Newsletter
Is It Time to Change Your Midweek Program?
Is your midweek program working for you? Is it meeting the needs of the children and families in your church? L.I.T. (Leaders In Training) is a midweek program that focuses on four critical areas of ministry: family, discipleship, equipping children for ministry, and missions.Join us Thursday, July 16, at 12:00 p.m. (C.S.T.); for a short introduction to the L.I.T. resources and how they can transform your children’s ministry into one that disciples (makes a difference in their personal spiritual lives) and equips (prepares them to carry out the Great Commission) children for ministry and missions.
L.I.T. Ministries July 2020 Newsletter
L.I.T. Played a Significant Role in My Spiritual Life by Joel Hayworth
Two things specifically that are a part of L.I.T. that have played significant roles in my spiritual formation are forming spiritual disciplines and using spiritual gifts in the local church. As a young believer, I was given a weekly Scripture verse to memorize and a daily passage to read. These things might seem minor or even insignificant to some people, but to a young Christian, this was precisely what I needed to grow in my faith and knowledge of God's Word! My L.I.T. teacher and classmates helped hold me accountable to do my daily quiet time and memorize Scripture, and for this, I am extremely grateful. As I have grown up and gone through high school and college, I look back to my years in L.I.T. with thankfulness because I was encouraged to "own" my faith rather than believe something just because someone else said it.
From Preteens to World Changers-LIT June Newsletter
From Preteens to World Changers
We want to highlight one church that has taken ministry with children and students to a whole new level. Mike Lehew, Lead Missionary with Church Inside Out and former Family Pastor at Foundation Church in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, is one person who has done this. Their model of ministry is based on the idea that all believers (including children) have a calling to make disciples. L.I.T. has been an intricate part of pointing preteens and students in the right direction. Mike has had more than 75 students in his ministry who have been on international mission trips to South America and Africa. These trips last between two weeks and 35 days. They have led thousands of people to Christ on these trips. Mike’s passion is to mobilize the Church Inside Out to take the Gospel into the local community, and the children and students are a significant part of it. Mike shares, “L.I.T. has defined our discipleship for our kids and our parents. Parents don’t know it, but they are being discipled as they disciple their kids. It also helps them see the bigger picture that these kids are the church now.” (The picture was taken during the 2012 mission trip to Sapulpa, Oklahoma. The majority of these students are still involved in ministry).
Children are the most effective agents in reaching their peers with the Gospel L.I.T. May Newsletter
For the believer in Christ, this is not the time to hunker down, it is time to reach out. So many people have no hope. Sales of alcohol and drug abuse is escalating with people seeking comfort from their fears, anxiety and uncertainty. We don’t have to be careless, but we can use social media, a phone call, text or acts of kindness to let people know that we care. We can pray for opportunities to show people God’s love and share the hope we have in Christ. The Gospel is the Gospel and we should want everyone to have the hope we have in the Lord.
I encourage church leaders to light a fire in the hearts of children they are working with to share the Good News of Christ with their friends. Children are the most effective agents in reaching their peers. It’s time to look at the future with excitement. The fields are white unto harvest, and it’s time to rise and bring the hope of the cross of Christ to a lost world.
Empowering Children to Proclaim the Gospel-April Newsletter
In these unprecedented times, our only hope is in the Lord. However, for many around us, they don’t know that hope we have in Christ. We have an amazing opportunity 
to use social media or other electronic means to proclaim the Good News of Christ. I pray that you will encourage the children and preteens in your church to reach out to their lost friends through social media, FaceTime, or by a simple phone call. They are the most effective in reaching their friends with the Gospel. We know that they can do it. We have witnessed it on many occasions. God has used children to proclaim the Gospel in multiple settings. This summer, we planned our 30th mission trip. We have seen more than 3,000 preteens on mission trips since 2004, and they have led 1,000+ people to Christ.
