Me, my son, a flag pole, a public school, amen

A few weeks ago I was explaining to my 8-year-old son about the national event that Christian teenagers participate in every year, See You At The Pole.  His excitement continued to grow as I told him how students gathered together, whether a few or a crowd, to pray for our nation, their schools, reaching their friends with the Gospel of Christ, their teachers, etc. 

His response, “Daddy, we HAVE to do that!”

So this past Wednesday my son and I headed to school 30 minutes early so we could pray at 7am.  I was hopeful that there might be others, but my son goes to a K-8 school so I wasn’t sure if any middle school kids might be there.  As it was, my son Christian and I were the only two there and it didn’t bother him a bit.  We prayed together for his school and that he would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with his friends.  We also asked God to provide him with other Christians at his school who would support him in his quest to reach his campus for Christ.  As we said “Amen!” a friend from our church who is a teacher there showed up and was saddened that she missed our gathering.

That day when I got home Christian shared with me that the teacher saw him later that day in school and took a moment to pray with him in the copy room in the school office.  As a dad, I thought that was totally cool.  Thank You God for providing my son a support system at his school.  May you continue to bless him with boldness and a zeal for the Gospel of your Son Jesus Christ!  Would you grant him success over the next 5 years to reach his campus with Your Good News!

Amen.

My son the evangelist

I sometimes look for opportunities to share my faith.  It’s something I know I should do, and I enjoy having those conversations and presenting the Gospel, but I certainly don’t do it as often as I should.  I am frequently convicted working at Dare 2 Share just by the nature of what we do.  That conviction amps up most weeks on Wednesday when we have staff chapel and Greg challenges us to share our faith as we have opportunity.  All of those things considered, I am convicted the most by my 8-year-old son Christian when it comes to sharing my faith.

Christian started the 3rd grade last Wednesday at Aurora Quest Academy.  It is his first year not going to a Christian school (3 years of preschool at our church in Virginia and K-2 at Faith Christian Academy).  When he got accepted to Aurora Quest we explained to him some of the differences he might encounter at a public school.  Without hesitation he told my wife and, “It may not be a Christian school now, but when I’m done with it it will be!”  WOW!  How much pride as a father did I feel at that moment? 

So last Thursday, his second day of school, Christian came home and told us all about his day.  He shared that the class was playing a game and several of his new friends were getting upset that they were not winning.  He explained to them that they shouldn’t be ashamed of losing, everything is fine, because we are all winners!  The teacher chimed in and corrected Christian explaining that when they play games, there will be winners and losers.  “But we’re all winners in God’s eyes!” he proclaimed to his class.  The teacher gently informed Christian that they were not talking about God, but about the board game.  He quickly complied and finished playing the game.  As he explained to us what happened though, this is what he said, “Mom and dad, I knew I was right.  I was talking about God.  I didn’t want to argue with my teacher though, but we are all winners in God’s eyes!”

My son made me so proud again.  Not only did he make the preliminary statement that he was going to share Jesus with his school, but on the second day of classes he was already making bold statements about God.  I am also proud of him for respecting his teacher and not arguing with her.  It showed the relational side of his evangelistic effort.  His relentless is evident in the fact that he would make a public statement like that to his whole class and that he plans on looking for more opportunities to do the same.  While he complied with his teacher out of respect, it has not quenched his zealousness of the Gospel!

Please continue to pray for my little 8-year-old evangelist as he Shreds the Gnar on his campus!

D&W: persuade

By the name of this post some of you may already be a little leary as to what you are about to read.  Persuade is a pretty strong word.  Some people in Christian circles don’t even like using the word as it conjures up images of pushy car salesman or invasive telemarketers that call in the middle of dinner.  Unfortunately this word does come with negative baggage.  However, it doesn’t change what we find in scriptures (NLT):

• Acts 17:4 – Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.
• Acts 28:23 – So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.
• 2 Corinthians 5:11 – Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.

Persuade = sharing your faith!

The word persuade describes how we are supposed to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:11 makes the strongest case for it in mind.  It decribes sharing our faith with those who don’t know Christ as our “fearful responsibility to God” and affirms that it is a sincere persuasion. 

So who have you persuaded lately with the power of the Gospel?  Have you challenged your teen to identify one lost friend that they need to relationally and relentlessly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with?  Don’t be intimidated by the nature of the word “persuade.”  Be persuaded by the power of the Gospel!

D&W: pursue

Last week we touched on prayer, which as many of the responses indicated is a vital step in any aspect of ministry.  It plays a critical role in one’s worship of God, relationship with God, and should be the foundation of any evangelistic effort.  If you haven’t read the post on prayer, CLICK HERE and read it before going on.

As we challenge our teens to pray for their lost friends, we need to equip them to pursue those friends on a spiritual level.  Simply, bring God up in conversation.  It doesn’t sound that difficult, but we don’t do it near enough.

Think about it…when people meet me for the first time they are going to learn a few basics: I love my wife and sons, I love Starbucks, while I like the Denver Nuggets I am a hometown fan of the Redskins, Wizards, and Orioles (sorry Nationals – I was raised on Cal Ripken Jr baseball).  Let’s not forgot the critical college sports: Nebraska football and North Carolina basketball.  Even more than all of these things, I love God.  Why in the world wouldn’t I bring that up in causual conversation? 

Hear me on this.  I am not implying that our teens need to present the Gospel in every conversation (but certainly don’t pass up the opportunity if it’s given).  But as a believer in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t we constantly be relationally and relentlessly seeking out our friends beliefs, sharing our beliefs, and having conversations about those things?

If we are going to talk to God about our lost friends, let’s talk to our lost friends about God.  No pressure, just talk.

HS Small Group 6/9/09

So I am here at the Orchard with my high school small group.  I’ve tapped into their free wi-fi so I am actually going to post live updates as my teens are out having spiritual conversations and sharing the Gospel.  We have 6 of our normal crew of 10 teens out tonight but they are super pumped.  Andrea, one of my rising evangelists, is really finding a groove on Tuesday nights.

When we started a few months ago she was the most nervous, not even sure how to share her faith.  As she has engaged people in conversations she has realized this can be exciting and quite the thrill.  Tonight, she actually brought a friend with her and let me know that he is shy and quiet but she is going to coach him along the way tonight and get him to the place where he’ll step up and have conversations tonight.  Her goal with him is simply to get him talking…kinda reminds me of where she started a few months ago.

So the plan for tonight: 2 groups of 3 teens, armed with a few copies of Greg’s book Venti Jesus Please. 

• 7:32pm Andrea’s group just came back and got done talking to a boyfriend/girlfriend couple.  The girlfriend is a Christian but the boyfriend is not.  They chatted for a few and gave them a copy of VJP to read together in hopes that the book would be a tool for the girlfriend to talk to her boyfriend.
• 7:37pm Marissa’s group went up to a group of 5 teens waiting for a movie and got shut down right out of the gates.  It happens like that sometimes, where people don’t even want to start the conversation.  We earn our stripes and keep on going.
• 7:45pm Just saw the boyfriend/girlfriend couple walk by.  The boyfriend had the VJP book in his hand meaning it didn’t hit the trash…there’s still hope! 
• 7:57pm 2 of my younger guys just came up to concerned because the older teens have engaged in a spiritual conversation with 6 pretty intimidating characters.  How did I respond?  Gave them a few extra Venti Jesus Please books and told them to offer each of them a book and see if they could jump into the conversation with them.
• 8:04pm Andrea’s and Marissa’s group came back and told me about the encouter with the 6 teens…3 Catholics, 2 church goers, and 1 girls who would only volunteer that God is awesome (but wouldn’t answer who God is).  They gave out 4 VJP’s and hopefully “Cole” will come to church on Sunday.
• 8:10pm just saw the “intimidating kids” reading Venti Jesus Please to each other.  They are leaving the Orchard with books in hand.  God use that book to speak to their heart!