Kidologist.com: Karl Bastian’s Personal Site and Blog
Archive for Discipleship
September 20, 2008 at 8:53 am · Filed under Devotional, Discipleship, Spiritual Growth
A few weeks ago, our pastor gave a wonderful salvation message - it was so good, I wanted to get saved all over again. I was kinda bummed that I already was, since he made the invitation to be a part of God’s Kingdom so inviting… it got me thinking… what if I DID get saved today, in fact, everyday…
Below is what I wrote in my journey the next morning, and I was thinking perhaps others who are already saved might want to consider getting saved again.*
I dare you to PAUSE and reflect on each of the questions below… it’s not easy, I know.
WHAT IF I GOT SAVED TODAY?
What would change?
What would I do differently
What would I give up?
What would I stop doing?
What would I start doing?
Who would I ask forgiveness of?
Who would I choose to forgive?
What would I give away?
How would I spend my time?
How would I spend my money?
How would I arrange my life?
How would my relationships be impacted?
Where would I go?
Where wouldn’t I go?
What would others notice about me?
How would I start my day?
How would I end my day?
What would be different throughout my day?
If Jesus was LORD of my life TODAY?
Go for it - get saved TODAY - see what happens!
* Please don’t comment or e-mail me about theology of the saved getting saved again - if you do, you’ve missed the point. The point is to ask, how is your salvation impacting TODAY? Theology is only valuable when it intersects with real life. That is the point.
September 5, 2008 at 4:48 pm · Filed under Discipleship
Scripture Memory is out of style these days. Perhaps it is because its hard and we are a culture that likes everything easy. Maybe we are just too busy to memorize. Some even try to discard it as rote repitition that is considered less effective than comprehension and perhaps even harmful. Many today contend that scripture memory is not effective because it doesn’t encourage thinking and therefore doesn’t impact the heart.
I agree! I agree that if ALL we did was rote memory, we’d be bad off! But to dismiss scripture memory on the basis that if ALL we did was rote memory is to push a beneficial spiritual discipline to its extreme and then reject it as though the extreme is all it offers.
Let me suggest three reasons I believe Scripture Memory is essential to discipleship:
READ THE REST ON DISCIPLEBLOG.com
August 26, 2008 at 12:25 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Discipleship, Kidology, Podcast
Don’t miss the final episode of Karl and Gus’s Summer Podcast Series! In this final podcast Gus and I got to shoot the breeze with Larry Fowler, Awana’s Executive Director of Global Training. (wow!) But more importantly, a great guy who thinks biblically and communicates clearly the why’s and how’s of reaching and teaching children.
Karl and Larry at CPC 2008
OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION:
I Wanna, You Wanna
Karl and Gus spend some time getting to know “A Wise And Neato Administrator,” aka AWANA’s Executive Director of Global Training, Larry Fowler. Learn more about what drives the author of Rock Solid Kids and the just-released Raising a Modern Day Joseph… as well as learn what “AWANA” doesn’t stand for!
If you have a passion for equipping parents to be the spiritual leaders of their kids and to see the children of your ministry grow into fully devoted disciples of Jesus, you need to hear what Larry Fowler has to say.
What did you think of the podcasts? Should I continue them? What would you like more of? What should I change? Not change? How did Gus do?
Let me know!
August 25, 2008 at 10:08 am · Filed under Children's Ministry, Discipleship
Part 2 of my D.I.S.C.I.P.L.E.S.H.I.P. Series on DiscipleBlog.com is just posted.
…I was stunned and confused. But, of course, I couldn’t admit it, not to the man whose daughter I had a growing affection for, so I stuttered and answered, “Well, none yet, but I hope to soon.” He answered, “Good, by next week I’d like you to be discipling at least three young men.” I agreed. Except I had no idea what he was talking about!
Here I was, a pastor’s son, and a student at one of the leading Bible colleges in the world, but when asked if I was discipling I was at a loss! So I ran to my “girlfriend” (though not officially so yet) and said, “Your dad wants me to be discipling three boys by next week! What do I do?” She was no help. She simply answered, “Well, just do it.” Again, I couldn’t admit that I had no idea what they were talking about! How did I tell this girl I was hoping to woo that I didn’t knowing what “discipleship” meant?
I was stuck. Discipleship was a word I heard and used a lot, but when confronted with being asked to actually do it I was stumped….
CHECK IT OUT OVER ON DISCIPLEBLOG.com
(Has a romantic story included!)
August 18, 2008 at 8:16 am · Filed under Blog World, Children's Ministry, DiscipleLand, Discipleship, Spiritual Growth
Over on DiscipleBlog.com I have launched a new series called D.I.S.C.I.P.L.E.S.H.I.P. - Twelve Tips to help you become a more effective discipler of children. Here is the first one. To keep up with all twelve, subscribe to the DiscipleBlog.com RSS feed.
D = Develop a Relationship
“And He walks with me and He talks with me;
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there;
None other has ever known.”
Every notice that Jesus’ primary method of discipleship was based upon relationships? Jesus didn’t establish schools, write curriculum, or host seminars. While He certainly did teach the masses - he discipled in relationship with those who were close to Him, and it was THOSE disciples who turned the world upside down after He left them.
As I look back over some fifteen plus years of professional children’s ministry and many more years of just life ministry, it is those I discipled relationally who I see producing the greatest fruit. They are ones in Bible college, becoming missionaries, and going into ministry. While I am NOT assuming any credit for their godly choices, I am saying that being discipled prayed a part in their spiritual formation.
If you want to be a discipler of children, it is no secret that I recommend DiscipleLand if you are a church leader and would be delighted if you used Awesome Adventure as a tool for one on one studies, but the first thing you need is NOT curriculum - it is to build some relationships with kids that are deeper than the educational or “fun” level.
It may just be that some of your best disciples you never formally “discipled” through printed lessons - you just walked with them and became a part of their spiritual journey.
Whether you lead an entire children’s ministry with hundreds of children or teach a small class or volunteer in a club with a small group - pray through your kids and ASK GOD TO SHOW YOU A CHILD YOU CAN HAVE A DEEPER RELATIONSHIP WITH. And become their friend, not just their leader or teacher.
Jesus is my Master, my Lord, my Redeemer, my Savior, my Creator and my Guide, but best of all He is my Friend - and it is that relationship that spurs on my spiritual growth. Yoy may be many things to the kids in your ministry, but when you become their friend, you begin to truly impact their spiritual walk.
What does a friendship with a child look like?
- You know their name
- You know about their family
- You have some common interests
- You pray for them
- You look for them
- You ask them relational questions
- You get together with them
- You remember their important dates
- You love them unconditionally
Take some time and think through the kids God has brought into your life - is there one or two that you could pour your life in to? A few you could become a friend to? That you could disciple intentionally? The impact on their life is indescribable!
GO FOR IT! What are you waiting for?
June 6, 2008 at 1:52 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, DiscipleLand, Discipleship
Jump over to DiscipleBlog.com where I posted a thought provoking article on what I am calling the Bibleless Trend in Children’s Ministry. I am certain if you teach children the Bible you will find it just might give you pause for consideration - or encourage you if you are not part of this rapidly growing trend that has rendered thousands of evangelical children’s ministries void of actual Bibles in children’s ministry!
Let me know our thoughts there on at this post. Go there now.
There is a great discussion on the post on Kidology.org Join the discussion!
March 31, 2008 at 7:50 am · Filed under Christianity, Devotional, Discipleship, Leadership, Spiritual Growth, Uncategorized
This past weekend I was presenting at the GCSSA conference in Arlington Heights, IL, but as often happens when you are serving God, it turns out that’s not the only reason I was there. I was also there to meet a guy named Dave Wager and to be challenged by him. It’s an amazing thing I’ve been learning over the past two years - when I am focused less on DOING for God and more on BEING with Him, I end up seeing and hearing things I would have missed otherwise.
Dave is the president of Silver Birch Ranch in White Lake, Wisconsin. You can’t talk to Dave for long before his passion slips out - a passion for men to be intimate with God and to be men who are IN THE WORD daily.
Dave was explaining to me that as he travels around to speak to men at conferences, retreats, etc. he often asks the men if they desire an intimate walk with Jesus, and (of course) they all say ‘yes.’ But when asked how many believe they HAVE an intimate relationship with Jesus, few answer that they do. In fact, he told me that when he asks PASTORS how many of them are in the Word daily, most are not. (This was often true of me when I was lost in the business and never-ceasing activity of ministry.) He has found that most Christians spend more time reading books ABOUT God or ABOUT the Bible, than they actually do reading THE Bible which is the ultimate book about God!
Dave is a published author, but what I love about his books, is that they are simply a passage of Scripture, some reflective thoughts of his on the passage, but then two pages of blank lines for the reader to journal. As Dave says, “Men need to be reading the Bible and wrestling with it, that is how we grow and how we become intimate with Jesus, by listening to Him, talking to Him, having daily conversations with Him.”
I ended up changing one of my goals for Yosemite Summit after talking with Dave. Originally, I was going to challenge each man on the retreat to bring and read one entire book that dealt with the soul or Christian life. Instead, I bought a copy of Beyond the Compass for each man and we will be getting into the Word on this retreat. Not that we weren’t going to already, but the emphasis is going to change. I will say that I still believe that Christian leaders NEED to be reading what I call “soul books” - books about our walk with God and that explore how we are wired spiritually. Too many leaders (myself once included) read only “leadership books” and “ministry books” to the detriment of their souls. So I still strongly that we need to read more non-leadership and non-ministry books and read stuff that fuels our SOULS not just our ministries. But I’ve also been convicted that the Bible must remain our primary source of reading.
I am one who has learned the hard way that you can be flying high in ministry and be empty in your soul. In fact, it can be ministry itself that pulls you away from an intimate walk with Jesus. I’ve written elsewhere on this blog about how an addiction to ministry can spoil your walk with God and your marriage, and how blind you can be to it happening because everything you are so busy “doing” is so GOOD - come on! It’s minitry! How can it be bad? Let me tell you, it can be deadly.
So, all this to say:
HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE WORD TODAY?
YESTERDAY?
THE DAY BEFORE?
Here’s an idea that my discipler challenged me with in high school - that worked then, but I have long since abandoned. It’s really quite simple, but POWERFUL:
NO BIBLE? NO FOOD!
You see, we never fail to feed our body, but we often fail to feed our souls. Our body will crave nurishment and make it known to us, via grumblings, pains, even noises sometimes! But while our soul cries out for nurshiment, we often fail to hear it’s groanings. So use your human physical hunger as a reminder to provide nurishment to your hungry soul. Make a sticker that says “NO BIBLE? NO FOOD!” and put it wherever you need the reminder that you can’t eat if you haven’t spent at least a little time in the Bible. Obviously, the ideal isn’t just the reading, it is time with God reflecting on the Word and praying about it, but at a minimum, have read something - it’s can’t help but pull you in deeper.
Simply make a rule: YOU CAN NOT EAT IF YOU HAVEN’T READ A CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE.
I am re-instituting this rule for myself today. I’m tired of inconsistent time in the Word. Are you? Not only will you read more (much more) of the Bible this way, but you may just lose some weight too!
March 27, 2008 at 9:20 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Christianity, Discipleship, Family, Kidology, Parenting
When is a child truly EDUCATED? This powerful video asks that very question.
Back in 2000 I heard this most thought provoking poem on WMBI and tracked down the author to get permission to make the following video to show our parents at our church. Many of the kids in this video are now out of high school!
Every time I show this video, as I did yesterday at the Kidology To Go in Arlington Heights, Illinois (as part of the GCSSA conference) I am asked for a copy of it. Here is the video as read by some of the kids in my previous ministry. (Many thanks to Pastor Jim Crouter who did the editing for me on his PC)
Here are the words:
YOU MAY PURCHASE A DOWNLOADABLE COPY OF THIS VIDEO FOR ONLY $4 ON KIDOLOGY.org
(You will also get a Word document with the words of the poem)
March 24, 2008 at 8:11 pm · Filed under Children's Ministry, Discipleship
On a recent trip out of town, I was missing my little boy so I did what many parents do, I dropped into a toy store to find a treat to bring home. I saw something rather fun (and affordable) and picked it up to bring home. It was called a Puffimal.
The idea is simple, a rubber ball/balloon that is in the shape of an animal. I picked the elephant and looked forward to giving to Luke. The instructions seemed simple enough:
Please note: so easy, right? All you have to do is “place mouth over the nozzle end and blow” - in fact, they even show a picture of a little boy inflating his Puffimal.
This is blatant fraud and false advertising!
Not only could NO CHILD blow up this little toy, but not even a grown man who when he was twelve was told by his doctor that he had the lungs of a thirty year old due to his asthma. In fact, people often marvel that I easily inflate the long thin balloons used for balloon animals without a pump, since most adults can’t inflate them. But this Puffimal I could not do!
I about ruptured some veins in my brain and got a migrane trying. Finally, I went to the garage for some help…
And found a cheap foot pump that had come with some other inflatable toy. It worked, much to my relief and my little boy’s delight!
So now we have this fat round (trunkless) elephant bouncing around the house. In the end, still a good investment of a measly three dollars, but the instructions ought to read, “To inflate, avoid damage to your lungs and find a bicycle pump or mattress inflater and insert the pump into the nozzle end and inflate.”
THE POINT?
The manufactures of this product had a GREAT IDEA, a fun concept, good materials, attractive packaging, and a clear picture of the end result in mind… a child playing with a fun animal that would bounce around in unpredictable ways and last for a long time, and be reusable too! What they FORGOT TO DO was see if a child could actually do it! I wish there was a video of when they shot the promo picture above. I can see the boy trying to blow it up and when he couldn’t the photographer said, “Don’t worry about, just pretend.” (I wonder if it was actually tied off where you can’t see!)
DO WE EVER DO THE SAME IN MINISTRY?
Do we ever have this GREAT IDEA of what a good Christian kid should be like? Do we prepare good materials, create attractive ministry environments, and have a clear idea of what we are trying to accomplish, but we never check to see if kids can actually DO what we are expecting? We deliver these broad messages over a sea of children and get some great pictures - but do we know if they are able to actually LIVE IT on their own? Without our help? Can WE even do what we are expecting the children to? Or do we need help as well??
LET ME ENCOURAGE YOU to work one on one with a few kids so you can see what they are capable of. If you only minister to masses you may be offering a good, but faulty product. Working with a small group of children indivually will give you gret insight into what they can do, can’t do, or struggle with. The reason my wife and I wrote Awesome Adventure was to create a tool for discipling kids one on one, and to equip parents to disciple their own kids. If you are in a small church, seriously consider discipling a few individual children. If you are in a large church, you especially should consider discipling a child one on one, but also consider teaching a small group of kids. Take a class for the summer, develop a kids krew of a dozen kids you pour into, or offer a pastors class once a year. Don’t get so high above the kids that you are mass producing ministry and losing sight of the individual kids and what they can do, can’t do, struggle with, and the questions they are asking.
LOOK AT JESUS! He ministered to the masses, but he poured His life into a few individuals, and THEY are the ones who turned the world upside down when he left. It is the kids I have discipled one on one who are now in Bible college or in the ministry - the masses of kids I’ve taught are OK, but its the individual ones I invested in where I see the greatest fruit.
Don’t make the same mistake the creators of the Puffimals did!
