One of the easiest ways to go insane is to continue doing what you have always done and expect different results. In his book Battle Cry for a Generation, Ron Luce reports that we have dipped to only 4 percent of this generation being Bible-based believers, which is down from 16 percent of the previous generation. Clearly, we cannot continue doing what we have always done and expect to get more than 4 percent. It is the role of the local church to change this statistic and empower young men and women to be authentic Christians. As local youth ministry leaders, we need to make the necessary changes to get better results.

Over the past few years I have seen some local church youth ministries that are producing students who are focused, filled with the life of God, and grounded in the Scriptures. They exemplify the aforementioned 4 percent statistic. That’s the kind of local church youth ministry we need. I don’t have space to give lots of examples, but I’ll give one.

A couple of weekends ago, I spoke at a  local church youth retreat for a very conservative denomination. Their youth group was extremely large for their church size and the
students were authentic, sincere, and fervent. Worship and prayer went late into the night. I talked with youth who were starting prayer meetings, spending time alone with God, and eagerly pursuing higher education to effectively advance God’s Kingdom. Students asked me questions about missions, prayer, fasting, and leadership training. That youth pastor was doing his job.

What distinction made that youth group (and others like it) so effective? Spiritual intensity. Local church youth ministries need spiritual intensity at their core. I  have seen it in many local churches across the nation. Unapologetically, students follow vision, conviction, and passion. In order to gain more than 4 percent of this generation, we need a healthy injection of spiritual intensity into our local church youth ministries.

Here are three ways to significantly intensify our youth ministries:

First, we need youth pastors with spiritual intensity in their personal lives. I know some youth pastors who can quote more movie lines than they can Scripture.
That’s pathetic. Others have told me that God hasn’t given them the “gift of fasting.” Last time I checked, Jesus didn’t refer to fasting as a gift but, rather, as a
discipline for which He would reward (Matthew 6:18). As youth pastors, we have been given the opportunity to lead, and we must do so. If we are spiritually lazy
and spineless, students won’t follow.

We have all seen the youth leader who forsakes being culturally astute in order to be “radical.” That can be scary, and it’s not what I am suggesting. Rather,
let’s turn up our personal spiritual intensity in the midst of maintaining our cultural relevance.

Second, we need avenues of intensity within our local churches. We have countless retreats and trips created to get students “fired up” for God, but we do not
have focused avenues for them to live out their spiritual hunger. The youth ministry I referenced earlier created a worship and prayer night devoted solely
to prayer for their church, high school campuses, and city. Students had a weekly discipleship option beyond the youth service. We must create avenues of intensity for successful spiritual formation.

Finally, our youth ministries cannot exist solely for themselves. They must  exist for something bigger. At New Life Church, our goal is to connect students around the vision of global evangelism in this generation. That alone creates a culture of spiritual intensity. Students engage in prayer meetings for the world, save their money for mission trips, and study news Web sites to gain a greater global perspective.

Insanity isn’t an option. Four percent won’t cut it. Let’s turn up the intensity and get the job done.

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David Perkins is a youth pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and directs Desperation conferences, internships, and tours. Desperation, a youth movement for local churches, had over 3,500 students in attendance last year. David also leads a student internship that has a two-hour prayer meeting every night for this generation. For more on Desperation conferences and tours, go to www.desperationonline.com.