Leading Children into the Baptism in the Holy Spirit - Help #1

One of the most challenging areas of ministry for many children's ministry leaders is in the area of leading children into receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

This week, allow me to share an important key in preparing boys and girls to receive Heaven's gift: Help #1: Utilize the McDonald's Happy Meal Principle.

For those of us with children, we know that food inside of the McDonald's Happy Meal bag is the very same food that we adults are eating, just served in smaller portions. In order to prepare a Happy Meal hamburger, McDonald's didn't find miniature cows so that they could produce smaller meat patties. The meat in the Happy Meal hamburger is the very same beef used for the quarter pounder hamburgers, right? But, for the Happy Meal, McDonald's reduced the portion of beef served. The Happy Meal french fries didn't come from midget potatoes, did they? Of course not. The french fries served in the Happy Meal are the very same french fries served with the adult meals. But, for the Happy Meal, McDonald's has provided a kid-sized portion of fries.

Wouldn't it be insane to try to serve a 7-year-old child a double quarter pounder hamburger with a large order of french fries and an extra large soft drink? Even more insane, wouldn't it be incomprehensible to expect the child to eat that meal all in one setting? And yet, in ministering on the subject of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, we fail to see that we can overwhelm the children if we serve them an adult-sized spiritual meal in one service.

This teaching is so very, very important that we can't afford to overwhelm them by serving super-sized portions. Instead, serve this spiritual meal in kid-sized portions. Take what most adults could consume in one setting and serve this message in several class settings. The first week, teach the children on Jesus' introduction of the Holy Spirit. (John 14). The next week, teach on why Jesus knew that His return to Heaven was important. (John 16:7). The next week, teach on what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2). The final week, teach about the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to work within us daily. (Jude 20).

Use wisdom. Don't super-size the ministry portions. Utilize the McDonald's Happy Meal Principle (King James - line upon line principle). In doing so, you will see child after child receive this awesome gift from Heaven.

The Greatest Investment

This morning, I am one tired children's pastor. I have every reason to want to crawl back into bed for a few days. Two weeks ago, I oversaw our district Kid's Camp. And, while it was a great week filled with non-stop activities and life-changing ministry, it was still 5 energy-draining days. After getting home late Friday, we raced through Saturday and Sunday trying to catch up on the work that we'd missed while we were at camp. Then, Monday we drove to Orlando for the General Council of the Assemblies of God. After the Council ended Friday evening, we stayed in Orlando so that Vickie could teach at a conference on Saturday. We made it back home Saturday afternoon, did the service that night, and then the two services on Sunday.

Was adding these two all consuming events to my calendar worth the investment? Yes. Emphatically yes. There were plenty of reasons to not make the investment. Like you, I constantly maintain a schedule that stays too full. It would have been easy to not go to the camp or just send our kids to camp without me going. It would have been easy to allow my calendar to preempt me from going to the General Council. But, early in my ministry, I learned that ministry isn't governed by ease or convenience. In each of these events, I saw a golden opportunity to invest in relationships.

In today's hurried lifestyle, we are prone to ignore these types of investments. We have too much to do and too many places to be. Consequently, investing in relationships gets pushed further down our list of priorities. And yet, relationships can yield some of the greatest rewards of ministry.

Investing in relationships is rarely convenient or inexpensive. There is generally a price to be paid. Attending and overseeing a Kid's Camp is far from being on my Top 10 List of fun activities for the summer. It is hard work. But, the 5 days at camp gave this shepherd the rare opportunity to rub up against my sheep morning, noon, and night. Memories were made in our kid's lives that will last a lifetime. Being a part of a 35,000 attendee Council was overwhelming. And yet, I renewed so many friendships and nurtured other relationships as we stood and visited at a vendor's booth or sat a dinner table for a meal that stretched into a 3 1/2 connecting time.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up your telephone right now and connect with another children's ministry leader in your area. Your relationship doesn't even have to be a part of your particular "flavor" of Christianity. You'll thank me for this blog in the days to come!

A Personal Testimony of God's Faithfulness

What a weekend. We came into our three services exhausted from just returning from Kid's Camp late Friday afternoon. Ministering in the services wasn't something that I was looking forward to. To make life easy for me and my staff, I planned our annual Shine Weekend for the services. This is one of our kid’s favorite weekends. After a brief time of praise and worship followed by a brief teaching of Jesus' parable in Matthew 25 about the value of making use of the talents and giftings placed within each of us, the boys and girls get to showcase their talents. It is a great time, and at times, a hilarious time as the talents range from joke telling, gymnastics, playing a song on the piano, performing a magic trick, singing a solo, etc.

Just after the two Sunday services started, I was interrupted by one of our staff and was asked to stand beside Vickie. For the next few minutes, Vickie and I were blown away as our staff honored us on our 20th anniversary of being the Children's Pastors at Trinity Church International. The greetings via video, the surprise appearance of my dearest friend in the world Grant Foster, and the love shown by the staff was at times almost overwhelming. And then, we were presented with an offering with instructions to use it towards a cruise. Again, what a day.

During these past 20 years, God has been so good to us. He has placed us in a great church. While there is no such thing as a perfect church (if there was such a critter, I'd mess it up just by being at the church), God has used this church to change me. A long time ago, God taught me that during difficult times to run to Him instead of the exit door. During those times, the circumstances rarely changed. Instead, God used the circumstances to change me.

We have so much for which to be thankful. God has been so faithful. He continues to outdo Himself for us.

Is it time to leave? Are you kidding? We believe that the best days are ahead. Here’s to the next 20 years!

Dependency Upon the Holy Spirit

Life has so changed since when I was a little boy. As a child, I remember that most of my classmates in my small South Texas town went to church every weekend. In our children's ministry today, I have so many children that come every other weekend often due to divorced parents rotating their weekend custodial rights, other children who come once a month, and then there are those who I call CEO's (Christmas and Easter Only). Consequently, with some 1,000 children in our church under the age of 12 and a portion of them with sporadic, inconsistent attendance, knowing every child by name is an impossible task. I find myself walking through Wal-Mart smiling at every child because I don't know whether or not they are one of our kids.

How do I know the children's names? For some of the occasional attenders, I rely heavily on secretly looking at the child's nametag as I'm talking to them. How do I know the names of their siblings or parents? Often in going into the hospital to pray for a child, I first look at the constantly updated Excel spread sheet that I have on my cell phone listing every child's name and age, parent’s names, and the names of their brothers and/or sisters. Without the nametags and the file on my cell phone, I am clueless.

Believe it or not, even after 30 years of being involved in children's ministry, there are so many areas in the ministry in which I am clueless. I have more questions than answers. I only see the surface of the children (their faces, the type of clothes that they wear, the parent who drops them off or picks them up after service, etc.) I don't have a solid knowledge of what is needed in that child's life. I don't know what battles that they are facing.

Thankfully, I have the Holy Spirit to come to my rescue. Romans 8 tells me that when I am in a deficit position and am coming up lacking, the Holy Spirit is there to fill in the blanks as He makes intercession (King James English for stepping up to the plate in my behalf) and cover my inadequacies.

Thank God for the Holy Ghost. Again, thank God for the Holy Ghost. One more time, thank God for the Holy Ghost. I'm not trying to be repetitious or redundant to add to the length of this blog. I am just so dependent upon Him. And, I am learning to unashamedly become more and more dependent upon Him. Thankfully I am learning that I am so inadequate. But with Him, I can fulfill my God-given assignment and see a mighty move of God in this generation.

Stop what you are doing right now. Join me in thanking God for His precious Spirit and then articulate your dependence on Him!

The Intimacy of the Holy Spirit

One of the greatest truths that I share in our Ignite the Supernatural Conferences is that the Holy Spirit will never be real through you until He is real to you. It's not enough to just know about Him. We can actually know the Holy Spirit. There is a place of relationship that will allow us to know Him in such an intimate way that will cause Him to become so very real in each and every aspect of our lives.

Evidently, the great evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman who was used mightily by the Holy Spirit in the Gifts of Healings had tapped into this type of intimacy. She often said, "He is more real to me than you are." The pastor who was very instrumental in stirring up my passion for the Holy Spirit, B.B. Hankins, would often say, "I wouldn't cross the street without the Holy Spirit." Consequently, this intimacy would allow the Holy Spirit to permeate our services in my home church in West Columbia, Texas.

My longing is to know the Holy Spirit in a greater, more intimate way. My longing isn't based upon a desire to be used by Him. The through me is just a byproduct of the to me. The through me will always FOLLOW the to me.

Holy Spirit, I do long to know you in a greater way today!

Another Weekend, Another Investment

It's early Monday morning and, to be quite honest, there's not much energy in me. I know that I'll go back to bed in a few minutes and then hopefully wake up later and find a good Western or WW II movie to watch as I lay on the couch.

It was a typical weekend in many respects ... dealing with tardy staff, helping the nervous mom feel comfortable about leaving her angel in a new setting, dealing with a child that causes me to believe that demons can be children possessed, etc. The logistics of the ministry is enough to tire a person.

It was a weekend that God showed up. I told my son Aaron as we left the church parking lot yesterday that I felt as though we had really delivered a timely message to our kids as we taught on the subject "What's in Your Mouth?" I could sense in each of our three services that the message really hit home in so many lives.

I left our third and final service all "hugged out". Long ago, I learned the power in touching people. I believe that there is a healing and strengthening and connection that come through touch. For some, it might be just a touch on the top of the head. For others, it might be just looking them in the eyes and telling them how blessed that I am to get to be their children's pastor. For others, it might be kissing a baby on the cheek or a young child a kiss on the top of the head and then telling them how much that I love them. By the end of the day, there wasn't too much "hug" left in me. But, both the connection with the child and the genuine appreciation seen in the faces of the parents made it worth it all.

After the last child left, I began to have one-on-one time with my staff. I've purposed to never be in a hurry to leave after church. This is my time to love on my staff. So, yesterday, I met with one of my new staff members and connected with them, then spent time with a group of my staff before Vickie and I headed out to a restaurant with them.

Was the weekend worth it? You betcha. It's weekends like this past one that has caused parents to tell me that their child told them, "Momma, when I grow up, I want to be a policeman, a fireman, or a Pastor Billy" or "Momma, you know that I love Daddy but can Pastor Billy come and live with us?" It's the "hugged out" weekends that produces the children coming up to me like a little boy did a few weeks ago and told me, "Pastor Billy, when I grow up, I want to be just like you."

It is because of weekends like this past weekend that has produced such a tight relationship with my staff that when one of my teenaged staff's parents were going out of the country and they needed someone to stay with the teenager and their younger sibling, my staff asked their parents if I could come and live with them while the parents were gone. It is because of weekends like this past weekend that has taken several of my staff and enabled them to become great children's pastors in their own right across the nation.

Was the weekend worth it? You betcha. I can't wait to see what God will do next next weekend!

Extreme Revival

Here's a fact that you are hopefully well aware of ... revival is never silent or goes unnoticed. As the Spirit of God begins to move among our children, the services will become radically different because both the staff and children are radically different. Real revival will always cause an extreme turnaround from the pre-revival days!

Let me give bullet point thoughts for beginning an extreme Holy Spirit revival in your children's ministry:
* It begins with EXTREME HEARING: While many voices call for you to become discouraged about your ministry, EXTREME HEARING will cause you to ONLY hear what God has to say in your spirit and through His Word about your children’s ministry.
* EXTREME SEEING: Upon tuning out the surrounding voices, EXTREME SEEING will cause you to see and remain focused ONLY upon what God sees in your children's ministry.
* EXTREME BELIEVING: Having heard from God and seeing what God sees in your ministry, EXTREME BELIEVING will cause you to unwaveringly (to quote my friend Mark Hankins) “know in your knower” that each and every service provides an opportunity for a supernatural manifestation of God's presence.
* EXTREME SAYING: It's not enough to just hear and see and believe. Those who are fully persuaded (a.k.a. knowing in their knower) will begin to have EXTREME SAYING ability. You will speak to the mountain (religious tradition, apathy, the "we've never done it that way before mentality, confusion) expecting it to be cast into the sea! EXTREME revival always has a voice!!!
* EXTREME ACTION: In each service, EXTREME ACTION on your part and then eventually your staff's part will reflect what you have read from the Word, seen through the eyes of faith, believed in your heart and said with your mouth. Get radical. Act as though God actually meant what He said and said what He meant!

Come on, let's get radical. Let's get extreme in our pursuit for a move of God in our children's ministry. We are passionate and unrelenting. We won't be denied!