Michelle Anthony - Dreaming of More for the Next Generation: Lifetime Faith Ignited by Family Ministry

DREAMING OF MORE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

All personal stories throughout are used with permission.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked WE are taken from THE JESUS BOOKThe Bible in Worldwide English. Copyright SOON Educational Publications, Derby DE65 6BN, UK. Used by permission.

The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2012935341

ISBN 978-1-4347-0016-2

eISBN 978-1-4347-0536-5

2012 Michelle Anthony

The Team: Don Pape, Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Konyndyk, Nick Lee, Caitlyn York, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Jonas Barber

First Edition 2012

To my husband, Michael
Your inspiration and support of
me gave my dream wings!
Im forever grateful!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To write a book that spans a ministry journey of over twenty-five years entails a great amount of gratitude to so many people. I think back to my formative years at First Baptist Church of San Jose, where I caught a vision for how childrens and youth ministry could make a lasting impact on young people, and am thankful for people who invested in me, such as Brad Chinn, Barbara Weber, and Jim Cook. It was Lyle Castellaw who gave me my first opportunity to lead in youth ministry, and Michael Anthony who believed I could teach and who trained and mentored me to do so.

Colleagues such as Cheryl Howard, Cristi Thomas, Charles Molenkamp, KJ Stephens, and Sean Anderson gave wings to the dream that childrens and youth ministries could work together for the sake of the family. In Gods sovereignty, it was ROCKHARBOR Church, with leaders Todd Proctor, Stacy Scott, and the elder board, who said yes to a dream when it was only that. I will be forever indebted to Kit Rae for the partnership that gave me hope for the long road ahead, to the tireless support of Tommy Larson through endless seasons of change, and to Matt Barnes for being willing to stay in the trenches with me at every step.

Thank you to David C Cook, who invested in the dream of family ministry for the sake of spiritual formationespecially to Marlene LeFever for bringing me there in the first place; to my most incredible boss, Dan Rich (you never cease to amaze me with your servant and strong leadership); partners such as Byron, Mike, Jana, Janet, Jenn, and Ruth, who have added their fingerprints along the way. And to my audaciously creative and hardworking Tru team: Debbie, Cristi, Tori, Leigh, Matt, Patti, Jonas, Joel, Brad, Cory, Jen, and Stephanie, whom Im so honored to be leading and serving alongside. Each of you inspire me every day! Thank you, Stacy and Angelina, for hanging in there and never giving up, for giving honest feedback, and for sacrificing so much.

Thank you to Don Pape and Terry Behimer for believing in this project and to Karen Lee-Thorp for your insight and encouragement.

Im grateful to my parents for always praying for me and the ministries I have been called to; my husband, Michael, for being my champion at every turn; and my children, who made me want faith for this generation more than anything else.

I am truly grateful to be a part of such a long legacy of individuals who have also had a dream a dream for more!

Contents

A NEW WINESKIN

The Dream of Family Ministry

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

Les Brown, Live Your Dreams

It was a milestone, for sure. I had just completed twelve years in childrens ministry. My staff, volunteers, and family showered me with cards and words of affirmation. My boss had even given me a crystal clock. I had arrived. An entire generation of children had been born and had grown upand now those children were in middle school. I had watched it happen. I had led it, for all practical purposes.

Twelve Vacation Bible Schools and twelve summer camps; six hundred and twenty-four weekends with lessons to study, crafts to prep, and volunteers to recruit; twelve fall recruitments; twenty-four parent meetings; thirty-six all-church announcements; five 9-1-1 calls; hundreds of first-time decisions; countless pagings of parents for crying babies; and dozens of revisions of budgets and ministry plans. You know the drill. Its a lotbut I love it.

So I sat there at my desk, looking at my crystal clock, and a series of haunting thoughts crept over me. An entire generation of kidswere they different after this ministry we had created for them? Would their faith last beyond their childhood? Would they change the world with the love of Christ? Did our programs, sleepless nights, tireless efforts, countless dollars, and careful screening of staff and volunteers pay off?

I Want More

I must confess that deep inside, I wasnt sure of those things. I was sure the kids had had fun. They had been given excellence. They knew songs and Bible stories. They had memorized verses. They had made friends. They had loved our programs, themed rooms, and cool T-shirts.

I feel embarrassed sharing this, but I believe there is someone else out there who may have felt this way too. I simply got caught up in doing a lot of really good things. And by the grace of God, He chose to use those good things. But in the end, I didnt want to sacrifice another twelve years to just have good. I drove home that night with tears in my eyes, asking God, So what do I do now? I want more !

Faith in the Home

There are moments in our lives, both professionally and personally, when we know we are sitting at a crossroads. That night, for me, was one of them. Would I continue in ministry to children, or would I try something else? If I did the former, I knew that there was something more. At the time, I just didnt know what it was. I begged God to show it to me and to my team. Our hearts were right. We wanted to serve Him and invest in this generation, but we werent seeing the results that we were hoping to see. We were discouraged. We needed divine intervention.

Both of my children were young, and I was intentionally investing in their faith in a multitude of ways in our home: family nights, mission trips, serving opportunities, time in Gods Word, prayer, and times for them to gain an authentic glimpse into my own faith journey. One night we had one of my daughters friends over for dinner, and she participated in our family night. When her mom came to pick her up, our night together opened up a spiritual conversation. This mom was curious and interested. Over the next few months, I had the privilege of leading her to faith in Christ. What followed shaped the answer to my question about my ministry to children.