Challenge

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deut. 6:5-7

What an enormous task. Or is it? If we are loving God with all of our hearts, souls and strength, doesn't it seem natural that it would be the most talked about thing in our homes? I think about all of the things we talk about over dinner - school, work, the funny thing JJ did today or what we are going to do after dinner. How often are we having those conversations with our kids that are provoking them to think about God and who he is in their lives? They learn a lot at church - I know this for a fact! They have started Junior Bible Quiz and are memorizing Scripture in Missionettes, so I know they are exposed. But, are they "impressed" as it says in verse 7? Are we impressing these things upon their tender hearts?

The challenge to myself today - love God with all of my heart, soul and strength, so that naturally Jesus flows out of my life and is impressed upon my kids hearts. Are you up to the challenge? Let's live out Deuteronomy 6 this week!

4%

I heard recently that of all of the Baby Boomer generation, 40% are aware of God, believe in Him, or have knowledge of Him. If our current generation, the one that I have the privilege of pastoring, keeps walking the path that they are, only 4% will know God. Startling. The same day I heard this statistic, I was reminded that this fact is directly tied to my obedience. I need (as do all of us) to be more aware that I am responsible to rise them up into the knowledge of Jesus Christ and disciple them to be passionate Christ Followers. Pastor Tim said it best Sunday - we want our kids to "love God more than anything!" More than X-Box, Hannah Montana, PS3, Internet, and on and on. We are in a difficult battle today - I imagine even more difficult than ever. Let's be obedient to God's call and rise up and meet the challenge of increasing that 4%! How?

• Pray for them
• Pray WITH them
• Hold them accountable (their time, friends, choices)
• Make church an important part of your families DNA
• Cut back on extra curricular activities that cut into church time

God is our partner in this pursuit; He will bless our obedience in this area. Let's do this!

Launch

Tomorrow morning we are launching 2 new ministry names and logos. I have (alongside a few amazing people) been working all week on a new set for KIDZBLAST, our new Sunday Morning Worship Experience for K-4th graders. Here is our new logo:

We are also launching a new name/logo for our preteen ministry:

Exciting days are ahead for the Kid's at Bethel Church! Beyond new set design, logos and programs, however is the desire to see kid's make a decision to follow Christ for the rest of their lives, grow in their knowledge of Him and excited to share the love of Jesus with their friends. Let's do this!

School Days

Hello Parents. Hopefully by now you have sent your kids (most excitedly I presume!) off to their first day of school. Ours was yesterday, and except for a couple of tears in the midst of confusion, we did fine. (And no, the tears were not mine!).

Something that I want to encourage you to do each day is to pray over your kids. I have begun to see our schools as battlefields lately. Not a physical battlefield of course, but a spiritual one. Some things to pray over your kids...

• Physical safety. It's the first thing on my mind most days. Injury on the playground, exposure to germs...you know what I'm talking about!
• Emotional safety. Kid's can be cruel and say things that hurt.
• That God will guard their hearts. There is so much that kids are exposed to today. Even my first and second grader aren't immune to that.
• For their teachers. They spend 6 hours or more each day with your kids; pray that God will shape the way they teach, and the influence they have. If they're not a Christ Follower, pray for their salvation!
• Good friends. I want the little people who have influence on my kids to be hand chosen by God.
• Their academics. Pray that they stay focused and on task, reaching their full potential as a student.

And rest assured, I will be praying for your kids too. It's going to be a great year!