When I was a young boy my dad had a framed sign in his office that he had made himself. It read:
I do.
You watch.
I do.
You help.
You do.
I help.
You do.
I watch.
It summarizes the process of discipleship or training it a nutshell. This summer I volunteered at my church to teach the preschool Bible stories for our churches sports camp because my son was attending. (I knew that fit my skills better than volunteering to coach sports!) I used props and objects to illustrate the Bible stories. For my own self-training purposes I video taped the sessions with my flip camera. (I like to watch and learn to improve.) One of the leaders had to teach the same Bible stories a few weeks later for the second week of sports camp when I was off to teach at a camp and couldn’t volunteer. I boxed up all my props and spent a little time coaching her on how to do it and gave her copies of the flip videos to watch and study. She did great!
This week she is on a mission trip to Nairobi and I just got this picture posted on my wall via Facebook:
Imagine my joy to see my “student” using the same technique so many miles away! It brought tears to my eyes! I had used action figures in a boat to teach about Peter walking on water and given all the kids “waves” and had Peter walk out among them “on the water” – and here is Shelly doing the same lesson on a mission trip.
I did.
She watched.
Now she did!
I watch.
That is what equipping and encouraging is all about. I live for this! It is why my LIFE MISSION STATEMENT since I was age 19 has been:
To reach and teach as many children as possible with the Good News of God’s Love and in the process to Enlist, Equip and Encourage others to do the same.
It is why I created Kidology.org, Toyboxtales.com, wrote OrderoftheAncient.com, lead YosemiteSummit.org, write DiscipleTown, and created the KidsChurchCookbook.com
I do and I help – so that others can too, and then I sit back and watch. And it blesses my socks off.
Live for something amazing and you will never be bored!
Way to go Shelly!
As I was reading this, it sounded just like Shelly’s story. As I got to the bottom, sure enough it WAS Shelly’s story. She was so excited about going to Nairobi to teach the children. Bless both of you!! Shelly and her mentor. Shelly’s Mom