This was written on Jan 8, 2024

I went to a retreat this weekend with my youth group. It was awesome. We played games and ate good food, stayed up late and got to learn more about our creator and how we should respond to him. Particularly stepping up as young people in the faith.

Our speaker, Steve Pigott, spoke in five sessions with the central theme of devoting yourself to Christ. One theme he kept repeating was that if you were sold out for Jesus, others would see that, and soon one person devoted to Christ would become two, and two would become four, and so on. All it took was one dedicated young person to create a camaraderie of people sold out for Christ.

What is a camaraderie? A camaraderie is a mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together. A close group of friends who love and encourage each other. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” This verse is echoing what is stated in the second paragraph! (Almost like it was based on this verse or something) Two is better than one, but three is better than two. If three is better than two then how much more is four better than three?

Romans 12:4-8 compliments that verse and says, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” These verses show us that different people are good at different things. The upside to having a group of people doing life together is that you can help each other where you are weak. One person is not supposed to be able to do it all. We are meant to live in a community with each other and with God to build each other up when one of us is weak.

All of this sounds great! But how do you build a godly community? First, choose your friends wisely. 1 Corinthians 15:33 KJV says, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” Steve Pigott used this verse to highlight the importance of good friends. Now, of course we must be friendly to all people. We must love them and show them Jesus. But not all people will make good friends.

Look at the first three words of that verse, “be not deceived. “ Do you know what those words mean? The fact the command of, “be not deceived,” is there implies you can, in fact, be deceived. A friend who acts like a friend till you decide to not listen to their stupid ideas is not a friend at all. Choose your friends carefully because a good friend is someone who won’t make you do things you feel uncomfortable doing. A good friend is someone who will push you toward Christlikeness and away from sin.

The second thing you have to do is to choose your friends from among those who want to be godly. I think that makes perfect sense. If you are trying to be godly but have no godly friends, the ultimate struggle will be to grow. And when trials and temptations come, you will have nobody to encourage you in your faith. 1 Thessalonians 5:10 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” As christians we are supposed to encourage one another to build each other up when we’ve been knocked down, to remind each other the joy we have in our salvation, and to give testimony to build hope in a waiting season. If you have no godly friends, who is going to build you up?

Lastly, be the godly friend who sets the example. Somebody has to start the fire and live differently. Like I stated above, when one young person decides to be sold out and devoted to Christ, other people will notice. They will notice when you have joy in the valleys and light in the darkness and pretty soon someone will join you in your pursuit of Christlikeness. Then two will become four and so on. Now you have a camaraderie of young people devoted to Christ and that is where revival starts.

Three of my good friends and I decided to start our own camaraderie that weekend. We want to pursue Christlikeness together. We told each other our goals and our struggles, excited to encourage and pray for each other. While we were talking it became apparent that we all wanted the same thing — a camaraderie — and God was answering our prayers at that moment.

Now my prayer is that revival can come because of our camaraderie. That millions can be reached because of our mutual love for Jesus, our love for people, and our love for each other. That seems like a huge thing, millions finding Jesus because four high school girls decided to follow Jesus together. But it won’t be the first time our God has done something that seemed impossible, go read the bible if you don’t believe me.

So many verses point to a camaraderie being a good idea. In addition to what we looked at above there is; Hebrews 3:13, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Hebrews 10:25, and so many more. As you begin to build a camaraderie, a fellowship, a brotherhood, a sisterhood, a comradeship, whatever you want to call it, begin to pray for revival. I am certain that if camaraderies all over the country and world are praying for revival, it will come.

A camaraderie, it’s biblical, It’s sound, it’s fun, it’s life changing, and I would definitely recommend it.

Much of this writing is directly inspired by the teaching of Steve Pigott at Faith Bible Fellowship’s Youth Retreat in January, 2024.

This campaign is unpublished.