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Rice grows in the centre of Sydney

4:51pm Tuesday, 23rd August 2011

Karen Mudge

Saturday night saw the Entertainment Centre in Sydney come alive with up to 3 500 youth, from 71 youth groups across Sydney, all there to learn what it means to ‘Know. Love. Experience’ as Christians.

Sam Mak, leader of RICE youth Sydney, was stoked with how the Rally went. “It was such a wonderful night… God’s Spirit was really present. I love RICE Youth Sydney is because God's fingerprints are behind it all. He brings the youth groups. He brings the people. He orchestrates everything from logistics to what goes on stage. And he is one who carries the Word into the hearts of youth and he changes their hearts. I love it because I get to see his fingerprints all over his ministry.”

Of the droves of youth who attended the RICE Rally from all over Sydney, 178 young people made a first time commitment to God, with 324 teenagers recommitting their lives to him.

Recalling some highlights, Sam says, “At the end of the night I was standing up the top and one of my youth group leaders and a youth group girl were walking towards me, and I noticed she was crying. I asked her, “What’s up, why are you crying?” She just kept on crying, any her youth leader said to me, “She’s crying because she knows that this year, from tonight, she is actually a part of God’s family.”

Sam says, “It’s just amazing, because I get to see the event from the top level of organising and details, but there’s another, personal level, which I’ve been able to see, where God is affecting people’s hearts. An incredible encouragement to me was one girl, who brought with her to the Rally 55 of her friends!

“I also was able to sit with one of my youth group boys on Sunday, who’d given his life to God at the rally on Saturday. I told him how proud I was of him, and encouraged him to continue this journey for the rest of his life.

“RICE Youth is not just about people ticking a box to become a Christian. We want people to pray the prayer of repentance and faith, we want them to make a stand. But we especially want to see them continuing on a life journey with God, and this is what all our youth leaders will encourage the young people to do post-rally.”

Sam also spoke of the partnerships which provided a practical outworking of new faith for the teenagers, saying, “at the end of the night, when young people were coming up to make a commitment to God, it was great to be able to provide both resources from the Bible Society which will help nourish their faith, and opportunities through World Vision to put God’s love into action, to really live their faith and make a difference, being a blessing to the world because of God’s love for them.”

RICE Regenerate is the next arm of the RICE Movement, which seeks to renew and revive the current generation of young adults. Steve Chong, Director of RICE Movement says, “Revival begins with personal renewal. RICE Regenerate is essentially a renewal ministry that aims to refresh the hearts of uni students, workers and young families and renew their passion for the gospel…to a full-blown desire to reach this entire city with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

In previous years, RICE Regenerate has had a lasting impact. Linda Troung of Vilawood Baptist says, “I found that Regenerate is not ‘another Christian-y event’ where people go, get a top up of some head knowledge, feel slightly better about themselves, walk away and not doing anything about it. Rather, the events deliver poignant, refreshing, humbling and practical biblical messages that confront the audience wherever they are at with God to examine themselves and do business with Him urgently.”

Regenerate officially began in 2008, with over 400 church leaders gathering at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to hear Pastor Mark Driscoll speak about ’10 Things I Wish I Knew About Ministry When I Was 25.’ In that same year, the first Regenerate Rally event at Sydney University gathered over 500 to ‘Taste and See’ afresh the goodness and glory of our God. Dave Miers, Youth Pastor of St Faith’s Narrabeen says, “RICE Regenerate 2008 was spiritually refreshing and more than just another event! After the talk, there was a good chunk of time to respond in a number of different ways: singing, prayer, Q+A with speaker, letter writing, art, chatting. This was a helpful time to further taste and see the goodness of Jesus.”

Ultimately, RICE Regenerate wants to see a whole new generation to rise up and keep serving Jesus in a way that will make a lasting impact into churches, families and our city. The RICE Regenerate Rally for 2011 is on ‘True Worship’, with Bob Kauflin from Sovereign Grace Ministries as the speaker. The hope for the evening is that God’s people would experience His glorious presence more deeply in true worship, and that it will lead them to live out their identity in Christ more completely, overflowing into passionate evangelism and compassionate action in and for Sydney.

Visit http://www.riceregenerate.org/ to find out about RICE Regenerate Rally: TRUE WORSHIP 2011, October 3^rd, Wesley Conference Centre, 220 Pitt St Sydney.