Three Things I Hope I Will Do…And A Slight Rant! August 12, 2009

Lucretia and I are meeting with a group of 11th and 12th graders over the course of this next school year…and we are so pumped about being able to share our lives with this group.  As I’ve met with them a few times I have began to process how I am going to react when their generation begins to take over the ministry world…I hope I will…

#1 – Do My Best To Fund Their Movement & Not Fight It.

They WILL do ministry in ways that haven’t been thought of yet.  They will do things that make me uncomfortable.  They will take the things we are doing now and calling innovative and refer to them as traditional…and I can either face the truth or get buried by it.  My job as a leader is to fund them and set them up for success…not fight them.  (Phrase borrowed from Andy Stanley)

#2 – Do My Best To Learn From Them.

I SOOOO hope I am not “Yoda-like” and pretend that I have all of the answers and need no input from them.  I want to pour into the generation that is coming behind me…but there is a LOT I am going to be able to learn and apply from them.  Only arrogance and pride will make me think that I need to have all of the answers and can’t ask any of the questions!

#3 – Do My Best To Encourage Them.

I don’t want to be the old guy who tells them they can’t do what God has clearly told them they can AND SHOULD do!  I want to be the guy who tells them to pursue what Jesus has placed in their hearts!

I am SO positive that God has amazing things in store for this next generation…I am seeing things in them that I’ve never seen…the way they respond to Jesus pursuing them is amazing…and I really do believe that God is going to use them to bring about a Reformation in America and across the world that is going to be the greatest in the history of the world.  God is preparing them…and is going to use them to make a difference!

BTW–that is why I BELIEVE SOOOOO much in youth and children’s ministry!  It is NOT a glorified baby sitting service…these children and youth matter NOW!  One of the reasons 18 year olds move off to college and leave the church is because the church treats them like second class citizens for years…and then expects them to jump in to the political free for all that dominates most churches…you know, pick a side and just shut up!  This generation will not stand for that–they are desperate for Jesus and not church politics!

There is no greater mission field than the youth and children who attend our churches every week…and yet I know for a fact that there are churches all across America that have more money in their graveyard fund than in their youth budget!  THAT NEEDS TO CHANGE if we want to see a difference made!

God has called us to empower and release this next generation…not hold them back!  I pray that I will one day get to see just a glimpse of all I believe He is going to do through them!!!  Like I said…a Reformation…and the world will NEVER be the same!