Youth Sunday

Generations of Youth Ministry

Today was a great day for many reasons.  It was a day of reflecting, of gratefulness, of being proud of my Bonnie and so much more.  It was Youth Sunday at church and it was the first year my Bonnie was able to participate!  She has grown up year after year enjoying Youth Sundays. She has been so excited and did a great job in her skit and also in the youth praisers.  As a parent, you pray your kids will serve God and be involved in church but when it happens, there is nothing like it!!  I am not sure many people get to experience what I did today. Over 15 years ago, I did my first Youth Sunday as the Youth Pastor at my church.  It was so much fun.  I talked our Pastor into letting us surprise the congregation and on the fly take over the service.  He loved the idea and said let’s do it.  He called me up for an announcement and then kids came running in from the back, interrupting me and I asked them what the heck were they doing. They proclaimed that they wanted to take over the service!  Of course we had been practicing profusely but it was fun to surprise everyone.  It went great and the church loved it.  I just love that we are still doing Youth Sundays and I love even more that James and Kelly, two of our favorite kids, are still there and training up my daughter. 

Kelly and "Baby Bonnie"

Today, Kelly talked/cried (an annual tradition!) about how much she was impacted by the generations that were present and she mentioned what a blessing it is for her to be ministering to her youth pastors daughter (Bonnie.)  I joined Kelly in shedding tears and was truly grateful to the Lord for this moment. I would love to know how many youth pastors stay long enough to see THEIR youth pastors kid born, grow and join that same youth ministry.  I would venture to say it’s a very rare thing indeed.

My mom and I were just talking about that first youth Sunday.  My Pastor forced me to share in church that day and I was very nervous. Thankfully, I shared about my parents and especially my father and how his unconditional love and affection had impacted me.  It happened to be my Dad’s birthday too.  He died less than two months later and what a HUGE privilege it was that I got to publically commend him for being such an incredible father to me.

Youth Group made a quilt for "Baby Bonnie"  I passed the
Youth Pastor baton to Kelly (on far right) this night.

I feel grateful because I have never ripped out the roots of my family from my home church. It makes me sad at the thought of ever loosing the heritage my family has at my church for my kid’s sake. People love them and watch out for them. I watched my parents weather the ups and downs through the almost 40 years of attending our church. I am sure they were tempted to leave on occasion when a new exciting church was starting but they have stayed where God planted them and as a result their entire family of almost 30 members, serves God.  Because their roots go deep, they have incredible fruit to show for it.  I sadly think back to all the families who bailed out, ripping their roots out in the bad times, scattering their family. So many of my peers aren’t even serving the Lord or raising their families in church. My greatest desire for my kids is for them to serve God all the days of their life and put Him first.  I want them to run hard after God with all of their heart and change the world. I am so thankful for James and Kelly who acknowledged the call of God on their life and are now there to guide and help my children grow in their faith. 

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. Luke 1:50