Parent Night of Prayer

Recently I facilitated a Parent Night of Prayer in our church, and it was such a blessing. In the process of organizing it I didn't come across many resources online, so I want to share with you here what we did, in hopes that it will be helpful for you and the families in your church.

Our evening started out with a brief time of instruction and sharing about parenting and the joys and challenges associated with it. Then we spent the rest of the evening praying. Some parents were by themselves, others were with their spouses. Each parent was given a card at their arrival that was hooked onto a binder ring. There were seven prayer "stations" scattered throughout the sanctuary, each had a different card which could be added to the ring, so by the time they went home, the would have a visual reminder of the prayer focuses and what God may have spoken to them in that time. Below I've listed (in no particular order) and explained each of the seven stations, and I've also included the JPEGs of each of the cards in case you'd like to use them.(Each card also includes a scripture passage that goes along with it.) (If you'd like the original Publisher files so you can edit them, please email me, and I'll be glad to send them to you!)

1. Cover card--title and date of prayer.
2. Pray for your child's safety online, watching TV, on social media, etc. At this station I set up a monitor, a TV remote, and an iPod touch as visuals of some of the items that young people interact with daily.
3. Thank God for the unique traits of each of your children. I had a table set up with a number of empty picture frames, reminding parents that each of their children is a "masterpiece" created by God.
4. Pray that your child will maintain their purity and avoid traps like pornography, premarital sex, and sexual immorality. This station was a table covered with a white table cloth, simple and reminiscent of purity.
5. Pray that your child will choose godly friends and role models as their primary influencers. I'm afraid that I didn't have any good visuals that came to mind for this station. If you have something, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
6. Pray for your child's future...spouse, career, God's call on their life, family, etc. At this station I had a picture of a baby progressing through each stage of life...growing up, teen, adult, senior citizen, with the caption "Remember, you're not just raising children...you're raising future adults."
7. Pray that your child will come to know Jesus and will follow Him on their life-long journey. I had a simple cross that we use on our communion table set up for this station.
8. Pray that your child will develop a hunger and thirst for the things of God (His word, prayer, fellowship with His church, etc.) I set this station up on our communion table, which has a large Bible, some shofars, and anointing oil.

I'd love to hear if you use this idea, how it goes, if you have additional ideas for parent prayer nights.

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!"

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.

God's Word in Our Heart

In church yesterday, we had several adults share a small part of their story about how they learned language (in celebration of Pentecost Sunday), and  a number of them remarked about the importance of Bible reading and scripture memorization at an early age. In fact one adult even had a little chart that her mother had made for her when she was three years old and memorizing Bible verses. She got to put a star on a crown for every verse memorized. Psalm 119:11 says,  "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Hiding God's word in our heart takes discipline and sometimes creativity! But the benefits are out of this world!

I want to introduce you to Seeds Family Worship and a really great method they have for memorizing scripture. You can check out their website and download a PDF of a Verse Memorization Checklist. And the really cool thing about each of the verses listed is that they coincide with a song that Seeds Family Worship has recorded which is word-for-word scripture. Music is a powerful way to remember things, and I love that Seeds has spent so much time coordinating all of these things. In fact, you can LISTEN ONLINE to get a taste of their great songs!

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.

A Faith at Home Testimony

At our church "faith at home" is a primary focus in our children's and youth ministries. We seek ways as a church to partner with parents so that the gospel is a part of daily living, not just a "Sunday only" kind of pursuit. Over the upcoming weeks, I'll be featuring some guest blog posts from young adults who have grown up with "faith at home" as a reality and how that has impacted them as they embark into adulthood.

The first guest blogger is Victoria Lee, who is in her final year of college. Parents, Sunday school teachers, and youth workers...be encouraged by what she says!

Growing up in a Christian household, I never really understood the blessing that was given to me. Going to church, saying prayers with my family, listening to the Christian radio in the car - that was all just “normal”. As I've gotten older, I have seen how rare my growing up experience was. Living a life centered around Christianity wasn't optional. I remember “asking Jesus into my heart” during Sunday School when I was about 4 years old.

Although I had church and Christian parents surrounding me my entire life, I did not get serious about making faith my own until it was time for me to graduate high school and go on to college. Don’t get me wrong! I did the youth group thing and went to all of the youth rallies in high school. I loved them! I was very active in church and always liked to volunteer but that was about the extent of my faith. I never had a very deep relationship with God.
As I entered into my college years, I decided to go to a Christian university. Contrary to what most people think, Christian universities have issues with alcohol, drugs, and parties just like secular schools. It is just more hidden and not as “in your face”. My parents raised me to know that those lifestyles were wrong. I knew that if I didn't get serious about trying to grow a personal relationship with God, I would be easily swayed. Luckily for me, the university I attend is very big on nurturing students' spiritual lives. Through weekly convocation times (chapel services three times a week), prayer groups on Tuesday nights (a chance to meet with a small group of girls for Bible study and prayer) and church attendance, I've been able to get a lot more serious about wanting to live a Christian lifestyle. I've come to realize that attending church isn't enough. A relationship with God is all that matters and it is something you need to work for.

Let’s pause a second. I don’t want you all to think I am this perfect Christian college girl. I’m not. I've made bad choices and willingly followed the wrong crowd in college. Even at the times when I have knowingly made the wrong choice, I've always felt that conviction inside. The values my parents raised me with are always going to be a part of me.
So, parents, don’t give up on your kids. Teach your children the Bible starting at a young age. Tell them what is right and wrong. Never stop praying for them.  I’m sure that most parents are familiar with Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) which says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” I have experienced this verse to be true in my own life and although I've never really expressed it, I am so very blessed to have been raised in a Christian home.

On behalf of all the young adults who were raised with faith at home (and all the kids who don’t understand the blessing they have yet), thank you to all of the mommies and daddies. Thank you to church families, Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders. All of the time you spent on your knees and in the Word for us does not go in vain. Your lives are making an impact for Christ every single day. Even though most of us will probably never express it verbally, we are so blessed by the Christian influence that has been placed in our lives. We love you!

Fun Ways to Bring Faith Home

Recently, I was given the opportunity to review Timothy Smith's book 52 Creative Family Time Experiences: Fun Ways to Bring Faith Home. I found it to be a great resource for families who are seeking ways to be intentional about passing their Christian faith to their children. Throughout the book, there are 52 ways that parents can create experiences right at home that set the stage for faith discussions. A portion of these 52 experiences focus on milestones and holidays, which are wonderful opportunities to make faith very real and practical to your children. Some of these activities include "Only One Thing Is Needed", "Heroes at Home", "Our Family Brand".

Check out this excerpt from Smith's book:

"According to The Shema, as parents we should impress God's Word on our hearts first: 'Get them inside of you, and then get them inside of your children.' We can't impress on our child's heart something we don't have on our own."

Throughout this book, parents will have opportunities to get God's word inside of them as they in turn get those words inside of their children. Each activity comes with a scripture passage that is shared and discussed. You'll also be given instructions for an object lesson/activity that uses simple household items or items easily found at your local store.

Bottom line, if you're a family who is seeking ways to be more intentional in making faith real, interactive, and authentic in your home, then you'll really enjoy Timothy Smith's book!  You can find it on Amazon.com for purchase.

The new year would be a great time to start a new tradition of a weekly family time, and this book is an excellent resource to guide you in that journey!

Keeping Jesus Central at Christmas

Only 26 sleeps until Christmas!  Is the anticipation already building in your home? Are the stockings hung by the chimney with care? Are the halls all decked? Kids tend to have a lot of extra "energy" this time of year, don't they?  :-) "Anticipation" is a word easily associated with Christmas! As we anticipate the arrival of December 25, it's wonderful to have reminders around us that focus on anticipating celebrating the arrival of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us...the TRUE reason we celebrate in such a large way during this season!  

As you may have realized by now, Ann Voskamp is one of my favorite authors and blog writers. And I want to share a recent post from her with a link to a wonderful (and free!) resource that may very well become a tradition in your family. It's called a "Jesse Tree", and it's a wonderfully symbolic way of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas on a daily basis. Check out this blog post to find a free downloadable booklet that contains daily devotions for your family along with ornaments that can be printed out (in color or black and white so your kids can color them), mounted, and hung on your tree. (Some families even make a special tree just for their Jesse Tree ornaments.)

This is another great opportunity to live out God's command in Deuteronomy 6: "Impress them [God's commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

"Shoots 'n Roots"...What's in a Name?

The first post in this blog is dedicated to the "why" behind adding yet another blog to a virtual world that is replete with more postings that you can count. I check out a lot of these blogs, articles, websites, and so on, but I have yet to find one that is dedicated to the average-sized church called to reach the people in rural areas of the United States and Canada. So here we go!  My goal with this blog is to chronicle some of the ways that we "do church" and disciple the next generation in a small northern Maine town of about 6,000 people.

Why "Shoots 'n Roots"? I'm glad you asked! Check out Jeremiah 17:7-8...

"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." 

In the many years that I have been involved working with children, youth, and their parents, I continue to see that parents who are intentional about discipleship in their homes raise children who have an authentic relationship with the Lord...their "roots" have grown deep into fertile soil, and their "shoots" have been nourished with God's word and the living water of Jesus. They have grown into these "trees" that Jeremiah talks about...producing fruit and able to weather whatever conditions life throws at them.

I look forward to this journey and to meeting many along the way!