CHAPTER 1 "WHAT IF?"

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.