After Jamal Franklyn, Allegheny West Conference (AWC) Youth and Young Adult Ministries director, described the North American Division’s division-wide evangelistic focus, Pentecost 2025, young adult Shawanda Don challenged him to include children and youth. Franklyn said he reflected on Acts 2 and Seventh-day Adventist pioneer Ellen G. White’s counsel on young people as witnesses, concluding that “true Pentecost involves children and youth.”

Franklyn said he “ran across the office” to share the idea with AWC Children’s Ministries director Tanya Muganda. The result was Pentecost Kids and Youth Pentecost, launched under the theme “Rescue+ Ohio”—a multilingual, multicultural youth evangelism initiative built around the message, “Jesus rescued us, and now we live to rescue others.”

Partnership and training support

Planning began in fall 2024 with support from AWC administration, which chose to forego camp meeting and reallocate funds to Reach+ Ohio. Organizers partnered with Adventist Laymen’s Services and Beyond (ASI) Mission 2000 & Beyond, an Inter-American Division children and youth evangelism training program.

According to Franklyn, the ASI training team, made up of children, youth, and young adults, supported local outreach during the day and evangelistic meetings at night, while also providing sermon materials and preaching instruction. He said young speakers delivered messages on “law, grace, the Sabbath, judgment, and the second coming,” and noted that “no one could say they didn’t understand, because it was coming from [young people] in their language.”

“It was exciting to see God work through our kids and youth,” Muganda said. “The kids felt like they belonged in a way they’ve never seen or experienced.”

Two-week structure across churches and communities

The initiative ran July 19 to August 2, 2025, combining community service with children’s and youth-focused evangelism.

The first week included simultaneous meetings hosted by seven Columbus churches in English, French, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese. The week culminated with a Festival of Missions at the Luso Brazilian Seventh-day Adventist Church on Saturday (Sabbath) afternoon, which organizers described as a shared celebration of culture and worship. The festival included a baptism, and organizers reported that 30 additional baptisms took place that Sabbath, including 12 Pathfinders from the Philadelphie Church.

Week two centralized the series at Beacon of Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church, where members distributed free backpacks, groceries, food cards, and gas vouchers.

Franklyn highlighted youth and young adult testimonies and organized intercessory prayer as key elements of the week. Organizers reported 20 more baptisms during the second week, including Kiseki Copeland, then seven, who preached on Sabbath and was among children baptized during the initiative.

Children’s programming runs alongside youth series

Under Muganda’s leadership, AWC Children’s Ministries hosted a conference-wide Pentecost Kids Vacation Bible School based on the “Mountain of Miracles” curriculum, which focused on the prophet Elijah. Running concurrently with Youth Pentecost, VBS was held at Philadephie Church week one and at Beacon of Light week two.

Attendance rose from 30 to 40 nightly in the first week to more than 60 the following week, including repeat attendees. The ratio of community and church participants was roughly 50/50, with overall participation higher than AWC has typically experienced.

During VBS, attendees learned about God through activities including crafts, snacks, and games. “They were reminded through Isaiah 41:10, that God’s love is rock solid, He is always with you, and He provides,” said Muganda.

“A lot of kids started telling me, ‘I want to get baptized. I’m so encouraged by this.’ The Holy Spirit had a way of speaking to them during our VBS,” she said. “It inspired me, not only as a leader but [also] as an individual who loves these children and wants to see [them] saved, to see how excited they were.”

Both Pentecost Kids and Youth Pentecost drew entire families, including parents, grandparents, and extended family, to the youth evangelistic series. Pentecost Kids also served as a hands-on VBS training for local church leaders.

Ongoing Rescue+ Disciple-Making Initiative

The effort resulted in 51 baptisms and helped launch a growing culture of children’s and youth evangelism. Evidence of this growth was the transformation of AWC children, youth, and young adults who served in leadership roles. They led out in every aspect of ministry, from preaching to audio-visual operations to program logistics. As they contributed their gifts, many were moved to get baptized.

Moreover, Rescue+ Ohio affirmed young leaders in their calling. For instance, Shawanda Don, whose query started the effort, served as the series’ production manager. She coordinated program run-throughs, schedules, giveaways, and other logistics, ensuring that everything ran smoothly and on time.

Judy Beauvais, youth leader for the Columbus Central Church and evangelist for Youth Pentecost, noted, “Preaching gave me the opportunity to sharpen my skills and helped me grow in confidence.”

Reflecting on the initiative, Franklyn was clear that the success of Pentecost Kids and Youth Pentecost was a credit to the young people involved.

“There needs to be a culture shift in our leadership. Youth need to be at the table, not just informed of a decision, not just handed a promotional flyer for an event meant for them, but not planned by them,” he concluded.

Building upon the positive impact of Rescue+ Ohio, plans are underway for a Youth Pentecost and Pentecost Kids initiative in 2026. This program will showcase the young adults’ creative gifts and feature presentations and training on mental health. AWC leadership has committed to continuing with dedicated child and youth evangelism in Cincinnati (2027), Virginia (2028), and Pittsburgh (2029).

AWC leaders hope the initiative will serve as an example of how the church expands when young people are trusted to lead.

The original article was published on the North American Division news site.