Tag: Family

It’s Just a Phase, So Don’t Miss It.

936 weeks.

That’s how long you have from the time a child is born until the time he or she graduates from high school.

Most people have a mixed reaction to this reality. I’ve had moms and dads get tears in their eyes when they understood how fast the weeks are counting down. But the more important reaction is this: When these same parents realize how much time they have left, they start doing more with the time they have now.

At this year’s Catalyst conference, I had the opportunity to talk with leaders about how they can partner with parents to make the most of every week for every kid. Admittedly, what a church leader thinks about most is probably Sunday morning. It’s really Monday that makes the difference. How does Sunday morning better prepare parents for Monday morning and the rest of the week? And how does a month of Sundays (and 936 weeks of Sundays) prepare a kid for a lifetime of knowing God?

That’s why we say this: It’s just a phase, so don’t miss it.

A phase in a kid’s life isn’t something to be survived, gotten through, or passed over. It is an opportunity—usually lasting about 52 weeks—to engage children in a new way that recognizes the intricacies and nuances at each stage of life. It is something to be valued, celebrated, and leveraged.

For us, a phase in a kid’s life is defined as a timeframe when you can leverage distinctive opportunities to influence their future.

In every phase, we recognize there are three things we need to be attentive to:

present realities to understand,
distinct opportunities to leverage,
and significant relationships to influence.

There’s one thing that every parent cares about—whether that parent is part of a church or not. 

The parents inside your church, and the many more parents outside of your church, care about one thing

Every parent cares about the future of their child.

They care about future friendships, future education, future careers, and everything else that’s going to happen as one phase turns into another.

Because a phase gives a parent an opportunity to leverage distinctive opportunities for that future, a parent’s role is redefined at every phase. As a new phase approaches, the questions a kid will ask change from “Who am I?” to the question “Am I safe?” to “Do I have what it takes?” to “Who do I like?” to “Why do I believe?” and so many others.

Those questions change at each phase because with every phase comes a unique crisis. The crisis prompts the question, the question prompts a conversation, and sometimes the conversation offers a few answers that a kid might be able to take hold of.

Many reasons exist why a parent or a leader might miss a phase, but here’s the most important one: Sometimes we forget that every single kid and every single teenager is made in the image of God.

Jesus made this clear when He stood a child in front of the disciples and said, “Whoever welcomes one of these welcomes me.” He said that because He knew what we too often forget: those kids are made in the image of God.

Every kid has a divine capacity to reason, improve, and lead. care, relate, and trust. believe, to imagine . . . even to love.

So maybe you’re thinking about the phase your kids are in. Maybe it’s the dirty diaper phase, and it’s hard to see the image of God in all that mess. Or the teenage driving phase and it’s even harder to see the image of God in all THAT mess.

But Jesus made it clear: No one should feel more welcomed than a screaming baby, a bratty kid, a hormonal middle schooler or a defiant teenager.

Some people miss it because they treat kids like they are not old enough, smart enough, mature enough, important enough or even Christian enough to really do or learn anything.

Every one of those kids, though, is made in the image of God. And every phase is a distinctive opportunity to make sure those kids know you see that too. Even if it’a just a phase.

  • For ways to be praying for your child, click here!

Article written CatalystLeader by Reggie Joiner is founder of Orange and was one of the founding pastors at North Point Community Church. His book is entitle, It’s Just a Phase, So Don’t Miss It.

Preparing for Your Back-to-School Ministry Launch

Now that we’re well into the summer, it’s time to talk fall. Depending on where you live in the country, “fall” kicks off in August or September. (And if you’re a faithful listener Down Under, we’re just giving you an extra six months of lead time!)

We know that kid min leaders don’t get to relax during the summer. Summer camps, VBS. You squeeze in family vacay. Your volunteers are in and out. And by the way—here comes the launch of your big fall initiative and the start of your ministry year!

You want to start off on the right foot with all your volunteers in place and ready to go.

But you’re so busy working in your ministry that you don’t get to work on your ministry. It’s time to create some space, whether it’s a few hours or a full day, to get set for fall.

That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome Alston Causey to help us prepare!

Mike kicks off the conversation:

It’s July. Fall is staring us in the face. What are some things listeners should be paying attention to as they plan for the fall season?

Alston: Don’t give up hope. It can feel like “there’s no time, so I shouldn’t do anything.” Even if you can only do onething, it will set you up for a better experience through the year.

Alston’s come up with Five Awesome Things. Do one, do several, delegate.

1. Get specific about volunteer recruiting.

Shockingly, you probably don’t yet have 100% of the volunteers you need yet. (Unless you’re Gina. She’s way overstaffed. Riiiiight.)

Alston: We are often looking for volunteers right up through promotion Sunday. One of the easiest ways to find new leaders quickly:

Great leaders know other great leaders.

Be real with your volunteers. Tell them your specific needs and encourage them to invite someone in their life to come and serve.

Gina: You gotta know your need. Let your team know you’ve done your homework and know what’s coming down the road. Sometimes as ministry leaders we say we need more, but we don’t define it.

Say, “Who would you love to invite to be part of this?” If there’s hesitancy, maybe you’ll discover something about your ministry that isn’t working. You can drill down and make your ministry more appealing.

Alston: We want our culture of volunteering to be remarkable—that it would be worthy of remarking to your friends about. It’s not what we want from you. It’s what we want for you.

When they see that you are for them, they’re excited to bring other people along with them.

How do you create a great onboarding process for volunteers?

Alston: Are you just plugging them in to get a hole filled quickly? That’s never a win. When they don’t know the win or the vision for that role, they’ll stop serving before long.

We are intentional about the onboarding process, even though it can slow us down sometimes. You still have time to get them to an orientation, have them check out the roles they’re interested in, and do a training.

On day one when school starts back, create a moment. Acknowledge, yes, it’s going to be crazy, but you are beginning something big. At the end of training, we have a confetti moment that no one knows is coming. “Congratulations, you are officially a volunteer!” It feels like a party.

Be intentional about kicking off [fall season] in a big way, not just for the kids, but for the volunteers.

Mike: When you’re short volunteers, you can ignore it. Or you can beg and plead from stage. Please don’t. It devalues your ministry. Go personal instead. Trust that God will bring the right person in the right time

2. Help your volunteers love volunteering.

Alston: Before fall gets here, think of three ways to appreciate volunteers this semester or during the whole year. Put it on the calendar. We forget to develop and appreciate our volunteers because we don’t take time to think about it.

When you ask your volunteers to come to an event or training, give it added value for them: This will make you a better volunteer, but also a better spouse, parent, coworker.

Alston used a personality profile training last year because people enjoy learning about themselves.

Which Disney Princess are you? Kellen is Belle.

Make sure volunteer training is not just a value add for you, but a value add for your volunteers.

Gina: It’s an investment in them that will have a return for you as well. “I want more for you than I want from you.”

How different would it be if our ministries were a place where someone would say, “I’m a better dad, I’m a better husband, I’m a better Christ follower because I serve [in this ministry”?

Alston: Do a movie night with popcorn and candy and invite your volunteers and their families. (A movie night can be more than $100 for a family.)

It doesn’t have to be expensive. Take the time and think about it. It communicates love and shows them how important they are.

Mike: A lot of time training defaults to “here’s what I need from you.” You’ve swung it the other way

3. Gather your key volunteers and cast vision.

Alston: Identify your key volunteers who lead other volunteers (coaches). If you don’t have a system of volunteers who lead other volunteers, consider creating one. Small groups of volunteers led by a coach are just as powerful for volunteers as small groups are for your kids.

Cast the vision for this leadership team. It may be the same as last year, but re-engage and encourage them not to lose sight of it.

Gina: It’s recalibrating your leaders and making sure you’re all moving in the same direction.

Alston: If you are a volunteer who leads other volunteers, you are part of the leadership team. Usually the final Sunday before the big promotion Sunday, we create a fun night with a short vision cast. It can be as simple as dinner and games.

One year Alston threw a big family event outside. It was fun, but also harder to vision cast with shouting kids and yellow jackets.

Mike: You already feel the pressure of leading your ministry area. You can expand your capacity by investing in a few volunteers who in turn invest in the rest of your volunteers.

Alston: Having a volunteer leadership team is the reason we could open a second campus. It’s worth starting a volunteer leadership team even if you can only find one or two people before fall ministry season starts.

Mike: You may get volunteers who aren’t  a great small group leader or large group communicators, but can help lead the volunteers. That opens it up to more volunteers.

Fall is a natural time to go back to a rhythm after the chaos of summer. It’s a great restart and time to cast vision.

Alston: Number one thing to give your volunteers: a roster of contact information for volunteer team leaders and staff. Let them know who to go to with needs and questions. This sets up their team lead to be a pastoral figure. It helps big churches feel small and small churches feel even more personal.

4. Re-engage parents and kids with your ministry.

Alston: Back-to-school has become the second Easter. [Families] all come back when it’s back-to-school season.

Leverage the back-to-school bash mentality. We gave kids a different school supply for each Sunday in August. Kids loved it because they are collectors.

Establish a rhythm of coming back every Sunday.

Plan a cool event in September or October. Build momentum and hype with something to look forward to.

Mike: Do something that is already built into the rhythm. Themed days, like PJ Day for “Spring Ahead.” They love it.

5. Pray

It seems like the Christian throwaway answer. But if you’re going to do anything before the school year starts, it’s praying intentionally for your ministry. How can I pray that this year would be different? How can I pray that God would do measurably more through our ministry this year?

I’m praying for my staff and my volunteers, that they wouldn’t just see it as serving Jesus, but they would grow closer in their relationships to Jesus through serving.

We’re praying for the parents. We want to equip them to win.

Ultimately, we pray for the kids that we serve: for safety, that our ministries would be irresistible for them, and that our ministries would be transformational for them.

If you do nothing else but pray—pray through the filter of what we’ve talked about today.

THE TAKEAWAY

  1. Get specific about volunteer recruiting. Determine exactly what you need and lean into your current volunteers to invite people they want to serve alongside.
  2. Help your volunteers love volunteering. Schedule three times during the semester or year when you will celebrate your volunteers.
  3. Gather your key volunteers and cast vision. If you don’t already have several key volunteers to help lead your volunteer team, invite several to join you. This expands your own capacity. Find a time to cast vision to your leadership team.
  4. Re-engage parents and kids with your ministry. Take advantage of the back-to-school rhythm to encourage consistency and momentum for families as you begin the fall season.
  5. Pray. Pray specifically for your volunteers, parents, and kids. It may be a ministry cliché, but it is THE game changer.

Podcast taken from OrangeBlogs 

12 Things to Pray for the Teens in Your Life

1. Pray that your teens will be saved (Rom. 10:1).

The deepest cry of your heart should be that God would save the unregenerate teens you know. Pray for authentic, total heart transformation. That teens will not trust in a memorized childhood prayer or an emotional experience, but will repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone.

2. Pray that your teens will love God’s Word (Psalm 119:9-10).

Pray that God would speak to teens through his Word and bless them with an arresting delight in it. That they would submit every question, decision, and desire to the Bible’s authority and gladly follow its counsel. Also, that they would get into Scripture daily, and that God would teach and strengthen them through it.

3. Pray that your teens will stay in church (Hebrews 10:25).

Pray that God would give them an abiding love for his people and a passion to participate in the community of the local church. That they would prioritize church over work and friends and a thousand other trivial and temporal things. Pray that God would use the local church to equip, encourage, and sanctify them for life.

4. Pray that your teens will have discernment (Rom. 12:2).

Pray that they will know the truth and resist false teaching. That they will be committed to remaining faithful to God’s Word. Pray that they will submit themselves to sound teachers and pastors who are grounded in Scripture.

5. Pray that your teens will follow wise guides (1 Cor. 11:1).

Pray that God would put strong and gracious counselors in their lives who will point them on the right path. That teens will have the humility to listen to their elders. Pray that God will protect them from poor decisions and naïve mistakes.

6. Pray that your teens will fight temptation (1 Cor. 10:13).

Pray that teens will not cave to culture or crushing peer pressure but will stand firm against the temptations they face – sexual temptation, social temptation, digital temptation. That the Holy Spirit would convict them of sin and lead them in righteousness. Pray that teens would joyfully welcome and even pursue accountability.

7. Pray that your teens will make godly friends (Prov. 18:24).

Pray that God would grant them flourishing friendships that will encourage them in the gospel and mature them in their faith. That they will spend time with those who are kind, humble, gracious, and wise. Pray that they will be influenced for lasting good by the people they spend time with.

8. Pray that your teens will pursue healthy relationships (2 Tim. 2:22).

Pray that they would chase and celebrate purity in all of their relationships. That God would grant them a godly spouse and protect them from sexual sin. But pray ultimately that they would love God more intimately and deeply than any boy or girl.

9. Pray that your teens will stand out from the world (Matt. 5:14-16).

Pray that teens will embrace their identity in Christ and wholeheartedly obey him even when it costs them. That they will not be blown by the winds of culture but will risk their reputations to publicly follow Christ. That they would rejoice in their freedom from sin and shine brightly in a dark world.

10. Pray that your teens will endure suffering well (2 Tim 4:5).

Pray that God would teach them trust in Him through their bitterest trials. That they would be sanctified through suffering. Pray that God would use their circumstances to make their faith stronger and happier and more resilient.

11. Pray that your teens will have wisdom (Prov. 3:4-5).

Pray that they will have guidance and direction in the midst of great uncertainty. That God would guard them from fear and anxiety and make them more reliant on him. Pray that whatever he has planned for their futures would bring him glory.

12. Pray that your teens will rise up and do great things for God (1 Tim. 4:12).

Pray that God uses this next generation to do far greater things for his kingdom than your generation. We ask that this next generation learns from both the wisdom and the errors of our elders and boldly rises up to the challenges we’ll face. Pray for this next generation–for we are your next missionaries, your pastors, your professors, your teachers, your politicians, your authors, your parents. And we’re your next church.

Article written for UnlockingTheBible.org by Jaquelle Crowe. Jaquelle a 19-year-old writer from eastern Canada. She’s a graduate of Thomas Edison State University and the editor-in-chief of TheRebelution.com. You can find more of her writing at jaquelle.ca.

Letters from a Pastor’s Daughter

Dear pastors, elders, deacons, and ushers,

Secretaries and choir directors, Awana leaders and Sunday School teachers,

Sinners becoming saints gathered under the banner of Christendom;

I am the girl sitting in the front pew, wearing thick leotards, a red corduroy skirt her Mum sewed, and a mushroom cut, and I’m staring out the stained glass window as my Dad preaches from the pulpit.

We look pretty good, shined up and sitting neatly with our practiced smiles beside Mum. Our family lives in a Glass House called a “manse” owned by the church, and I feel it, down to my second-hand shoes with the scuff marks on the toe.

I feel it, with every stare across the aisle and I’m the girl sitting in the front pew, homeschooled and raised on Dr. James Dobson and Scripture verses, who’s starving herself to death.

I turned anorexic at nine years old. Stopped eating because I didn’t have a voice. The manners, and an inscribed Bible; I had awards from Brownies and Guides and Scripture memorization; but I had no friends because we’d moved 10 times before I turned seven, and we were homeschooled in the days when no one else was. I had no self-esteem because I was told it was vain to want to be beautiful. I had no relationship with my father who babysat us once a month when Mum took the afternoon to shop at Salvation Army and before she left, she would have to remind him, “Now remember, they’re your kids too you know.”

So I stopped eating, because a daughter finds her greatest sense of identity in her relationship with her father. And if that doesn’t exist, she often feels she doesn’t either.

Dear church, I implore you:

  1. Encourage your leaders to put their families first.

     Be there for the leader who’s weighed down by expectations and pressure, who’s forgotten about 1 Timothy 3:5 which says, “If a man doesn’t know how to manage his own family, how can he care for God’s church?” (NIV) Help him to combat the belief that he needs to serve at the expense of his wife and children, and remind him that home is his first calling.

  2. Allow leaders some privacy.

    Respect your leaders and their need for some quiet. Don’t call after suppertime unless absolutely necessary. Don’t gossip about their families in the parking lot, and respect the ministry as a job, giving leaders time in which to rest.

  3. Give leaders permission to break.

     Rick Warren says “Your greatest ministry will likely come from your deepest pain.” Let’s allow our Christian leaders to hurt, to need, to want, to struggle. Let’s offer a soft place for when they do. God is always in the place we least expect it. He’s in the middle of nowhere. He’s in the desert with Hagar, and He sees her. He sees this female slave who’s been used and then rejected, and he knows her name. And she calls Him, “El Roi—the God who sees me.” Let’s be people who see each other.

  4. Become friends with the leader’s wife.

    She is human, just like you, and is crumbling from the pressure put on her. When my Mum discovered her own mother had committed suicide, she had no one to tell. No one to be real with. Befriend your leader’s wife before she breaks for the loneliness.

  5. Provide a support system for your leader’s kids.

     It is not easy being taught about God every Sunday but not given a chance to need him the rest of the days of the week. Jesus did not come to save the saints, but the sinners. Give your leader’s kids mentors, who can make the journey a little easier, allowing the kids to question, to doubt, to express, without judgment. Give them permission to be sinners, so they might discover a need for the Savior.

It’s been more than a decade since I ran away from home and I’m finding it again, in the Church. I love her, with all of her idiosyncrasies. But it wasn’t until my father needed his kids and his congregation to come alongside him to care for my Mum that I realized—the pastor was human too. And the congregation realized it, and we became like a family, leaning on each other.

This, the most beautiful kind of worship: when God’s people come together as one and do communion.

Bread is not eaten whole, friends. It is broken, so we might feed off of it.

In the same way, we need to be broken, so in turn, souls might be filled.

All my heart,

 –A repentant and forgiving PK.

Article written for Catalyst Leader by Emily T. Wierenga. Emily is an award-winning journalist, blogger, commissioned artist and columnist, founder of the non-profit, The Lulu Tree. She lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and two sons. For more info, please visit www.emilywierenga.com

Half-Hearted Builders

While the architects were planning and the builders were building, I’m sure neighbors wondered a few things.

How did they know the bridge would stand? Who would be the first car to drive over hoping not to fall into the river? Why did they choose to make the pass there and not 10 feet over? Why arches instead of squared-off angles?

But the builders could trust in the plans – in the carefully thought out blueprints that were researched, rewritten, and finalized by the architect before a seal of approval was stamped in the lower right-hand corner.

Builders keep their heads down and they build. They keep their eyes on the plans and their minds focused on the task. The first task and then the next.

Because usually, you just can’t see the whole thing.

You might see today or a baby step or a choice… .but until you start to chip away, you’ll never see the final product.

And I want to see the final product.

Sitting here mostly wondering who drove over the bridge first. I’m self-assessing if I’m being a builder – for my family, within my business, in my calling, during my day-to-day, through my relationships. Sometimes it’s a yes, sometimes it’s a no.

Because the choices are to build, to leave it alone and watch decay set in, or to demolish… .and that doesn’t leave much room for distracted, apathetic, or half-hearted builders.

Blog written by Ariel Kuhn. Ariel is over Business & Communications at Polaris Church. She also owns and operates Ariel Kuhn Creative Co. For more information or to get in touch with Ariel, have a look at her work here

Polish Your Guest Engagement Strategy this Easter

 

 

 

Holidays can bring new people to your church and create opportunities for impact. Most pastors can easily name the big days that bring high attendance. But knowing about big days and planning for them are two different things.

Too often, these calendar-given gifts sneak up on pastors, resulting in last minute planning and low impact. One of the biggest days comes early this year. Easter weekend is only a few weeks away!

When big days sneak up on you, the rule of thumb is to polish what’s working instead of trying to create something new. Creating new requires time and planning, and time isn’t on your side.

The most important thing to polish to enhance your Easter weekend impact? I think it’s probably your guest engagement strategy. Gary McIntosh’s book What Every Pastor Should Know reports the responses from a number of interviews with people who visited a church for the first time. These people were asked, “What made the biggest impression? What affected your decision to return the following week?”

It wasn’t the eloquent preaching, excellent worship or a fun kids ministry. The number one response by far was the friendliness of the church. Effectively engaging new guests with friendliness requires planning and intentionality. It can’t be something we hope happens; it must be something we make happen… because it can determine if they come back.

If your church is unfriendly today, chances are you won’t be able to turn things around by Easter weekend. (Though I’d make it a high priority after!) But if your church has a guest engagement strategy in place, take this opportunity to review it with fresh eyes and polish it up.

Ideas to Polish Your Guest Engagement Strategy

  1. Invite a few “outsiders” to attend your church this weekend specifically to rate the friendliness of your church.

    Ask a few people who fit the type of person your church is trying to reach, and let them know you want them to be completely honest. Offer to buy them coffee afterwards. Let them share their feedback however they are most comfortable. 

  2. Cast vision again to the First Impressions team.

    Share the findings from Gary McIntosh’s book. Help them understand the vital importance of their roles. Help them understand how the First Impressions team engages guests. The right engagement can make a good impression on the people who wander into your church. Train your team with guidelines. For example, asking guests, “Would you like me to show you our children’s area? Would you like a cup of coffee?” can make guests feel very welcome as soon as they walk into the door. Consistency matters.

  3. Reconsider where you locate your First Impressions teams.

    Locate your guest engagement teams in the right places. While there is value in having door greeters, think deeper than the front door. Having intentional teams in the lobby, auditorium and hospitality areas can make a huge impact. 

    These teams should engage and celebrate all people—not just new people (identifying them can be a challenge in a growing church, especially on Easter). If a team member doesn’t know someone’s name, that person is the target. This will ensure both new and returning guests are engaged, feel God’s love and get a sense of community.

  4. Think more strategically about how and why you collect guest information.

    Obtaining guest information creates your second opportunity to engage guests after they leave the building. Most churches use some version of a connection card, but getting guests to fill out the card can be a challenge. Here are a few ways to polish your information gathering strategy:

    • Make sure your guest service area is highly visible, easy to access, and well-stocked.Ensure church members aren’t congregating there. New guests typically won’t fight a crowd to get to the table. Make sure you have the right information available. Easter is usually attended by families with children. Have strong communication pieces available that highlight your children’s and student ministries. Make sure volunteers at the guest service area are trained to collect the right information and explain quickly how it will be used. That leads me to the next thing…
    • Only ask for the bare minimum info and give people options for sharing their info.  Do you really need their full name, address, email and phone number? Would you give all of that information out to a church you visited for the first time? Think about what information you actually plan to do something with, and get it down to the bare minimum.Many guests will not visit the guest area. Give people options for sharing their information (connect card, Facebook, church app, etc). A new guest gift can incentivize if it’s something people will actually want.
    • Review your first time guest follow-up communication with fresh eyes.  If you’re collecting guest information, make sure your system for following up is buttoned-up. It’s tough enough to get someone to share their info. If you manage to do that and then don’t follow up well or at all, you create a negative impression.Keep communication short and purposeful. Always include a next step you suggest they take

What other strategies are working today at your church? Take a look at them with fresh eyes in the next few weeks. Polish what you can before Easter gets here.

Article written for The Unstuck Group by Chad Hunt. Chad currently serves as the executive pastor at Eagle Heights Church in Somerset, KY.

4 Ways to Beat Discontentment

You always seem satisfied with your life until you meet somebody new or experience something exciting. Discontentment always seems to settle in making us irritable and frustrated with where we’re at in life. If we see that somebody has something that we want, we feel the need to go after it. Why is that?

Whether it be a new product or an experience, we always find ourselves excited by a temporary situation. If a friend gets a new phone, you feel like you need a phone. That family member went on that dream vacation, so you feel the need to do the same thing. A co-worker gets a new job, so you feel like you need a new job. We invent this “need” and make ourself feel like it’s a “necessity”.

1 Timothy 6:6 says “godliness with contentment is great gain.” True necessity should only lead us to one place and that’s contentment with God.

How do we do that when the world is shouting that we “need” this stuff?

#1 Be thankful for what you have

When you’re thankful and have a heart of gratitude you tend to realize and appreciate the things that you DO have. Spend time each day thanking God and having an attitude of gratitude.

#2 Pray

Pray that God would give you a heart and mind that’s content. Ask and you shall receive – if we come to God and pour out our hearts and let Him know that we desire to be content with the things He blesses ya with, he will!

#3 Volunteer and give your time

When we volunteer and give our time to others, the things we think of as “necessities” won’t seem as important. Focus on someone other than yourself and there will be a shift in your mindset.

#4 Read scripture

Seek out what God tells us to do in His word. What are His instructions? If we keep our eyes on Him and follow His word, He will guide us.

Be thankful for what you DO have and you’ll end up having more.

Written by Meggan Jacobus. Meggan is the staffing manager at Froot Group, a worship staffing and consulting company.

If I Only Knew

Have you ever had an, “If I only knew,” moment? The kind of moment that you look back at something wishing you would have known ahead of time so you could have done something different.

If I only knew that buying furniture on credit as a young couple would spiral into a mess of credit card debt, I would have….

If I only knew that the company I worked for was going to downsize this year, I would have….

If I only knew that my friend would be shot and killed today, I would have…..

If I only knew that the children in that neighborhood didn’t have shoes, I would have….

If I only knew that there was a need in ministry for this, I would have….

If I only knew that God was leading me in this direction, I would have…

If I only knew my kids were feeling this way, I would have….

Life would look different if we had some crystal ball or mirror we could look into and see the future, but that’s just a Disney movie. But God can see what is, was, and will be, for each of us.
Have I not commanded you?
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” Isaiah 43:1-3, 13 NLT
“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel, and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” Psalms 139:1-6 NLT

God knows our struggles, the struggles of others, and also what each of us needs. He sent his son, Jesus to the earth to live a life as human, yet as God, to reconcile us to his purpose for eternity. Jesus told the woman at the well, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10 NLT) When the woman at the well discovered that she was in the presence of the Son of God, the Messiah, she and many in her village became believers.

13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:13-15 NIV)

It is my responsibility as a Christian, (and of every Christian) to make sure others ‘know’ the story of Jesus. To listen to the life stories of others so I know what is going on in their life, how/what to pray for, how I might help them and how to connect God’s story with them. It’s my responsibility to know what’s going on in my neighborhood, what’s going on in the schools, what’s going on in the ministries and the lives of my friends by asking critical questions often.

We must put aside the excuses of saying…
IF WE ONLY KNEW

Written by Jeff Shicks, Executive Director at Youth for Christ, Nashville, TN. To find out more about Jeff or Youth for Christ, visit www.nashvilleyfc.org.