Our church has been doing a series challenging us to live out intentional generational faith. A faith that is passed on and encouraged from one generation to the next. And as someone involved in family ministry for 10 years now, my heart was glad.
It's a message that is so important. Faith isn't transferred to the next generation through a classroom. It's not a program or even a great series of lessons. It's transferred when it's lived out. Together. In RELATIONSHIP.
In a passive society where stuff matters more than others and we prioritize ourselves over all, it's becoming a revolutionary act to pursue an active faith and impart that to the next generation.
So, as we begin this series to talk about helping the next generation win, I thought it was time that I look back and thank those who helped me win. Here are three of their stories:
MY MOM
My mom took a lead role in all things spiritual in our house. She's the person who instilled in me a deep love of Jesus and church. She showed me the power of serving. She demonstrated the power of unconditional love to a son who sometimes struggled to even like himself. It is through her undying love that I managed to survive the turbulent teen years. She also served as my youth leader. Literally nobody else in the church wanted us. And so she stepped out in faith. At the time, it was a little awkward. Having your mom as your youth leader can be a problem. She didn't have a degree. She wasn't an expert on teenagers. She simply had a willing and loving heart. She loved us teens and walked through the mess with us. And while it probably seemed to her like many of her lessons during this time fell on deaf ears, it was largely because of this investment in my life that I am where I am spiritually. And where my children are spiritually. And why I serve the next generation in my church with such passion. She is also where I get my love of holidays and celebrating family time. She also has been the prayer warrior in my life. There wasn't a day that went by that my mom wasn't praying for us. I was blessed to have two parents who loved me, supported me, and provided for me. Not everyone gets that. I'm thankful for my mom's commitment to our getting involved in church and for prioritizing our walk with Jesus at a young age. It changed the entire trajectory of my life.
PASTOR JACK
Growing up I was beyond blessed with the pastor that served my church. Jack Hamilton was a joyful man who radiated unconditional love to everyone he met. He taught me that Jesus likes to have fun. He helped make church a place that I wanted to be. He showed me how much of an impact living life with joy and a smile can do. He showed what the heart of a pastor looks like. Late night phone calls & visits to troubled families, round the clock visits to the hospital, spending time with shut-ins, he did it all. His boundless joy could not be contained. It was a force of nature that left a permanent mark on my life. There was simply not a person that Jack didn't love or share Jesus with. His influence went beyond just me personally, his influence on my family and the direction our family took together in the faith is largely because God brought Jack Hamilton int our lives at just the right time. Attending his funeral bore witness to the influence that he had as person after person stood to share what Jack meant to them. We even heard one last audio recording from Pastor Jack made on his death bed. As he said good-bye to us, he shared the Gospel message one last time to those in attendance. That's the kind of Christian that I want to be.
MRS. WILEY
Mrs. Wiley was a fun old lady. She was my Sunday School teacher circa 4th-6th grade. She had to be at least in her seventies when she taught us. Physically she somewhat resembled Doris Roberts from Everybody Love Raymond. And she had the voice of Edith Bunker. She was a little bit eccentric, but she really loved us. That a woman that much older than us would still be serving faithfully in Sunday School stuck out to me. And she didn't make an impact because she was super trendy or hip. In fact, she was pretty much the opposite of that. But she was someone willing to still have fun and laugh even in her later years. She may have been old chronologically, but she was certainly young at heart. Her example taught me to embrace the fun in life. It also taught me that sometimes being the coolest or most talented person in the room isn't all that counts. She taught me that everyone can make a difference just by sharing their love and joy with another person. I couldn't tell you specifically any lessons that I learned with Mrs. Wiley in church, but I can still feel the warmth of her presence. She loved us unconditionally even when we disobeyed. She had fun with us instead of scolding us. She showed me the love of God personified.
LESSONS FROM MY LIFE
The lesson that I can take away from these shining examples and others is that the key to helping the next generation win is RELATIONSHIP.
Reggie Joiner would put it this way:
"You can't influence someone that you don't know."
Helping the next generation win means connecting them to an active and authentic relationship with Christ. In order to do that, we will need to be warm and relational. My top 3 influences didn't impact my life because they were the best communicators that I've ever known. Their lasting impact on me was borne through the relationship they created with me. That RELATIONSHIP allowed them the INFLUENCE and LEVERAGE to speak life and truth into my life.
As a result, I was more open to what they had to say and who this Jesus that they followed was. By modeling a warm and genuine relationship with me, they helped me understand the kind of relationship that God wanted to forge with me through Jesus.
As followers of Christ, we owe it to the next generation to be a model of RELATIONSHIP and to leverage that to point them toward the source of all hope--JESUS.
As you look back in your own faith journey, who were some of your biggest champions? How did they leverage their relational warmth with you to stoke the fire of faith in you?
Thank God for those who poured into your life to help you win and ask Him what you can do to help the next generation win.
Feel free to hit the comments and share!
It's a message that is so important. Faith isn't transferred to the next generation through a classroom. It's not a program or even a great series of lessons. It's transferred when it's lived out. Together. In RELATIONSHIP.
In a passive society where stuff matters more than others and we prioritize ourselves over all, it's becoming a revolutionary act to pursue an active faith and impart that to the next generation.
So, as we begin this series to talk about helping the next generation win, I thought it was time that I look back and thank those who helped me win. Here are three of their stories:
MY MOM
My mom took a lead role in all things spiritual in our house. She's the person who instilled in me a deep love of Jesus and church. She showed me the power of serving. She demonstrated the power of unconditional love to a son who sometimes struggled to even like himself. It is through her undying love that I managed to survive the turbulent teen years. She also served as my youth leader. Literally nobody else in the church wanted us. And so she stepped out in faith. At the time, it was a little awkward. Having your mom as your youth leader can be a problem. She didn't have a degree. She wasn't an expert on teenagers. She simply had a willing and loving heart. She loved us teens and walked through the mess with us. And while it probably seemed to her like many of her lessons during this time fell on deaf ears, it was largely because of this investment in my life that I am where I am spiritually. And where my children are spiritually. And why I serve the next generation in my church with such passion. She is also where I get my love of holidays and celebrating family time. She also has been the prayer warrior in my life. There wasn't a day that went by that my mom wasn't praying for us. I was blessed to have two parents who loved me, supported me, and provided for me. Not everyone gets that. I'm thankful for my mom's commitment to our getting involved in church and for prioritizing our walk with Jesus at a young age. It changed the entire trajectory of my life.
PASTOR JACK
Growing up I was beyond blessed with the pastor that served my church. Jack Hamilton was a joyful man who radiated unconditional love to everyone he met. He taught me that Jesus likes to have fun. He helped make church a place that I wanted to be. He showed me how much of an impact living life with joy and a smile can do. He showed what the heart of a pastor looks like. Late night phone calls & visits to troubled families, round the clock visits to the hospital, spending time with shut-ins, he did it all. His boundless joy could not be contained. It was a force of nature that left a permanent mark on my life. There was simply not a person that Jack didn't love or share Jesus with. His influence went beyond just me personally, his influence on my family and the direction our family took together in the faith is largely because God brought Jack Hamilton int our lives at just the right time. Attending his funeral bore witness to the influence that he had as person after person stood to share what Jack meant to them. We even heard one last audio recording from Pastor Jack made on his death bed. As he said good-bye to us, he shared the Gospel message one last time to those in attendance. That's the kind of Christian that I want to be.
MRS. WILEY
Mrs. Wiley was a fun old lady. She was my Sunday School teacher circa 4th-6th grade. She had to be at least in her seventies when she taught us. Physically she somewhat resembled Doris Roberts from Everybody Love Raymond. And she had the voice of Edith Bunker. She was a little bit eccentric, but she really loved us. That a woman that much older than us would still be serving faithfully in Sunday School stuck out to me. And she didn't make an impact because she was super trendy or hip. In fact, she was pretty much the opposite of that. But she was someone willing to still have fun and laugh even in her later years. She may have been old chronologically, but she was certainly young at heart. Her example taught me to embrace the fun in life. It also taught me that sometimes being the coolest or most talented person in the room isn't all that counts. She taught me that everyone can make a difference just by sharing their love and joy with another person. I couldn't tell you specifically any lessons that I learned with Mrs. Wiley in church, but I can still feel the warmth of her presence. She loved us unconditionally even when we disobeyed. She had fun with us instead of scolding us. She showed me the love of God personified.
LESSONS FROM MY LIFE
The lesson that I can take away from these shining examples and others is that the key to helping the next generation win is RELATIONSHIP.
Reggie Joiner would put it this way:
"You can't influence someone that you don't know."
Helping the next generation win means connecting them to an active and authentic relationship with Christ. In order to do that, we will need to be warm and relational. My top 3 influences didn't impact my life because they were the best communicators that I've ever known. Their lasting impact on me was borne through the relationship they created with me. That RELATIONSHIP allowed them the INFLUENCE and LEVERAGE to speak life and truth into my life.
As a result, I was more open to what they had to say and who this Jesus that they followed was. By modeling a warm and genuine relationship with me, they helped me understand the kind of relationship that God wanted to forge with me through Jesus.
As followers of Christ, we owe it to the next generation to be a model of RELATIONSHIP and to leverage that to point them toward the source of all hope--JESUS.
As you look back in your own faith journey, who were some of your biggest champions? How did they leverage their relational warmth with you to stoke the fire of faith in you?
Thank God for those who poured into your life to help you win and ask Him what you can do to help the next generation win.
Feel free to hit the comments and share!
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