We believe that young people in America are longing for excitement, intimacy, authenticity, integrity, clean hearts and meaningful actions. Why? Because God made us all for Himself and, through relationship with Him, these desires are deeply satisfied.

However, many young people don't recognize that this desire is for God himself, so to try and fill themselves they go to movies, try alcohol and drugs, explore sex and pornography, dabble in the occult... but end up emptier than ever. All the while, God is pursuing them fiercely, desiring that they become voluntary lovers of Jesus, planning to not only satisfy their deepest desires, but then uncover and satisfy ever deeper ones.

As St. Augustine wrote long ago, "You made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until we rest in You." So what is desperately needed is an awakening of each heart to the truth that God exists, that He has loved each of us every moment of our lives, even from before the foundation of the earth when He first imagined us and planned out the time and place of our birth.

The young psalmist David said it this way, "One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving." (Psalm 62)

The writer to the Hebrews says the same thing: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

It is this "earnest seeking" of God and His rewards that AHOP prays and works to see arise in the youth and of Austin and beyond. Any person whose heart and mind is touched with the reality of God and His love will never be the same. We long for the day when we will see a whole generation fervently following Jesus...

Two ways to get involved in the Youth Track...

• IMMERSE, our weeklong summer youth intensive
• PERSIST, our summer youth internship