There are days I want to quit.
I’m serious.
I really do.
But I don’t.
Because I believe in something.
And that belief motivates me to dig deep.
And serve.
Let me explain.
Our Awana club meets on Monday nights at out church. My wife, Sandee, and I are T&T Directors. And it’s incredible. We’re a part of an incredible church, with incredible leadership, surrounded by a group of incredible volunteers.
But it wasn’t that long ago that I wanted to quit.
I sat with my T&T boys. Well, I was sitting. They were doing pretty much anything and everything but sitting. I looked over at the girls group to see how they were doing. The girls were sitting quietly with their leaders, enjoying this great relational time. And the boys are five minutes in and they’re all climbing the walls, making animal noises, and they don’t want to be a part of small-group relational time — let along memorizing verses.
There comes a time for every leader where we need to come back to Jesus’ words, “on this rock I will build my church,” and remember — as Awana alum Bill Hybels has so often said — that “the local church is the hope of the world.”
That’s an incredible idea.
And I absolutely love it.
Because no matter how crazy things may seem, the church is full of kids. And those kids need Jesus.
We’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do to reach that group of boys — or that group of girls – right now. Where they’re at. Feeling the tensions that they feel.
When we’re down in the trenches of ministry — pulling kids off the walls, trying desperately to keep them focused, working with every once of our energy, I find it a great reminder that the tensions of a changing world are eased by unchanging truths.
And so when Sandee and I are there on Monday nights we are there because we’re getting to see what it means to look into the eyes of those kids and impact their lives — helping them understand how to become lifelong disciples of Jesus.
I couldn’t do my job at Awana if I didn’t serve in my local church.
Awana exists to serve the local church — that’s our primary service. And the only way that I can understand how to reach and disciple kids in a lifelong fashion is to be engaged at that level.
At our own church.
Wherever we are.
In our own Jerusalem.
In recent years, we’ve taken steps to better track of what kind of churches we serve. We’ve started asking questions like: Where are they? What do they need? What is like to serve there?
If you’ve wondered about the kinds of churches Awana serves, here’s a graphic that hits the highlights:
If you’re curious about the churches we serve, watch our new documentary, [+]MORE. It shows how God is moving in seven different locations around the word. I think you’ll really enjoy it.
