How precious indeed are little children: their joy, their innocence, their trust, and their openness. And how imperative indeed it is that the Truth be imparted to them at an early age. It is of no wonder, that Christ had such a heart for children (Matt. 19:14; Luke 18:16).

It is with great joy that I report of the Lord’s goodness in allowing our family the opportunity to work with the Children’s Institute in Nashville during this year’s ATI conference. Close to 170 children (ages 3-7) attended 2 1/2 days of powerful stories, object lessons, crafts, activities, Scripture memory, and songs. The foundational goal of the Children’s Institute is to “…turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers… (Ma. 4:6).”

A majority of the team....except Mom & Dad were missing from this picture We were privileged to work along side thirty-two other young people (ages of 14 and 21). Before the CI began, the opportunity was given for each of us to make a decision to be holy committed (clear conscience) and wholly committed to pleasing Christ. During teacher training, precious time was allotted for the searching of our hearts and to fully dedicate ourselves to the Lord’s work.

Wednesday morning at 8:30am, the children began to pour in. Full of energy and joy, both the children and teachers embarked on an exciting journey.

Over the course of the week, the children memorized 1John 4:4-8 (our theme passage for the week). During large group time, they learned the importance of building their lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ by making the decision to things “God’s Way” vs. “My Way.”

The foolish man built his house upon the sand... ...and the rains descended & the floods came

We were reminded of the importance of complete obedience, telling the whole truth, and maintaining a clean conscience through the powerful story of the ‘Farmer’s Son.’ We were Singing the "Umbrella Song" also encouraged to be grateful for the unique ways God has made each one of us as we saw in the lesson of the camel. And no large group was complete without singing one of the memorable CI songs.

Matthew passionately telling a story during large group The highlight of the week - Dr. Gutherie tells a story

The story of the Truthful Lion We must not allow fear, distractions, or tiredness to keep us from winning the race of life

During small group time, the teachers taught the children, among many things,  the importance of taking every though captive, of forsaking all to follow Christ, of putting on the armor of God, recognizing their need for prayer, and discovering ways to be grateful.

Small Group Time One of 15 Joyous Teams!

Part of the joyous support & craft teamWhile the children received much info over the 2 1/2 days we were together, it is our prayer that the children were awakened even more to just how much Jesus loves them and the joy that comes through having a close relationship Pouring into the next generationwith both Jesus and their parents. How wonderful it was to hear that during the CI, a little boy saw his need for a Savior and wanted Jesus to save him. We had the Outside activity timejoy of explaining this to his Mother so she would be able to lead him to Christ.

It was an inspiration for us to work with such a dynamic team of teachers: those with a vision of impacting young people: the next generation. The thought came to mind, that these 170 children may very well be the ones whom God will use  to stand in t
he gap. We know not the future impact a word spoken in due season may have upon the life of a child. May God embolden us to speak Truth and vision into the lives of our siblings & the other precious little ones He brings across our paths.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 13th, 2009 at 10:59 pm and is filed under Ministry Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.