by John Bils

The meeting room looked like an unfinished basement. The walls were bare, the concrete floor uncarpeted. I sat down on a plastic chair across from a student in flipflops, basketball shorts, and a neon green T-shirt that read, “Dare 2 Dream.” I had been told he goes by “Justin.” A few years ago, when he started studying English as a foreign language, he was encouraged to choose an English name to use in his classes. He chose his name because he had grown up listening to Justin Bieber’s music. Like many teenagers, he dreams of becoming a musician. 

Last year, during a trip to a war-torn region of Southeast Asia, I spoke with Justin and other high school students to capture the stories of gospel impact the Alliance family is making possible through years of faith-filled prayers and giving. I wanted students like Justin to describe in their own words how they have been affected by civil war, drug trafficking, systemic poverty, and other destructive forces plaguing their home country. I wanted to learn how they came to be separated from their families and placed under the care of Alliance workers serving in the region. 

Most of all, though, I wanted to know how God is at work in these students’ lives, anchoring them through trauma and adversity, emboldening them to dream of better lives, and molding them into vibrant 
witnesses for the gospel’s advance in Southeast Asia. 

Getting to Know the Students

The youth center I visited—known as Silver Lining Humanitarian Youth Center (SLHYC)—houses around 30 students who are nearing the end of high school. They come from all over the country. Most have at least one living parent. Yet, because traveling outside major cities can be so dangerous, many students, I was told, do not intend to return to their hometowns until they have completed their studies. 

All the students profess to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Some grew up in Christian households. Others did not but embraced Christianity only after arriving at SLHYC and getting immersed in the center’s rigorous spiritual regimen, which includes daily prayer meetings, student-led worship sessions, Bible readings, and church services that enable students to get involved with a worship band and tech team. 

When I sat down to talk to Justin with the help of an interpreter, he attributed his development as a musician to the opportunities he has received at SLHYC to practice musical instruments and build rapport with other student worship leaders. During my week at the youth center, he demonstrated his growing versatility as a performer, playing acoustic guitar during some worship sets and keyboards during others. 

Justin’s Dream

For Justin, music provides a refuge from the strife and trauma he has been through. He had always aspired to become a musician but, until coming to SLHYC, could not afford his own instruments. He came from a large family and, because he was expected to prioritize the education of his younger siblings, dropped out of school after completing the eighth grade. 

After dropping out, he considered using drugs to cope with depression over his crushed dreams and tumultuous home life. Substance abuse was nothing new to his family. At different stages of his childhood, each of his parents had struggled with alcoholism. 

Attending SLHYC was appealing to Justin because he saw it as his best—perhaps only—opportunity to finish his education. When he arrived at the youth center, he realized he was weak and without faith. He had grown up attending church but admits now he didn’t know anything about God’s love. Through your giving and prayers, he has experienced God’s love and accepted the Spirit’s presence and guidance to become a new person in Christ. His life no longer feels hopeless, he told me. He now believes he can pursue a career in music to serve God and advance the gospel. 

Yet his attachment to his hometown remains strong. Like most of the other students I spoke to, Justin desires to return to his village permanently someday and use his education, talents, and spiritual gifts to enrich the lives of family members and other loved ones he left behind. 

If he attempted to travel back to his village now, though, he would be risking his life. On one visit home, airstrikes in the region forced him and his family to flee for cover in the surrounding forest, where he and his brother hid for several weeks. They slept on the wet forest floor and survived on only one meal per day. 

Shining as True Worshipers

Throughout my week in Southeast Asia, Justin and other SLHYC students performed some worship songs in English and others in their native language, which I do not speak and have never studied. They often sang in booming voices with closed eyes and upraised hands. Even when I could not understand the lyrics the students were singing, I needed no interpreter to grasp the depth of devotion the Lord has inspired in them through His constant love, protection, and provision. With their impassioned singing, the students demonstrated they have become the “true worshipers” God desires for His Kingdom, those who worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth (see John 4:23). 

On my last day at SLHYC, I attended the grand opening ceremony of a church planted on the top floor of the youth center. Justin and other students played all the worship sets, ran the tech booth, and performed traditional dances from their home regions. In a city saturated with temples and shrines to the country’s majority religion, the new church is an oasis of God’s truth and hope in a spiritually desolate land. 

I went to Southeast Asia seeking to capture stories for the Alliance family, which I am so honored and blessed to do in my role with the National Office. Ultimately, though, I was given a much greater gift than I expected. My visit to the youth center brought me an enlarged perspective on the Kingdom’s advance in Southeast Asia. I was given a glimpse of what the Kingdom will be like when it is filled with true worshipers united by the purpose, identity, and grace they have received from the Lord. 

Subscribe to Alliance Life Magazine

As an Alliance church member, you can join the 144-year legacy of Alliance Life and get exclusive stories and articles delivered directly to your mailbox or inbox. Click here to request your free subscription!