The RAMP

I’ve gone to church all my life, but the Lord never seemed real to me. I couldn’t live my life for some “pretty boy- boring- distant” Jesus, so i looked to worldly things to satisfy me. I tried everything, from drugs to relationships, until finally i had hit rock bottom, and had no friends, and a terribly broken heart. Luckily, my die-hard Christian parents didn’t give up on me, and my mother dragged me- MADE me go, to this place called “The Ramp”, in the Oneighty building in Cleveland, TN. It was the first time I had ever been, and I stood in the very, very back, just watching. And as I watched, I just saw the glory of the Lord all over the faces of the kids who were worshiping, and i had finally found what I was looking for. A REAL God. I saw him all over these kids, and just couldn’t deny that he was real anymore. Even though i was so moved, and convicted, I stayed in the back to watch. However, the Lord had different plans. Karen Wheaton was also at the meeting. I don’t know if she remembers, but she took the mic and said “There’s someone here who hasn’t really decided if God is real or not (something along those lines)”. Well, I new she was speaking to me, but i didnt move. I saw a guy go up to the altar (phew! its not really me..). She looked at him and said “No, it’s a young girl”. I thought “fine, fine, im going!”. She prayed for me, and at fourteen, i gave my heart to the Lord for the first time.

Cleveland, TN

Even though the Ramp is geared towards teenagers and young adults, as an adult it still moved me to tears. My two teenage daughters just wanted to go somewhere and were not really expecting anything. They were there to see the boys. But on Friday night, they were crying in the altars. I didn’t have to worry about them trying to sneak out of the building because they did not want to leave the sanctuary. They didn’t want to miss anything. They are ‘Fired up’ and want to change their lives. I can see the effort that they are making to change the way they were and working on becoming what God has purposed them to be.
As for the other teens that came with the church group, they came back with a new attitude, new unity, and a commitment to bring God’s Word to their schools and community.

You talked about Christian atheists – I was one of those. I was doing drugs, smoking cigarettes, having sex, and knowing about God. I was going to church because I had nothing better to do on Wednesday night. I would listen to the services and think, ‘well, maybe one day I’ll be a Christian.’ But when I came to Ramp and heard about the wonderful things God has done for me, I knew He was there, and He was waiting to help me. He was calling me. And I’ve never been happier in my entire life. Ramp is an amazing experience, and I think that anyone who has the opportunity to go is very fortunate, because unless they reject God completely they will find Him.

I grabbed a couple youth off of the streets and brought them in with our group to the Ramp. During worship on the first night, I get a tap on the shoulder from a young man with tears streaming down his face, asking me to pray with him to give his life to Jesus. No altar call, just the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the contagious love for (and of) Jesus. The Holy Spirit took over as we arrived home early enough to participate in the Sunday morning worship time. Every youth got up to give testimony of the amazing things God had done, and is doing, and going to do. Praise God!

I came back from the Ramp at the end of January. The whole way back to our home town we were praising Him and thanking Him for everything. We left early in the morning and arrived at our church at 5. That night was amazing…we didn’t even have service because the whole entire church couldn’t stop praising Him. 6 people got baptized and 12 gave their hearts to the Lord.
I was talking to one of the people who gave their hearts to the Lord and he said to me, “I have just felt a peace I never have had before…” He went on to tell me that he had gotten into a fight with his step dad, and he had a gun and was going to shoot his step dad. Something held him back, and that same night he gave it all to God. Now all of our youth are striving for God and now we are close and we pray together almost every week. He is worth all my praise. This is our generation!