For Greg Stier, Dare 2 Share LIVE is more than just an event; it’s a teen-led movement of gospel conversations created to trigger revival in the Church. More personally, it stems from a life-long passion of sharing the gospel with others and equipping them to do the same.
His Life-Long Passion
This passion all began when 11-year-old Greg boldly approached six teens at Sloan’s Lake and proceeded to have a gospel conversation with them. Although he was terrified, the teens listened to what he had to say. And from then on, he was hooked!
Greg admits, “Leading someone to Christ is the second greatest feeling in the world!” And follows, “The first is watching someone you’ve trained reach someone for the gospel.” Which is why he continues to train others (particularly teens) how to share their faith, and it is why Dare 2 Share LIVE is important to him.
Revival Using the Youth
But why train teens? Why not go into churches and train adults?
Greg’s answer: “Teens come to Christ quicker and spread it faster than adults. If you want to reach today’s culture, you have to reach the youth.” He explains that throughout history (including today), God has a habit of using teens (an unlikely group) to spread the gospel to the masses. To list a few, God used…
…a sixteen year-old slave named Patrick to shake Ireland (along with an army of teen and twentysomething preachers) for Christ.
…John Wesley to recruit radical circuit riders (many uneducated and some teenagers) to preach the gospel across America.
…mostly the youth for bringing about revival during the first Great Awakening (according to Jonathan Edwards, preacher and scribe of the first Great Awakening)
And, let’s not forget that he used 11 teenage disciples (plus one adult sponsor – Peter) to begin spreading the gospel to the world during Jesus’s ministry and after his death and resurrection. (See Greg’s reasoning for the disciples being teenagers here.)
This is exactly what’s in “play” today: Teens are leading the way. Which is why Dare 2 Share LIVE’s focus is on inspiring and equipping teens and their youth leaders to share the gospel.
On Dare 2 Share LIVE (the event)
For the past 25 years, Dare 2 Share has primarily used conferences across America to reach teens with the gospel message and gospel training, seeing over one million teens equipped and unleashed to share the good news!
According to Youth for Christ, there are currently 20 million unreached teens in America. So for “every teen everywhere”, there’s still a ways to go. What’s Greg’s response? “Every teen everywhere! The only way to reach these teens sooner is to build a scalable model that can train a massive amount of teens in one day. That way we can mobilize Christian teens everywhere to proclaim the gospel.” (Insert Dare 2 Share LIVE!)
Beyond scalable impact, Greg really anticipates the event being a rally point for God to use these teens for spiritual awakening across the U.S.. “You can’t manufacture revival,” Greg states, clarifying that the event itself won’t be what brings revival.
“[But] Like water in a spigot, I’m praying that God will turn the nozzle and pour them [the students] out.” He goes on to emphasize, “Real impact won’t come from the lights, sound, band and speakers. It’s the kids going out, sharing their faith and coming back from outreach fired up for Jesus that will have the greatest impact.”
But the greatest impact really happens after the event. Since Greg really stresses that Dare 2 Share LIVE was made to be a rally point for teens, he hopes that all participating churches would embrace and implement Gospel Advancing Ministry year round. That way, teens can continue to be challenged in their efforts. He explains, “Dare 2 Share LIVE is just the tip of the iceberg. For youth ministries to really go deep with their students, they need to plunge below the surface and create a year-round strategy.”
To help build that strategy, Dare 2 Share is offering a 4-week follow-up webinar series for interested youth leaders (and church leaders). More details about this webinar series to come at Dare 2 Share LIVE.
What it’s All About: Teens Having Gospel Conversations
When it comes to sharing the gospel, many teens – like adults – fear rejection. Because of this, outreach is often a point of contention for youth leaders and students.
To that Greg says, “I’ve been slapped, spat at, pushed, and lifted up by the throat. Unfortunately, rejection is sometimes a part of sharing the gospel. It is, however, an honor to take part in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. That’s what we [Dare 2 Share] remind students before any outreach session. Matthew 5:11 says, ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.'”
When teens share their faith, they come to terms with what they really believe and begin to own their faith. This happens when they engage in gospel conversations. Teens start to look for answers to questions asked of them and in doing so, figure out why they believe what they believe. (Compared with believing because their parents do.) Then, as they continue to have gospel conversations, they are able to stand firm in their faith while sharing it with others.
But of course, this doesn’t happen all at once and not necessarily by themselves. One of the best ways for students to begin engaging in gospel conversations is by going in groups. That way if one person loses their train of thought, or can’t think of the right words to say, another can help out. (Not to mention going in groups helps them know they’re not in it alone — something that will be evident September 23rd when students rally together across the nation.)
For fun, I asked Greg who he would choose (dead or alive) to help him share the gospel. Without hesitating he stated, “Well obviously Jesus, the master of Christendom. For the other, D.L. Moody. Moody was kind of crazy, very intense and bold, but a loving man. He was crazy in all the right ways. I think it would be a party with him.”
Really, sharing our faith should be like a party. Why not invite some friends to join?
A Matter of Trust
Nothing like Dare 2 Share LIVE has ever been tried before! Greg says, “It’s a big venture and adventure that the Lord is preparing my heart for as I trust Him with the outcome.” (After all, He is the reason behind the rally for revival.)
Through prayer and utter dependence upon Him, Dare 2 Share LIVE can be so much more than an event. It can be a teen-led movement of revival for the Church.
If you’d like to see revival in your communities and across the nation, join us in praying for Dare 2 Share LIVE. Below, Greg has highlighted a few points he would love relentless praying for:
- This event to begin a radical revival
- Youth Leaders would put into practice what they learn at D2S LIVE and the follow-up webinars
- Teens to be effectively equipped to share their faith as a lifestyle
Greg is asking everyone to join us in praying every day at 9:23 am or pm for the event. (You can also join the Prayer Force Facebook page for Dare 2 Share LIVE to receive updates and join others praying over the event.)
