July 21, 2016July 19, 2016 Peter Witkowski Summer Camps

Connect Camp: 2016 Review

Connect-Camp-Blog Another exciting month of Connect Camp has come to a close. With the help of over thirty committed adults and youth, First Baptist Eastman was able to put together an amazing day camp that featured everything from Baseball to praise band. During the months of June and July, we connected with forty-five different kids. Each day of camp, we averaged almost 35 kids. We peaked on the first day of camp when 41 arrived. Our lowest attendance occurred on the last day of camp -Thursday, July 14. We hosted 30 kids and 53 kids and adults for our family day luncheon.

Each day, the kids kicked off camp with a worship rally at 8 AM. Next, they participated in two track-times (activity times) of their choice before coming inside to cool off with a snack. Then, they rounded off the morning with a small group Bible study, another track time, and a brief closing worship rally that concluded at noon. FBCE kids’ ministry loved hosting the kids. And I am confident that many of the kids liked camp. It takes a lot to convince a grade schoolers and middle schoolers to wake up early on summer morning. Plus, I received a lot of positive feedback from parents, kids, and volunteers. Connect Camp by church

I truly believe Connect Camp this year fulfilled its mission of connecting kids to Christ and of connecting unchurched families to our church. The gospel was preached every day during both the worship rally and the small group time. Seed was sown. And by having parents and kids attend camp all month long, we got to know at least two new families.

Connect Camp Attendance Chart Our numbers did trend down a little from last year’s Connect Camp. Last year we averaged 40 students. This year dipped down to about 35 per day. I am not sure why attendance dropped slightly. Perhaps our number were hurt by the Dodge County School schedule, perhaps Camp went down because it started two weeks after VBS, or perhaps we simply encountered a sophomore slump. Regardless, Connect Camp still reaches the largest number of kids of any camp run or attend by FBCE. Lord willing our numbers will rebound next year!

And as always, we loved using the Zip curriculm published by Lifeway. It was easy to use, fun, etertaining and gospel filled! Without Zip Connect Camp would still be just a concept. But with the curriculm, FBCE has seen its dream of reaching the kids of Eastman become a reality!

Not it’s your turn! What was your kid’s favorite part of camp?

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 Peter Witkowski Children's Ministry

3 Lessons Church Leaders Can Learn From the Emoji Bible

The King James only crowd is finally cool again. Well at the very least, they have emojis. Earlier this week, the very first emoji Bible was released on ITunes. And it’s based on the KJV. How cool? As the anonymous translator told one newspaper,

“I think if we were to fast-forward 100 years, an ‘emoji’ Bible of some kind would exist, so I thought, ‘Why not try and make it?

In short, the latest attempt to produce a contextualized translation of the scriptures that today’s adults can relate to has popped out an emoji Bible. If you want to try it out for yourself: click here to turn your favorite verses into the emoji translation.

While I do not think anyone has to switch over to the Emoji Bible, we do need to realize what it signifies. It signifies that our world is changing. If we hope to reach the next generation with the scriptures, we Christians must be willing to embrace social media, emojis, and whatever else comes next. Believe it or not, the Emoji Bible is targeting people between the ages of 17-35. If Millennials are speaking emoji, what will their kids be speaking?

Now, I do not think we need to embrace emojis as a major form of biblical communication. The written word carries power that pictures cannot. The medieval church found this out the hard way. All those beautiful stained glass windows were placed in Cathedrals to help the poor understand the Bible. But those pictures lacked the gospel inspired insight of the Holy Spirit. Even today, millions of people interact with those pictures and have no clue what they really mean. God’s word is the power to salvation. No picture or group of pictures can take the place of the words found in Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, Matthew, or Romans. In many ways, appealing to emojis is not so much a leap into the future as a step back into the past. (Nothing new under the sun). We already tried the picture book approach and should stay with the written word. But at the end of the day, I am not too concerned about the Emoji Bible’s effect on biblical translation. As Christ said, in Matthew 5:18,

4 truly, i say 2 u, until ✨✨✨ & 🌎 pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

3 Lesson

The Emoji Bible represents that our culture is reachable if we are willing to be fluid and creative. Again, I am not talking about doctrine or about the scriptures. God’s word is God’s word in every age.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever – Heb. 13:8.

I am discussing our methods of communication. Here our three things the Emoji Bible teaches us:

1. We can connect with our culture

Did you notice that Emoji Bible was not published by Lifeway, Zondervan, or Crossway? It was self-published. The days of taking years and months to respond to change are over. Anyone can communicate at any time. As the church, we need to embrace our technological world. We need to blog, host video conferences, and tweet. We need to be willing to quickly and thoughtfully engage our culture. If we wait till Sunday and Wednesday to influence people, we will reach fewer and fewer men and women. We need to be ready to spontaneously connect with the world around us as needs arise.

2.We need to be embrace to change

As I said earlier, I do not think the Emoji bible is a huge step in the development of Bible translations. But it is a great attempt at going with the culture. And we need to learn from its author. We need to seek to reach people where they are and with their language. If everyone is on Instagram or Snapchat, then we should go to Instagram and Snapchat. If people start communicating primarily through Facebook live streaming, then we should start live streaming. The Emoji Bible is showing us that we need to be willing to let the tools of yesteryear fade. Instead pridefully clinging to what has worked, we need to embrace the spontaneity of this generation and our kids’ generation. We need to be willing to change.

3.We need to be creative

I know the Emoji Bible is not a great work of art. I know it’s not going to be placed in the Louvre anytime soon. But it is super creative. People are talking about it because it represents out of the box thinking. It represents creativity. It represents something new. We and the people in our churches need to be creative. We need to be finding new ways to communicate the amazing story of the gospel. It’s not boring. Our God’s not boring. We need to reflect God’s character when we communicate the word.

Final Thoughts

I do not know what language our kids will speak. But I am sure of this: to reach kids, to reach this current generation of millennials with the gospel, we must embrace the methodology behind the Emoji Bible. We must seek to reach our culture by being willing to change and by embracing creativity!

May 12, 2016May 19, 2016 Peter Witkowski Parenting

Should We Teach Our Kids To Pray?

kids-pray When I was five-years-old, I fervently prayed for a little sibling. I hated being the youngest in my family. The idea of a having a younger brother or sister sounded cool. I could play with a baby, the old people would stop telling me how cute I was, and there would be someone else to blame for my messes. By God’s grace, my little sister was born. So did God answer my prayer? Did he answer the prayer of a little unconverted preschooler?

How we answer that question has huge implications for how we raise our kids. The answer to the questions shapes how we teach our kids to pray. So…did God answer my prayer?

The answer is:

How Prayer Works

As one theologian said, prayer is “Our response to God as he speaks to us.” Our ability to reach the ear of God is tied to the work of Christ. To cry “Abba Father,” we must be members of God’s family. God listens to our prayers not because we are impressive. He listens to our prayers because we are in Jesus. The Father always hears the prayers of his son (John 11:41-42). Since we are sons with Jesus, we can be confident that the Father hears us as well. When Christians pray to the Father, he does not see dirty sinners. He sees sons redeemed by the death of Christ on the cross (Gal 4:6-7). Our ability to reach God is directly tied to our identification with his son. If we have not died to our sin and if we have not been risen again, then we cannot reach God.

Moreover, prayer is based upon the word of God. Good prayers are passed on God’s Word. We ask God to fulfill his will. Those who do not believe the Word, cannot meaningfully speak to God (I John 5:14-15). Yes, sinners can ask for things selfishly. But, they cannot ask for things according to the scriptures that they have rejected. They cannot respond appropriately to the Word of God.

In short, every unredeemed man, women, and child is unable to access the throne room. They are not sons of God but slaves to sin. Most of their prayers but one goes unheard. So did God answer my prayer? No.

What Do We Tell Our Kids?

Should we every encourage our kids to pray? Yes and no. Yes, it is good for kids to learn how to pray. It is good for them to confess to God that every good gift comes from above. By recognizing God’s authority, they may avoid the prideful boasts that doomed both Nebuchadnezzar and Herod. One went nuts; the other died boasting. Prayers like the following: “I thank you for mommy, daddy, grandma JoJo, the dog, and basketballs, Amen” are good and proper offerings. They help kids understand their relation to their divine creator.

Even more importantly, kids should pray because salvation comes through prayer. When one believes, he cries out to God the Father for salvation through the Holy Spirit. The new believer confesses Christ through prayer. Because prayer plays such a key role in salvation, parents should introduce their kids to prayer. And parents should encourage their kids to pray for forgiveness. Parents should teach equip their kids to cry out to God.

Limited Focus

And now for the negative. While Parents should encourage prayer, they must also place biblical limits when and how their kids pray. Because unsaved kids cannot reach the throne room of God, we should not charge them to pray for the family, to pray in church services, or to pray for those in need. We should let unredeemed sinners (even the cute ones) offer prayers for in our stead. God will not hear those prayers. Rather as believers, we should pray alongside or in place of our children for specific requests and needs. And then, we should explain to our kids that Christ only hears the prayers of his children. In short, keeping a proper perspective on childhood prayer will lead to more gospel conversations with our kids.

Closing Thoughts

So did God answer my prayer for a baby sister? The answer is no. But I still have a little sister. What happened? God had planned to bless my family with my little sister. He did in fact work out his plans through the prayers of my mother and other believers. But he did not answer my prayer. I had no part in his divine will. And while it is good for us to teach our kids to pray, we must always remind them that only the sons of God can reach their father.

How do you handle prayer in your family?