Click here to view image gallery

His eyes scan over the words, though he has quoted them more times than he can count. A few rows ahead of him, a girl pulls out her music and pumps her fingers up and down as her mind plays through the notes it has heard time and again. Around them, people gather, waiting for the opening session to begin. In less than an hour, these competitors and others will meet with the judges for final instructions. Then each will take his or her turn to be critiqued by a panel of judges.

On the surface, this talent competition appears to be a repeat of all-state band tryouts or the final speech meet. But underneath the similarly ordered schedule, score sheets, and trophies lies a different purpose-a desire to assist Christian young people in ministry by providing opportunities to serve God, suggestions for improvement by field experts, and scholarships at participating Baptist colleges and universities.

Some teens in the Talents for Christ competition [TFC] speak, sing, write, or play instruments. Others teach Bible stories or take a Scripture knowledge test. Those who place first or second on the state or regional level of competition have the opportunity to compete with winners from other states at the national level, which awards larger scholarships.

Before the Talents for Christ finals, twelve winners at the state level in Iowa took the opportunity to travel around their state for a week, as a group, to exercise their talents at different churches. The week of experience of performing music or speaking in front of people would allow them to improve the presentations that they would take to the national competition, just days away. But more importantly, it would provide an opportunity for the teens to use their talents to minister to those who came to hear.

The Iowa tour began on a Saturday, with everyone clustered in the parking lot of a church in Des Moines, trying to match each other's faces and personalities to the list of names they'd received in the e-mails along with tour details and instructions. Their van ride from Des Moines to Waterloo provided several hours for everyone to get to know one another.

Once the bus reached the church in Waterloo, Iowa Youth Representative Dave Peters gathered everyone in the empty auditorium to focus the group's members on the purpose of their tour. "We need to put aside any thoughts we might have of competition, and work together. . . . I hope you improve in your area of competition, but that isn't my goal. After all, I don't have the knowledge to help Jessica improve on her flute, or Jennifer in piano. My goal is to teach you something about ministry."

The teens scattered, each with a task to complete or a song to practice in preparation for the next day. Then the group of five instrumentalists, three vocalists, two Scripture memorizers, one public speaker, and one writer converged on the platform steps to practice the choral reading that would open the service.

After Sunday School, the morning service, and lunch at the church, the tour members gathered at the Peters' house to catch their breath before they traveled to the next church on the tour, where they would present their program again that evening.

By Monday, with two concerts completed, the group could spend some time away from practicing. They visited a local photographer to have their pictures taken and spent time at a park sharing about their lives and playing games.

When it came time to prepare for the evening's concert, no one expected Pastor Dave's announcement: "Yesterday's concerts lacked something. I'm not saying that everyone didn't do a good job playing or whatever your ability is. But God isn't as interested in what we can do as He is [in] how we do it. You can play your piece, and leave it at that, or you can play from the heart, desiring to please God. It's up to you-what will tonight's concert be like? What impression do you want to leave with people? Will they be talking about God, or about the TFC group?"

As the teens sang through the theme song before dinner, a new passion poured through their voices-tonight's concert would be different. In the minutes before the program began, heads bowed for moments of prayerful preparation for the service to follow. By the end of the night, the teens knew that their presentation had improved-from the inside out.

The desire to please God began to spread to other aspects of the tour. Pastor Dave challenged the group to leave each church building in better condition than when they arrived. So group members made an effort to clear any garbage or belongings from the pews before leaving.

They spent one morning and afternoon canvassing a town for the church's upcoming Vacation Bible School. One teen would volunteer to leave flyers at a group of houses; another would jump out several hundred feet later to leave information farther down the street. The flyers were distributed in less than a day!

That evening, the whole concert process began again: practicing, meeting together, taking a dinner break, and then presenting the program. By now, the instrumentalists could quote the female speaker, and she could name all their pieces. But even with this familiarity, there remained a sense that this concert was a ministry, not a showcase of teen talent.

"Tonight was a worship service. It blessed my heart," commented one woman who attended. She had come expecting a concert, but found something deeper instead. The impact of the program became greater over the course of the week, not because the program had changed, but because those involved in it were being changed by God.



"The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7