Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Big Move


Wow, do we have a terrific team or what? People have been working overtime this week to make our gym move a reality and its going to be killer. BayKids rooms will be bigger and better. And the gym- well, you'll have to see it to believe it.

Then, if that weren't enough, our church people have donated over 300 loaded backpacks to a local church we helped start and we're going over there on Saturday to help hand them out to neighborhood kids. Several of us took the backpacks over today and that church is really excited.


I love being a part of what God is doing at CATB. If you want to help this weekend, email me at don@churchatthebay.com and we'll get you plugged in.

Monday, July 21, 2008

It's Infectious

I love the simplicity of a child's faith. Last weekend we had a big baptism party at the beach and 5 of our kids got baptized. This past week, one of those kids had a friend over to her house and she was taking about her baptism the week before.

Her friend asked her what baptism was all about. She explained it and how it was a next step in her relationship with God. Bottom line- a few minutes later, after hearing the story of salvation, the girl prayed to make Jesus the leader of her life! Woot!!

That's why I do this stuff and I hope its why you volunteer. How cool is it to see a kid experience the excitement of leading a friend to Christ at such an early age.

I know sometimes volunteering with kids can get a little tedious. Sometimes they have a bad day too and we get the frustration of trying to deal with their issues but stories like this should make it all worthwhile. Helping kids learn to cope with life's challenges and make God a part of their experience is an awesome privilege. Let's get ready to rumble and see what God has in store for us as we move to the gym and see our church grow to the next level.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Kids Are Wet Cement


Whether you are a parent or a volunteer, you are shaping the lives of kids in very permanent ways. Remember carving your initials in wet cement when you were a kid? When they poured a new sidewalk piece at my parent's house in Pennsylvania, we got our kids out there and they each put a hand print and their name on one section of the walkway. Many years later when Mom and Dad moved to Florida, those prints were still there.

Every day and every weekend you are imprinting kids with information about God. On Monday one of our leaders met a family that had visited our church on Easter weekend. They have a 3 year old little girl and they were raving about the fact that their daughter can still remember her memory verse from that Easter Sunday- and its July! I'm telling you, your influence is powerful, probably more than you realize.

This coming weekend you will again make an impression on some kid that will last for years. And statistics show that a kid's world view is pretty well set by the time they reach 12 years of age. Let's make a mark for God while the cement is still wet. Thanks for being such a Difference Maker!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Dunkin' Kids

This Sunday we will be having a Beach Party & Baptism at Honeymoon Island and we'll have several kids from our BayKids classes getting dunked! For me there is nothing cooler than seeing a kid get baptized- I take that back- seeing parents baptize their own kid- now that is as good as it gets!

At CATB we ask kids to wait until they are 8 years old before being baptized. I know, its an arbitrary number and some kids make a commitment to Christ at an earlier age- save me the theological lectures. But we believe baptism is important enough to be remembered as the next step of a life-altering commitment and we want kids to be old enough to remember it for the rest of their lives. We also want this to be a conscious choice they have made, not something they do because they are pushed into it. That's why we interview them to be sure they understand what they are doing and why.

This may sound even more heretical but we don't even push kids into making a commitment to Christ. We work very hard at creating an environment where they will hear the message of Christ loud and clear but we want to LEAD them to Christ, not manipulate them into a childish decision that has no roots. In a room full of kids I could get them all to recite a prayer and then declare them all Christ followers but I won't do that. We want to provide the environment where that choice will be a logical and natural result of their understanding of God and His love for them.

So if you are a volunteer with Baykids, every one of you should share in the celebration of each kid that is baptized this weekend. At every age level, you have contributed to the environment that produced that commitment, regardless what age that decision was made. I can't wait until our church is old enough to have kids who started in the nursery and worked their way through preschool and elementary classes and then come to Christ and get baptized. That will be way cool! I hope all of you will come out and see first hand what a huge difference you are making every weekend. And let's celebrate with these kids and let them know what a big deal it is to become a Christ follower!

Check out a Beach Baptism at CATB!