By Tony Tench

There’s always room for good news, right?  And, there’s plenty of good news in our FBC Kids and FBC Youth ministries. I am thankful for a couple of examples of such good news that were shared with me just this week!

LaShaunda tells about her spiritual practice.
LaShaunda began her practice last year at South Mountain Camp.

First, last Wednesday, while talking to Cecelia Beck at the supper table, she looked to her left where LaShaunda Jones was standing and said to her, “LaShaunda, tell Pastor Tony what you have been doing every day!”  LaShaunda told me about a discipline she began last summer when she went to children’s camp with our FBC Kids group!  Ever since camp, she reads her Bible daily and is keeping a journal in which she writes her focus verse two times so that she begins to memorize it.  She told me, and Cecelia confirmed, that this discipline has made a difference in the way she meets the day, how she feels about herself and the day in front of her, and how she interacts with others around her.  In fact, LaShaunda has become the “conscience of homework club,”  Cecelia said. When the day is over she is quick to stand on behalf of all the kids and say “thanks” to the adults who have come to tutor because, as she puts it, “You all don’t have to be here. Thank you for giving your time!”

LaShaunda at last year’s children’s camp with Mrs. Missy and Dora.

Isn’t is great to hear that at such a young age, LaShaunda has begun a spiritual discipline that will shape her into the person God made her to be as she follows Jesus!  “A little child shall lead them” is a phrase that was never been better applied.  Spiritual Formation, positioning our lives within the teaching of Jesus so that we are formed in his image, gets its foundation in the discipline that LaShaunda is developing.  May this be our desire and our goal as a congregation to follow her lead!

Learning about the Body of Christ.

Second, just last night I was so thankful when I walked into the Youth Center following the youth discipleship time. Carol Ann said, “Chance made me cry tonight.”  I said, “Oh?”  She called Chance Allen over and asked him to tell me what he had said during their sharing time.  Their lesson was all about the way God works in the Body of Christ as we trust him and serve one another.  Chance’s comment during the session was, “I think it’s great how everyone in our youth group can share what is going on in their lives. We’re really close that way.”

Chance counting blessings with Carol Ann.

Again, how great is it that our youth group models for the rest of us the unity that Jesus expects in the Body of Christ?  Yes, it is a wonderful experience when we are able to share with one another our pains and our joys! We need each other as we walk this life’s journey. Our young people need a safe place where they can be open with what they are experiencing.  We also need the adults who are faithful to help make that safe place for them.

Thanks FBC family for the way that you encourage our children’s and youth ministries even as the kids encourage us!

 

2 Responses

  1. I am so grateful that FBC focuses so much on our children and youth. My grown children learned to love the Lord and how to be disciples to those they meet though the training and leadership of staff such as Bob Dills, Glenn Davenport, and Melba McWhirter. Now my granddaughter is learning the same things and more through our staff, Miss Missy and Carol Ann. Thanks to the FBC staff and volunteers to minister to our children.

  2. We can touch and change the lives of these precious children, one at a time. How blessed we are to be in their path right now to make a difference. Thank you Missy, Carol Ann, and Cecilia for all you do for our children and youth.