my favorite day of the year is here.
join us Thursday for fun + fireworks on the lawn as the whole city of Palatine comes to our block.
would love to see you and your family
VBS Nation
so i’ve been thinking a lot about summer ministry to younger people. the picture above is of first baptist church of arlington heights promoting their vacation bible school. as far as i understand that VBS has been going every summer since at least 1990, when, at the age of four and a half, i attended and made a commitment in my life to jesus christ.
i don’t know that i’ve been in the building since maybe a year or two after that, when i outgrew the program. i’ve certainly driven by it a bazillion times over the years on my way to eat. every single time i pass that building, i think about everything God has done in my life, and everything that my parents prayed for, and everything that the people i serve now hopefully experience in a good way, all came together for the first time in the basement of that building, when i prayed asking Jesus to forgive me for my sins and said that i believed He was the resurrection and the way to eternal life.
Jesus said to her, “i am the resurrection and the life. whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (john 11:25, esv)
truth be told, sometimes i’m astonished that people who struggle to make it to church more than once a month on sundays will give up four nights in the blazing heat or a week sleepy in a smelly cabin serving young people. why do they do it? it’s because both the bible and our experiences have taught us that the commitments people make to christ at a young age have a way of really lasting.
whether it’s the truth from proverbs to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it (proverbs 22:6), or the sociological studies that seem to come out every year showing that some 80 percent or more of people who know Jesus christ are people who met him when they were young, anecdotally and statistically these endeavors that churches undertake to plant seeds of the gospel in young people’s hearts do bear tremendous fruit.
and so i guess i just… i know that it can be easy to be cynical about the bounce houses and the water fights and the bright-colored t-shirts and the things that we use in america to spread this good news. but my personal life has been permanently altered by things like this, and i know for many young people they’re going to be looking back in the summer of 2060, just like i am now, thinking, wow—35 years ago i started a relationship with Jesus.
i’m so grateful for the people who gave. i’m so grateful for the people who served. i’m so grateful for the people who paved the way.
because sure, was i likely to find Jesus at some point in time given my pastor parents, praying grandparents, and wonderful setup in life? of course. but there is something about the moment, the thing… and i’m just grateful to god for it today.
and i want to commend all who are serving in some capacity like this this summer.
blessings.
p.s. look at this amazing moment at the close of our VBS last night
I wanted to share an excerpt from the book How to Pray: a simple guide for normal people by Pete Greig:
“As a Christian, you have already received an even greater invitation. The King of Kings requests your presence at the very seat of government. He offers you a permanent place on his executive team so that you can influence his actions on behalf of nations. It is an unspeakable honor, yet we are often too busy, too disbelieving, or too insecure to accept the greatest invitation of our lives. As Oswald Chambers says, “The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer… Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work.” From pgs. 99-100
What an awesome invitation we have! And yet how many times have I neglected this ‘greater work’ because of being too busy, too disbelieving or too insecure. This week during VBS, I got the chance to hang with the elementary kids one of the nights and talk to them about prayer. I felt surprisingly blessed from the Elementary kids’ discussion and that they understand that they can come to God with anything. Yet they also understood that God’s not some kind of genie who just answers every prayer with the latest thing you think you should have.
I found their simplicity in asking God for the things on their hearts inspiring. It’s no wonder Jesus told us to come to him as children do. A few minutes after my time with them, I was finishing something up and all the kids joined together in the sanctuary. The whole building could hear them as they yelled the words to the Forest Frank song, Your Ways Better. The chorus says, “Oh Lord, I need you now more than ever, Would you put my heart back together, I searched the world ‘til my head hurt, Just to find out your way’s better.” And I found myself in tears praying for these kids that they wouldn’t just sing the words to these songs but that they would believe it in their hearts forever. Would you join me in prayer for each of the kids that came to VBS at our church this week, not to mention the many churches around our city and nation? We need the next generation to rise up and choose Jesus for themselves. Pray that God would allow the seeds that have been planted this week to flourish and reap a beautiful harvest.
Early this week, I read Isaiah 59:21 which says, ‘My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever.’ says the Lord.” And I feel compelled to pray and claim this for my family. Maybe you want to too? That our kids would not only know about God or the Bible but that they would live for Him and be compelled to tell their children about Him. Often we see people in the Bible that didn’t have it perfect but they were persistent. Persistent in prayer, persistent in looking in the mirror at their sin, and persistent in trusting in a big God who does awesome things when we trust Him. Let’s not neglect the invitation, but show up and pray BIG to see what God does.
Last Week’s Sermon
bobby preached from Phillipians 4 on prayer as the antidote to worry
A Prayer for America
Lord Jesus, thank you for this place that we get to call home. As we celebrate our country this week, we also ask you for healing and guidance.
We pray for a more just neighborhood and country.
We pray for a more united hopefulness in your Son.
We pray you would give us hearts so full of grace in times like this.
Amen.
every sunday … we will update the music from the previous Sunday on this playlist, hopefully helps you connect with things a little better.
this is good news,
luke + kristen