At a former church where I served in Fort Worth, Texas, there were large banners standing by each exit door. On them was the verse Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Little did I know at the time how that applied to the kids in my church.

One spring at my church, I felt led by the Lord to take our preteens on a mission trip. We took time to train and prepare them for the mission trip. We taught them songs and motions to go with them. They learned the different crafts and games the children would play. Then we taught the preteens how to teach an evangelistic Bible study. Yes—they were going to do all the teaching. This was a first for me and my leadership.

There are good…and sometimes bad…ways to teach kids how to swim. My friend learned “the wrong way.” When she was young, she was at her uncle's house, and she told him she wanted to learn how to swim. She explained, "Then he grabbed me, threw me into the pool's deep end, and cried out, ‘Swim!’” Darla learned how to swim that day. It was not the best way to learn, but she did it.

One of my joys is watching children grow in their faith in the body of Christ.

I love to see those lightbulb moments for kids when their faith comes alive.

I was shocked years ago when I witnessed three 12-year-olds (6^th graders) from my church lead three children to Christ.

A lot of questions popped into my mind that day.

One I felt came directly from the Lord.

He said, “Clint, is the abundant life for children too, or is it only for students and adults?”

That summer, the Lord began to call me out of the children’s ministry box I was in.