Important! This Sunday is the Parent’s Meeting

9:45 am in the Harbor

 Join us for bagels, donuts, and coffee. Your students will come to the same place and break into thier Sunday School classess. Then we will  have a meeting to discuss everything you wanted to know about the student ministry… or at least everything we can cover in an hour…

I have heard it often in the past few days. Even the man who came to give an estimate for the ever widening crack in our floor, reminded me how quickly our children grow up. Of course I think everyone is reacting to our little Phoebe. In just a few months she has nearly doubled in size and can even laugh (a joyous sound).  “Big girl” Ivy was her size when we came and now she is in K3 classes and becoming quite bossy… Everyone tells me it will soon become a blur and my little girls will be on the school bus and then middle school and soon dating and then college and marriage… And I do not want to be the father who absently prays, “Lord help me pay for it all.” And then goes to work…

  I was the camp speaker in CO the first week of August. My connection with the church came from my youth pastor who was now the pastor of this church. And as I experienced their group and considered our students I could not help but compare them both to the ministry of my youth. It was an amazing group that literally doubled, then tripled to well over 300 students every Wednesday night. It produced multiple people who are ministers today and so many others who passionately pursued Christ through college and continue on mission. A group that far surpasses our student ministry.

   Of course my goal is to create a deep and plentiful ministry here, but what separates us? While there are many things for me to improve, again and again I am reminded of parents. All the students of leadership arose from families devoted to God. Honestly I would be in ministry with or without my youth group. In the same way, your student will become who you train them up to be and they will recognize your divided heart. Your actions proclaim louder than any words.

  And understand, I am not passing the buck. The scripture never speaks of youth ministers, but in continually speaks to parents. While I love and will work to aid your students, they are your responsibility. They are your legacy…

  On a wall at my childhood home hung a cross stitch of blocks and toys around a poem. I can only remember the final line: “There will be years for cleaning and cooking for children grow up while were not looking.” These moments are fleeting, so please take hold of them. Train your child to become a follower of Christ, but not by words. Instead live the example of Christ and they will follow!