I just finished reading a book “Whose Child is This” by Bill Wilson and he made a statement that resonates in my heart. He said, “We have to come to the point where we are willing to win the nation one person at a time.”

As we make plans for 2010, we desire to reach children one at a time until we see the millions come to know Jesus as their friend and Savior.

Here are a few things we are planning and would appreciate your prayers as we work out the details.

South Dakota Indian Reservation
Together with Pastor TJ at Warwick AG, we are heading to the Sioux reservation where we’ll be working with Missionaries Tim and Elaine Harris. With two teams of twenty, comprised of adults and children ages 10-15 we are planning evangelism and some hands-on projects.

Homeless Women and Children
We are praying that we can partner with Hope Alive, a Christian ministry called to embrace homeless women and their children with the life-changing love of God. They provide transitional homes and the skills they need to live self-sustaining lives filled with hope and a future. With a team we are offering our assistance with hands on projects as well as evangelism.

Ecuador Missions Trip
I am also planning to be part of a training team to Ecuador in September. Many missionaries around the world need experienced children‚Äôs leaders/workers to come and train children‚Äôs workers in their countries in skills for reaching kids. As part of the team I will be helping to equip leaders/workers in that country to be more effective in sharing the message of Christ’s love and forgiveness.

Urban Church Plant
We are also in the process of joining with a pastor of an urban church plant. We’d like to take a mission team into that community to conduct a fun day and three-night crusade. Such an outreach has the potential of bringing more people into the community of believers and changing lives for eternity.

Training and Encouragement
Along with several weeks of kids camp during the summer we will also be conducting training workshops for those serving in children’s ministry. On a regular basis we visit churches to teach the children how they can help people locally and around the world. We encourage them as we share how they can be a powerful tool in the hands of God as missionaries to their community.
Although we make the plans it is God that directs our steps. Be in prayer that as we plan, God will open the doors and direct our steps so that we see his purpose revealed in all we do for Him.

FACT: Homelessness affects 200,000 children every day in the United States. Following Paul’s instruction to the Galatians, I spoke to the children at a local church about the needs of the homeless and challenged them to seize every opportunity to do good to others. I tried to help them understand that doing good comes in many forms including, physical, emotional or spiritual. It was my prayer that they would look beyond themselves, grasp hold of one of those areas and look for the needs of people around them.

After the service I felt a gentle tug to my shirt. As I looked down I saw a young girl looking up at me with big blue eyes. I crouched down to hear her speak as she said, “I want to give them one of my Bibles. Can I bring one of my Bibles from home to give to the kids that don’t have one?” She had grasped hold of the need to tell the homeless children about the love and hope that only comes from Jesus. Providing them with a Bible was her way to share that love. Often times it takes the eyes of a child to help us see how simple it is to share Jesus with others. What we sometimes overlook is often times what others need the most, that unused Bible laying around the house. I pray that I will always be able to see through the innocent eyes of a child to see the needs of others and be willing to reach out to meet that need.

I know that I won’t be able to reach the 200,000 homeless children or the 24 million children in the United States that need to hear about Jesus. But, I can help to develop a ministry team committed to reaching children in their neighborhoods, one at a time, until the millions have heard about Jesus and His amazing love. By training people in individual churches I am committed to Jesus’s approach of multiplication so that we can reach the multitudes and see children radically saved and serving Jesus.

This summer, in preparation for two different home missions trips, I’ll be coordinating two teams, one from Hampton, VA and one from Harrisonburg, VA. They will be heading to Oak Hill WV and Keyser, WV respectively, to minister to the children in those communities. I will be training them in the use of Kids Quest USA, a focused strategy to empower local church ministries to reach kids in America by partnering with another church for outreach.¬† The greatest value of training teams is its ability to mobilize the local church for evangelism.

Please keep these teams, the partnering churches and myself  in your prayers as we reach and change kids lives for etermity.

Training adults to effectively minister to the thousands of children that need to have a personal relationship with Jesus is as vital to the child as food, water and shelter.

The air was filled with the excitement and expectations of 170 girls, ages 9-12 as they arrived with suitcases and sleeping bags in tow for a weekend of fun, fellowship and training. It was a military setting and the theme was “HOT pursuit of God”. Donned in pink camouflage t-shirts, carrying Bibles and jewel-adorned notebooks the girls arrived at the service anticipating God’s next move.

This was my opportunity to train these girls how to put aside their earthly burdens and wholeheartedly seek after God, the one who has a plan for their lives, the one who gives hope and a future.

Children throughout the U.S. are under a tremendous amount of pressure to be accepted by their peers, to live up to parents expectations and often times carry the burden of a family that has been torn apart. With 45% of children living in single family homes, over 18% living in poverty and 12 substantiated reports of maltreatment per 1,000 children, it’s no wonder that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14 and that as many as one in every 33 children may have depression.

As the evening came to a close the girls were invited to spend time with God, seeking His direction and His healing power in their lives. One by one the girls came to the altar and began to pray. As I glanced to the right my attention was drawn to Tonya. Her head was bowed and body leaning forward. Tears fell from her cheek. What could be burdening this child so much?

We can no longer minimize the cries of a child at the altar. They are no longer tears over a lost toy or a pet that has died. We must realize that the tears are being shed for much deeper reasons. We can’t minimize the tears simply because they are children, lest one of them becomes a statistic.

As I knelt down to pray with Tonya, I knew that this was the first step to her healing. The second step would be her relationship with a trusted adult that could give her the much needed spiritual teaching and guidance necessary to pursue after God.

Are there people ready to help Tonya wipe away the tears?

My desire is to train an army of compassionate adults who will be able to recognize a child’s pain and be equipped to effectively minister to that child offering the peace and hope that only Christ can give. It’s imperative that I help churches identify individuals that are passionate about a child’s need for Jesus and then train them to reach the lost. That is my primary purpose for establishing iRock ministries through US Missions.

There are thousands more like Tonya and I can only reach a few of them. By training a group of 10 adults in every church in just my district, over 3,000 people will be equipped to reach, at the very least, 3,000 children. As I continue to help churches train their leaders I’m going to need your help both prayerfully and financially. Consider becoming a financial partner so that I can devote all of my time and energy training people in hundreds of churches across the United States.
Together we can change the world as we reach the millions of children that need to hear about Jesus, one at at time!

We just finished our most recent newsletter and would like to share it with you. We had the privilege of going to Jubilee Christian Center with Pastor Todd McKeever in Fairfax Virginia and to Warwick Assembly of God in Hampton Virginia with Pastor TJ Wolfe. Take a look at the January Newsletter . To see pictures from Jubilee click here. Or if you want to check out pictures from Warwick, click here.

With 2007 behind us, what will 2008 bring? How will it be different? It’s become more evident to me that time is more valuable than anything that God has given us and it goes by so quickly! For those of us who know the Lord, time allows us more opportunity to worship and give honor to our Savior. For those that don’t know Jesus, time has no meaning or purpose. As we begin a new year, may time be a reminder to all of us of the urgency to reach people for Christ. May we be reminded that it is our purpose to share the love of Christ with others before time runs out and opportunities are lost for eternity.My prayer for 2008 is that you won’t just make a casual “new year’s resolution” of some kind. My prayer is that rescue will become a burning passion of your heart – that every day you will look for, and seek out opportunities to share the hope you have in Jesus.Let us Pray, and ask God for wisdom and direction. Get rid of the junk that is hindering you from all God wants you to be. Find the passion that will propel you to reach out to others with the love of Jesus and the knowledge of His saving grace. Let’s make this a year of eternal change for people all over the world.