Insight for the Untrained

As we dive into the new school year and the new church year, the Lord has been impressing upon my heart and mind the utmost importance of living in His word and living out His word. One of the primary verses that our children's and youth ministry team is building the year around is Psalm 119:130, "Your instructions are a doorway through which light shines. They give insight to the untrained." (NET)

As we minister to young people, we must never forget the immense privilege it is to handle God's message correctly (2 Timothy 2:15), the soul-reviving power found in His word (Psalm 19:7), and the sheer life-giving power of His word (Matthew 4:4). We are called to make the impression of God's word onto the children in our care (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

Sometimes something as simple as getting a new Bible can be the spark needed to ignite an excitement in God's word. In my position, I get to see a lot of the new products that come out in the Christian publishing world, and I love being able to pass along some of the "best of the best" that I come across. One of those is the Deep Blue Kids Bible. It is chock full of wonderful "helps" like an introductory page to each book of the Bible that gives a great rundown of the people, places, and things that you are going to encounter as you read. I'm extremely impressed with the quality of the readings, the engaging format, and the "user friendliness" of everything inside.

The Deep Blue website describes it in this way,

"Kids will dive deep into God’s word with the CEB Deep Blue Kids Bible. This engaging, interactive Bible offers four-color icons and illustrations throughout with a wealth of notes, devotionals, Bible trivia, and other interactive elements to capture inquisitive young minds. Plus the CEB Deep Blue Kids Bible will encourage a thirst for God’s timeless message as young readers join three life-like kids in discovering the Bible and what it means to their lives."

So how do YOU maintain enthusiasm for God's word in your life? In your home? What kinds of disciplines have you found to be helpful in keeping His message the most important one that you and your family hear?

D6 Conference IMPRESSions--Day 2

I've been back from D6 Conference for about five days now, and I'm still processing all the wonderful input I received while there. God has been showing me some ways that I can start applying some things, fairly immediately, which excites me! Below, I'm going to share some of my highlights from the second (and final) day of the conference. It was another day filled to overflowing with great speakers, great insight, and great worship!

• I would be completely remiss if I didn't share what a blessing it was to have Shane and Shane leading us in worship. Such authenticity and intimacy with the Father. It was apparent that the Lord was their focus and their primary audience, and they had such a wonderful way of making you feel like you were worshiping with them...nothing even hinted at it being a performance or "show." My personal favorite song (which has stuck with me since I first heard it last week) is called "That's How You Forgive." Check it out here.

• Les and Leslie Parrot started out our morning on day two. Their primary focus was how to fight a good fight in marriage! It was a well-received presentation. :-) "Round 1" dealt with "Why we fight," and "Round 2" dealt with "How to Fight a Good Fight." There are two main reasons couples tend to find themselves in arguments: perceived threats (critical, judgmental, controlling, demanding) and perceived neglect (selfish, uncaring, uncommitted, neglectful, disengaged). When we feel that we are on the receiving end of any of those "threats," we can end up fighting. The "take-away" I got from that session was, "Conflict is the price we pay for a deeper level of intimacy."

• Rob Rienow was up next, and he took a look at ministry patterns and challenged us to consider whether or not we follow those ministry patterns that have been set up in the Bible. He's a proponent of having children (all ages) stay in the sanctuary for the entire service. He proposed that age is the only demographic we use to separate the Church family. (We don't separate based on salary, race, etc.) The big impression I got from Rob is something I'm still rolling around in my mind. The issue of kids who come to church without parents was raised, and he asked us as ministry leaders to consider getting the Christ-following families in your church at a point where they are well-focused and well-equipped, which will free up your time a little more to focus on outreach and evangelism. Our church has a number of wonderful outreach opportunities already in place, and there are many children and families involved. So I'm praying for clearer direction on how to proceed!

• Dave Stone had a great message about the three gifts you can give your kids: Value, Grace, Love. He had a number of statements that resonated with me:
• "We need to have concern for the Church of today so there's a Church of tomorrow."
• "Keep the dust off the high chairs." (He shared a story of a dying church whose high chairs were in storage and covered in dust...if you want a thriving church, keep the high chairs full!)
• An idea for a nighttime prayer from a parent to a child: "Oh God, I can't wait to see how you're going to use ___________ for your glory."
• "We get so wrapped up in the work of the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work."

• Robert Morgan shared some insight into what he calls a "Grace Cycle," something that often comes out of grief. He specifically related it to parents who might be dealing with a prodigal child in their lives. He authored a book called Prayers and Promises for Worried Parents.
• Pain
• Prayer
• Patience--everything has a built-in maturation process
• Peace--a heavenly carelessness knowing that God is in charge
• Praise--even when things are't like we want them

• The final session of the day and of the conference was from Dr. Timothy Paul Jones. He took a fascinating look at the History of Family Ministry in Five Drawings (You'll be glad you checked this out!) He also challenged us to look at the story our lives are telling. He also told us that the story of our ministries needs to be bigger than me and bigger than my ministry. "Jesus didn't die for my ministry, He died for the people in my ministry." I wrote this in my notes as my one big impression, "I'm tired of trying to write my own story." Ultimately, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and if He's writing it, I can be assured that the story is going to be good!

D6 2013 IMPRESSions--Day One

I'm freshly returned from the D6 Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and it was another home run kind of experience in my personal walk with the Lord as well as getting some great clarity for the professional side of my life in full-time ministry. This year's theme was "Impress", which looked at the verse from Deuteromony 6 which talks about the responsibility of adults to impress the commands of God on their children. Below, I have summarized the big IMPRESSions I got out of each session. It was so wonderful to get exposed to some speakers I've never heard of before as well as to have (in Deuteronomy fashion) a "repeating" of many things I have learned in the past.

• The first session was with Darrin Patrick. His focus was from Galatians 5 and 6...comparing and contrasting the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the flesh. It was a great way to kick things off, as he challenged us to be able to discern between the fruit of the Spirit and what he described as the fruit of our personality. Just because we are a certain way doesn't mean that God's Spirit can't have His way and make us more like Him. He shared three ways that fruit grows: holistically (the fruit of the Spirit is a "package deal"); internally (law can change behavior, but only the Spirit can change the heart); gradually (don't expect radical changes overnight); communally (God designed for us to be growing together.)  The real "bazinga" statement from him was, "Do you use your ministry as your righteousness?" Only JESUS can be our righteousness!
• Tim Kimmel was up next, and my biggest take-away from his session was this, "God has not called us to raise safe Christian kids; He's called us to raise strong ones." His son was somewhat "annoyed" during a prayer time prior to a mission trip. During the prayers, he said that everything was "prayed away" that would have required them to rely on God during the trip. We can't succumb to fear-based praying and parenting.
• Dr. James Dobson was a true delight to sit under.  What a phenomenal story teller. He shared the story of his family's legacy, dating back to his great-grandfather. A few quotes from him that have stuck with me: 
• "The culture is at war with your children for their hearts and minds."
• "The greatest thing I could do for my kids was to pray for them."
• "If you don't reach your children for Christ, you'll never see them again."
• "Nothing else matters if you don't reach your kids for Christ."
• Something new this year was a series of D6 Minis, which was a sort of rapid fire talks, each with a very specific focus. Of these, the two that stood out to me the most were from Lydia Randall and Megan Lacefield. Lydia spoke on the topic of busyness, which really resonated. One phrase from her has echoed repeatedly in my mind, "We are crazy not to do a Sabbath." She also pointed out that the Chinese character for busy is comprised of two images: heart + killing. Megan encouraged finding ways for ministries to work together within the church, and the big IMPRESSion from her talk was this statement, "Don't wait until kids are adults to believe they can make an impact."
• The final session on Day One was from Todd Wagner. The best way to summarize his topic is to present a few of his quotes that made an impact:
• When setting priorities in life, ask yourself this question, "What are the things that only I can do?"
• "Church attenders don't change anything; disciples do."
• "Your job is not to get people to come to you (or your church); it's to get them to come to Christ."
• "Is there darkness and decay in our country? There's never been a greater opportunity to be light and salt!"

Insulated or Isolated?

At the D6 Conference I attended last year, Fred Luter (Pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans) made a statement that has stuck with me ever since. He said, "We can't isolate kids from the culture, but we can insulate them with God's Word." Isn't that a marvelous thought? Kids are going to grow up in the culture around us, and isolating them from everything is nearly impossible. Unless you lock them in their bedroom and board up the windows and don't allow any sort of electronic device to permeate the perimeter...but one day, they'll grow up and have to face the "big bad world", and will they be equipped? That's why I think what Pastor Luter said is brilliant...instead of putting our kids into isolation until Jesus returns, we as parents, grandparents, children's and youth ministers can work diligently at "insulating" the young people in our lives with the word of God.

Let's teach our kids how to handle disappointment and conflict in a biblical and godly manner. Let's teach them the importance of loving God with all that's in us and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Let's teach them the importance of mission and giving. Let's teach them what it means to live a righteous and holy life in love with a righteous and holy God.

Consider Jesus' words in His prayer on the night before He would be crucified:

"I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth."

Jesus definitely was not asking the Father to isolate His disciples...He was asking to insulate them, to keep them from the evil one, to sanctify them (to be set apart)...and this is all wrapped up, could we say "insulated", in the truth...God's word.

So, bottom line? Make sure your kids are well-insulated! Permeate their lives with the word of God (along with your own life!) Teach them what it means to wear the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). And most importantly, make following Christ a lifestyle that infiltrates every corner of life.

Adolescents to Adults

In our church, we have adopted the Legacy Milestone Model, introduced to me first by Brian Haynes at the D6 Conference in 2009. The premise of this model is to provide an intentional way of celebrating milestones in the life of a child from birth through the final milestone, "Life in Christ." (You can explore lots more great things about the Legacy Milestone Model by clicking on this link.) One of the milestones, about midway through this process is called "Rite of Passage", similar to the Jewish bar/bat mitzvah, which celebrates the transition from childhood to adulthood at the age of 13. 

This year at the D6 Conference, I was blessed to hear Tim Elmore speak on how their family has celebrated this milestone in their daughter's life. When she turned 13, she got to choose six women she looked up to (and who her parents approved of) to be "one-day mentors" sometime during the next year. These women arranged a full day away with Tim's daughter (some took her along to their work place, others arranged things like shopping, spa days, etc.), and during that day they were asked to share one life message that their daughter would benefit from knowing. Tim said that this year-long process had a profound effect on their daughter. At the end of the year, the daughter and all six of the mentors gathered for a nice dinner with the family, and each one came with a letter of blessing that they read to the daughter. To wrap up their time, they gathered around the daughter and each one prayed for her.

Is that not an amazing experience for an adolescent to be launched into the things of adulthood? What a great way to surround your child with strong Christian influences and to model for them what an adult Christ-follower looks like. God has placed us all on this journey together, and it is certainly a privilege to be able to mentor the next generation and challenge them to be all that God has intended for them to be!

Tell me...how does YOUR family celebrate milestones?

Who Are YOU Becoming?

Over the past six months to a year, God has been teaching me a lot about abiding in Him and areas that I am really needing to become better at. About a month ago, I was blessed to be able to attend the D6 Conference in Frisco, TX, which looks at ways the church and family can partner together to disciple the next generation. The theme of the entire conference was "Abide in Christ", and I came away with some wonderful nuggets that have been challenging me and changing the way I think and the way I "do life".

Pete Wilson, the founder of Cross Point Community Church in Nashville, TN, was the first speaker, and his words continue to echo in my mind. He challenged us with this statement, "What matters most in life is not what you accomplish but who you are becoming." WOW! In a culture that "rates" you based on all that you accomplish, this goes right up the proverbial nose of said culture! He also used Jesus' own words from Matthew 16:26, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" This is causing me to ask myself frequently, "Who am I becoming?" My goal is for the answer to be, "More like Christ," and that requires a daily, intentional plan to ABIDE in Christ (John 15) and to make sure that I'm not stuffing my life with activities and tasks that distract me from the goal. Am I a busy person? Yes, generally I am. But I am learning that abiding needs to take place first. Period. It's really about priorities.

Now I need to step on a few toes out there. Can I be blunt? Young people are too busy. Their days are packed to the gills with school, homework, jobs, and every extra curricular activity known to man. They are stressed out, lacking sleep, and running on empty most days. This is "normal", but should it be? As a full-time staff person in a church, I see youth missing church because of job conflicts or sporting events. Youth and church events tend to be the first things that get axed in favor of other pursuits. Can I be blunt again? This bothers me. Not because I desire to have huge numbers of people at events, but because I see skewed priorities. Too often, God is an after thought or at the bottom of the list of priorities. To paraphrase Jesus, what good is it if I have a great list of accomplishments and have accumulated lots of money to buy the stuff I want if I am in danger of losing my own soul? Sobering thought, isn't it?

Bottom line for me is again the words of Jesus, "If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) Abiding in Christ needs to be our first priority each day...seeking His will and His instructions for what we put our hands to each day.  

Who am I becoming? Who are YOU becoming? Who is your CHILD becoming?