Mission Orlando - Day 3

"Where have you seen God today?"

This was a question that I asked each night. There was a two-fold reasoning behind asking this question: 1.) In our ministry we are trying to produce disciples of Christ who seek after God and 2.) I was curious to hear where they had seen God especially in the places where I had not noticed.

Each night the discussion revolved around the kids we came in contact with, the volunteers we worked with at the different organizations, and among our own group. I hope to share with you some of the answers when we give a report about our mission trip on August 31st at Rose Hill Church of Christ.

This is a question that I contemplate in my day to day life. It is easy to see God during mission trips, camps, campaigns, workcamps, service projects, etc. but can you still find and seek after God when things get rough or in your normal day-to-day life. Usually when I ask the question, "Where have you see God today?" during a regular week, I am met with silence because when our mind is not geared towards doing spiritual things we often forget to look for God in the most routine places.

Monday we began with our prayer partner time before heading to Concord Street Church of Christ for the day. This day was going to be unique because we were finally going to see what all this talk about "Clean the World" was all about! We had talked about it, read about, and held a soap drive at Rose Hill for it. Now, we were going to see it in action.

Clean the World distributes hygiene products to impoverished people in the United States and developing countries through NGO partnerships, such as World Vision, Feeding America, Harvest Time International, Children’s International and The Floating Doctors. Since inception, Clean the World has collected and distributed over 340 tons of soap, shampoo and other hotel amenities to dozens of countries worldwide including Haiti, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Swaziland, Mali, Mongolia, Uganda, Honduras, and Romania. Clean the World is a natural disaster First Responder. Through Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts, we collected and distributed over 180 tons of hygiene products, medical supplies, water, and other essentials.
Clean the World has sent soap to 96 different countries and distributed over 17 million bars of soap around the world. Clean the world partners with hotels in the Orlando, FL area. When housekeeping comes to clean after guests have checked out, they will save the bars of soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash, and anything else in a bottle. It will be then be given to Clean the World to sort through, sanitize, and redistribute. For the bars of soap they melt each bar down, slice it up, and re-mold it. For the rest of the hygiene products, if the bottle is 80% full, they re-use them for hygiene bags that are distributed here in the United States, the rest go into a recycling program.

Our job at clean the world was to sort through all the bottles and soap. We had to check and make sure the bottles were 80% full and place them in the right container. All soaps were placed in an individual container to be sent through the sanitation process.

While we (probably) won't ever see the "fruits of our labor" from this project, we all realized the kind of impact we were making not only in our own country but all around the world just by offering hygiene products to those who do not have. Children have been dying all over the world due to diseases that could have been prevented with proper hygiene. We helped to be a part of the solution.

In everything that we did in Orlando, FL during our mission trip we were constantly reminded of one verse from I Corinthians 3:6 when Paul says, "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." We may never know the impact we made on the lives of people around the world and in the Lake Mann Community, but we planted the seed for someone to water and for God to give the increase. I truly believe that.

Monday afternoon we were off to Day 1 of our Neighborhood Bible School in the Lake Mann Community (a housing project in Orlando, FL). As we arrived, we already had kids who were waiting for the bus, eager and ready to learn about David and Goliath. Sometimes we take for granted that kids know the stories we were taught growing up, but for some of these kids it was their first time hearing about David and Goliath. They were so excited for bible school!

We were a little overwhelmed at the beginning due to arriving right on time, but some of our youth took the kids to the playground to play while we setup for the afternoon. Let me brag on our students for a minute, like I said in my previous post, a lot of our students had not been on a mission trip before, so they did not know what to expect when they arrived. However, you would have thought that our students were veterans with the way they handled themselves, not only with door knocking, but with the kids during bible school. Yes, some had a wide-eyed look on their face and you could tell they were reaching uncomfortable levels, but they settled in nicely and had a great week.

Everyone did a fantastic job with the skits. This was probably most difficult for some because they had to memorize their lines in the skit. If you haven't been around theatre, you may not have developed a technique to memorize your lines, but everyone did a great job!!

We had somewhere close to 50 kids the first day and it would only grow from there!

After we finished, we headed back to Concord Street for supper and then back to the hotel for our nightly devotional.

Sutton Smith gave the devotional on Monday night and did an excellent job talking to us about "Think the Thought". He emphasized that when we are frustrated and negative thoughts run through our head, we should quickly get rid of them before they turn sour. This is something, as a mission team, we needed to hear because there was going to be times where we were frustrated, times were things would not go the way we planned, etc., but it was important to get rid of those thoughts so they did not affect the work we were doing. Each guy on the trip showed a lot of maturity with the topic they chose to share with us each night. I am particularly proud of Sutton, because this was his first time delivering a devotional thought.

Off to bed we went for another jam-packed filled day of doing the Lord's work!

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." - Colossians 3:17

Parent Driven Church: Part 3

We continue with the series on the Parent Driven Church. Our society is moving more and more towards being dependent on ministers and forgetting the groundwork that should be laid in the home so the Youth Minister can supplement that teaching. We need to get back to having a Parent Driven Church and I hope this blog will help you find ways to do exactly that. You can find Part 1 and Part 2 by clicking the link. 

"Parents are usually the most important influence in their kids' lives" - Chapter 6 Stick Family Relationships, Sticky Faith: A Leader's Guide

Did you read that carefully? Parents are an important influence for their kids. As a youth minister, it is sometimes exhausting thinking about the responsibility that I have for the students in our ministry and for their faith (and sometimes lack thereof).While adult role models are important and should be a factor on youth ministry, there is nothing more important when it comes to Faith than the Parents.

Let me provide you with some research. Sociologist, Dr. Christian Smith from the University of Notre Dame conducted a nationwide telephone survey of more than 3,000 teens and their parents, as well as, 267 in-depth interviews and he concluded: "Most teenagers and their parents may not realize it, but a lot of research of sociology of religion suggests that the most important social influence in shaping young people's religious lives is the religious life models and taught to them by their parents."

Yes, there are exceptions but think about it this way. How many hours, on average, does a youth minister spend with your child compared to the hours parents are spending with their children? There is a vast difference in time there. Parents are most certainly the launching pad of their child's faith and because of time spent with them, Parents help to shape, guide, and mold their faith. Don't misunderstand, a Youth Minister's job is very important, as well, the point is Parents need to do a better job at home helping to mold their kids faith.

According to Search Institutes's nationwide study of 11,000 teenagers from 561 congregations, 12% of you have a regular dialogue with their mom on faith/life kids. In other words 1 out of 8 kids talk to their mom about faith. With dads, it is 1 out of 20, or 5%. Approximately 9% of teenagers engage in regular reading of the bible and devotions with their families. Not even 1 out of 10 teenagers are looking at scriptures with their parents.

When you do engage your children in dialogue about their faith, what questions are you asking? Is it the standard, "What did you talk about in church today?" "How was youth group?" "What did you think of the sermon?" and I think we already know the answers to the questions that our teens will respond with. According to Fuller Youth Institute, asking these questions can pay off, but what is really is important is that parents also share about their own faith. It is important that we are not only living out our faith, but talking to our kids about our faith, as well.

There are certain taboo issues that need to addressed and discussed that parents tend to shy away from, and even let the youth minister handle those issues (sometimes with it coming a little too late). For example, according to Kara Powell of FYI, she says, "Two different sets of data indicate that the more important religion (not just Christianity, but also other religions) is to parents, the more difficult it is for those same parents to talk with their kids bout sex." That's pretty disappointing. We have to find a way to have these conversations with our kids in a healthy, balanced, and scriptural way. These conversations help to guide, shape, and mold their faith.

Want to know how we can have a Parent Driven Church? Have a faith driven family that isn't afraid to share or talk about their faith with their kids. Don't avoid taboo conversations and encourage your kids to live out their faith.

*Research found in Chapter 6, "Sticky Family Relationships", in the book Sticky Faith: Everyday ideas to build lasting faith in your kids. Dr. Kara E. Powell and Chap Clark, PhD.