We were sitting in a Mac n’ Erma’s to enjoy a meal, and as a nice twist of fate, this strangely mature looking college aged young man was treating his pastor to the meal.
He had driven up to meet me asking to pick up in person the Moody Bible Institute reference I had written for him.
Noah and Karl, circa mid 1990's
Noah was one of my “krew kids,” all grown up and heading to Bible college to prepare for a life of ministry. I was bursting with pride. Mostly godly, but some fleshy too. I couldn’t help it. I had taken this boy under my wing when others hadn’t seen the potential I could recognize. I saw only myself as a boy. We enjoyed our meal, caught up on the years we’d been apart and finally, I had to ask, “So what made you decide to go to Moody and go into children’s ministry?” Instead of answering, he did something that will always be a lifetime memory, and I’ll admit the pride burst a little more. He simply pointed at me.
Of course, the glory goes to God. But all those K.C. Krew meetings, all the late nights getting ready, all the puppet rehearsals yelling, “higher, louder, slower!” All the pepperoni pizza, all the overnighters and all the times I laid on the floor exhausted for thirty minutes after the krew kids had left, was worth it.
He pointed at me. He was going to Bible college and giving his life to Christian service. No, he wasn’t my disciple, he was Jesus’ disciple. But I was who he could see. I had recruited him, believed in him, inspired him, trained him, and showed him a path that was outside the normal path of his family and experience. A path he otherwise most likely would not now be on. He pointed at me. I, in turn, point to Jesus. But that is the impact of empowering kids into service. It changes the very direction of their life.
(Can you spot Noah in this post?)
I am currently writing The Kids Church Cookbook – Part 6, on the K.C. Krew, and I can’t wait to release it. Of all the workshops I’ve ever taught, whenever I speak on this, people come back to me 5, even 10 years later, and say this is the topic that has had the most impact on their ministry. It not only changes kids, it changes churches and pastors. It is what discipleship is all about.
I love when this stuff happens. I just had a similar thing happen shortly after moving to KC, MO where I am now a CP at Sheffield.
A mom who had kids in what I called my M&M’s (stood for Miniature Missionaries- my kids crew) back in 2000, shared with me how so many of the kids, hers included, are now off in Bible college and pursing many pastoral or missionary careers and when the parents asked their kids why they chose these directions, they often talk about their role in M&M and how being part of that and under my mentorship showed them the potential they had regardless of their age.
Now as I go blow my nose from thinking about this very touching time for me, allow me to shout out loud that we all need to build our own Kids Crew, M&M’s, (or at my last church what I called Claymations) type ministry into all of our CM’s.
Karl can’t wait until you finish KCC6. I have loved all of them.
It’s great to be reminded of how Jesus uses us to point others to Him. This post does such a great job of balancing our personal pride, which is not always bad, and our awe at how God uses us as his disciples to make disciples.
Just a great story to remind everyone in ministry that what we pour so much into can, through Christ, have an impact.
It’s things like this that happen in your life and remind you why you are in children’s ministry! Thanks for sharing!
Karl, this is an awesome experience! You were able to live this one with Noah, but I am sure that there are many out there that you do not know about but were indeed inspired by your amazing love for them. All your hard work is paying off in the lives of those that you have taken to Jesus. Thank you for the wonderful choice you have made to partner with the Lord in this tiring but rewarding adventure of children’s ministry!