Faith and Spiritual Life: Teens deepen faith with late-night prayer sessions

Published 10:45 pm Friday, November 23, 2007

EVERETT — It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday — do you know where your kids are?

If they are members of NXL youth ministries, they might be at church.

The Christian Faith Center youth group has a special late-night service called “Midnight Mass” that meets once every two months. But don’t let the name fool you. ‘Midnight’ stands for how late the event goes and ‘Mass’ is for a combining of the CFC North and South youth groups for an evening of worship and intercessory prayer.

Intercessory prayer, or remote prayer, is the practice of people praying to God on behalf of others. Midnight Mass is, in effect, an evening devoted by youth to pray for their friends, families and schools.

Youth pastor Zac Gandara has seen the events deepen the spiritual lives of his youth group and explained how this special youth service works.

Q: What is Midnight Mass all about?

A: It’s meant to be reflective, meant for kids that really want press in or are hungry for the spiritual side of God and experiencing the presence of God.

We press in and pray hard for everyone.

Q: What is the setting like?

A: The room is darkened. it probably feels like a rock concert with all the lights off except for the stage. There are chairs in the room but the kids fill the front and worship. If you just came in during the middle, it would feel like a rock show. There is a microphone on stage and while the band plays, teens will come up and pray, and we pray with them.

Q: How do parents feel about the hours?

A: For some parents, it’s too late. And other parents complain, but when they see the passion and how their teenagers have been moved, then the parents are blessed. We just ask parents to see what the service is like before they make a judgment.

Q: What do the teens take away from this service?

A: I think they walk away feeling the presence of God that makes their faith more real, for living holy and living right. We preach to love God and love people, and, according to Jesus, that was his greatest commandment, so we are trying to create that fire.