.

It was the Nepali Youth for Christ Convention. This was truly an historical event—the very first nationwide gathering of Adventist youth in the history of the region.

Some of these young people traveled two days by foot to hear the preaching of the Word. Some sat on the floors of crammed, stinky buses which rattled through pitted, rutted gravel roads for two days to attend these meetings.

A visit to the accommodations was in order. Attendees slept on cement floors with a thin mat and a blanket. Let’s just say it was a bit different than the Marriott and Hilton that most of us are used to at our various conventions. But that’s how they roll in Nepal. They were hungry. Not for food, but for God. They came for …
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If you would’ve asked me a few months ago to point to Nepal on a map, I would’ve been in trouble. The fact is that though I’ve spent the last 10 years traveling to different countries, Asia has remained a great mystery to me; basically, uncharted territory.

But that was about to change. I was at a convention earlier this year when an eighteen year old foreign student approached me and asked, “Would you be open to accepting a preaching invitation to Nepal?” I wanted to discreetly locate it on Google Maps with my iPhone.

Not long thereafter, my plane landed in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. I had no idea what I was in for. I was about to get a taste of an entirely different world––like going to an unknown planet to live in some unknown time.

No, seriously. When you step out of that airplane you’re in another time. They’re on the Bikram Sambat calendar and the current year is 2068. No wonder I was confused when I saw this sign:

Up until three years ago, …
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Two weeks ago I finally made it back up to Canada. It’s been almost three years since the day I crossed the border to get back home into the US, California bound. That was after five years of ministry up in sunny (not!) Vancouver. I still remember flying down Highway I-5 South with a grin, drooling and not looking back (no offense Canadians)!

But anyways, I felt privileged to be invited by an Adventist university group to give some presentations at the University of Western Ontario, which is about two hours from Toronto.

It’s a very secular university with some 30,000 students. So anything goes. Which was to our advantage. But also a challenge. The meetings were held in an open roofed entrance hall right in the center of the action. As we were doing sound check, several hockey teams came marching in shouting strange things, in some sort of ancient Canadian ritual processional, or something. I’m thinking to myself, “Is this what I’m up against during my entire presentation?”

And to make matters even more exciting, there was …
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So I have a new church on my ‘favorites’ list. It’s the  Church of the Advent Hope in New York City. I’m still savoring the blessings from my visit in early March. The church meets at a nice little building in Manhattan’s Upper East Side about two blocks from Central Park. If that sounds yuppie, it’s because it is. Some big shot people have called this neighborhood home. People you might’ve heard of—Lady Gaga, Spike Lee, Madonna, Ralph Lauren, and Rudy Giuliani to name a few.

The weekend was scheduled for three presentations on spiritual revival and growth. I was told that it would be a church with a young adult atmosphere, but it was better than I expected. On Sabbath morning, the three hundred people present were almost all young adults in their 20s and 30s. Now, I normally preach to young adults. It’s an integral part of my ministry. But when I preach to several hundred of them it’s usually at a convention or special weekend of some sort where young people have gathered from surrounding churches.

But there I was …
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Recently I stumbled across some disturbing statistics that confirmed a gnawing suspicion that had been brewing in my mind. I believe that my generation of Adventists is increasingly an endangered species:

There’s a 50 percent chance that a teenager who gets baptized in his or her mid-teens will leave the Adventist Church completely by the time he or she is 25.1

One in every five Adventist churches in North America doesn’t have a single child, teenager, or young adult. In fact, the median age in our churches is nearly 60—20 years older than the average American.2

According to a survey, seven in 10 youth (ages 18-30) who attended church regularly in high school reported that they stopped attending by age 23. Of that group, 34 percent said they never returned to church, even occasionally, by the age of 30. Translation: 1 in 4 protestant youth have left the church for good.3

Added to this, consider the results of various Barna Research Group polls showing that this generation of youth and young adults (including Adventists) reads the Bible less than previous …
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For several months now, the North England Conference had been planning a weekend retreat for young people in a beautiful country side location just over the border in Wales. The purpose was to present methods for in-depth Bible study and the impact that the Bible can have on our lives. The organizers monitored the slow applications for weeks and eventually realized that the youth were having difficulty with the related costs of the weekend. With the scheduled date quickly approaching, they had to think quick. Should they return to the drawing board? Should they cancel? Something had to be done. Refusing to cancel and accept defeat, they decided on a quick change of plans.

Instead of having the young people come out to Wales, they decided to bring it to them. The new  location was the city of Wolverhampton, just outside of Birmingham (2nd largest city in England after London). Down to just a few days before the weekend, they had just one shot to get the word out: FACEBOOK!

After hopeful prayers, the answer …
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Recently, I returned from Baltimore, Maryland where I attended the Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) convention. About 7,000 people traveling from 42 countries around the world came together for this power-packed long weekend. They attended plenary meetings and chose from some 43 different seminars! The seminar topics ranged from evangelism, personal spirituality, prophecy, practical godliness, theology, Christian philosophy and more.

On Friday afternoon I presented a workshop on the importance of giving Bible studies. That topic is close and personal to me. It hits home. I recounted relevant moments from my own spiritual journey and told the story of my initial encounter with the God of Scripture. You see, I came into this movement the old school way–– straight up Bible studies! And sure, it was encouraging to see many attendees come out and express interest in a subject so close to my heart. But as I was teaching, I found myself asking, “Does anyone here really resonate with this? Has anyone in this room had a similar experience?” Just then, I looked out into the room of hundreds and …
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