The Underestimated Generation-Some thoughts on Super Start 2012

The Underestimated Generation-Some thoughts on Super Start 2012

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

^“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Emphasis added)

Over the past few days, driving in horrible traffic behind 18 wheelers who throw rocks at my windshield and cracked it (Did I mention, what a week it has been?!), I have been thinking more and more about Super Start.

I walked away from camp hoping that our students got out of it what they needed to because I walked away from Super Start feeling like a complete failure as a CM. I mean if I needed something, I left it somewhere else. If I thought I had a handle on it, it fell apart. I couldn’t seem to get my act together…

But the Lord has been speaking to me about what He taught me through this past weekend. Tricia Brock led worship. You may know her from the band SuperChick. And while you may think that such things like CentriKid and Super Start are all about reaching kids, you might be surprised what going to camp does for a leader.

I stood amongst 10 of our 4^th and 5^th graders each in a different place in their spiritual journey, and a few who haven’t taken the first step on their spiritual walk.

Have you ever worshipped with kids? If you haven’t, you are missing out on something because they haven’t figured out how to hinder their worship.  As adults, we are reserved, conservative, and even quiet in our worship…Not so of 5^th graders. They are so unashamed of praising the Savior, they really don’t care how loud they are singing or if they raise their hands. You might think that to be very strange of kids because we think of them as being so conscious of their peers and what people think. However, I’ve discovered that when they worship, they are just as capable and freed by the Holy Spirit to express praise and adoration as adults…Probably more so.

I looked down to my left to see one of our 5^th grade boys. I could see him raising his hands. I could hear his voice crying out to the Lord in praise. And I could see that he was watching me too… A 5^TH GRADE BOY!

5^th grade boys don’t sing?! That was my understanding…they are “too cool.” But really, they are hungry for the Lord and for His Word.

I cried as I stood with our young men and could hear their voices raised in worship. (Daddy, if you don’t worship in church, I challenge you to sing to the Lord. It isn’t unmanly. It isn’t something just for mom to do. It is worship to the King of Kings. Don’t stand with your arms crossed. Worship the Lord. Your kids are watching how you respond to Him and His Word.)

We stood, in rows, and had the lyrics posted on a screen. There weren’t any motions like we do in Children’s Church. No jumping up and down and throwing beach balls. We expected them to be able to come in and worship the Savior without any gimmicks…And they did. Unashamed. Unhindered.

And I was convicted that I don’t give our students enough credit.

The voices of 10 year olds singing praise, raising hands, and worshipping the Savior, and I, a CM, underestimate what our kids can do. When the sermon time came, many of them took notes on what was said. They wrote down questions they had, and boy, some of your kids have some deep thoughts about the Word and what it says. They looked at how the Bible applies to their lives, right now, and not when they become adults. These kids aren’t the future of this church; they are the current, unashamed, unhindered, amazing church.

I know that over the course of the weekend, several students would watch me worship. It is how they learn when they see others responding to God. However, I watched them too. I watched them pray. I watched them SING! I watched them raise their hands to the Lord and call out to Him. And while they may have thought they were learning from me, I can tell you that you are never so humbled and in awe of the Lord as when you hear 10 year old boys singing or watching 11 year old girls raising their hands, eyes closed, sending praise to the Lord. I have to believe that all of Heaven stops with a child praises with that kind of adoration for the Lord.

I remember standing in session and choking back tears, thanking God for our kids and how they are open to Him. My prayer is they would never lose that desire to worship unashamed.

I challenge you to lead your children in worship. I challenge you to learn what I learned this weekend. Our kids are hungry and are capable of understanding and running to the Lord. They long for worship, and they can lead with their reckless abandon for Christ. This Sunday, I challenge you to ask them if they have a question about what they are learning or what is preached from the pulpit. I challenge you to ask them if they understand. I’ve seen their capacity to listen and pay attention. They are getting more than we give them credit for. I’ve seen their need and ability to worship and dive into God’s Word.

I was guilty this weekend of thinking that my 5^th grade boys were “too cool” to sing and praise the Lord. After all, none of the music was rock-n-roll. We didn’t have motions or dancing. It felt a lot like a Sunday Morning in Lagrange…And they showed me, again, that they love the Lord, and He is worthy of our praise. I challenge you to lead and learn from your students…

One of my favorite worship songs and a song from Super Start that I heard our kids sing…

“I see a generation

Rising up to take the place

With selfless faith, with selfless faith

I see a new revival

Staring as we pray and seek

We're on our knees, we're on our knees”-Hosanna by Hillsong United

 

I see that generation too…they are thriving. We have to teach them. We have to lead them. And we can’t underestimate God’s plan that is working in their lives...Right Now.

 

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Small Group Prayer Time-After many of them accepted the challenge to do something to love others even if they don't love you back because that is what Jesus did.