Sing Praises To God, Sing Praises!

One of my greatest privileges out here is to drive the van on Tuesday for Youth Group.  It's always a bit nerve wracking to keep my eyes on 14 youth, the road, and the occasional herd of cows or horses. 

FYI, that picture was taken this past Tuesday by Morgan Granberry as we were stuck in Rez traffic for 10-12 minutes.  

When driving the van, it's a great time to interact with the kids and listen to music.  We usually listen to "Church" music and one of my favorite things is to hear the youth in the back singing and singing loudly.  Without fail, when I put on "Mighty To Save," "All I Owe," or "On Jordan's Stormy Banks," it gets a little quiet and most of the teenagers are chiming in and singing.  Several have great voices and have been helping Heather lead music.  Don't tell them, but when they are sitting right behind me, I can hear every note.  

As we work here to start a church and love the community, one of the most exciting changes I've seen is in the area of music.  It makes me happy and proud to see the teenagers leading worship, playing guitar, and praising the Lord together, in the vans, at Church, and at Youth Group.  Chuck always talks about how one of his favorite things out here is singing with the youth and hearing them praising God together.  It's definitely one of my favorite things too.  The teens are growing in their love for God, and they want to praise and worship Him - it doesn't get much better than that.  

Jesus Loves Monsters

This is a story that Beth Granberry told me:

At Kid’s Club, I was playing with a little girl and after giving her piggy back rides all day, I was getting tired, so I got her to sit down on the big rocks and pretend we were hiding from monsters.  We pretended that a little dog named Taco was a monster and we hid from him and then drew a rainbow with chalk to cure him so he wouldn’t be a bad monster anymore.  Then we pretended that Joshua was a monster and attacked him with long blades of grass.  We then drew another rainbow to make Joshua safe.  At the end of the day, I was walking her home when she said, “Joshua may be a monster, but Jesus still loves him.”

I love that she’s only 5 but already understanding Jesus’ love, and that it’s for everyone, even those that don’t deserve it. 

The Lord's Supper (Take 2)

We had the Lord’s Supper again this week, and most of our kids come without parents, so each small group leader talks to their kids about what it means and kind of gauges whether or not the kids are ready.  I talked to a group of three boys, explained what it is and means, and who should and shouldn’t take it.  I said, “Not everyone here is a Christian and they shouldn’t take it, and if you’re not a Christian, that’s ok, but you shouldn’t take it.  I want everyone to be Christians, and I think one day they may be, but that’s ok if you don’t believe yet.”  The guys kind of looked at me and said, “I’m going to take it.  God made us right?” I said, “Yes, but…” They quickly cut off my thought and said, “If He made us, then He loves us and we should love Him and worship Him.” Again, I said, “Yes, but…” I then thought for a second, and realized they were right and to them it was simple, straightforward, and obvious.  They might not be able to articulate lots, but they understand that God made us, He loves us, He sent Jesus for us, and we should follow and love Him in return.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

Youth Promotion

This past week, we had a bunch of the fifth graders over to the Church to welcome them into the youth group.  It was a happy evening mixed with a tinge of sadness.  For the past two years, I've worked with the boys in my small group and was proud of them but also kind of sad to see them moving on.  We had 7 boys there that evening and another 3 who we couldn't find and it was a great evening of fun and games.  They really enjoyed it and did great later in the week at youth group with the older high school students.  I was excited about getting them into youth group because they've been looking forward to it since they found out there was a youth group :)   Over the next month, we’ll be trying to get them into Discipleship Groups. 

  

Another team is here now and it’s a busy week!

The Lord's Supper

We began regular Sunday services on Easter, and two weeks ago had our first celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  It was an amazing night to see our baby church grow.  Many people weren’t ready to take the Lord’s Supper, but did fine with waiting.  We were worried that some of the kids would not understand and play around too much, but they did great and have been doing really well on Sundays.

We finished our first team week and Kid’s club was great!  Adam’s View averaged around 45 kids, Totus around 60, and Warm Springs averaged around 50.  The highlight for me was when we did the story about Elisha and the Widow whose bread and oil never ran out.  When I was asking the kids about the story, I asked, “What did Elisha ask the woman for?” Someone shouted out bread, and then a 4 year old boy said, “The bread is His body.” I was stumped and overjoyed for a second, but quickly continued with the discussion of the story.  It made me so happy to see these little guys remembering what we’ve covered in previous lessons and connecting it to other stories.  It’s just a small picture of what God’s doing and the growing faith of the children.    

Thanks for your prayers and continue to keep us in prayer as we go through the summer and attempt to lead people to Jesus.

Easter

We had our first Sunday service and it was GREAT! It made me so happy to see all the children and adults celebrating Jesus' resurrection. We had about 160 people and the children did a great job singing and going with the program. It was a beautiful service with 4 baptisms, including two boys who are regularly part of Children's Ministry.

One of the best parts was watching one of the boys from my small group overseeing the collection basket and getting coached by one of the adult men from White Swan. We passed out Easter Baskets to all the children who came, and 3 youth took the lead, while I stood back and just talked to the kids.

You can see pictures on Facebook by clicking here. Thanks for your prayers!

I Don't Play With Marbles

On the last day of Kid’s Club with the teams, a twelve year old boy from Totus Park was around, and I asked him to play marbles. He said, “I don’t play with marbles,” implying he was too old for such things. This guy isn’t a regular part of what we do, but most of the boys love playing marbles. I didn’t press the issue, and was just happy that he was there for the day.

I kept an eye on him and his brothers as they have a tendency to get in trouble. For the most part they did well playing kickball, the bean bag game, balloons, and other activities. Towards the end, I got a game of eternal dodgeball going, and he ran up to me, and said, “Can you hold these for me?” I held out my hand and he gave me 4 marbles. I was surprised for two reasons: 1. He trusts me to keep his marbles safe, and 2. Apparently he wasn’t too old for marbles.

This small interaction reminded me of how important Kid’s Club is. It’s important because we provide a place where “kids can just be kids.” For 2 hours that Friday, he could just be a 12 year old boy and play marbles and have fun. He didn’t have to worry about appearing stronger or tougher than everyone else. He didn’t have to worry about being made fun of or hurt. He could put down his guard, have fun, and do things 12 year old boys are supposed to do.