Who's Counting?

If you're in ministry for any amount of time, it doesn't take long for questions like "So how many kids are in your Sunday school?" and "How many students are in your youth group?" Somehow we've come to equate quantity with quality. While that is sometimes true, it is not a hard and fast rule. We are an average-sized church with approximately 300 in attendance on a given Sunday. Our Sunday school and youth group average around 30 kids each on a weekly basis. For some churches, those numbers are very low and "insignificant." Unless you are in the triple digits, you don't really count. Most blog sites and children/youth ministry products are geared for the mega churches that have dozens of volunteers per grade level and hundreds of kids in their ministries. So what's an average-sized church to do? STOP COUNTING! :-)

I'm reminded often that Jesus changed the world with a group of 12! Just 12. He poured His life into them and taught them how to duplicate themselves into and through others. You and I know about Jesus because of what happened with those original disciples! Just think about that. Because of the energies that Jesus poured into a small group of young men, the course of history is forever altered!

Consider Gideon...God purposely downsized his group of soldiers so that God would get the glory for victory. Smaller was better!

So, who's counting? Not me! As for me and my ministry, we will keep investing in the lives that God has put in our children's and youth groups, and we will continue to anticipate amazing impacts on our world because of it!

The Junior High Factor

Junior High Students Rock!

I have over a decade of experience working with junior high students, and they continue to be my favorite age group to work with. They are a fascinating bundle of weird, maturity, silliness and seriousness...and I love them! :-)  For some reason, God has allowed my own junior high years to be indelibly marked in my mind, and I can easily bring back the memories and feelings of those years. Some of those memories are great, and others I would rather relegate to a world far, far away!

One thing that continues to bubble up in many formal and informal studies is that by the time a young person reaches those junior high years, WHO they are is pretty well established when it comes to their fundamental character. The Barna Group did a study a few years ago and discovered that over half of Christians will make a decision for Christ by the time they're 13. Once they get past the age of 18, the chances decrease. Now, I would never limit the capacity for the Holy Spirit to transform someone just because the statistics declare otherwise, but I think it's significant to note the importance of reaching children with the gospel...an authentic and understandable gospel...as early as possible, and demonstrating how to live that out in the world around them.

In my experience with junior high students, I found that there was an "uncanny" ability to predict the course that a student would take as they grew and became more independent based on who they were in 7th and 8th grade. Who they were in junior high became amplified as they grew and graduated and became a part of the "real world." Students who were pursuing Jesus in junior high are still close to Him and living for Him today. Students who were "playacting" the part of Christian in junior high saw no need to continue that charade as they grew older. And students who overtly thumbed their noses at all things Christ-centered continued on that path that has led to many difficult and challenging life situations.

Of the hundreds of students I've observed over the past decade, there have been a few who were far from the Lord in junior high and came into a relationship with Him in their older years. But those have been more the exception than the rule.

What's the bottom line? Parents, pastors, teachers, Sunday school leaders, youth leaders--you have a huge job and an awesome opportunity to shape the life of children, each with an eternal soul. I'm impassioned with giving children experiences early in their life that show them the importance of Who Jesus is, how much He loves them, and what a blast it is to live for Him! It's also a huge privilege to be an ambassador for Christ to young people who don't yet know Jesus. It's never too late to turn to Him!

Daily Bread

Kenyan woman and her "daily bread."

I recently did a children's message at church that went along with this line from the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." It's really a profound thought to ponder...do we trust God for our daily bread. Or maybe a better question is, do we HAVE to trust God for our daily bread? I shared some photos from this website with the kids during the message. It's a great (and slightly disturbing) glimpse into what constitutes "daily bread" around the world. We live in such luxury and abundance compared to most of the rest of the world, don't we?

James said, in relation to faith being dead if there isn't action to accompany it, "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?" (James 2:15-16) Those last few words get me every time..."what good is it?" We aren't blessed just to be blessed and store up more and more stuff for ourselves. I believe we are blessed to continue blessing others...to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

So how are you teaching this concept to your children? How are you teaching them that the world does not revolve around them? How are you expanding their worldview to realize that there are people who are hungry and hurting in the world and part of our job is to love them?

You know what I have discovered in the years I have worked with children? They are more than willing to share, to pray, and to reach out! They just need to be given tha
t opportunity.

Pray Like Jesus

Our church is embarking on a summer series called "Pray Like Jesus," and we are anticipating some wonderful fruit to come from this time together learning to pray in the same way that Jesus instructed His disciples. Parents at MSBC, here is some information you will need to know as we dive into this time together:

• Have each of your children bring a single subject notebook or drawing tablet along with crayons/colored pencils each week. (It would be fun if you made it “dedicated” for the summer series. I’ve attached the logo for the series, in case you’d like to also incorporate that in some way.) Each week the kids will be given an “assignment” to do during the message portion of the service which will be incorporated into the following week’s service. Be sure to come for all the details!
• Each month, our Sunday school has committed to $40 in support for the girls at Strong Tower Orphanage. We will still be collecting that offering during the summer. If you have anything to contribute, place that offering in an envelope marked “Sunday School STO” and it will get to the right place!
• We will be having communion on July 7th. Sometime this week, I encourage you to have a conversation with your child about what communion is all about. This blog post will help you with some ideas on how to have that conversation: http://shootsnrootsministry.blogspot.com/2013/01/kids-and-communion.html

Above all else, my prayer is that through this series you will find wonderful opportunities to talk with your children about prayer, to actually have great encounters of prayer with your family, and to continue to train your children in the way they should go.

Living in the Land of Excess

Will you indulge me a little post-Haiti-mission-trip-processing?  Thanks! I recently had the privilege of spending 5 days in Haiti, making new friends, seeing the countryside, and visiting a boy our youth group has been sponsoring through Compassion International (there will be a future blog post about that trip). The experience was so much more than I can even begin to put into mere words as it involves my feelings, my thoughts, my spirit...those parts of experiences that seem to be cheapened if you try to put them into black and white sentences and phrases.

As I have begun the process of "re-entry" back into normal life and normal routines, I'm not sure I can handle "normal" any more. One of the realizations I am sure of is that we live in a land of excess. Excess clothing. Excess food. Excess media. Excess opportunities. Excess stuff. Excess. Check out Jesus' words in Luke 12:13-21. He has some pretty specific things to say to people who make "excess" their goal in life:

     A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us.”  Jesus answered him, “Friend, who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?” And he went on to say to them all, “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be.”
     Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops.  He began to think to himself, ‘I don't have a place to keep all my crops. What can I do? This is what I will do,’ he told himself; ‘I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the grain and all my other goods. Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?’”   And Jesus concluded, “This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight.”

Life in Haiti

For the past week, I've been contrasting the riches of the US with the riches of Haiti. When you look at material goods, the US comes out on top easily. But when you start looking at those things considered "rich in God's sight" I think Haitian believers have the edge. The brief experience I had in Haiti showed me in numerous ways how believers there depend on the Lord solely day in and day out for their needs. Complete and utter dependence. And you know what? They actually believe that God will take care of them! Not just a head knowledge, either...they truly believe it.

Can I be honest? It's been difficult this past week being bombarded with all that this land of excess has to offer. So much seems like such drivel when compared to what God would have us spend our time and resources on. How can we justify spending thousands on "entertainment" when every 5 seconds somewhere in the world a child dies from hunger? We sing songs to the Lord with lines like "Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause." The reality of that is penetrating my very being in ways that it hasn't before. If my heart breaks for the same things that God's heart breaks for, then my daily life needs to look a lot different. If all of my time and resources are spent for the Lord's Kingdom's cause, then my daily life needs to look a lot different.

Some of you are probably saying, "Yep, it's obvious she's just back from a mission trip. Give it a day or two."  Well, I'm determined that my five days in Haiti are not going to be a "flash in the pan."  I will share this line that I believe God impressed on my heart: "I don't feel that God is calling me to move to Haiti, but I do believe He is calling me to be moved BY Haiti."  May it be so, Lord.

Jesus IS King

When you think of Jesus, how do you envision Him? Do the innumerable "Sunday school pictures" play a slideshow in your mind's eye? Shoulder-length hair. Brown eyes. Robe and sandals. Or some variation of these characteristics. Over the past few years, my thinking has been challenged to consider Jesus as He IS, not as He WAS when He walked this earth.  He IS the risen Savior...right now...at the right hand of God the Father. Right now! Isn't that incredible?

Revelation 19:11-16 has an amazing depiction of what John saw as he got a glimpse into heaven.

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: 

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

THIS is Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Chief Cornerstone, Immanuel, the Living Water, the Bread of Life, our King. Honestly? My finite mind cannot conceive all of that. But one thing I know is that Jesus is worthy of my adoration and my whole-hearted devotion.

I have to wonder if we are doing a good job at making sure young people know who Jesus IS. In our families, do we ever "allow" Jesus to grow up beyond the baby in the manger? How would our families, our homes, our churches change if each believer started to truly recognize and worship Jesus as "King of Kings and Lord of Lords"? What does adoring Jesus look like in your life or in your homes?

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.

Pass the Faith

Perhaps one of the saddest phrases in the Bible is found in Judges 2:10. "And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD..." This is referring to the people of Israel who had an "on again, off again" type of relationship with the Lord, and it had apparently gotten to the point where one generation had completely died off, and the next generation did not know the Lord. Does that grieve you like it does me?

Those who know me know that I'm impassioned about making sure that the next generation DOES know the Lord, and you know whose responsibility that is? Yep, my generation's. Your generation's. Generational discipleship is how God designed for His commands and His character to be passed along. What a privilege we have to carry the message of God and of His Son to the children of today, so that they in turn will grow up to know the Lord and to pass along His message to the next generation.

You know something I realized? We're all influencing the next generation. The question then is HOW are we influencing? As Christ followers, are we encouraging the young people of today to live a life sold out for Jesus? Or are we teaching them how to succeed at being a mediocre Christian with no sacrifice and no pain? Are we teaching them that Jesus is worth EVERYTHING to follow? Or are we teaching them to hold onto the things of this life as more precious than anything Jesus could offer? Are we making disciples? Tough questions, aren't they?  Here's one more...

When our generation has died, will the next generation know the Lord?