It’s been too long since posting. Here are 8 stories of different experiences I’ve had recently in various aspects of ministry life.
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On Thursday, I went to *Joel’s house. It was my first time going and when I arrived he and his mom were standing in the driveway to greet me and Peter.
We went in and had a seat at the kitchen table, and Joel’s mom offered us fresh made apple pie. From there, we got down to business - bar mitzvah preparation. I talked through what Joel was going to need to learn, we talked possible dates for the event, we talked about the meaning of bar mitzvah. Peter opened the scriptures and we did a Bible study together, and Joel tried hard to answer the questions, but couldn’t really. He’s an earnest 12 year old, and wanted to please his teachers, but he doesn’t have the base of knowledge yet.
In the last year, Peter, who works with another Jewish outreach agency, led Joel’s mom to the Lord. This summer, Joel came to Camp Gilgal, and at camp, he prayed to receive the Lord! He told me that cabin devotions were his favorite part of camp. He showed a hunger to know God.
Most of the kids I work with are growing up in believing homes and are finding their place in their faith. Joel is different. He’s a blank slate. This really became apparent to me in this first Bible study we had on Thursday.
As excited as I am to work with Joel and his mom (and family, one of his younger sisters sat at the table with us the whole time, just listening), I’m also a little nervous. On the drive home, I was asking questions like: how do I teach the assurance of salvation for a 12 year old boy? What promises in the Bible does he need to learn? How can I show him his place as a Jewish believer in the history of the Bible? What does he understand about who Jesus is? Will he do Bible reading homework?
These are good questions and I find that they’re already spilling over into the other kids and teens I’m ministering to.
