My awesome Breakout kids!

My how time flies!! Only a couple months before school is over and the summer fun begins! The weather this weekend will be a great reminder of that!!

Sunday is the last night of the Breakout year! Our graduation celebration and party will end the 2nd incredibly successful year of this AWESOME program! For those of you who don't know - Breakout is a small group study geared towards 3rd – 5th grade children. This year, we are introducing Kids Quest - a very similar program geared for children in Pre-K through 2nd grade. I have been amazed at how much these kids have grown over the past two years. Their ability to find things in the Bible, quote scripture and understand how all of that fits into their life is amazing. But what truly amazes me is the confidence and security that they've found in themselves and in the Word of God.

I can't tell you how heartwarming it is to see how committed these children - and their parents are - to teaching them about Jesus. It's not just that they know Psalm 119:105 by heart (do you??) it's that they know what it means - and why it is important to their life.

Why am I telling you all of this? Two reasons -first - if you have school-age kids in your life - bring them out this Sunday night in the Old Fellowship Hall (between 5:15 and 7pm) and check out the program. We are Baptist, so there will be snacks! If you can't make it - give me a call or e-mail. These programs are an incredible way to offer your child spiritual growth - and have an awesome time doing it! If you're interested in helping in this ministry - thank you ... just let me know!

Now, for the rest of you that don’t have school age children – please pray for us. Pray for these kids – they are our future. One day, they will be leading this church . . . this town . . . maybe even this country. We need to make sure that they have the background, knowledge, and faith to make a positive difference for the future – and for God. I look around at kids these days and hear the stories on the news. The violence, the total lack of respect, the drugs, the children having children – it is very scary to look at what is going on in society and know that is the battlefield our children are walking into. But these kids aren’t like that – they have a chance to make a difference – we just need to give them the strength and confidence to do it.

There is a song that says ‘we’re not so different – we’re all looking for a savior’. We’re all looking for something bigger than us – stronger than us – to wipe away our tears and our pain. It says that some look for their savior in a bottle, some in the arms of a stranger, some in a pill – I found my savior at the foot of the cross. Look at most of the kids in the news – or kids that you might know that stay in trouble – they don’t know where to find their savior – and they are searching for Him in all the wrong places.

These kids know where to find their savior. They know where they are safe and they know that they are loved. Now, I’m not saying that they won’t stray, or make mistakes – but they won’t be looking for it to save them. The Bible says that if we train up a child in the way that he should go, when he is older, he won’t depart from it. They may go off on a wrong path – but they know that it isn’t going to save them – and they’ll come back to the One that will.

But I don’t think it’s good enough for our kids – WGBC kids – to know this. We average 60-odd kids at the 9 and 11 service – not counting Sunday School. Is it enough for these 60-odd kids to know where the Savior is? What would happen if - before these kids left the children’s department – before they went to youth – they each told just ONE person that they could find their savior in Jesus. That would not only bring 120-odd kids closer to God – but it will get 120 kids off the street and out of trouble. And if those kids told their parents – and they told friends, and their friends told their kids and….

That’s how we change the world – one child at a time!