iRock Ministries

intentionally Reaching Our Community Kids

Camp Orchard Hill

Balaam and the talking donkey
Balaam and the talking donkey

As an angel stands in the way of his passing, Balaam reprimands his donkey for making a fool of him by laying down in the middle of the road. It’s not until the donkey speaks that Balaam’s eyes are opened and he sees the same angel that is preventing the donkey from passing by. How often are our eyes blinded to the things that God is trying to reveal to us. It’s not until our eyes and hearts are opened that we can hear and know God’s voice. img_0185-copyEach night as I shared a message with the campers at Camp Orchard Hill I could see their eyes opening to what God had to share with each of them. Children’s hearts were opened to the message of Jesus’s love and forgiveness. Over the week over 75 children made personal decisions to follow Jesus. Others made a renewed commitment to pray, listen, read their Bibles and trust Jesus more in all their decision making. On the last night we sat next to the lake as the sun was setting. A camp fire provided the only light as we worshipped the Lord and reflected on the past week. Here are a few of the testimonies that the kids shared that evening.
“I realize that Jesus is always with me and will never leave me.”
“I realized that I can have joy even though my dad just died because I now know that he is in heaven and I’ll see him one day.”
“I didn’t really believe much in God but now I know God and asked Jesus into my heart and I want to live for Him forever.”
“I learned that when I trust in Jesus I can stand firm and be strong even when things get tough.”
“Now I know that Jesus will provide for me and now I don’t need to worry about those things anymore.”
These were just a few of the testimonies shared that evening. I was encouraged as I heard what God had done in the lives of the kids that week and was humbled that God used me to establish and grow their relationship with Him.

I can give them a Bible!

Are we looking beyond ourselves to see the needs of others?

Homeless Family 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. Servant Training

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.

Kids Quest Outreach

With Ling, Ding and Tj, I joined forces with Randy Thompson and a team of youth from Rocky Mount North Carolina to train for an outreach to be held in nearby Raleigh. Ling and Ding were actually two team members who took on personalities of clowns who complimented and learned from each other. TJ, another team member, became TJ, aka “Trust Jesus”, the tiger who helped the kids understand the spiritual applications during the lessons each service.

I was impressed with the ease in which the team learned their parts for each of the segments of the service. I was even more impressed with the percision in which they carried them out during the service.

We were partnering with Ronnie Voss and the Church at Whiteoak to go beyond the walls of their church and reach the people in their community. After canvasing the neighborhood surrounding Peach Road Park and distributing several hundred event flyers Saturday morning we returned to the park in the early afternoon to prepare for the event. As the music played and TJ made his final rounds through the neighborhood to invite the community, both adults and children began to find a place to watch the presentation.There were over 150 in attendance.

Clown skits, games, dramas, illusions and much more ended with an invitation for people to give their lives to Jesus who is the way and the truth and the life. That day, 20 people discovered that truth personally and gave their heart to Christ.

What an amazing thing to be part of and to share in the joy of seeing the lives of  people, young and old, changed for eternity.

Hysteria in Wheeling

I never imagined that my training could send someone into a laughing hysteria, but it did!

Richard Griffith

At one point in the training Paul began laughing so hard he couldn’t stop. He was laughing so hard his head began to turn a purplish red, if that’s a color. It’s my firm belief that as christians we should be prepared and ready to have fun with the Lord. That Saturday was proof that serving Christ brings joy and happiness beyond anyone’s understanding. I was blessed to be part of what God was doing in the teachers at Ohio Valley Christian Center. We began with the topic “The Disciple making Teacher” to making ballon dogs to challenging everyone to make a difference in the lives of the people they are blessed enough to teach.

Terry WilliamsGod commands all of us to be teachers, to go and teach¬†all people of His ways. (Matthew 28:19-20) As a teacher we are continuing the work that Jesus began while He was here on earth. We are following in His footsteps and¬†doing the exact same thing He did, teach others. There is no greater call than to do what Jesus himself did. I was impressed with the heart of the people that represented the teachers of OVCC. You could tell that these people truly wanted to impact their community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the heart that we all must have if we want to hear God say “Well done good and faithful servant”.

I so enjoy the people that I meet as I travel throughout the United States. It is my desire to see them stand firm on the rock of Christ as they evangelize. I am humbled to be part of training, resourcing, encouraging and empowering people to reach the world with the message of God’s love and forgiveness. May we continue to see lives changed as a result of people like those at OVCC.
OVCC

Uninvited guest?

Maggie
Bringing everything she needed with her, Maggie made her way to Midlothian where she found a vacant corner outside of the church to stop and rest. As the clouds overhead began to open the rain began to softy fall to the ground. It wasn’t long before Sunny and her two girls approached Maggie and invited her inside. Not wanting to leave her cart behind, the four made their way into the main entrance of the church. All eyes were on the unusual foursome as they entered and made their way through the people and into the children’s wing. Unbeknown to Sunny and her two girls, Maggie was part of the children’s service.
I had been invited to Midlothian Assembly of God to help the kids make a connection between the needs throughout the world and how they can help meet those needs through missions. Playing Maggie was my way to make missions real in the minds of the kids.
Bringing about an awareness of missions took many turns that morning. The story of Jake and Sauly (Jacob and Esau) where a bowl of gumbo and instant gratification robbed him and his descendants of God’s blessings was followed by a lesson where the kids were so self absorbed that they were unable to see others. Galatians 6:10

An illusion helped the kids see that time flies and we must make a decision to allow it to their fingers with nothing to show or if they will take some of that time to help others. Using Galatians 6:10, the kids could see that God wants them to help others. “Whenever we have opportunity we should do go to everyone”.
It is my desire to recondition the hearts of our kids to recognize and have compassion for those that need a helping hand.