Reaching Kids

Chapter 10 Celebrate Failure

2011-04-12T08:37:00.003-04:00

Dr. John Stanko is a pastor, speaker and writer of many books. He is a good friend, mentor and fellow board member for our organization. Every year Dr. John has a “celebrate failure” day. He encourages those he influences to do the same. I have joined him in this celebration. I have come to the conclusion, with many others, that my failures have been better teachers than my successes.

My original goal in ministry was to be a “successful” children’s pastor in a large church. I previously wrote that after Bible School the opportunity presented itself for me to serve as a children’s pastor in a Chinese Church in Singapore for one year. It was an internship set up by my friend and mentor Pastor Mark Geppert. He reminded me often that it was an “internship” so I was allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. The pastor of the church in Singapore, Pastor Song Meng Liang, was also very wise and gracious. He also reminded me often that I should do my best but there was room for mistakes to learn from.

My family and I made the move to Singapore. It was exciting to be in a new culture. This was my chance to be released in my gifting and calling. I worked hard in developing the children’s ministry at the church and it began to grow. The church, especially the parents, were happy with our work and ministry. I had made a few cultural mistakes along the way but nothing too serious. When I would make the mistakes, Pastor Song would just laugh and help me to see the error and help me understand why it happened. He often said that I could get away with it without too much damage because I was a foreigner.

Somewhere along the way I forgot that it was an internship, a place to learn and grow. Things were going well but it went to my head. I set my heart to be “Super Children’s Pastor”. Not only was I ministering successfully in Pastor Song’s church, I was getting opportunities to minister in other churches and schools throughout Singapore. I was spending more time working than was expected of me and I began to neglect my family.

We should never sacrifice our families for success. My family needed even more attention than a normal situation because of living in another culture. I refused to see this and as a result it brought pressure on my marriage.

I continued to strive and put self made pressure upon myself until one day I became very ill. I had a high fever and severe chest pains. I tried to ignore the pains but finally they became so severe that I asked Debra to please get me to the hospital. Pastor Song was also our neighbor so she contacted him. He rushed me to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

As in most hospitals, when someone has chest pains they give them fast and very attentive treatment. They began to take blood and hook me up to tubes. I was so sick from the high fever in addition to the chest pains. I remember a male nurse or doctor coming to Debra and informing her that they took an enzyme count and the results showed that I was having a heart attack or a heart infection! How could this be? I was only thirty-seven years old? What did this mean for the rest of my life?

On top of being so sick, I got severely depressed. I remember lying in that emergency room as they prepared a room to admit me. I felt like a total failure. I had failed my wife and children. I had failed in ministry. And now my body had failed me. My mind began to race into depression and thoughts of failure.

The doctors had diagnosed that in addition to the heart attack I had a blood infection. They treated me with antibiotics and in a few days the fever left and I felt well. The hospital was ready to release me to the care of a cardiologist. My appointment with him revealed that I had blockage in my heart. The doctor informed us that at the very least I needed angioplast and quite possibly open heart surgery. He suggested we go back to the States for further treatment of this kind. He gave me some nitro-glycerin tablets just in case my heart would fail before reaching home.

Dealing with feelings of complete failure and disappointment, we made our way back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was referred to Dr. David Chang. Dr. Chang was from Singapore of all places! He was also a born again believer. Being a believer he suggested that I have more tests to determine the extent of the blockage. Many people had been praying and he said, “Perhaps God has healed you?”

Dr. Chang scheduled the tests immediately. They shot me up with some radioactive isotope and put me on an MRI table. After the tests he informed me that it would be a couple of days before getting the results. Waiting around for the results was too much for me especially since it was trout fishing season. I took off for a fishing trip to north central Pennsylvania. The fishing was great but the results of the tests loomed in the back of my mind. I caught a limit of trout early on the second day and then made my way to a pay telephone in a restaurant parking lot near the creek. Debra answered and I immediately asked if the doctor had called. In a depressed voice she acknowledged that he did. My mind went in a million different directions in that split second. I then anxiously asked her what were the results? Once a again in a depressed tone she said, “The doctor said…” she hesitated, “get off the medicine, no more appointments were necessary, your are healed!” There was no blockage!

The doctor in Singapore definitely diagnosed blockage and sent the documentation to confirm it back with me. Somewhere between Singapore and the States I had received a miracle!

I decided that since I had a healthy heart I was going to go to Nepal to work in an orphanage and to take a trek in the highest mountains for the world to distribute Gospel materials to unreached Nepalis. The trip was set for July.

July arrived quickly and my fifteen year old daughter, Elizabeth, and Tim Gardner, the youth pastor from our church made our way to Nepal. We arrived at the Mendies Haven Orphanage. “Mummy” Elizabeth Mendies was over the orphanage. Mummy was at that time an eighty-six year old Canadian who had been raising orphaned children in Nepal for over forty years. There were twenty-two beautiful children at the orphanage. Mummy made them all learn and speak English at the orphanage. Everyday we would teach them Bible lessons and new Christian songs. They loved the time we spent with them.

One morning Mummy brought our attention to a ten-thousand foot peak that was near to the Home. She first pointed to the snow capped mountains in the distance and said, “Son, if you plan to trek towards those mountains you better spend a day practicing on that smaller mountain.” She assigned Ashok to us and we headed off to spend a day climbing the smaller mountain. Ashok was around twenty years old. He grew up at the Haven and his English was good. He also had a great sense of humor and was always telling us jokes. As Ashok led us up the mountain a downpour broke loose. We were only halfway up but he informed us that we ought to go back because of the danger of mudslides.

Cold and wet we made out way back to the home. The home had two buildings, one for the boys and one for the girls. Tim Gardner and I stayed in the boys building. We made our way up to our room and took off our wet clothes. The boys from the home loved coming in our room where we would play and wrestle with them. They followed us into the room as we got warm and dried off. My wallet had gotten soaked and I began to take everything out to dry, driver’s license, money, etc. As I was taking everything out of the wallet, I came across the nitro glycerin tablets given to me by the doctor in Singapore. They were sealed in a bubble pack and were still good. My thought was that I was healed so I threw them in the trash bin. The other Tim was busy having a pillow fight with the boys and looking at these inquisitive little boys I had second thoughts about throwing the nitro-glycerin tablets in the trash bin. I removed them put them back in my wallet to dispose of at another time.

The next day we began our trek carrying heavy back packs filled mostly with Gospel material. For the first eight hours we hiked up a steep river bed. Ashok would laugh and say “We haven’t gone up yet!” Over and over he would laugh and say this as I huffed and puffed up the the trail beside the river. We stopped at a stone hut that offered Coca-Colas that were cooled in the river water. As I was enjoying my Coke, Ashok motioned for me to come join him as he peered around the corner of the building. When I reached him he began to laugh as I immediately looked up. As far as I could see was a trail of uneven steps going up the side of the mountain! “Now we go up!” he said as he laughed.

There is a song taken from Psalm 73 that says “God is the strength of my heart…” I sang this song over and over as we made our way up the seemingly never ending steps. This was surely the test of my healed heart and the miracle I received. Twelve hours later we made it to the top and then made our way along the ridges to the different villages as we handed out the Gospel material.

After four days we had handed out most of the material and we were making our way down from the high elevations. The narrow trail wound down along a deep canyon. On one side of us was a rock wall and on the other was a thousand foot drop to the river. This trail was a major source of transportation for the Nepalis who lived in these villages. At thirty-seven years old, I was the oldest on our small team. The rest were all much faster than me. As we proceeded down they were always a few hundred yards ahead.

I caught up to the team at a spot in the trail that had opened up into large a grassy area. It was a place where the villagers and trekkers would rest as they would go up and down the mountain. A crowd of people had gathered. I saw Elizabeth near the middle standing near an elderly looking Nepali woman lying on the ground. I immediately asked Elizabeth what was going on? She informed me that the lady appeared to be having a heart attack. Her left arm had gone numb, she was short of breath and had chest pains. She and her husband had made their way down to the village below to find a doctor. The doctor wanted payment before treating her. They had nothing so he had turned them away. She was making her way back up to her village. Her poor husband was kneeling beside her crying and begging for help.

Immediately I remembered the nitro-glycerin tablets in my wallet. I quickly removed one from the bubble pack and gave it to Ashok with instructions to tell her to put the pill under her tongue and do not swallow it. Ashok gave me a puzzled look as if to ask “Where did this come from?” I told him to do it quickly. The lady did not resist and followed his directions. She had been clutching her chest. The medicine immediately took effect and you could see her pain ease as she let go of her chest. She began to wiggle her fingers on her left hand in amazement. She sat up and a smile came upon her face. The crowd was also amazed. Her husband was even more amazed. She stood to her feet. Her husband ran to me and grabbed my hand, kissed it and began to press it to his forehead. I freaked out as I realized he was trying to thank me by worshipping me! He was a Hindu who believed in over three million gods and I was just added to his list of deities.

I quickly pulled my hand away and pulled out a book from my backpack. It was a colorful comic book-like track. It told the story of Jesus. I informed Ashok to read it to this man and woman. The whole crowd listened as Ashok read and pointed to the pictures of Jesus. It was a short track and when he finished he interpreted as I spoke to the man and his wife, “This Jesus is the One who sent me here with this medicine that has saved your life!” They joyfully nodded their heads acknowledging their understanding. The crowd watched as Ashok led them in a prayer to thank Jesus for this wonderful miracle.

The crowd began to disperse as we said our farewells. We headed down the mountain as the couple headed up. Once again my younger team members proceeded on ahead leaving me alone. I began to thank the Lord for his goodness towards this couple. The Holy Spirit began speaking in my heart, “Remember all the disappointment and depression that you suffered with the sickness and heart attack? Remember the discouragement as you proceeded back to the USA?” With tears streaming down my face He reminded me of that difficult time. The Holy Spirit continued, “You went through all of that for the sake of that woman. All the humility and suffering you went through was so I could get those pills to that woman so she could experience and hear the Gospel.”

As I received a new perspective on my suffering, I thanked the Lord for allowing me to be used in such a way. The Holy Spirit gave me revelation from the life of King David. In 2 Samuel David becomes King of all of Israel. Verse 12 says “And David realized that the LORD had confirmed him as king over Israel and had blessed his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.” Young David was anointed as King by Prophet Nathan in 1 Samuel 17. David suffered many years of trials, tribulations and hardships before he finally was crowned King over Israel and Judah. He was rejected by leadership. He lived in poverty depending upon the priests to give him bread to eat. He had to hide to keep from being killed. His wife was given to another man. He was surrounded by the broke, busted and disgusted. David now reflects on his life and realizes that all the hardships and trials he went through was for the sake of the people. The sufferings he experienced helped shape him to be the king he needed to be for the people he now served.

This brought much comfort to my heart. The tears had ceased as I proceeded down the mountain trail. I was feeling good about all that happened since the heart attack. Once again the Holy Spirit spoke and asked me this hard question, “Would you do it again?” I did not answer quickly. Once again the tears flowed as I pondered this question. After quite a while I answered, “Lord, I will go where you want me to go. I will do what you want me to do. I will say what you want me to say, for You are Lord. I ask this one thing of You. If You choose to ever use me in such a way again, please to do not forewarn me. I give you permission to use me, but just let me walk it out!”

I believe all of us can look back on our lives and see our mistakes and failures. If we allow the Lord to use those times we can celebrate failure as a great teacher and molder of our character. Our pain can be used and we will realize that we experienced these times for the sake of others. Our pain may help to relieve others of their pain and maybe prevent them from making the mistakes and failures that we have made.

Chapter 9 "The Fatherless"

2011-02-22T19:52:00.001-05:00

I believe with all my heart that a home without a father is the most debilitating factor for a person’s social, moral, emotional and spiritual life. It is heartbreaking to see a child grow up without a dad. It is even sadder when the situation is not caused by the natural or tragic death of a father. Children are being socially, morally, emotionally and spiritually crippled because of selfish and irresponsible decisions of adults. Someone once said that “any man can be a "father"....it takes a REAL man to be a "DAD".

Before you take my word for it, let me give you some statistics:

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (Source: U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census
90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes (Source: Center for Disease Control)
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes (Source: Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26, 1978.)
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (Source: National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools.)
75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes (Source: Rainbows for all Gods Children.)
70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes (Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept 1988)
85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home (Source: Fulton Co. Georgia jail populations, Texas Dept. of Corrections 1992)

You can see the strategy of the devil. Jesus taught us about the Father’s (God) love and told us to share that same love. He tells us in John Chapter 14 verse 9 “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” The image of a father has been so distorted by devices of the devil that when you talk of a Father God it literally shuts people down. Many say to themselves, “The Father’s Love! Are you kidding me? I have never known a father that loves me!”

It is obvious that Jesus anticipated this strategy of the evil one and the Word of God gave us the hope of the promise in Malachi 4:6 “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…” We need to keep praying, believing and hoping in the fulfillment of this prophetic promise. At the same time we cannot afford to stand back and wait. There are young boys and men in our nation and around the world that need Godly men as mentors and role models.

I have ministered in inner city communities to over two hundred children with only one home that I was aware of that had a father living in the home! In one community in the Pittsburgh area, we began our Power Sidewalk Sunday School. There was a nine year old boy named Johnny. He was an obvious leader to the rest of the children. Johnny had a great influence on the other children and he was determined to ruin the program. During the praise he would cross his arms and refuse to sing and participate. The kids would enjoy the fun songs until Johnny would catch their eyes. Immediately they stopped even though they were enjoying it very much.

Each week we showed up I would get so frustrated. What would it take to breakthrough to this hardened kid? I found out that Johnny’s dad was in prison. His mom had many other children. Johnny was being raised by his alcoholic grandmother. This was one tough kid! As I was praying for a breakthrough for Johnny, the Holy Spirit inspired me to ask Johnny to go fishing with me. I love fishing! I spend much of my free time fishing. When you love something and spend time doing it, you usually become good at it. I was going to take Johnny fishing.

That week at the Power Hour I approached Johnny before the program and informed him that I wanted to talk to him afterwards. His immediate response was, “Why? What did I do?” He said with an attitude. I told him to just hang around afterwards and get with me. He approached me as we were cleaning up after the program. He came with two of his buddies and defiantly asked again “What did I do?” I answered, “You didn’t do anything. I was just wondering if you would like to go fishing with me tomorrow afternoon?”

Immediately this kid who had been hardened beyond his years became a child again. A huge smile came to his face. “Sure! When? Where?” He could not contain himself. The other boys were in awe and I could see jealousy on their faces. I told him that I would pick him up at 3:00 p.m. the following day but we needed to ask his grandma first. She agreed and our fishing trip was set.

I picked up my friend Walt and together we proceeded to the Hill District of Pittsburgh to pick Johnny up for the first fishing trip of his life. This was the Hill District. While going up a steep hill to pick him up, my van started chugging and eventually stopped running! I had to get a tow truck to get it home. Johnny’s grandmother did not have a phone and there was no way to contact him to tell him what happened. I was in agony as I was imagining this anxious boy sitting on the curb waiting. I was sick to my stomach. To Johnny I had just become like every other man in his life. I promised to be there and did not show up!

It took a almost a week to get the van fixed. It was fixed just in time to for the next Power Hour. When we showed up on the old basketball court where we always set up, Johnny was nowhere to be found. I made my way to his grandmother’s apartment. As she let me in I could see Johnny in the dimly lit living room sitting with his arms crossed and an angry look on his face. I immediately apologized and told him what had happened and begged for another chance. I offered to pick him up the following morning. Reluctantly, he nodded his head in agreement. I could see the skepticism and mistrust in his eyes. His grandmother informed me that he would be staying with his mom in another neighborhood and gave me the directions and address. She also sternly told me that I better bring her some fresh fish back. Now I had two promises to fulfill.

This time my van made it and I picked up Johnny early that next morning. I do not think he slept and it only took one blast of the car horn for him to come running. We first ate some breakfast then headed off to one of my favorite fishing holes. It was on the Beaver River. When we got there I was disappointed to see that heavy rains a few days earlier had swollen the river to where it was almost un-fishable. We manage to find a place to settle in and cast into the muddy waters. Grandma was going to be disappointed but Johnny was not. We did not even get a bite but we skipped rocks, ventured along the river’s edge and just did what guys do when the fish are not biting. We finally gave up fishing and went to “Mac Donald’s” (every kid’s favorite). I let him order whatever he wanted and he could not believe it. On the way home Johnny told me that this was the best day of his life! I told him if he thought this was good then just wait until the fish were biting next time. With eyes as big as saucers he exclaimed, “We are going to do this again?” I answered, “You better believe it! Your grandma is not going to let us get away without catching her some fresh fish!”

Johnny and I had quite a few more fishing trips together and yes, Grandma got her fish. More importantly Johnny used his influence with the other children and became a great role model to the other kids. He helped with every aspect of our program. He helped us lead the praise. He was the last one to leave as he and his buddies picked up the trash. I did not try to be Johnny’s dad but I did try to be big brother, mentor and friend.

I believe the promise of Malachi 4:6. “I know that it will be fulfilled someday.” In the meantime there are children all over the world who need big brothers and sisters. Role models and mentors that can and will change their lives for ever. It does not take much. A little time, an occasional trip to “Mac Donald’s”, and the love of the Father God poured through you to change a life of a child forever.

Chapter 8 "The Safest Place In America"

2011-02-22T19:49:00.001-05:00

Lincoln Park is an inner city community in Hampton, Virginia. It is a Housing Development Authority community and predominantly occupied by African Americans. The crime rate is high. Shootings happen on a regular basis. This community became one of the safest places for me, a caucasian man in his late forties to early fifties. How does this happen? Normally, men who look like me in that neighborhood are bill collectors or city detectives and neither are welcome here.

The Lord has called me and blessed me with the skills to minister to children in inner city communities. I was seeking for a neighborhood to start our Power Hour ministry. The Power Hour is called sidewalk sunday school or you could describe it as a children’s church that we present outside on a Saturday or weekday evening.

When it was Christmas time, my wife and I would buy presents for children and then ask the local police if they knew of a needy family. They always did. The Hampton City Police kindly led us to a poor Muslim family in some run down apartments. Even though they were Muslims, the mother was deeply touched by our generosity and kindness.

After giving the family the gifts I approached the police with another question. I told them about our Power Hour program. I then asked them where was the roughest and most needy neighborhood where perhaps our program could make a difference. Immediately, both policeman said “Lincoln Park”. I set my eyes, my prayers and my preparation on Lincoln Park for the next three months. As soon as the warm spring weather appeared, we would start our ministry there.

I began prayer walking the neighborhood regularly. I started talking to residents about our program. I was directed to an elderly lady pastor who lived in the high rise building in Lincoln Park. Families lived in the low rise building and elderly and handicapped in the high rise. I knocked on the lady pastor’s door. She suspiciously greeted me and asked why was I there. I began to tell her about our proposed programs for the children and immediately she invited me inside to hear more. She excitedly told me that this is exactly what she had been praying for! There was a community center for the children but they did not offer any religious or spiritual programs because they were funded by the government. We did not need a building for our program. We only needed a large grassy area and a place to park my van with the sound system.

I asked her who did I need to contact to get permission. She sternly looked at me and said “You are talking to her! I am the pastor of this community and I give you permission for your program.” Before I had asked this question I knew that I had found the key person to make our program successful. My experience working in inner city communities has shown me that there is usually a “matriarchal” leader in the community. Someone’s grandma who has lived there forever is usually the door to the community. In this case it was this elderly lady pastor. We had a great relationship during the five years that I ministered in Lincoln Park. This relationship kept the door open for us.

That May we started the Power Hour Sidewalk Sunday School in LIncoln Park. The first thing we did was knock on the doors of every home in the community and hand out a promotion flyer for the program. We would do this the day before the program started. Those initial meetings with the residents can be very intimidating! Many of the doors open and a huge African American man sees me and shouts, “What do you want?” I muster up some courage and hand them a flyer and tell them that we have a great program for the kids starting tomorrow. The flyer has a tear off for the kids to get a free blow pop and a chance to win a huge Super Soaker squirt gun. Most would take the flyer and slam the door in our face.

The Power Hour starts the following afternoon. The kids come running with their flyers looking for their free blow pop and the chance to win the Super Soaker. In order to have a chance to win the prize they have to fill out the bottom tear-off portion with their names, apartment number and if possible a contact number. We take the tears-offs and load the information into the computer for a data base for future visits.

The children love the Power Hour and so do their parents and caregivers. It is a fun, fast program that teaches Bible lessons each week. There is fun, music, games, and prizes! We always finish with a popsicle or ice cream bar. Weather permitting, we run it every week May through September. Fifty to sometimes over a hundred children would join us each week. We follow up with visit to children’s homes. Our goal was to visit every child in their homes, once per month.

As I said before, someone who looks like me knocking doors in this neighborhood is looked at suspiciously. After a few visits and the adults seeing the success of our program, the suspicions cease. My team and I are greeted with, “Pastor Tim, I know you are here to visit my child (niece, nephew or grandchild) but could you take time to pray for me?” We have prayed for drug addicts, alcoholics, struggling single moms, sick family members and many other prayer requests. Prayers are answered and relationships are built. When we are invited into the home, we are able to notice if there are needs. We have returned with boxes of food, mattresses for beds and used clothing. I always loved when we are able to meet those needs and see the appreciation from those families. We eventually found free bread and bake goods from a Bread Ministry and delivered them to the community on Saturday mornings.

The community endearingly calls me and knows me as “Pastor Tim”. They have come to know, love and trust us. When I come into the neighborhood either for the Power Hour or visitation, the kids come running. Sometimes on visitation I feel like the Pied Piper. The children follow us from house to house and give us the lowdown on each family. They become a great source of information. They always know when there is a new resident or family and quickly introduce us.

Our team is required to wear our Power Hour Shirts with a distinct colorful logo on the front when we work in the community. We try to go two by two and not go at night. Under these guidelines, this neighborhood probably becomes the safest place in America for me. I am trusted and I also trust. I am protected.

One cold evening, I had to go visit a family. I normally tried to not go by myself but this night either out of lack of wisdom or necessity, I went by myself. I wore my Power Hour Shirt under my black wool coat. I made my visit and proceeded to where I parked my car. I was also aware of a corner where most of the drug deals went down. My car was parked near this corner and I carelessly proceeded that way. I watched in many of these drug deals where they had watchmen at different key places. If a cop or detective approached they would used their Nextel phones with the radio feature to warn the others. The Nextels give off a distinctive “beep-beep” when used.

I walked around the corner of a building and about fifty yards away, the deal was going down. I heard the Nextels and then heard “Get him!” I immediately knew this was towards me! I learned from our Power Lessons of Moses that when Moses did not know what to do, he prayed. I prayed, “Lord, Help me?!” Four men from different directions were approaching me and reaching into their jackets. The Lord did help me! The Holy Spirit gave me wisdom and I quickly unbuttoned my wool coat and like Superman exposed my Power Hour Logo on the front of my t-shirt. Once again I heard a Nextel and a voice say “Back off, it’s only Pastor Tim.”

This was an almost completely African American community in Southeast Virginia! Prejudice is rampant. Trust is only earned with time and respect. For me this became a safe place because the love of Jesus breaks through prejudice. Jesus poured loved into our hearts for the community and the community, He built a trust for us. Respect was given and received. I worked five years in this community. Our ministry was honored by the city for our work there. I love those families and especially those kids. I miss you, Lincoln Park!

Chapter 7 WHO WILL REACH THE CHILDREN?

2011-02-10T10:02:00.001-05:00

If you reach the heart of the children, you can win a nation. During the triumphant entry of Jesus the children were crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Matthew 21:15 Hosanna means “He saves”. Jesus had won the hearts of the children. The children realized that Jesus was their Messiah and Savior. Many people were shouting ‘Hosanna” that day, but it caught the attention of the religious leaders that children were on board. “Do you hear what these (children) are saying?” they angrily asked Jesus. They became keenly aware that their religious rule and reign was coming to an end because Jesus had won the hearts of the children.

I have experienced this same reaction from government authorities in Communist countries. In most Communist countries you can share the Gospel with adults and you will probably not suffer persecution. I am not talking about open preaching but casually sharing to inquisitive individuals. If you get caught sharing the Gospel to children and youth under 18 years of age, you are in trouble. The Communists and other oppressive governments know that once the children and youth of a nation realize truth, their oppressive rule is a generation away from ending.

During the late nineties and into the early part of this millennium I took numerous trips to Viet Nam. Viet Nam has the fastest growing children’s ministry in the world. The under ground church became ultimately aware about the importance to reaching the children and youth. Thousands of children were coming to Christ during this time. I once spoke to a pastor who estimated that he pastored 12,000 adults and over 100,000 children throughout Vietnam. I visited hidden places where hundreds of street children were given food and clothes while at the same time had the love of Jesus presented to them in fun and relevant ways.

The children’s workers in Vietnam were desperate to be trained by the ministry teams that I was a part of. We would find secluded places and teach and train from morning until night. They hung on every word we taught. They reminded me of baby birds when the mother arrives at the nest with a juicy worm. In order to be relevant in children’s ministry you have to be able to learn to use puppets, sculpture with balloons, teach using flannel graphs, and other visuals that will help you communicate to children. Using flannel graph figures in the US churches is considered old fashion and out of date. In Viet Nam the flannel graphs are priceless as it gives Sunday School teachers a way to visually make the Bible stories come alive. The flannel graphs that we used were purchased at a missionaries’ discount from Betty Lukens. They came as large flannel sheets with the the Bible characters and scenes needing to be cut out. Cutting them out was very laborious but carrying in the uncut sheets made it very convenient to get through the tight security at the Viet Nam airports. Going through the Xray machines the flannel graphs just appear as folded cloth.

The church workers in Viet Nam would get so excited to open our suitcases filled with these flannel Bible stories. The children in Viet Nam loved them and they also provided a way to teach the illiterate tribal people!

In my years of ministry from the inner cities of America to third world village churches I have been blessed to see whole families come to the Lord as the result of reaching one child. During my first year serving as an intern children’s pastor in Singapore we would receive children into our kids church while their Buddhist parents would go shopping. They thought we were the best deal in town for child care! Those same parents today are serving the Lord and we have seen salvation extend to their brother, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandparents, nieces and nephews.

Drug addicts in the rough inner city communities of America would bring their younger brothers, sisters and their own children and make them sit and listen to our program. They knew the hopelessness of their situations and desperately wanted a different life for these children. We would visit the children in their homes only to hear a voice crying out somewhere in the house begging, “Pastor Tim, pray for me. I’m hooked on drugs!” Some found the deliverance they so desperately needed through those prayers and visits.

Studies have shown and I am convinced that most parents will choose a church based on the quality of the children’s ministry. The current Barna Group study indicates that nearly half of all Americans who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior do so before reaching the age of 13 (43%), and that two out of three born again Christians (64%) made that commitment to Christ before their 18th birthday. People who become Christian before their teen years are more likely than those who are converted when older to remain "absolutely committed" to Christianity.

Most churches spend most of their resources trying to evangelize adults while their greatest return on that investment happens with youth and children. If the church was judged on its stewardship like corporations are, church decision makers would start losing their jobs. How can you continue to invest where there are less returns and survive. We can’t! 3500 to 4000 churches are closing their doors each year in America! I am not saying to give up reaching the adults but we need to take more of our church budgets and invest them in reaching children and youth.

Jesus taught us in Matthew 18: 5-6 about the importance of embracing the children and the severity of causing them to stumble:

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Matthew 18:5-6

One chapter later the disciples seem to have forgotten what Jesus had just taught them. People were bringing their children to Jesus and the disciples are trying to chase them away!

“Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.“ Matthew 19:13-14

The church once again needs to hear these words and commands from Jesus concerning children. I have shuttered at hearing churches say that the reason they do not do more to reach children is because the children do not pay tithes! My experience has shown me that Jesus pours out the resources of heaven upon those who compassionately endeavor to reach children with His love. Shame on every church board member and decision maker for denying the children’s ministry the resources necessary to effectively do the work of the ministry of evangelizing and discipling children.

I have watched churches that have had great growth over the years. A vast majority of those churches had two major focuses, missions and children’s ministry. I believe these two areas of concentration within a church will touch the heart of God. I once heard a song called ‘Who Will Reach The Children?” I am so glad that years ago I said, “Lord, send me!”

Chapter 6 My God Shall Provide All Your Needs

2011-02-07T03:59:00.001-05:00

We can truly declare that over the course of our ministry and our Christian lives the Lord has provided above and beyond what we could ever ask or think. The channel for His provision has come through many ways. I have been a full time pastor on staff at churches with a salary. Other times we have had to depend on the generous and kind donations of others to sustain us. I have worked part time and full time jobs while serving in ministry. We started businesses. Debra worked full time in real estate for seven years while I did volunteer work in the inner city. And last but not least we have seen Jesus miraculously provide through the years. Many times it has been a combination of all these. It is not important how He provides. What is important is that you are obedient to do what He calls you to do in each season. Obedience brings blessing and provision.

When the Lord was first dealing with me to enter into full time ministry I was a successful realtor. I started working in real estate part time but through diligence and favor I became the top realtor in my company. This was a “Better Homes and Gardens” company that covered all the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I worked hard it but I also had great favor during that time. Two of the top realtors in the company took it upon themselves to mentor and help me. I learned so much from them and they also threw deals my way. I am so thankful for these two people that I have always tried to “pay it forward.” Whatever position I have been employed, I always try to help the “new guy”.

I enjoyed progressing as a successful realtor and then the call came to enter into full time ministry. As I have written previously, I knew I was called and I was telling others that I was called but I had not really answered the call. Finances, or should I say lack of finances, always seem to get our attention and open our spiritual ears. I left the real estate company I was with and joined a new progressive company. It was a company that offered different levels of commission based on the amount of service we gave them. I thought it was a great concept so I switched. I did well at first but then the faucet turned off. I couldn’t sell a house to anyone! I lost God’s favor in this area. It was so frustrating and I needed to provide for my family so I ended up quitting the real estate business. I was working for an hourly wage with a brother from the church hauling trash. I didn’t get paid enough to pay our bills but but it was more than I was making as a realtor.

It was during this time that I answered the call of God and the accident happened with Debra and Abigail. When I told the Lord that I would go to Bible School I informed Him that I had a family to take care of and bills to pay. Like He did not already know that! Where God guides, He provides.

We needed to sell our house to go to Bible School. We called a Real Estate Broker who was a close friend and great Christian, Greg Garrett. He came to the house to sign the paperwork to list the house. Knowing that I was once a top real estate agent he asked, “What in the world are you doing hauling trash? Come work for me until your house sells?” Gregg never hired part timers. He was always looking for people who wanted to build careers in real estate. I informed him of this when he said he would make the exception for me. He told me to come work for him until I sold the house and could go to Bible School. Gregg has been an encouragement for many people and his encouragement convinced me that I could give it a try.

I joined Gregg’s company and after a few months became the number one sales agent! Gregg always put the names of the top listing and sales agents of the month on a big sign in front of the office. God’s favor through Gregg had put my name there. Most realtors were working on getting listings. I had used some training from my last company to work buyers. I was calling “used contacts”. I got the names of people who had called into the office but for whatever reason never bought a home from one of our agents. I was doing so well that the thought came to me that perhaps I would not go to Bible School but continue with a career in real estate. The Lord quickly rebuked me and reminded me of why I was being blessed once again. Our home finally sold and I resigned to move to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend full time Bible School. When I quit I had many sales pending. I partnered with another agent to attend to the sales and close them. We worked an agreeable split for the commission. As in many real estate deals not all closed on time, but they did close. We had income from these sales that sustained us for the next year while I attended Bible School! We even had medical/hospital bills cancelled!

We must be diligent and work for the provision God has for us but at the same time He can miraculously provide. Near the end of my first year of Bible School is when Pastor Mark Geppert offered us the internship that would follow my graduation. The school policy was that a student took one course through the summer months or they would take a mission trip during that time. I chose to go on a trip to Singapore and Indonesia with Pastor Mark. Our mission would be to Indonesia but we would spend time in Singapore. I agreed and started on the journey of faith to find the provision for the trip. It would cost each person approximately one thousand five hundred dollars.

Just when I developed the faith to believe God for the provision for me to go, the conviction came that Debra, my daughter Elizabeth and youngest daughter Abigail were all to go. I knew they were suppose to go as we would be living there as a family but I had just got enough faith for me! Oh well, the support letters went out and we began praying for the money to come in. I received an encouraging word that the “widow’s mite would sustain us”.

The first year of Bible School was complete and summer break had begun. The mission trip was fast approaching. Through the generous donations of others we had three thousand dollars. The trip was about ten days away and we were going to take a trip to Hampton, Virginia to visit family and our old church. Before we did I took a day to go fishing on the Ohio River with Pastor Mark Geppert and his two sons. At our current church I was involved in a ministry that ministered to children from divorced and broken homes. There was a twelve year old boy who did not have a dad and had never been fishing. I asked his mom if he could come fishing with me and she gladly permitted him to go.

The fishing that day was great! We were catching bass, walleye, pike and other species. The young boy that I brought was not interested in catching fish. He was enjoying climbing on the rocks and trees. I finally convinced him to come and fish. His first cast he got a bite and hooked a large sheep head fish. I helped him land the fish but he was afraid to touch it. I grabbed the fish out of the water and worked to get the hook out so we could release the fish. I was twisting and maneuvering the hook to loosen it when the shiniest copper penny fell out of the fishes mount into my hand! Amazed, I showed Pastor Mark and the other boys.

Pastor Mark remarked, “Tim, take that as a prophetic sign that God is going to provide for you and your family to go on the mission trip.” The story of Peter finding the coin in the mouth of a fish quickly came to all of our minds.

Since the boy had caught the fish I felt it only right to give him the penny from the fish’s mouth. When I did, he quickly took it and skipped it across the top of the water! He threw the penny back in! I could not believe it! In my mind I wanted to throw the kid in but knowing that he had already had a tough life, I controlled myself. I now realized that this was probably ordained by God as I would have enshrined that shiny copper penny. It would have made it to my mantle piece and become a golden calf idol.

The next day we left to drive to Virginia. A lady friend of Debra approached her to say that she wanted to give us some money for our mission trip. She had a dream that God told her to help us. She did not have the money with her but would meet Debra at a lady’s meeting the next day. Her name was Paula. Paula had three young boys and she was recently widowed. Her husband was hit by a car while crossing the road to go to work.

Debra went to the meeting but Paula did not show up. In the meantime Pastor Mark called us to inform us that he needed the balance of two thousand five hundred dollars to pay for the air tickets for our mission trip. Debra called Paula to see if they could meet. Paula gladly invited us over to the house so she could give us a check she had made out for our trip. We arrived at Paula’s house and she invited us to sit down at the table for some drinks. We chit chatted about our lives and as we did I peered down and saw the check made out for five hundred dollars. I tried not to show my excitement. Surely God would provide the remainder of one thousand dollars once we turned this check in.

After catching up with our lives Paula asked us how much more we needed for the trip. We tried to avoid telling her but eventually my wife informed her that we needed a total of one thousand five hundred. Paula grabbed a pen and wrote a “one” in front of the five hundred! As she handed it to us tears filled our eyes. Paula was a widow and this was a “Mighty Mite!”
We continue to experience the provision of God in many ways. I love to quote the scripture “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 NIV He has always met our needs and more. It has come sometimes through hard work. Other times through opportunities. We have been humbled by the generosity of others in our lives. And last but not least we have seen the miraculous provision of our Lord.

Chapter 5 "Above All Else, Get Knowledge"

2011-02-04T07:01:00.000-05:00

Bible school was in my future and a very necessary ingredient for my success. I highly value education but formal education is not the only way to get trained and equipped for God’s calling on our lives. It would be a few years and a journey of faith before getting into Bible School. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalms 37:23, “The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.” I realized a long time ago that I am not righteous by anything I have done or not done. The Bible states that my righteousness is as filthy rags, Isaiah 64:6. Nonetheless I am still righteous! Jesus makes me righteous by His Blood and the work of the Cross. So, If I am righteous His promise is that my steps are ordered by Him. Indeed He led me to avenues of equipping and training that were every bit as valuable as what I learned in Bible School.

To become an official Royal Rangers Commander you have to complete the Leadership Training Course (LTC). This was an all night camp out where we had to learn and practice everything that is taught to the boys. Along with memory verses that taught the boys how to share their faith we had to learn knot tying, starting a fire using flints, simple camp cooking and many other camping skills. The LTC was for training men and organized by the District Royal Ranger Leadership. I was looking forward to a night of camping with the guys. What I did not expect was a Southeastern Virginia downpour! What a miserable night! The men training us were probably marine drill sergeant wanna-bees. They were loving every minute of the harsh conditions.
In the midst of this all night rain we had to continue with the outdoor training. Have you every tried to start a fire with wet wood in a rainstorm? To make it worse we could not use matches. We were forced to use the primitive flints provided. Thank God my partner was resourceful and brought lint from his wife’s dryer. Lint is very flammable and is a great resource in helping to start a fire. It still took much chipping away at the flints before we got a spark large enough to ignite the lint. I hate camping in the rain but this night was a great training ground. I built lasting friendships with the all the men in LTC training that night. Crisis situations builds relationships and intimacy and that night I made some lifelong friends. It was not a matter of life and death as we camped on the property of a rural church. We could have packed it in and slept in the church at anytime but we chose to “Man-up” and it was fun and worth it.

Pastor Tim White, our second children’s pastor, provided great training for the children’s ministry workers. My wife and I took advantage of all his training. It was during this time that I told Pastor Tim of my desire to someday be a children’s pastor. I shared with him that I planned to go to Bible School. His response was to not wait for formal education to get the knowledge and skills I needed. He shared that most of the knowledge of the world was written in books and that I could get much of what I needed through reading books. I have since learned a phrase, “Leaders are Readers.” In addition to regularly reading my Bible I began to read books on children’s ministry.

Our church started a part time Bible School and I quickly enrolled in classes that I thought were relevant and also matched my schedule. I was eager to learn. Our church was blessed to have a Messianic Jewish man from the tribe of Levi as a Bible School teacher. His name was Murray Gold. Murray was a sweet elderly man that grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in New York City. His Jewish background gave him such a special insight into the Bible that he was always eager to share. He had a class called “Tabernacle Truths”. To this day I have never attended a class or seminar that was as impacting as that class. I developed a knowledge and love for the Old Testament because of Murray.

Our church Bible School was not accredited. I saw the need for accredited courses so I started a distance course offered by the Assembly of God’s Rhema Bible College. I found out that most people do not finish distance courses, now called online courses. The problem is accountability. No one is keeping them accountable therefore it becomes easy to procrastinate to the point of non-completion. The course was meant to be self disciplined but I was advised to meet once a week with Murray Gold so he could check my work and also give me the exams. Murray kept me on schedule and helped me to avoid laziness and procrastination. For me this submission and accountability helped me to complete courses which later I was able to transfer to Dayspring Christian Bible Training Center, the Bible School I attended when I was able to go full time.

I was thirty-five years old when I quit my full time job as a realtor and moved my family to Baden, Pennsylvania. My father had died recently and my mom had an un-occupied, two bedroom apartment above her house. She offered it to us to stay for free while I went to school. This helped us out financially but I still worked two other part-time jobs while attending Bible School full time. It was a difficult time as my wife and children had to sacrifice my being gone most of the time. I would go to school all day, come home for dinner and then leave again for work until the next morning. I worked for a foundation that cared for mentally handicapped adults. The clients lived in group homes and I would clean the houses and care for these handicapped adults through the night and into the morning.

I maintained straight “A’s” through Bible School except for praise and worship. School opened with praise and worship each day and we were a graded on attendance and punctuality. I would get off work an hour before school and I had to rush across the city of Pittsburgh’s during early morning traffic jams. Needless to say I was late on many days which affected my grade.
I studied hard and completed all the papers and assignments for the rest of the classes. My night job allowed me some free time to study while the clients slept. It was a difficult season but I was determined to do my best. The end result was excellent marks except for praise and worship. Most of my fellow students were between eighteen and twenty-five years old. I was amazed when many of them made excuses to the instructors when papers and assignments were due. Most of them still lived at home with their parents and either worked a part time job or did not work at all. How could they not find the time or initiative to complete the assignments? When I would express my disgust, my wife would often ask me the question, “Where were you when you were their age?”

While still in Bible School I was offered an internship as a Children’s Pastor in Singapore! One of my best friends and mentor, Pastor Mark Geppert, had lived in Singapore and made a connection with a local Chinese church that needed direction in their children’s ministry. The offer was made to us after my first year of a two year school requirement. After completion of my first year my family and I took a mission trip with Pastor Mark to Singapore and Indonesia. The church was the Church of Singapore/Jurong. We joined with the church for a fourteen day trip to Indonesia. After the trip we spent the next ten days in Singapore evaluating what it would take for us to live there. We prayed and received confirmation to accept the offer for the internship and one year later we moved to Singapore and became children’s pastors in a Chinese Church.

What a great opportunity and learning experience this was. We accomplished some great work while there and also made many ministry and cultural mistakes. In the midst of my frustrations with myself and sometimes the culture, Pastor Mark would remind me that although I was the Children’s Pastor, I was also still an intern. I was there to learn. This often set me free and helped me move on. This internship was an excellent opportunity to understand cross cultural communications and ministry.
We left Singapore to go on staff as children’s pastors in an inner city church located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The church hired us to run the children’s ministry in the church and also develop outreach to children in the inner city communities of Pittsburgh. I came to know Pastor Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries located in Brooklyn, New York. His ministry was reaching over twenty-thousand children per week. Every child received a home visit every week! I determined to learn all I could from Pastor Bill and to pattern my ministry after his. If it worked in the inner city of New York, surely it would work in Pittsburgh. It did! We took that knowledge and ministered weekly to hundreds of children in the inner city communities of Pittsburgh.

It was during this time that I was offered a Bachelors Degree at Logos Bible College, Florida. They gave me credits for my two years of Bible School. They also gave me credits for my internship and mission work in Southeast Asia. I had to fulfill a few more classes which I did online. I was then obtained a Bachelors Degree in Pastoral Science.

I encourage formal education. For those going into full time ministry I would recommend at least a two year Bible School education. I also believe that the knowledge necessary for ministry can be learned through experience and internships. Children today learn by doing and seeing. This also works for adults who are seeking equipping for ministry work.
Education and training should be an ongoing endeavor in our lives regardless of our professions. The world is changing at an alarming rate. More information is readily available with each passing minute. To keep up we must always be learning. Remember “Leaders are readers”. If nothing else get into a discipline of reading.

CHAPTER 4 TRIED AND TESTED

2010-10-15T03:41:00.000-04:00

I believe that every person who is called to serve the Lord will have that call tested and tried. Often the Lord allows these trials to seal that call. Like Abraham in Genesis 22, He can prove our faith in Him to Himself, others and ourselves. Abraham’s faith was strengthened through the struggle and obedience of offering up his son, Isaac.

    There are other times when the devil will throw his trials at us seeking to murder God’s purpose for us. The Word of God tells in John 10:10 that He seeks to kill, steal and destroy. If he cannot physically cut our life short he will seek to murder and destroy our God given call and purpose.

    I was enjoying the ministry of Royal Rangers at our church. Royal Rangers is a ministry to boys that is much like Boy Scouts except it is very purposeful in developing the boy’s spiritual life while teaching outdoor and camping skills. After making sure that each boy had personally accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the ministry also taught each boy how to share their faith and lead others to Christ. While teaching they boys I was also learning scriptures and values of leading others to Jesus. I love the outdoors and this was a great way for me to serve Jesus by serving in this wonderful ministry.

    It was during this time that I met my wife, Debra. She was also involved in children’s ministry.   She was the four year old Sunday School teacher. Our church was large so although I noticed her at a Christmas party for the children’s workers, I did not get to know her until later. We met at a Realtor’s early morning prayer time. It was all over from that point. After a short engagement we were married.

    Debra asked me to help her teach the four year olds on Sunday mornings. I agreed to help her but only as a helper. I was the one who handed out the snacks and made sure the rowdy boys would behave. I was still involved with the Royal Rangers but I also took a back seat as far as teaching. I did not have confidence to stand up in front of the children and teach or lead. I was comfortable in an assistant role.

    One day Debra approached me and said that she believed that a man should be teaching the children. I resisted but her persistence paid off and I agreed to try teaching the little ones. She passed her Sunday School teaching manual to me and I nervously prepared. Sunday was here and it was time to embark in this new role. My wife led the children in songs. Now, it was my time to teach. I was so nervous that I felt like throwing up and I had to go the bathroom every five minutes. It was time for the lesson. The teaching manual trembled in my hands. I fearfully stuttered and stammered through the lesson. It was so terrible but the children were naïve to it all. They seemed to enjoy a man teaching, especially the boys. They seemed to be more behaved during the teaching. I appreciate all the women Sunday School teachers over the years but something is special about a man teaching children the Word of God. Maybe it is because the lack of so many fathers in the homes due to rise of divorce, even in Christian homes.

    The children’s pastor who invited me into the ministry moved on. I remember something he said very vividly before he left. He was going on to pastor a church in another town in Virginia. I approached him and commented to him, “So, you are moving up in the ministry to pastor adults?” With all sincerity he corrected me, “No I am actually stepping down. Pastoring children is the greatest call but I have to be obedient and move on.” I have since realized that he was absolutely right. According to statistics by the Barna Group, a child's spiritual identity is largely set by age 13. Eighty-five% of those who make profession of faith do so within the age range of 4 to 14. About 30% of the world's population is age 14 or younger. My heart was dramatically impacted every time I saw a little child pray to receive Jesus into their hearts.

     A new Children’s Pastor, Tim White, was hired. We immediately built a relationship. He was an excellent trainer and administrator. He helped organize the children’s ministry and was excellent at empowering leaders. Debra and I started teaching the fourth grade and soon became the Children’s Sunday School Superintendents.

     I had really admired Pastor Tim White. The Lord was speaking to my heart about answering the call for full time ministry. I wanted to be like Pastor Tim White. I was feeling the desire to be a children’s pastor. I wanted to be like him and pastor children in a large church. I started telling people that I was called but I was not doing anything to pursue that call.

     We are a blended family. My wife had been a single mom for eight years with our two oldest daughters, Elizabeth and Christin. When we married Elizabeth, was nine years old and Christin was fifteen years old. After seventeen months we were blessed with our third daughter, Abigail. She was and is still treasured by all of us as she became the glue that joined all of us as a family.

     When Abigail was just over a year old, I was watching Gloria Copeland preach on the television. I was in our living room alone. As Gloria was preaching away she pointed her finger at the camera and proclaimed, “There is someone out there who is telling everyone that you are called to full time ministry but you have not answered the call! You need to get down on your knees and tell the Lord you are answering that call!” I knew immediately that this was me! I got down beside the couch and told the Lord, “Jesus, I am answering the call you have for me, but I have a family. I have bills. If you can take care of all this and make provision I will pursue that call.” I knew when I said this that I would need to go to a Bible School.

    As I was getting up off my knees I could hear my wife coming down the stairs. She met me in the living room. She had a very serious look on her face as she informed me that she had just finished praying upstairs and that the Lord told her that I needed to answer His call on my life! With tears in my eyes I told her what had just happened with me, Gloria and the Lord.

    The testing was about to begin. I had answered the call on Friday and now it was Sunday evening. The children were doing a special presentation in our evening service. I had to arrive early to help prepare them. Debra’s sister was staying with us and she was driving a sleek and powerful Jaguar car. Debra drove it to church in the morning and she attracted many comments. I drove our car early to church and I neglected to transfer the baby’s car seat into the Jaguar for her to bring Abigail. Church started at seven. It was just a few minutes before and Debra, my children and her sister had not arrived yet. This was unusual especially because Debra was excited to see the children perform in the adult service that evening. I stood at the glass doors of the church as it began to pour down rain. A friend who saw Debra drivng the Jaguar in the morning came out of the rain and asked if Debra was driving the same car that evening. We lived only a half mile from the church. He said that there was an accident by our apartments and the car involved looked like the Jaguar! I began to say to myself, “It’s not her! It’s not her! It’s not her!” The Holy Spirit interrupted me and said “It is her!” I ran into the rain and jumped into my car to drive home. As I got close I saw two ambulances with lights flashing blocking the other side of the road. As I passed them I saw a car had crashed into a telephone pole and shocked out of my mind realized it was the Jaguar!

    I jumped out of the car and ran towards the first ambulance. The police and fireman were screaming at me saying that I could not leave my car on the road. They grabbed me but with adrenaline flooding my body I threw them off and pulled open the door of the ambulance. My baby girl was strapped down on a board! My sister-in-law was also in the ambulance with a bloody cloth held to her face. My oldest daughters, Elizabeth and Christin, were also there but they apparently were not hurt. I cried out, “How bad is Abigail hurt and where is mom?” They informed me that they did not know if Abigail was hurt. They thought she was okay but she had been strapped down for precaution. I ran to the other ambulance. Once again police and fireman tried to subdue me to no avail. I threw open the ambulance door and there was Debra with a bloody and fearful face. I informed her that they thought Abigail wasn't hurt badly and then asked which ambulance she wanted me to ride in?

    She said she felt like the spirit of death was trying to overcome her and would I please come with her and pray. The EMT’s invited me in and off we went. I held her hand and desperately prayed as the EMT’s worked on her. I bound the spirit of death and began speaking life to my wife. It was at that moment I heard the voice of the devil, “So, you answered the call of God? I am going to take your wife and your daughter! How are you going to serve your God now?” Immediately I thought of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abnego that we just taught in our Sunday School class. With every bit of faith I could gather up I declared to that thief, “You can take my wife and you can take my daughter but I am still going to serve the Lord my God with everything that is within me!”

    I was full of faith and full of fear at the same time. The evil voice left and peace filled the ambulance. The ambulance radio came on at that precise moment and informed the hospital that they were coming in with one woman with leg and head injuries, another with facial injuries and a baby that had no apparent injuries but was restrained for precaution. It was like an angel sent that message to Debra and me. She said that the spirit of death had left.

    We arrived at the hospital. Abigail was in one room and Debra in the other. Elizabeth and I were with Abigail. We sang, “Jesus Loves Me” to Abigail. She fought through the fear and tears and barely moved her tiny lips to sing with us. The doctor arrived and started to examine her. She was strapped down from head to toe. He felt her head and although she was crying she did not wince in any pain as he checked her head and neck area. He unstrapped her head and neck. He did the same as he worked down to her feet. Removing all the straps he picked her up and told her to walk to me. She ran to me as the doctor said the most comforting words I ever heard, "Nothing is wrong with your daughter.You can take her home!"

    We all joined Debra in her room. Debra was not as blessed. She had a broken knee, cuts and minor head injuries. She asked for Abigail and I lifted her into the hospital bed with her. Because I neglected to transfer the Abigail’s car seat, Debra held Abigail in the passenger seat when the car hit the pole. My sister-in-law was driving. It was apparent that Debra, with Abigail in her arms, went into the front window of the car. Miraculously Abigail was not harmed.

    This incident sealed the call of God in my life. He later worked out the issues of family, bills and provision. Bible School was in my near future and a life serving Him and reaching hearts of children with love of God around the world.

CHAPTER 3 "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"

2010-09-19T09:42:00.001-04:00

How does one hear the call of God for their life? I have a friend, Mark Geppert, who heard the audible voice of God direct him to the mission field. I know others who have heard the call through a prophetic person speaking to them. I have heard others say they had a nagging and pulling in their spirit directing them into their call of ministry.

How does one really know? Regardless of how it comes I believe it comes in alignment with the Word of God and confirms what God has already spoken to the individual. How He speaks to each individual varies and I have learned to never put God in a box. God is God and He can call people however He wants. It varied throughout the Bible and it still varies in our lives today.

The call and direction in my life came subtly and a little differently. Most people look forward to the future when seeking the direction of God for their lives. The Lord had me look backward to help me see how He wanted me to serve Him in ministry.

I stayed in the small Assembly of God Church for about six months. This was in Newport News, Virginia. There was another Assembly of God close by that was experiencing revival and great growth. The church was Bethel Temple Assembly of God in Hampton, Virginia. Someone told me of this revival and invited me to attend with them. I had no idea what revival was or what it looked like at that time. All I knew was that this church was exciting! The pastor was very dynamic and his messages were relevant and life changing. There were multiple services. At the end of every one people would fill the front altar to accept Jesus into their lives. I have never met a preacher since who could give an evangelistic call like this man. He would preach on tithing and then give the call and people would flock to get saved!

I was water baptized and baptized in the Holy Spirit at the small Assembly of God Church. The pastor and his wife were so kind to me. I was feeling guilty when I missed service there to attend Bethel Temple, which was happening more and more. After missing a service one Sunday morning to attend Bethel Temple, the pastor called me to see why I was missing. I felt so badly telling him that I was attending another church. He was such a kind man and said that he was so happy that I was attending the other church. He was relieved to know that I was not backsliding. He told me I should go where I thought I would grow spiritually. He then said if I decided to leave his church that I was welcome back anytime. This humble pastor’s main concern was my growth and not the growth of his church. This was the first pastor/leadership lessons that I learned.

I was attending three services a week at Bethel Temple, Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesdays. I was learning so much. With the church growing so fast the needs in the church were growing, too. Every service they presented opportunities for people to get involved. They never begged for workers or put guilt trips on people. They always presented the needs as great opportunities for people to serve the Lord. For six months I resisted getting involved beyond attending services. My part time real estate career was growing so I really did not see how I could find the time.

The pastor was Daniel Livingston. He was incredible. When he did not preach he had other gifted and anointed speakers. At that time Reinhard Bonnke, Benny Hinn, Benson Idahosa, David Wilkerson, Betty Baxter, John Wimber, James Robison, Ron Luce, Paul Yonggi Cho, Phil Driscoll, Rich Wilkerson and others would preach at the church.

Mike Murdock came to the church for one of the weekend services. During the Sunday evening service he preached about the necessity of every believer to be involved in serving in ministry. He taught that most people look toward the future when seeking God’s direction. He then taught that when God wants to use us, it is usually where we have been used in the past. Where were we effective and what did we enjoy doing as we look back on our lives. He also shared to look past our salvation experience and see what we enjoyed doing throughout our life.

He had an altar call for those who wanted to be prayed for to help them find their place of ministry and service. I did not respond to the call but sat in my seat and started to reflect back on my life and prayed.

What did I enjoy doing? Where was I used and fulfilled in the past? The first thought that came to me was “kids.” I thought of how I enjoyed being with my nieces, nephew and other children. I remembered how the children had so much fun with me. I prayed, “Lord, do you want me to get involved with children?” After sitting in the pew for the last six months I was ready to serve and maybe it was in the children’s ministry? Then I thought, “I am not even a member of this church, how can I get involved?”

The next morning was an early morning, prayer service for men. I had been attending them. I quietly sat in the back and prayed. When prayer was over and as I was leaving the children’s pastor, who I had never met, grabbed me. He commented, “Brother, as I was praying this morning I noticed you and the Lord directed me to ask you something. We have a need in our ministry to young boys called Royal Rangers. Is the Lord, speaking anything to you about getting involved in children’s ministry?”

I was shocked! I guess this was one of the first times that God had answered my prayer and it happened so quickly! Pastor Scott was the childrens pastor’s name. I shared with him how I had just prayed the night before about getting involved in children’s ministry. I then informed him that I was not a member yet. He was probably jumping up and down on the inside but calmly told me to pray some more to be sure and get back with him. Getting volunteers in children’s ministry is always a chore and I am sure he wanted to grab me right away but he used wisdom and patience.

I did pray some more and the next thing I knew I was becoming a member of Bethel Assembly of God and was soon to be serving as a Commander in the Royal Rangers Ministry. I was now involved in the fulfillment of the call of God on my life. There was more training and experience to follow but once I answered the call God made provision for all of that.

CHAPTER 2 BORN AGAIN AGAIN

2010-09-15T22:50:00.001-04:00

I got born again beside my bed after just getting done throwing up, after being beaten up, which led me to look up. My life had steadily spun downward until this point. I had been laid off for over a year from working on the railroad. A relationship, in which I was engaged, was heading nowhere. The only good thing happening in my life was a part time janitor’s job working at the local Catholic Church.

My brother got married and started a family while he was still very young. I was a young uncle and I loved spending time with my nieces. I would take them to the zoo and other outings. As a young adult I enjoyed playing with young children. They seemed to really enjoy me too. I am embarrassed to say that I lived with my parents until I was twenty-eight years old. During that time neighborhood children would come knocking at my mom’s door asking if I could play in the yard with them. I guess they saw me as a big brother or maybe a fatherly figure.

Immediately after I prayed to receive Christ I got a stirring to leave home. It was about time! I would still go out with friends and drink but something had changed, it was not fun like it used to be. I felt guilt while sitting at the bars. I sold my hunting rifles and had just enough money to drive to Virginia to start a new life. I packed what little I had into my van and off I went. I was staying at a campground in Virginia Beach. I almost headed back to Pennsylvania when I was filling out a job application and realized that I had no address or phone number to put on the application. It was then that I remembered a friend from high school who was living nearby in Norfolk, Virginia. I called him and told him of my situation. He said I could use his couch until I could secure a job and another place to stay.

One of the priests from the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania referred me to his uncle who had a management position at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company. I met him at his house to fill out the application and within a week I had a job at the Shipyard!

During my time working at the Catholic Church I converted to Catholicism. I did this for two reasons. First, the girl I was engaged to was Catholic. Second, I was feeling a need to know God and the influence of the Capuchin Priests made it a logical choice to convert. They were so kind to me even when I showed up to work hung over. I did not know then what “Charismatic” meant but I now realized that they were “Charismatic Catholics.”

I started attending a Catholic Church in Newport News, Virginia. I had developed many Catholic friends in Pennsylvania and had good fellowship with them. I tried to find the same kind of relationships in Virginia but it was not the same. Western Pennsylvania was predominantly Catholic while Virginia was predominantly Southern Baptist and Pentecostal. The Catholic Church I was attending was not as alive and welcoming as what I had found in Pennsylvania. I was lonely and trying to find Godly friends. The relationship I was in was rocky before I left and trying to keep it going four hundred miles away was not working.

My so-called fiancé in Pennsylvania had left the Catholic church and said she was now “born again” and attending a Christian Assembly Church. This was huge as she was a born and raised Italian Catholic. That just does not happen! When she told me this there was a peace in her spirit that had never been there before. Her dad died of cancer and she was bitter with God until now. Although she was definitely changed by this new experience I thought I was comfortable staying a Catholic.

After about a year I got a realtor’s license. I worked at it part time while working full time at the shipyard. The shipyard was good steady work but the recession was ending and the strong military population in Southwest Virginia made the real estate business start to increase. Being tired from working two jobs I woke up late one Sunday morning and rushed off to attend Catholic mass. On my way to mass I passed a church called Warwick Assembly of God. The word “Assembly” caught my attention. I thought about the new church my fiancé was attending. I was late for mass so I turned around and decided to see what she was in to.

There was a man at the door with a huge smile greeting people as they entered. He extended his hand to me and with a strong southern accent he said “Welcome Brother!” My defensive response was, “I am a Catholic!”
“Never mind, we love Catholics around here.” He exclaimed as he ushered me in and introduced me to the elderly pastor and his wife. They were just as nice as he. What a sweet old couple. The pastor’s wife tried to help me find a seat up front but I quickly took the back seat by the door so I could escape as soon as they would leave me alone.

I said earlier that I had no idea what “Charismatic” meant and I sure did not know what “Pentecostal” was about! For some reason I did not leave. Everything on the outside wanted to but everything on the inside said “stay.. The music started and they clapped with the music. Some of them had their hands raised high in the air and were waving them. The music did not stop but the singing did and they in confusion. When the music did stop one man started shouting like he was the preacher and said, “Thus sayeth the Lord!” I felt like I wanted to get out that door but something or somebody kept me there. This was all kind of strange but I was not afraid. I sensed goodness through all of this confusion. The preacher finally did preach and he sure was a lot longer than the priest’s homilies. Yet it was interesting. At the end he asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes. The next thing I knew he was talking to me and about me in front of all those people. Before I knew it, I was standing up front with him, crying my eyes out and praying a prayer with him.

Looking back I know that I asked Jesus in my heart beside my bed in Pennsylvania. The Catholics did not teach about being “born again” so I like to say that in that little Assembly of God church I got born again again.

CHAPTER 1 "WHAT IF?"

2010-09-14T23:12:00.004-04:00

Our family attended the local Methodist church in our small town in western Pennsylvania. We attended regularly until I was ten years old. My parents would go the adult service and my brother, sister and I would go to the Sunday school. I remember my class being incredibly boring! I was a kid who loved to be active and play outside. I did well in public school but I dreaded going to Sunday school.

The Sunday school teacher for my class was the typical teacher of that time. She was probably in her late fifties. She had grey hair that was always in a little bun. She always had a sweater and a long skirt on. Later when I went to Junior High School I was surprised to find out she was our school librarian. I remember her being very nice, probably too nice. The other boys in the class were very mischievous and noisy but she never seemed to get too upset with them. In fact the class was always out of order and the boys made fun of her constantly.

The class was in a multi-purpose area of the church. The rooms were separated by a folding partition that was not sound proof. You could hear all the other classes going on at the same time. Some classes were singing, some were reciting Bible verses and to me it all sounded very confusing. There was an old piano in our section and the teacher would play while she tried to lead us in songs from the adult hymnal. The room was obviously used for other classes and purposes so there was nothing on the painted block walls. I remember even the color of the paint was boring. It was pale and faded green. We did have a window in our class that looked out to the main street of the town. The cars going by was the main thing that kept any of my interest.

The teacher taught from a Sunday school manual. She read directly from the manual and she seemed to follow it exactly. She would have the students read from the King James Version of the Bible. Many of kids read poorly and did even worse with all the “Thee’s and Thou’s .” I remember it being so grueling as each child had to read a section. Afterwards she would ask questions.

Some of the stories did catch my attention but it was not due to any creative ways of teaching or dramatic flare as the other children read. I liked the stories and I felt something special or holy as we read them, especially the ones about Jesus. At the same time it was still very boring to me.

I remember complaining each Sunday morning as my parents would get us out of bed to get ready for church. Obviously, my brother was having the same experience as me. He also complained and being older his complaints were a little louder. My sister was four years younger and I cannot remember if she complained or not? I think she went to church with my parents each week. I am not sure if it was our complaining or if it was the pastor visiting our home and offending my dad by asking for a donation for the building fund, but one day we just quit going to church.

At fifteen years old I stole some of my father’s liquor. I joined some friends who did the same. We gathered down by the creek near our house. I got drunk for the first time. We had fun and we thought we were very cool that we accomplished this without getting caught.

This was the beginning of a young life that was very lost until I found the Lord at twenty-eight years old. I became an alcoholic. For the next thirteen years I was an alcoholic and a drunk. If I had one drink or one beer it always led to more. I started smoking pot very heavily at sixteen years old. I dabbled with some narcotics but mostly it was pot, beer and liquor. I drove many miles while stone drunk. Thank God I did not kill anyone or even myself. At twenty-eight years old I hit bottom. I had quit the drugs but I was a full-fledged alcoholic. I was in a bad relationship. A recession had hit the USA and I was unemployed. It was the mercy of God that got me a part time job as a janitor in a Catholic church. It was there that some kind Capuchin priests befriended me and started to point me to a relationship with Jesus that saved my soul and saved my life.

The big “What if?” What if the nice but boring Sunday school teacher had made a little extra effort to make the class interesting to a bunch of ten year olds. Maybe if the room was more welcoming with some fun pictures or colorful posters. This was the mid sixties so I am sure there had to be some good Sunday school curriculum with visuals. What if we sang some kidsy type Sunday school songs instead of singing out of an adult hymnal? What if we read out of a Bible that was easier to read and understand than the King James Version?

Would have I enjoyed it enough to not complain to my parents every Sunday morning? Did those complaints help my dad make the decision to quit taking us to church?

I do not blame the Sunday school teacher for my lost years. Perhaps I would have complained even if it were fun and interesting. Nobody is to blame for my sinful life but me. I am not a victim and the only thing I can say is thank God that He rescued me and saved me before it was too late.

There is that possibility that if the classes were relevant, fun and interesting that maybe my brother and I would have begged our parents to keep going to church. Perhaps my teenage years and into my twenties might have been different.

This is the reason I have been involved in children’s ministry for over twenty years. This is the reason I am so passionate to develop children’s ministries that are fun, exciting, relevant and a place where they will meet and know Jesus, my Savior.

My mission is to help churches develop a children’s church that the kids run to and bring their friends to because it is everything but boring. Kids church and Sunday school should be one of the most exciting times in a child’s week. My hope is that my efforts to develop this kind of ministry for children has preserved many a children from going through the lost years that I experienced.

I hope that my efforts to make Sunday morning children’s church and Sunday school a place where kids want to be has preserved many a child from living the lost years that I went through. Perhaps by striving to make that hour on Sunday morning special that lives have been changed and saved.

I hope as you read this book you catch my passion. There will be some practical applications that you can learn and duplicate but mostly I hope that you understand the “Why” of what I try to do. Someone once said if you know the “Why” you figure out the “How”.

Today’s world is full of things that will capture the attention of the children. We will never compete with video games and media, but with some extra effort and sincere care we can communicate the love of Jesus in ways that are relevant to the way children receive and learn.

Leadership Keys

2010-09-05T11:48:00.002-04:00

People you lead want to know:

1. That you will go first and lead by example.

2. That you only ask them to do what you have done or are willing to do.

3. That you will teach them to do what you have already done.

4. That their success is more important to you than your success.

5, That they will get credit for their accomplishments.

6. That you will celebrate their success.

From John Maxwell's "Everyone Communicates Few Connect"

What Good is Religion?

2010-08-30T06:33:00.004-04:00

Norm Lawson tells the story of a rabbi and a soap maker who went who went for a walk together. The soap maker said, "What good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery in the world! Still there, even after years-thousands of years-of teaching about goodness and truth and peace. Still there, after all the prayers and sermons and teachings. If religion is good and true, why should this be?"

The rabbi said nothing. They continued walking until they noticed a child playing in the gutter.

Then the rabbi said, "Look at that child. You say that soap makes people clean, but we see the dirt on that youngster Of what good is soap? With all the soap in the world, over all these years, the child is still filthy. I wonder how effective soap is, after all?"

The soap maker protested, "But, Rabbi, soap cannot do any good unless it is used!"

"Exactly," replied the rabbi.

From John Maxwells book "Everyone Communicates Few Connect"

Here We Go Again!

2010-05-30T02:34:00.001-04:00

Here we go again! We have been in California for the last six months helping establish the children's ministry at Living Hope Christian Fellowship in San Clemente. Our daughter, Elizabeth and her husband, Shannon Kapp, merged their church plant from Oceanside with LHCF and are the Senior Pastors there. All of our daughters and their families live close by and attend the church. We have enjoyed living close to them.

We spent September through December 6th of 2009 in Singapore with City Missions Church. We were brought in as consultants in children and family ministry. It was a great three months of ministry and building relationships. When we left to go to California the leadership left the door open for us to return. Our ministry there was successful and we had developed wonderful friendships in the church.

We are going to go through those open doors and return to Singapore and City Missions Church. The decision was birthed through much prayer and we believe this is where the Lord wants us to minister for the next year and possibly longer. We have made a one year committment to the church to come on staff as an associate pastor. We will help in Family Life Ministry in the church and also be involved in their mission programs.

We will continue to receive donations for REACH for opportunities to help orphans and train children's workers. We will receive a salary from the church so the donations will not need to go towards our support. REACH has a very minimal administration cost so most of your donations will go straight to ministry needs.

We appreciate all donations and prayer. We are excited at the opportunity but we need prayer as it is very difficult to leave family once again. We are thankful for the season living near our grandchildren. They are excited to visit PapPap and MaMa in Singapore.

The pictures below are from our time with our family in Southern California.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers.May God bless you all.

Tim and Debra

Reaching & Equipping All Children for Him is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3), non-profit ministry.

Boys Need Adventure

2010-01-01T22:09:00.004-05:00

It’s New Years Day and I am staying at my Mom’s house in Baden, Pennsylvania. It is the house where I grew up located about twenty miles outside of Pittsburgh. Urban sprawl never made it here since the steel mills closed in the early 80’s. Woods and hills surround the communities. I needed some exercise after over indulging in good western PA Christmas “eatin”. I decided to head toward the woods instead of the normal walk around the old neighborhood. As I started down the old logging road through the grown up cow pasture memories of boyhood adventures flooded my mind. Memories of sled riding down the old pasture hills. Slip sliding down the icy creek. Remembering that same small creek as we would build rock and mud dams to make it waist deep for summer swimming. I thought of my first rabbit hunt in those woods. I climbed the oak hills to the place where I would go after school in the fall and wait for the squirrels to come out. I thought of all the deer that I missed (I loved deer hunting but I was a terrible shot) while I also remembered all the deer my cousin did not miss. We would spend mornings until dark in those woods. Sometimes we even spent nights camping there. Volumes of books could be written of the adventures we created in those wooded hills and creeks.
My thoughts shifted to a deep contrast as I just left the house where two of my grand-nephews spent the night at my mom’s with us. They brought along their XBox and I spent time with them on high tech adventures shooting enemies as we wiped them out from one level to the next. I wondered how many boys never get the chance or never take advantage of the chance to climb the wooded hills to build real life adventures. Boys need adventure. Unfortunately most of their adventures are artificially simulated on computers and machines filled with violence.
We played army in the same woods in which we had to mimic the sounds of rattling machine guns. If we heard “I got you!” we would roll down a hill only to revive quickly to shoot back. Unless we scraped a knee there was no blood involved. The video games today are getting more graphic and violent with every new release. I worry and I pray. I am not against responsible ownership of guns. I think every boy should get a chance to get on a rifle range or a monitored hunt to shoot a real gun and feel it power and see the damage it can cause. The first time I shot a twelve gauge shotgun it knocked me down and that gave a respect for firearms. Busy lives and fatherless homes are presenting less and less opportunities for boys. Boys need adventure.
I have three daughters so I never got the opportunity to take my kids hunting or on such adventures. My cousin, Jerry, raised two boys and spent many hours beside them as they learned to shoot and hunt. He often shares stories of the teachable moments that present themselves during their adventures. Much of his boys character were shaped during these times. They have grown up to be great young men of great character. I believe the adventures shared with their father helped to shape and mold them. Boys need adventure.
I am a children’s pastor who has spent most of the last twenty-five years ministering to children from all walks of life. I have met many young boys who never got to experience such adventures. I am not talking just about shooting a gun, but also taking a hike, swimming in a creek, or catching a fish. Most of the time is because of an absentee father. I am praying to extend our ministry this year to create opportunities for boys to experience outdoor adventures. I hope to tie these opportunities to Godly character building moments. Pray for us as we begin this new endeavor. Boys need adventures.

It Doesn't Take Much

2009-03-05T19:50:00.007-05:00

During the 1990's I visited five times and ministered at the Mendies Haven Children's Home in Nepal. The home was founded by "Mummy" Elizabeth Mendies. Mummy was an awesome woman of God from Canada. She went on to be with Jesus this past fall at ninety years old. She took in children for over forty years and raised hundreds of children during that time. The home is still operating and you can visit the website at www.mendieshaven.org.

Twenty-two wonderful children were being raised at the home during our visits. The children had devotion time every morning and evening. We would join them during our visits and teach the children fun songs about Jesus. They loved the songs! We also taught Bible stories in our usual fun and relevant ways. It did not seem like much at the time, but it was fun and the children were loving.

This past Saturday I was able to get with two of the boys from the home, Rajaram and Krisna, in Washington D.C. They were brought to the States to visit supporters of the home, complete internships with Christian politicians and learn leadership skills to take back to Nepal. The boys were now young men at twenty-five and twenty-four years old. It was so awesome to be with them again and hear about their lives and the lives of the other children from the home. I was overjoyed to hear that twenty of the children were now serving the Lord. The other two they were not sure of as they had lost touch with them.

Rajaram and Krisna sang all the songs that we had taught them. I was amazed that they remembered them! They excitedly shared that the reason they were Christians and walking with Jesus today is because of our devotion times with them. They shared how many people visited but we were some of the only ones that spent the time sharing Jesus with them in ways kids like to learn.

I was overwhelmed with emotion. I told the boys that I was so happy to have a small part in where they were. They objected and said "No Ka Ka B (Uncle B, my title in Nepal), It is because of you and the teams that you brought that helped us follow Jesus!"

I continually pray for lasting fruit from our ministry. I look back and it really did not take much to impact twenty-two of most wonderful kids I ever met!

Just Be Ben

2009-02-10T10:10:00.005-05:00

I love this quote from James Farrior when asked what were you thinking after Larry Fitzgerald scored the touchdown as the Cardinals took the lead? "All I was thinking was, "Just be Ben". James Farrior's hope was that if Ben Roethlisberger just did what he had done all year, if he just played his game, if he would just "Be Ben" the Steelers would win their sixth superbowl.

Only a born and raised "Younzer" who grew up with watching Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann could relate this to Jesus, so here goes!

I believe we are in the fourth quarter in the reality of life. The game is almost over and it appears the other team is winning. My hope and my faith is that when all is said and done, we win!!! All I am thinking as the clock ticks down is "Just Be Jesus!"

Missional Churches (Part Two)

2009-02-05T18:53:00.003-05:00

What does it mean to be a church in this time? Are we the "come to" model or are we crossing over and becoming churches that are missional, relational and incarnational? I believe to be effective in the coming days the church has to be actively engaged in the life of its communities and neighborhoods. To be "incarnational" we have to declare to our neighborhoods that we are here for you. Our values have to stay shaped by the Gospel but we have to come out of our walls and let God work through us in our communities. This is not going to be easy for the church who for the last decade has developed programs and attractions to bring them in. Not that this was wrong, it was what it needed to be for the season we were in. But it is a new day, we have crossed over. The past season had it's successes and people came to Christ and the Church grew. We also learned how to make the Gospel relevant to our changing cultures. But in this current day we must see our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces as places for us to bring an incarnational presence, Bringing Jesus into our everyday lives.

My reflections are being influenced by a book called "Borderland Churches' by Gary Nelson. I highly recommend the book especially to pastors and leaders of churches.

We 'Crossed Over" Today

2009-01-20T22:07:00.007-05:00

There is a Hebrew word in the Old Testament of the Bible, 'abar'. The word means to crossover, or to go across and not be able to go back. The first time it is used is when Joshua and the children of Israel stand of the bank of the swollen Jordan River. The have been wondering through the wilderness for forty years under Moses' leadership. Moses is gone and Joshua is appointed to lead Israel to 'abar' the Jordan River and enter into the Promised land. Once they cross there is no going back. It is unfamiliar. It is unknown. The only thing they can rely on is that God goes on before them.

Today, we have had an 'abar' experience thrust upon us. We have crossed over and we cannot go back. The path in front of us is not clear. Some believe it is the Promise Land. Others believer we are heading into a wilderness experience. The comforting thought to me is that God goes before us and is with us. Faith is required at every 'abar' in our lives.

Inauguration And The Need For A Father

2009-01-19T20:45:00.005-05:00

With the inauguration happening tomorrow I am hoping with the rest of the country that President Elect Obama will be what he said he will be for our nation. My greatest hope is that he will remain to be the good father that he showed forth during the campaign. There has been a war against families for decades now, more specifically fathers. My prayer for President Elect Obama is that the pressures of leading the greatest nation on earth will not distract him from who he needs to be as a dad and husband.

The lack of fathers in our inner city neighborhoods is overwhelming. I ministered to over 200 children in an inner city in Hampton, Virginia. We visited the children in their homes extensively. It was a shock when I realized that only two fathers were present in the homes amongst all those children! John Elderedge writes in his book "Wild at Heart", "Every boy in his journey to become a man, takes an arrow in his heart, in the place of his strength. Because the wound is rarely discussed and even more rarely healed, every man carries a wound. And the would is nearly always given by his father."

Multitudes of young men from urban and suburban streets of our cities and towns are walking wounded. They need an example of strong father. President Obama, please above all else speak to these walking wounded, give them a deep voice and a Godly example to follow. You are in my prayers.

Missional Churches

2009-01-15T22:29:00.002-05:00

I am reading a book called "Borderland Churches" by Gary Nelson. It is confirming ideas and feelings that I have had about the Church (The worldwide Body of Christ) for some years now.

In the introduction the author says, "...it is impossible to be effective as the church without crossing boundaries of comfort, culture, and convenience." I believe those who have been ministering and laboring in inner city communities have learned this truth long before this recent awareness by churches seeking to be relevant in these changing times. It has been my observation that most people today are brought to faith in Jesus Christ through relationships nurtured outside the walls of the church. Seeking and developing these relationships require a commitment to cross those boundaries of comfort, culture and convenience.

It brings us back to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 Cor 5:20

"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."

In these changing times we must come to that realization we are ambassadors in a time and place where people are asking questions and seeking answers. Every believer is being called to be a missionary to their world.

The January Fast

2009-01-13T20:26:00.005-05:00

Every January since 1998 I fast. It started when I was on staff at a church and it was required of all pastoral staff to fast through January. My rebellious nature resisted being forced to fast but I was submissive, even though I fussed everyday. Three years later I left the staff position and January came. I looked back and reflected about the past three years of fasting January and started to really value the physical and spiritual benefits. I have kept the January fast ever since and most of my family have joined in.

We spent New Year and the first week of January with my daughter and her family in Oceanside, California. My son-in-law, Shannon Kapp, is a pastor and he is encouraging his church to fast for the first twenty-one days of January. Chandler, my ten year old grandson has voluntarily decided to fast lunch and video games! Lunch for any ten year old is a sacrifice, but video games!

A spiritual principle we live by is "Whatever you give up for Jesus, He always gives back something better." I have witnessed the incredible results in my life of this time set apart for God. I can not wait to see what happens to this incredible grandson of mine as he sets himself apart for those twenty-one days.

Bible Lessons, Telling His Stories (Part Two)

2009-01-11T16:08:00.001-05:00

I have written a blog and have a sermon series on “Keys Ingredients to Successful Ministry.” The three keys are: 1. Keep it relevant. 2. Keep it relational. 3. Keep it reverent. I believe if we use these keys in telling and teaching the Bible stories to children we will keep their interest, challenge their behavior and minister to their soul.

Let’s start off with keeping it relevant. As you share the stories of the Bible, the children need to be able to visualize it. It helps to be somewhat dramatic in the presentation but the key is bringing the situations in the stories up to date with what the children will relate to. Apart from maybe Shaquille Oneal or other NBA centers, the children have never seen a giant. So now we have Goliath against little David. “Alright kids, who is the biggest person you ever saw?” Allow interaction as you teach. In urban settings most kids know who Shaq is. Other kids may give you answers like a football player, their dad, a neighborhood bully. “Now kids, imagine someone this much bigger than that person. (Your hands are stretched to another three feet) That is how big this giant Goliath was that David went out to fight.

So, David killed this giant with the Lord’s help. How does that relate to me, little kid in 2009 suburb of America? Explain to the children that we all have giants in our lives that we have fight with the Lord’s help. Have you ever fought the giant called, “Afraid of the dark?” How about the giant called “Bad Report Card”? All of us have things in our lives that we struggle or fight with, but if we trust Jesus to help us like David did we can overcome these giants.

Keys to keeping it relevant are: be dramatic, bring the stories up to date and relate them to situations that are current in the children’s lives.

Three Steps To Building His Kingdom In Your Community

2008-12-05T12:07:00.002-05:00

1. Build A Door
2. Build A Relationship
3. Build A Life

We busy trying to do Jesus' Job, building His church.
Small thinking = Looking at our congregation, denomination as His Church.
If every indvidual Christian in every church would be about building His Kingdom, it would build the foundation that Jesus can build His Church upon. Upon this Rock I will build my church, The Rock is the revelation that Jesus is the messiah who came to build His kingdom, here on earth as it is in heaven.

Bible Lessons, Telling His Stories

2008-11-11T11:47:00.009-05:00

When I get ready to teach a Bible lesson to children I interact with them in this way; "Is the Lion King true or not? Of course it is not! Have you ever seen a lion talk? Is Toy Story true or not? You're right! Most toys do not talk without batteries or pulling a string. How about the movie Iron man? Right again! These are just stories. They are fun to watch but they are not true. Today we are going to tell you a story that is absolutely true! It is from the Bible and the Bible is one hundred percent true all the time."

Media has become a huge part of how children learn. How many generations have grown up learning from Sesame Street? Puppets and Dramas are used worldwide to help us communicate the Bible stories. Many of our adults services are now driven by media. What happens when there is no technology available, your drama team slept in, the puppets were left at your last outreach, and the DVD player bit the dust? It is time to tell His stories!

Teaching Bible lessons by simply telling the stories is becoming lost in the variety of media options available. Most of us would cancel our Children's service if the above situation happened.

Oral communication has become buried in most of our everyday lives. Emails and text messages have become a huge form of communication, especially among young people. Most families have eliminated "dinner time", a place where communication happened and the stories were told. Through all of this we are losing the essential key to most cultures, oral communication. My children are grown now and we live spread out across the country. When we gather at holidays or other events they ask "Pap Pap" (that's me) to tell the grandkids my stories. I have lived an amazing and eventful life and I have a way of seeing humor in almost any situation. I have had many funny things happen to me that my family loves to hear me talk about. The Bible says laughter is medicine to the bones and my family is blessed to be very healthy. We laugh alot!
I have been ministering to children for twenty-some years. I have used every gadget, object lesson, drama, puppet skit, and video throughout the years to teach children the Bible. I still think all of it is necessary and helpful to illustrate the lessons, but these days I try to use the lost art of story telling to teach the main Bible lesson. In this series of blogs I will share some of my reflections, techniques, and styles that I use to tell His stories. Do not go recycle Jumble Jeffrey the puppet! Keep your drama costumes! Keep an open mind and perspective and let us learn again how tell the stories and once again become preachers to the children.

Ingredients To Successful Ministry Part Three

2008-09-07T21:15:00.001-04:00

We are talking about the three ingredients for successful ministry. They are being relevant, being relational and being reverent. The last blog focused on the challenge of being relevant without compromising our being reverent. Can we ever be too reverent towards the Lord? Of course not! In our best effort to revere Him we come way short. So perhaps the third “R” in our three ingredients should be called “Religious”. Now let me ask you, can we be too religious? I would call being too religious being to “Churchy”. I remember in the zeal of first being saved I adopted a full blown Christianeze language (I am not speaking about tongues). “Praise the Lord this!” “Hallelujah to that!” “Glory to God!” The zeal of a new Christian is often refreshing to other Christians cheering them on as they pass from death to life, but to the unbelievers, the unchurched and unsaved it is like nails on a chalkboard. It usually does nothing to draw them in and often pushes them further away. I was and often still am very religious in my talk. These days I try to be aware of who I am conversing with and be careful not add too much of this ingredient of Religion. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel's sake…” I do not believe Paul is saying that he took on the ways and language of the world. I do believe He was saying that we should be aware of the lost folks around us and be careful not to push them away with our religion. In today’s world we will push them away with religion. They do not need religion; they need to know a relevant, relational and reverent Jesus.

Workers, Open Doors, Provision, Lasting Fruit

2008-09-07T20:27:00.006-04:00

Five years ago we started Power Hour Sidewalk Sunday Schools in an inner city neighborhood called Lincoln Park in Hampton, Virginia. We believe the Lord told us to give Him five years in this community. We began a labor of love reaching the children. It expanded to a mentoring ministry for eleven to thirteen year olds. From there we were able touch the lives of the children's parents. We have ministered faithfully for those five years.

Pastor Mark Geppert (www.seapc.us)discipled and mentored us in our early years of ministry. Mark's main ministry focuses on prayer. He taught us a long time ago that when praying for ministries, cities and nations to focus the prayer in four areas. Those areas are workers, open doors, provision and lasting fruit.

On most Thursdays over the last five years I spent time on Buckroe Beach walking and praying for the Lincoln Park ministry. One fourth of that time I have asked the Lord of the harvest for laborers. I have cried out for workers to help our small group of volunteers who faithfully showed up to reach the children of Lincoln Park. The next quarter of my time on the beach was spent asking God for "Open Doors". We needed open doors in the community. We needed open doors in the hearts of the children and the adults. We asked for open doors with the local government and the housing authority. The next fourth of my prayer was for provision. Someone once said, "Salvation is free, the delivery system is expensive." Our popsicles and snacks cost $40 each week. We needed prizes, balloons, object lesson materials, and sound equipment. We never lacked in the provision for the Power Hour each week. The last fourth of my prayer time was spent asking God for lasting fruit in the lives of the children we ministered to. Some of those prayer journeys on the beach were with my wife, Debra, or ministry interns. Most of the time it was me and Jesus.

Debra and I attended a commissioning service for three churches who are taking over in Lincoln Park. I was approached about a month ago by the leader of this endeavor who asked what our future plans were in Lincoln Park. I informed him that we were finishing our work there but we were concerned about just concluding without a plan for the future ministry there. He shouted "Hallelujah!" as he informed me of the plans of these three churches. At the end of the service this evening, the pastor leading the service asked for all the workers who were going to be involved in the Lincoln Park ministry to come forward. Most of the people in the service proceeded forward for prayer. It looked like a hundred or more. Debra and I wept. In my mind I saw every step made on those prayer walks. I thought of how I cried out for workers! This was beyond what I was asking for or imagining.

Do not give up! God hears every prayer and He answers them above and beyond what we could ever ask of think.

The Shepherd

2008-08-30T18:13:00.010-04:00

We were coming down the narrow trail in the Nepal mountains from elevations of twelve thousand feet. This was the fifth and last day of our trek. We were exhausted. My 17 year old daughter's feet were blistered terribly. We longed for a western meal. As tired as we were, the trip was worth it as we were able to distribute all of our Gospel literature and Bibles to unreached Nepalis who lived in villages high in the mountains.

For most of the trip down from the mountains, the trail was only wide enough for one person and a passing donkey as they carried supplies up and down the mountain. I was helping my daughter limp down the mountain as she anguished in pain. She moaned often but never complained. She had been attacked by a dog, chased by a water buffalo, and awakened at night by rats running across the rafters. She was a trooper but I was beginning to wonder how much more she could take.

The trail opened up to a green grassy area covered by a huge tree that gave much welcomed shade. We unloaded our backpacks and layed down in the midst of some feeding goats. Our Nepali friend and guide conversed with the young boy tending the goats. The young shepherd was fascinated with us and also concerned with the condition of my daughters feet. We were out of Gospel material and all of us Westerners were hoping that Ashok, our guide and friend, was sharing the Good News about Jesus with this young boy.

As they were sharing we noticed a small goat bent forward on it's front legs feeding on the grass. It ate as much grass as it could reach without moving its bent front legs. It seemed to want more but refused to move to get it.

Ashok finished his conversation and the young shepherd boy prepared to go on his way up the mountain trail. He strapped on his pouch and then moved toward the little goat. It was then that we realized that the little goat was crippled! It's front legs were permanently bent backward. The shepherd boy gently reached down and picked the goat up. He slung the little goat over his shoulder so the goat rode on the back of his neck being carred to the next place of rest and nourishment. Off they went up to higher elevations.

As we pushed our tired and sore bodies up to start again, my thoughts went immediately to the famous "Footprints" poem. None of us said anything but we knew the Lord spoke strength and encouragement to us through the little crippled goat. It gave us the strength and stamina to push on to finish the trek and go on to the comfort of the Mendies Haven Orphanage, where we were staying while on our mission to Nepal.

Perhaps you feel crippled by the pressures of life. Your soul's feet are blistered from the wonderings of the world. All mankind has been left crippled by the ravages of sin. Be encouraged today that there is a Good Shepherd who knows your pain. He is aware of your exhaustion and the pull to give up. If you let Him, He will carry you to your next place of refreshing and nourishment.

We were coming down the narrow trail in the Nepal mountains from elevations of twelve thousand feet. This was the fifth and last day of our trek. We were exhausted. My 16 year old daughter's feet were blistered terribly. We longed for a western meal. As tired as we were the trip was worth it as we were able to distribute all of our Gospel literature and bibles to unreached Nepalis who lived in the higher elevated villages.

For most of the trip down from the mountains the trail was only wide enough for one person and the a passing donkey as they carried supplies up and down the mountain. I was helping my daughter limp down the mountain as she anguished in pain. She moaned often but never complained. She had been attacked by a dog, chased by a water buffalo, and awakened at night by rats running across the rafters. She was a trooper but I was beginning to wonder how much more she could take.

The trail opened up to a green grassy area covered by a huge tree that gave welcome shade. We unloaded our backpacks and layed down in the midst of some feeding goats. Our Nepali friend and guide conversed with the young boy tending the goats. The young shepherd was fascinated with us and also concerned with the condition of my daughters feet. We were out of Gospel material and all of us westerners were hoping that Ashok, our guide and friend, was sharing the Good News about Jesus with this young boy.

As they were sharing we noticed a small goat bent forward on it's front legs feeding on the grass. It ate as much grass as it could reach without moving its bent front legs. It seemed to want more but refused to move to get it.

Ashok finished his conversation and the young shepherd boy prepared to go on his way up the mountain trail. He strapped on his pouch and then moved toward the little goat. It was then that we realized that the little goat was crippled! It's front legs were permanently bent backward. The shepherd boy gently reached down and picked the goat up. He slung the little goat over his should so the goat rode on the back of his neck. Off they went up to higher elevations.

As we pushed out tired and sore bodies up to start again, my thoughts went immediately to the famous "Footprints" poem. None of us said anything but we knew the Lord spoke strength and encouragement to us through the little crippled goat. It gave us the strength and stamina to push on to finish the trek and head to the comfort of the Mendies Haven Orphanage, where we were staying while on our mission to Nepal.

Perhaps you feel crippled by the pressures of life. Your soul's feet are blistered from the wonderings of the world. All mankind has been left crippled by the ravages of sin. Be encouraged today that there is a Good Shepherd who knows your pain. He is aware of your exhaustion and the pull to give up. If you let Him, He will carry you to your next place of refreshing.

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. John 10:11-12

Ingredients To Successful Ministry Part Two

2008-08-30T17:36:00.000-04:00

Almost all growing ministries are using media to illustrate their teaching and preaching. It is almost necessary in this media driven culture to communicate using videos, music, movie clips, etc. to convey our Biblical messages. Computers and video projection have become a vital part of our communication within the churches and ministries. It is part of being "relevant". Jesus was relevant to his hearers. He used seeds, harvest, and sowing to communicate to the agricultural culture of his listeners. He spoke of nets, fish, and spoke from boats to the fishing communities. The challenge is staying relevant without crossing the line of being irreverent. We must be careful that in our effort to be relevant we do not compromise our Christian values.

A number of years ago my family moved into a new area. We were church hunting. Many people were talking of a new church that was meeting in a local YMCA. It was the fastest growing church in an area that had an abundance of churches. We decided to give a try on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. As we drove in the parking lot we were warmly directed to a parking space by the parking ministry. We were greeted at the door with a strong handshake, a smile, and directions to the Starbucks coffee and donuts (Yea!!!). So far this church was doing great in the second "R", being relational. I was even allowed to take my precious Starbucks coffee into the sanctuary! Awesome! The service began without a prayer, Hmmm? An acoustical group came forth and opened with a song made popular at that time by the Dixie Chic’s, "Landslide". I have used secular songs and changed the words to convey a Christian message to reach kids. I heard that "Amazing Grace" was once a bar song and the writer changed the words. No words were changed in this song, but I thought that the pastor was going encourage us on how life's challenges can come land sliding down on us but Jesus can pull us out of the rubble. I was trying to stay open. The liturgy was not what I was accustomed to as I thought praise and worship was next, but the pastor followed up the song with an introduction to a video clip on the big screen. The clipped rolled and the popular characters from the show "Friends" came to the big screen. I am not too pious to say that I have not watched and enjoyed the show, but there were parts of the show that sometimes I got convicted for watching and enjoying. On this clip all the characters were sitting around a table trying to celebrate Thanksgiving. Someone had forgotten the turkey and they were sharing a grilled cheese sandwich, each making a comment as they passed it around. The last one to get the sandwich and make a comment was Chandler. His comment was "This s__cks!" The line of being relevant and reverent had been crossed for me. I half heartedly tried to stay open thinking, "I would not have used that clip but surely the pastor will redeem this as he used the clip to illustrate his message. He preached a good message about the memorial stones that Joshua pulled from the Jordan River. He never used the "Landslide" song or the video clip as part of the illustrations to his sermon. They were there just because they were relevant to the culture of that time. Did he cross the line? Was being reverent compromised to be relevant?

In my first blog I used the illustration of a cake recipe. Too many eggs and the cake is no good. Too much sugar and only we sugarholics will like it. We must always measure and evaluate our ministries. In our zeal to communicate relevantly we must be careful to not compromise our being reverent towards Jesus. I believe this is one of the greatest challenges to those called to teach and preach today. How far can we go to illustrate our messages before we compromise our Christian values? Please, preachers and teachers, do not stop in your efforts to relevantly communicate. I personally enjoy a good object lesson or video clip when you communicate. We need to just prayerfully evaluate our efforts and ask the Holy Spirit to help us communicate so we do not bring an offense to our Lord or others.

In my next blog I hope to reverse this thinking and see that we can be so reverent (religious) that we can become irrelevant.

Ingredients To Successful Ministry

2008-08-30T17:14:00.000-04:00

There is an object lesson that I have done in children’s ministry to illustrate how God uses many things to develop our character. The object lesson uses a cake mix. Each separate ingredient i.e. eggs, flour, cocoa etc. is offered to a child to taste by itself. Of course the child cringes at even the thought of a raw egg by itself. The lesson goes on to show the kids that the ingredients mixed and measured appropriately turn out to be a delicious chocolate cake. I like to use this same illustration to illustrate the three necessary ingredients that make up successful ministry. Just as in any recipe these ingredients must be used in proper measure. I first received this from the Lord to teach in Singapore where they enjoy acrostics and the first letters of each ingredient begins with “R”. They are being Relevant, Relational and Reverent. I believe you can evaluate any ministry, personal or church, by understanding the balance of all three ingredients. Is my ministry or church relevant to the culture and the people we are called to reach? Are we relational? Do we embrace Christ and embrace others? Does our expression and communication honor (revere) Jesus?
I will continue with the “Three R’s” of ministry on future blogs

Leading A Child To Christ

2006-06-09T21:54:00.000-04:00

Leading a child to Christ is the greatest thing you can do as a teacher, children’s pastor or most important a parent. Beyond all the gadgets, magic illusions, and puppets lies the real reason we do what we do. All of these are tools to help us bring the children to the point of decision of asking Jesus to come into their hearts. The younger we can reach the children for Jesus the better. A child has their whole life ahead of them to do as God wills and to live a life obedient to Jesus. I remember a young child and a dad responding to a salvation call from our pastor. When they approached the altar my pastor said, “Here comes one and one half lives to Jesus.” The congregation laughed as they assumed the pastor meant the child was the half of a life and the adult being the whole life. The pastor realizing the presumption of the congregation brought correction. He then said to the church, “You assumed the adult was the whole life but if you think about it, this man has lived half his life with only half left to live for Jesus. The child on the other hand has a full life that he can live walking with Jesus.”
You can never tell what the final outcome will be when you lead a child to Jesus Christ. That child could become a strong influence in your church, a future elder, deacon, or possibly even the senior pastor. That same child may influence their whole family to come to Christ.
This reminds me of my dear friend and co-worker in Singapore, Sammy Watt. Sammy is a Chinese born into a Buddhist home. His parents owned a shop that sold all the items needed to offer worship in the Chinese Buddhist Temples. (Actually Chinese Buddhism is a mix of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucism, superstition and Black Magic) The store sold oil, incense sticks, fruit, and such that were designed to be offered in worship at the temple. Needless to say his family was staunch Buddhists.
When Sammy was ten years old a friend invited him to a Sunday School class at a church. Sammy went with his friend and continued to go every week. Through that class Sammy gave his heart to Jesus. Every Sunday morning Sammy would get up, get dressed and head off to Sunday School. His Buddhist mother would stand at the door and try to discourage little Sammy from going, but each week Sammy would be persistent and off he went.
I met Sammy when he was in his mid twenties. At this point none of his family members (four brothers and three sisters) had come to Christ. Sammy started to bring his nieces and nephews to the Kids church we were pastoring at the time. The parents, still being Buddhist, allowed them to come so we could “Baby Sit” them on Sunday mornings so they could have a morning alone having breakfast and shopping. The nieces and nephews gave their hearts to Jesus at the Kids Church. We had prepared a special presentation by the children to be performed in the adult church on Sunday.
Sammy invited his Buddhist mom to come see her grandchildren sing and perform and she accepted the invitation. The Saturday evening before we had a birthday party and Sammy was there. We talked about the next day when his mom would come to church. Sammy said to me, “Pastor Tim, if my mom ever comes to Christ it would be at least five years from now.” I responded out of my spirit and said, “Sammy, trust the Holy Spirit.”
The next day his mom came to church and at the end of the service our pastor gave a salvation call, and guess who responded? That’s right, Sammy’s mom! In a Chinese home, reaching the head of the family is a key. Sammy’s dad had died some years before so his mom was the head. We have watched as one by one Sammy’s brothers and sisters are convert to being Christians since his mother made that decision. All of his little nieces and nephews who performed that crucial Sunday morning are teenagers and serving in leadership in their churches.
Never underestimate what could happen when you lead a child to Jesus. The most important thing is that child will end up in heaven, but during their time on earth they could go on and change their world for Jesus.
One of my favorite movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. Probably most of you have seen the movie and remember the beginning of the movie when George (Jimmy Stewart) and his younger brother were sled riding down a hill and onto a frozen lake. George’s brother slid too far onto the ice and hit a thin spot and fell in. George ends up rescuing his brother. The movie goes on to George’s adult life where he dreams of traveling someday. The family business prevents that from happening and a series of unfortunate events makes George cry out, “I wish I was never born!”
God answers his desire through an angel who grants George his wish and shows him his life without him ever being born. Nothing is the same. The next part of the movie impressed me. George was reading the newspaper headlines. The headlines read that a Navy ship was hit by a Kamikaze plane and sunk. George recognizes that this was his brother’s ship and when George was alive his brother shot down that Kamikaze plane, became a war hero and saved the ship. Since George was not alive he was not there to save his brother when he went through the ice. His brother drowned and then later on in life was not there to shoot down the plane. As a result the whole ship sunk and every sailor died.
The power of one life lived for Jesus! The child you lead to Christ today could be the next Billy Graham or lead their friend to Christ who is the next Billy Graham.
There are many opinions of when children are ready to receive Christ. It is said that ages eight years old to eleven years old are the easiest years. The true answer to that question is any age is the right age. If children are old enough to understand doing wrong, which is sin, then they are old enough to understand a Savior. One of the advantages and dangers of teaching children is that they are without suspicions. They will believe exactly what we tell them the Bible says. Children more naturally accept Christ because they have not been hurt or disillusioned by a sin filled world. They are still innocent. Their innocence is what the world and the devil is constantly trying to steal at a younger age all the time.
In my experience of ministering to children over the years, I have seen children respond to a salvation call many times throughout their childhood years. I once heard a young adult give testimony of when he came to Christ. He shared how at 4 years old he asked Jesus into his heart at Sunday School. Later on when he was nine years old he got saved again in Kids Church. At 12 years old at a youth group he responded to an altar call and received Jesus. Then at 15 years old he went to a youth camp and went down front to be born again and it stuck!
I have seen children’s workers discourage children responding when they have seen them respond at an earlier time. I believe it is healthy and exposes the openness of the child’s heart to spiritual things. We never need to question the validity of a child’s acceptance of Jesus. Our responsibility is to share the Gospel and present the opportunity to respond. The Holy Spirit has a unique ability to move on the children’s hearts. Only God knows the heart.
I will give some counseling guidelines (notice I said guidelines not rules) for leading children to Jesus in a church or Sunday School setting. As children’s ministers we have many opportunities to give the salvation call to a group of children and this is wonderful, but the best way to minister to a child is one on one or with a small group.
To reach a child’s heart for Jesus, present the Love of God. Romans 2:4 tells us that it is “the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” That goodness stems from His unconditional love for us. Children need to know that Jesus loves them very much. There is no need to scare the children or try to convince them to respond to Jesus by sharing sad stories. If presented sincerely and truthfully the children will respond naturally and without fear. God has put eternity in the hearts of every human being with no respect of age. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) The God-shaped hole that only Jesus can fill is in the heart of every boy and girl.
Choose words that are clear, simple, and without double meaning in your presentation. Avoid abstract terms and phrases. Avoid difficult or confusing words. Children take every word literally. When you tell them to ask Jesus into their hearts, they see Jesus living in their physical, beating heart. A child might not understand the word “sin” but they can understand doing things wrong like, stealing, lying, disobeying parents, cussing, etc. The Gospel is very simple and easy to understand, even for a child if presented simply.
When the Holy Spirit has prepared the way and you sense He wants you to offer a call to salvation for the children, have everyone bow their heads and close their eyes. Ask how many boys and girls have Jesus in their hearts or lives. Have them raise their hands. Start with the positive. Many children at this time will realize that they need Jesus. Reinforce how wonderful it is that so many have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Celebrate the decision these children have made and then tell them to lower their hands. After this ask how many children do not have Jesus in their hearts, but would like to have Him there. Have them raise their hands.
You now have three choices. (1) If you have enough workers, invite them to work personally with the children who respond. (2) If it is a large group, lead them in a prayer of acceptance and commitment while they are still in their seats. (3) Bring the children forward and minister to them with the other children witnessing.
If you have enough workers the best way to ensure a strong conversion is by working with the children on a one-on-one basis. Workers should be those who you know and are trained to work with the children. NEVER ALLOW A STRANGER TO MINISTER IN YOUR CLASS OR SERVICE. Take the children who respond to another area or room and minister to them.
In a large group situation you may ask for a salvation response and then lead the children who respond in a prayer of salvation while at their seats. Make sure you tell them to get with a pastor, Sunday school teacher, a "saved" parent, etc. and tell them of their new commitment to Christ.
The most traditional way is to have the children who respond to the salvation call come to the front while the other children witness. Build the children up who come forward, letting them know that this is the most important decision they have ever made. Have the children sitting, clap for the children who come up. Let them know that they were very courageous for coming up and Jesus is proud of them.
Now it is time to counsel the children and lead them in a prayer to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The first thing to remember is to take control. Do not allow the children to become unruly. Praise the children once again for their brave decision to come up to receive Jesus. Explain to the children that you will ask everyone a question: "Why did you come?" You are trying to make sure they know what they are doing. The question is: "Have you ever asked Jesus into your heart?" We explain that once Jesus has come into their heart, He will never leave them. Sometimes children are convicted by an act of disobedience. They need to know they just have to ask for forgiveness. If we have enough workers it would be good if we minister to them individually and make sure they ask for forgiveness of any sins and give them assurance of their salvation. As we said earlier, some children respond many times to a salvation call. The good thing is that they are responding and feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit.
It is time to explain to the children how we can accept Christ. There are some key points that we must try to make relevant to the children. (1) First they must realize that they have done wrong. ROMANS 3:23 Let them know that everyone including you, their parents, their pastor, their Sunday school teacher, etc. have sinned. Explain that sin anything we have done wrong, such as lying, cheating, cussing disobeying parents, hating, etc. Make sure they know ONLY JESUS NEVER SINNED. (2) They must realize that there is a punishment for doing wrong. ROMANS 6:23 Explain to them that true death is separation from God forever, Hell! Sometimes instead of frightening them with the threat of Hell is to give them the hope of heaven. I always explain to the children that there is a place called heaven that they will go to if they have Jesus in their hearts. I also explain that everyone will die. Someday when they get really, really, really old, they will die and go to heaven where Jesus is! (3) They must realize that Jesus took our punishment and He will forgive them of anything wrong they have ever done if they are sorry. The children need to know that they must want to change the bad stuff they were doing. (4) They must realize that if we invite Jesus into our lives, He truly comes in and is there forever and ever. Explain that they will probably sin again, but Jesus does not leave, they just need to ask Him for forgiveness when they sin again. I JOHN 1:9 These are the four essential truths that you must make relevant to the children.
After you have communicated to the children the Gospel truths you get the privilege of leading the children in a prayer. Include all of the above in the prayer. Make sure you use terms that are easy to understand. Many of us who have been in the Lord for some years develop a “Christian-ese”. Choose words that are clear and simple.
After praying with them, be silent and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to them. I look forward to services and moments in services where I feel God’s presence but every time I take the time and wait after praying a salvation prayer with the children His presence is so evident. Sometimes it is a matter of 30 seconds or so but it feels like eternity. If you watch the children closely you can literally see the Holy Spirit ministering to them in that short time. After this special time pray out loud for the children and ask God to fill them and seal them by the Holy Spirit.
When you have finished praying for the children build the children up again and tell them what a special thing they just did. Now you need to explain that there are certain things they should do now that they are Christians: (1) Read the Bible everyday. It is God's way of talking to us. Encourage them to start with the Gospels. Provide a Bible to anyone who does not have one. (2) Pray everyday. It is our way to talk to Jesus. Jesus is now there for them and is their friend to help them. They need to know that Jesus will help them in any problem or trouble. They should also be told to tell Jesus about the good things that happen and thank Him. (3) They should continue to attend Sunday School and Church. This is where they will grow spiritually and learn more about Jesus. (4) They should tell somebody about their decision they just made. ROMANS 10:9-10
All of the above information is just a guideline. We must always trust the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. God’s ways are above our ways and sometimes He will move differently than what we expect Him to do. Be prayed up and sensitive to whatever He directs you to do.