To Churches Across American and Canada
LETTER TO PASTOR
Dear Pastor,
Thank you for your interest and help in bringing the Save America's Youth team into your area. Save America's Youth is an outreach of Freedom Village USA/Canada, based in Lakemont, New York. Freedom Village is the largest Christian home for troubled teens in North America. Each member of the travel team has a story to tell of how they met Christ and how their life was transformed.
Through music and testimonies the Save America's Youth team members share openly with congregations large and small of the change that has taken place in their lives since coming to Freedom Village. Drug abuse, alcoholism, violence, crime, permissivness, attempted suicide, and many other problems led them down a path of self-destruction, yet after accepting Christ into their hearts, "…old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Their presentation is challenging and powerful, because it is real! We give God the glory and praise for His transforming power in these lives!
God is definitely opening the doors for the Save America's Youth teams to minister in more areas across the United States and Canada. It is no secret that traveling with ten to fifteen people week in and week out can get quite costly. With each church that we plan to visit, we simply ask that a free-will love offering be taken to help keep our ministry going. The church should consider a goal of at least $500. Quite often our group is invited to stay after a particular service for a covered dish meal provided by church members. This also helps us cut expenses for meals. We appreciate any help in this area. Thank you so much for your understanding in these financial matters.
In His Service,
Mrs. Sarah Cope
Executive Director
Save America's Youth
ph: 607-243-8126
Email: saveateenfv@yahoo.com
MISSION
PRESENTS
THE S. A. Y. TRAVEL TEAMS
You are looking at three groups of young people whose lives have been changed through the power of Jesus Christ, and are now using their talents and testimonies to be a witness for hurting people everywhere they go.
These groups have performed across the United States and Canada in churches, youth rallies, revival meetings, corporate events, private and public schools, as well as youth prisons and detention centers with one purpose; to let people know what God can do in a life.
From powerful songs of our freedom from sin, to moving ballads about the grace and mercy of God, these young people have a ministry that encourages people of all ages to whole-heartedly follow Christ.
We have selected these young people to share their lives with you from our Save America's Youth team. These are just an example of the powerful stories experienced at a Save America's Youth presentation.
LOOK WHO’S TALKING!
Jeannette- Feeling the effects of violence and divorce at home, I grew into a very rebellious and permissive young girl. Having been thrown out of several different schools, I began to live a very permissive life filled with drugs, alcohol and unhealthy relationships. I found myself pregnant at the age of 16; faced with the only option I thought I had…abortion. I became the person I said I would never be! After leaving home, I had no life! I had come to “the end of myself” and decided to come to Freedom Village. Here I found God’s forgiveness and salvation. I am now married to a wonderful Christian man who is an alumni of Freedom Village and have a beautiful daughter who God has blessed us with. I now travel with the Victory Singers and Precious In His Sight. Most of all, I have found life in Christ.
Brian- I was brought up in a good Christian home, but when I was 13 years old my parents separated very unexpectedly. I took it pretty hard because I never saw it coming. I began acting up in school, and started smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol in middle school. To make a long story short my drug habit progressed to a $100 a day heroin addiction! I soon found myself in many rehabs. I had lost control of my life to drugs, and had hit rock bottom. I finally admitted myself into a hospital and went through the most painful five days of my life. Coming off a $100 a day heroin addiction was like being hit by a truck! I began to cry thinking my life was over, but through my tears I saw a tract lying on the porch. I read it and finally realized I could only change my life through Jesus Christ. I came to Freedom Village soon after and my life has changed completely. I praise God for giving me a second chance at life. I will serve Him till the day I die.
Joe- I was a homeless, hopeless drug addict who couldn’t hold a job. I listened to heavy metal music, had tattoos and body piercing all over my body, and you can imagine what I dressed like. I was a very bitter and angry boy. These feelings were mainly because I never had a father, and I took my pain out on everyone else. That all changed though when I came to Freedom Village and met Jesus Christ. He brought me out of the pit I was once in and set my feet upon a solid rock. Now after a life of pain and suffering, I can go through life with a smile on my face knowing that when I die, I am going to heaven to be with my heavenly father, Jesus, the one who saved me!
Kellie- As a “church kid” growing up I never thought that my life would end up in shambles. I had everything a child could dream of having, but the “strict” rules, or so I thought, that were placed upon me only made me feel locked up with out a key. I thought I knew all there was to know about God and still the hatred that I had inside me was so intense I could not bear it. I turned to suicide, depression, anorexia, drugs, rock music, and Satanism all in search of an answer. You might be asking the question “How could a church kid end up like that?” The truth is that all over America and Canada “church kids” are not finding the answers in church, so they look elsewhere. My message to church kids that it can happen to you. If you go to church that won’t get you to Heaven, know Him in your heart and let Him have your life.
Sheena- My life started with a pretty bad beginning. Both of my parents were drug addicts, so I grew up in a crack house until I was four years old. At that time I was abandoned and placed with an abusive aunt and uncle. I grew up in this home until the age of thirteen. During those years I was also being sexually abused. I grew very angry and depressed so I began abusing drugs at ten years old. I also became sexually active and had an eating disorder because of my low self-esteem. The abuse grew as I got older and at thirteen years old I tried to commit suicide. But God saved my life and took me out of that situation. I was placed with a Christian family, but I rebelled against them and God. At the age of fifteen it caught up with me, I had nowhere to live and nowhere to turn. I came to Freedom Village with a very hard heart, but five months later God softened that heart of stone with His love and I gave my broken life to God. He has given me more than I could ever dream of. I now travel and share my story with other hurting kids out there just like me who need to know there is hope and it can only come from Jesus Christ!
Recommendations
CHICHESTER, P.A.
(Chichester United Wesleyan Church)
To any interested church:
"The Sounds of Freedom", a singing group representing Freedom Village, gave a beautiful concert at our church. Their impact was not just because of good sound, harmony and blend-but they really ministered in powerful ways to our congregation. The testimonies really affected our people, after all they had been through-with their faces and wonderful spirit. Everything they said or did reflected Jesus Christ.
All age groups of people in our church were tremendously affected. Our church teens were challenged to live their lives for Jesus. Our church family has been through a lot of difficult experiences in the last five years, but God used this group, as part of a healing process for us. It gave us hope, encouragement of what God can do in our lives out of difficult circumstances, by seeing and hearing what God did in their lives.
We(the congregation and myself)have compiled several interesting thoughts about the young people who testified. I believe, they can be a help to your parents, grandparents, teen leaders, and children's workers.
Yours In Christ
AKRON, O.H.
(Akron Bible Church)
I would personally like to thank you for having your singing group from Freedom Village visit our church.We were so blessed to hear how God changed the lives of these teenagers so they can testify and make a difference in the lives of others. The testimonies were perfectly interwoven throughout the performance so that the program was spirit-filled, well-balanced, and had great cntinuity.
I would recommend this group to anyone who wanted to motivate their assembly to grow deeper in their walk with the Lord, because that is the affect this group had on our congregation. Their stories touched so many hearts, and decisions were made that night from young and old to come to Christ.
If your group from Freedom Village is ever in the Akron area again, we would love to have them back. Please keep us posted on your tours. We hope to see you again soon.
In His Service
PENNSBURG, P.A.
(Lighthouse Ministries)
Dear Friends:
What a privilege it was to host one of the ministry teams of Freedom Village U.S.A. It was refreshing to see a team with a passionate heart for God, and not just another entertaining group seeking to be supported for their own gain.
Salvation and discipleship were supreme."New Life Singers" is a name that they truly lived up to.Each testimony left an impact on all of us. They spoke with such conviction and power! One thing that really impressed me was that they never blamed their difficulties in the past on anybody but themselves. They assumed complete responsibility for the decisions they made. Living in a world where blaming others is the norm, it is encouraging to have young people who know where their problems have come from and where their true hope is found.
Freedom Village, I believe, not only helps to change broken lives with the hope of salvation and eternal life, but also disciplines and to serve others.
If you know a troubled teen or have a troubled child of your own, I recommend that you would give Freedom Village an opportunity to help steer this loved one in a direction that will change their life forever, and, in turn, change yours. And, if your church is seeking a guest ministry, I know you will be as pleased and blessed as our church was in hosting a team from Freedom Village.
In Christian Love
STATEMENT OF FAITH
We believe that the Bible is the inspired and only infallible and authoritative written Word of God.
We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons:God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
We believe in the diety of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in his sinless life, in his miracles, in His substitutionary death, burial and resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His personal future return to this earth in power and glory to rule a thousand years.
We believe in the Blessed Hope--the rapture of the Church at Christ's coming.
We believe that the only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the precious blood of Christ.
We believe that regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for personal salvation.
We believe that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer will holy, righteous living, not an "experience." The Holy Spirit indwelling a believer will be evidenced by a presence of gifts of the Spirit, as outlined in Galatians 5:22,23.These gifts include: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Also present will be God's power as outlined in I Corinthians 2:1-5.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, one to everlasting life, the other to everlasting damnation.
Sample Music Selection
VIDEO TOUR
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