Countdown to 30: Day 28

Although my parents were key to my salvation because the gospel started in our home, there were two other people that really made a difference in my early years also resulting in my change of heart – Mrs. Crystal and Bro. Jordan.

Mrs. Crystal was my Sunday school teacher for years. I cannot remember a time when she was not my Sunday school teacher until my family moved to Fort Worth before my second grade year. She faithfully loved me for the important years in my childhood and faithfully taught me God’s word. I adored her, and I think that she felt the same way about me. Not only was she there for all of the church events, but she had a son the same age as me, and was there for all of my school events as well. I thought of her as a second mother. I think that she is an example of how teachers of young children do not realize how much they mean in the lives of the children that they teach. She was obedient to God’s call to teach the word of God to children, and because of her obedience, children like me responded to the gospel. She was faithful to love and that show of God’s love made church a place that this child looked forward to each week. Now I get to teach her grandson and love all over him and teach him God’s word which I know is being taught to him in his home as well, and I am glad that his Granna modeled for me how to show God’s love to children.

Bro. Jordan was our preacher during my early childhood years. I do not remember much about sermons that he preached. I do know that he used the Bible in all of his sermons and, from hearing him preach when I got older, that he tries to make the Bible passage central to the message. I do know that he taught about sin and taught that it was bad and would send you to hell. In fact, I think that he preached about hell – a lot. Enough to make this child afraid of going there and being separated from God. I am convinced that because he was faithful to teach the hard things of God’s word – sin, hell, God’s wrath – as well as about God’s love and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, I had an understanding of the basics of the gospel at a young age. My parents took their responsibility to discipline children seriously making sure that we knew how to sit through the service at a very young age (pretty much from birth forward), and God rewarded that with me hearing preaching based on the God’s word from a young age and God gave me an understanding at a young age.

I tend to not agree with having children’s church. Although there are a handful of children (at our church I could probably count them on one hand) that may need to be in children’s church instead of in the service, the majority of our children need to be exposed to the biblical preaching that comes from the pulpit at a young age. Is it a hassle to discipline during church? Yes. Do other members of the church tend to wish that children were not in the service? Yes. These same people do not understand the importance of children’s ministry and often did not make church a priority in their homes and do not know how to humble themselves in the body of Christ anyway. Will God reward our churches when we train our children in the things of God? Most definitely. I will say that I try to be as patient and understanding as possible when parents choose to have their children near me because the child needs to hear the sermon as much as I do. One day that child may be writing about his or her Sunday school teacher and Bro. Scott and how the faithfulness of those in the church resulted in that child having an understanding of the gospel.