Youth leader, Delano Mighty, is urging young Christians to continue on their journey of serving God, despite the many obstacles that they may face.
Addressing attendees at the recent Passion and Purity Co-Ed High School Conference, he encouraged the youth in attendance to plant their roots in God, as eventually they will reap the rewards of doing so in their lifetime. Mighty was a speaker at the event, which was held at the St. Jago High School, and attracted scores of young people from across the country.
During his address, he cited Ecclesiastes 12:1, and urged attendees who have made a commitment to serve God to continue doing so. This he says is beneficial as the rewards of service to God will greatly outweigh the problems that one may encounter on their journey.
The St. Jago High School alumnus, also sought to relate to some persons by sharing his own issues with fitting in as a student; issues that he said worsened as he discovered his love of music. He revealed his struggles with depression and loneliness, and the rumours that circulated because of his inability to fit in.
“In that particular classroom of music, I found that I had a passion; something that I could grip onto, something that would help to keep me grounded, not just for life but particularly for God…Now, imagine me, separated from the class by my ‘nerd-dom’. Can you imagine the type of person that people would have seen me to be? Can you imagine the kind of conversations that were happening around me, about me?” he said.
That love for music would become a launchpad for a number of opportunities academically, and in ministry. However, before this great triumph, was the issue of discovering one’s identity in a space where a number of voices are speaking.
“I know that many persons have the same kind of feeling today as young people in your schools who are trying to live for Christ. You have some persons who, when they step into a space, don’t feel like they belong. For many years at St. Jago, I experienced that feeling,”Mighty added, “Many days, I did not feel like I belonged.”
These issues, however, did not prevent him from championing Christ among his peers, and today, he is a deacon in the Bethel Circuit of Baptist Churches and a youth leader within the Jamaican Baptist Union. He brings over two decades of ministry experience having begun preaching at a young age.
He therefore charged his listeners to continue their journey with Christ, adding that their hope in him is all that really matters.
“As young people, you will go through peer pressure. You will go through slander. You will go through troubles. You will go through all of these hardships simply because you are a Christian. But I want to encourage you, young lady: hold your head up! Young man, hold your head up!” he charged, “ Once you are serving Christ, it does not matter who is behind you talking about you, because you know that you have a God ahead of you who is guiding you through.”