travelmonkey4christ

One June my pastor asked if I would consider doing  a summer ministry to our state residential facility for the developmentally challenged. I agreed and visited the following week for orientation. I left with the words of the director ringing in my ears, "The residents have an average understanding of a two-year-old." "How could we possibly minister to them?" I wondered. "How do you explain salvation or ask for a response?" That night as I prayed I felt the Lord ask me "How do you minister to the two yr olds in your Sunday School?" I thought about our curriculum for that age group. I love mommy I love daddy I love Jesus I can be a helper These were all the simple lessons our teachers did with the young ones.  I asked some of the older kids if they would like to go with me on Saturdays to visit and do a program for the residents. I let them know the people they saw might look like adults, but their minds were like very young chil...

Joel 2:28 "... your young men will see visions." To reach out to children in our community our church purchased five buses. Because of a lack of volunteers or space for classrooms, we set up a large group session in the church gym geared for 5-12 year-olds.  Our children's ministry jumped from averaging 75 to over 500 in three months. By the 300 mark, we split the sessions to coincide with the back-to-back morning church services.  The second group arrived after the first program finished. Each week our children's ministry team met to debrief. It was during one of these meetings this encounter was related:  The kids were dismissed and heading out of the gym to their buses when a nine-yr-old boy stopped one of our volunteers.  He asked, "What do you call it when you see something that's not there?" My worker responded, "I guess you call it an illusion, why?" "Well I think I seen one of them illusions then," the...

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." After stepping off church staff to begin an itinerant ministry, my first kid's crusade was in a small rural farming community in southern Idaho. Each night Mexican migrant children poured through the doors of the church. Their parents worked the seasonal harvest and moved on from crop to crop throughout the summer. The kids were bubbling with excitement and thrilled to win prizes. Bringing a Bible earned points for their teams.  One boy raced up to me and asked, "Hey lady, hey lady, do I get points for a half a Bible?" It turned out "half a Bible" was a New Testament someone loaned him. On the third night, a special visitor came in the door. He was a young boy, with one leg, being carried by his older brother. As the evening progressed; songs, games, puppets, and the Bible story, I noticed this boy was espe...

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23(NIV) Our outreach program to children had been going for several weeks. Each week we met new kids who were excited to ride the bus on Sunday morning. One Sunday a young freckle-faced boy named Mike tumbled off the bus and into our gym. His clothes were scruffy but what he lacked in appearance he made up for in enthusiasm. He was a bundle of energy, but the fast pace of the program's music, games, puppets, skits, stories and object lessons kept his delighted attention. After a few weeks, Mike appeared wearing a tie almost as long as he was tall. He told the worker he found it in his dad's room, so he decided to wear it. After a few more weeks I suddenly noticed Mike's absence. At the staff meeting, I asked Mike's "Bus Pastor" where he was. He replied, "When I went to pick up Mike, he opened the door and said his dad was going to take him. I could see...

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 My first experience teaching Sunday School at 19 felt intimidating. It was a group of five-year-olds. I remember going early and praying over each tiny chair. The kids were great. Typical five-year-olds. All but one, Trey (not his real name). Trey was different. He seemed to grasp things about God in a deeper way. He prayed with fervor, and even the questions he asked were not typical of his young age. Trey was a delight, and I looked forward to seeing him each week. A  loving grandmother brought him each Sunday. His parents didn't have an interest in church themselves but allowed the grandmother to pick him up and send him to class.  One Sunday Trey's grandmother came without him, sadly explaining the parents decided she could no longer bring him to Sunday School.  I felt crushed. I prayed for God to stay close to him. I have to ...

By Carolyn Boyd Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jeremiah 33:3 It was camp time for the kids at a church in Melbourne, Australia.  Sue was our key speaker and during an altar time, she activated the children to pray for those who wanted prayer.  At the close, they ran off for supper, but one 9-year-old girl stood to wait.  I asked her what she wanted.   “That was embarrassing,"  she said.   “Everyone had someone to pray for except me.”  Now I hadn’t noticed this, and certainly didn’t want her to feel bad so I immediately responded: “Do you know, no-one prayed for me, do you think you could do that?”   Her face beamed “YES!” and took my hand.  I stood waiting for the expected prayer “God bless Carolyn…give us a great camp….Amen!” But that is not what I heard – instead, Kim started to pray earnestly.  She named not one, but three things I told the Lord that morni...

Matthew 18:3 Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. In a particular Thailand church, there arose a problem with one of the  elders.  This man went out in rebellion and caused quite a schism in the church.  The senior pastor called an emergency elders meeting to see how best to deal with the situation.  Two of the elders were accompanied by their young children (a four-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy).  Thinking the children wouldn’t be a problem, they were told to go draw quietly and work on their papers in a corner. The children obeyed, and the elders began to discuss the challenge of the wayward leader.  In a moment of silence, they became aware of the children chatting in the background and the following conversation was heard. Girl: That man sounds like the prodigal son.  He took everything and went to do what he wants. Boy:  No I think he is more like Jonah – he knows w...