​Hello First Baptist Church families!
 
It is with profoundly mixed emotions that I am writing my last newsletter article.  We announced a few weeks ago that we have seen God leading and accepted a call to serve at a church in Richmond, Virginia, as their Children’s Pastor.  While we are certainly excited for all that God is doing, we all want to communicate how deeply we will miss you all and how thankful we are for all that you have done to encourage and support us in our ministry here!
 
In light of this transition, I want to assure our families that First Baptist Church of Walnut Cove is doing everything possible to maintain momentum in both our IMPACT and SONquest ministries!  We still will have Sunday School for all ages, SONquest Children’s Church during our worship service, and discipleship opportunities every Wednesday for our students, children, and families!  As we have parents and volunteers step into different roles and capacities, my prayer is that y’all would continue to be as supportive, engaged, and encouraging for them as we were so blessed by y’all being for us!  Ministries are possible because of the time and energy that families commit so I am truly thankful for how willing and support y’all have been these past two-and-a-half years.  The volunteers, parents, and helpers stepping into the various roles will need all of that energy, commitment, and support that has been so profoundly impactful for Ashley and me!
 
As Ashley and I make this transition, I want to share how profoundly thankful we are for the time God has given us here.  Your patience, encouragement, and wisdom has been instrumental as I’ve grown in the ways that God is calling me to minister and serve His Church.  The call to ministry I experienced is constantly being refined and shaped and I have been so blessed by how God used y’all in that process.  I am excited about the work God will continue to do and will always keep this sweet church family in our prayers!  If I may be so selfish, my prayer is that God truly will work through this transition and that it would be glorifying to Him and much more of a “See y’all soon” then a true “Good Bye!”  Please do not hesitate to keep in touch and reach out if ever there is anything we can do to further one another along!  We love you, church, and are so thankful for how y’all are sending us to continue to be faithful to the call God has placed on our lives!
 
-Luke Long
Student and Children’s Pastor
First Baptist Church

Hey Church Family!

Recently in our IMPACT Wednesday meetings, we’ve been setting aside time to answer any questions our youth have!  We’ve talked about the problem of evil, the book of Revelation, video games, why people are mean, and so many other topics!  In that same spirit, I wanted to share an article about how we might approach another discussion with our kids about weightier topics!  Having these conversations can be intimidating but they are so good to be had!  Enjoy the article below and let’s get to chit chatting with our students and kids about what it really means to be a disciple!

How to Talk to Skeptical Kids About Heaven by Jenny Manley
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/skeptical-kids-heaven/ 

Here are four ways to set aside panic and help shape your child’s view of heaven.

1. Talk about death
2. Showcase the greatness of Jesus
3. Speak directly to your children about their fears
4. Give them biblical theology

​Hello Church family!
 
In case you have missed some of the announcements, and to make sure it is  broadcasted as far as possible, I want to give my “article space” to share with y’all the returning SONquest and IMPACT opportunities!  Look at the options below, pray, and talk through as a family what regathering is going to look like, and pray for us as we continue this regathering process!
 
SONquest: Over the month of May, our prayer is to transition back to our full slate of events!  May 2 marks the expansion of Children’s Church to weekly meetings!  We are so excited for this, and our hope is that Sundays will be a great opportunity for our families to come and gather for worship!  Our Children’s Church is a great time that is aimed at investing in and teaching our children, preparing them for the corporate worship gathering!  The next step in the process is our Wednesday evening SONquest events that will return May 19.  This is a unique time of fun, games, worship, and teaching that is aimed at creating an intentional space of discipleship for our families!  We are bringing back opportunities for every age so we think this is a great option for folks who may still be a little wary of the larger Sunday morning crowds!  One of the steps that will follow, is to bring back Sunday School in June for our families.  We are so excited about the changes we’ll make to Sunday School and we are thrilled about the revamping being done!  Our goal for this time is for families to come, walk through the same material in each of their classrooms, and that Sunday School would be a launching point of family worship at home!
 
For our IMPACT student ministry, we are so glad that we have been able to meet consistently on Wednesdays, and are confident in our plans to continue in that!  We are in the process of planning our Summer Camp (July 18-23).  After the fun we had at our Students vs. Parents Kickball game, we want you to keep an eye out for even more opportunities for families to come together and have fun, find fellowship with other families, and grow together as a community excited about all that God is doing here!
 
My prayer is that one of these options (if not all of them!) would be a great way for your families to join us as we continue the process of regathering.  We hope you will find a little bit of normal in a season of hardship and crazy, and a source of encouragement and nourishment as we all seek to be the church together!  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know!  I am excited about all that the future holds, and am eager to see how God is leading!
 
-Pastor Luke

Hello Church Family!
 
Last month was such an exciting newsletter article to write because it was primarily focused on all the upcoming changes and opportunities we are beginning to bring back!  We certainly aren’t back to normal yet, but it is so encouraging to watch our rates continue to decline, vaccinations continue to increase, and folks to feel comfortable enough to return to some of our in-person gatherings!  It was so fun to see so many kids and families at our Easter Egg hunt and to see our youth amidst the craziness of clubs and sports that seem to all be occurring at once now!  In the months to come, as we introduce more in person events and gatherings I wanted to share a bit of my heart behind our regathering process in the hopes that can be a resource for you and your family as you weigh the challenges and risks of the decision to return.  I know our families are in very different contexts and have a tremendous amount of factors to consider.  Regardless of the decisions your family makes, I want to say that we as a church love you and want to support your family however we can!  If there is anything we can do to be accessible or better serve please don’t hesitate to let me know!
 
As we continue our regathering process, this has started with some small group ministries (students and SONquest children’s church) and is going to continue in that vein (Sunday School and SONquest Wednesdays).  The small group option allows us to control group sizes, safely meet indoors or outdoors as weather permits, and still aim at fellowship, community, and Bible Study.  We continue to watch the rates around us and be mindful of any potential risks or community spread that could impact our church family.  We are still asking folks to have their temperature checked, answer our COVID questions, wear masks, and sign into events for any potential contact tracing.  All of these are done so that we can balance the desire to gather with caution and prudence.  So, as your family weighs what we are doing and offering, I wanted to share my prayers for your families as you make hard decisions and gauge comfort levels. 
 
1. The decisions we are facing seem to stem from conflicting needs.
        Our desire to gather in person are the good and healthy desires of community, fellowship, encouragement, and discipleship.  These are great things!  Yet, these things now seem to be contrasted with the need to be safe and avoid risk that could have serious and legitimate complications for our health, work status, family life, etc.  The way that one family prioritizes needs or arranges their hierarchy of desires won’t be the same as another family.  Each family needs to weigh these competing needs and be honest about the risk involved!  Gathering in person will always carry risk (from the common cold up to this COVID pandemic!) and not gather carries with it its own unique risks (loneliness, discouragement, disengagement, etc.) and it is for this reason I see such wisdom when the book of Hebrews exhorts us to “not forsake the assembly of the saints.”  Not because there is anything inherently spiritual about the church building or Sunday School, but because those have traditionally been some of the best ways for us to gather with brothers and sisters in Christ and invest in one another!
 
2. These decisions are really difficult and may understandably be a source of fear or anxiety!
        Because these decisions all stem from good and healthy needs, there can be a tremendous amount of stress or anxiety surrounding this process.  The more we compare ourselves the more this may even be heightened.  There will be many more families who are more bold and more cautious, which comparatively could bring out feelings of inadequacy or confusion.  I want to speak against that and truly do anything I can to alleviate pressure you or your family may feel in one direction or the other.  We have the most profound promise in God that because of Christ, we do not have to live in fear: in fact, many pastors/theologians/others much wiser than me identify that the most common command throughout Scripture is “Fear Not.”  This is not because in this life we are promised to not encounter fearful things; rather this is because we know that whatever comes, our eternity is secure in Christ.  This is an easy truth to know, but can be difficult to feel as we wake up and are constantly assailed by the difficulties of life and the fear that it is all too much.  My prayer is that God would squash those fears with the resounding truth that He is enough because He has already given us the most good thing ever: His Son Jesus!
 
3. The church gets to be an example of that enduring promise.
        No matter what the regathering process looks like, we as the body of Christ have the profound privilege of being a witness to that same love that God so loved us with that He sent His only Son Jesus to us!  That means celebrating and suffering together!  That means patiently bearing all things and joyfully enduring the highs and lows of our Christian walk.  That is why I want emphasize so profoundly the desire our church has to serve you.  If we can make our gathering more accessible to you I want to demonstrate the love of Christ that made Him accessible to us.  If we can be an encouragement to you, I want us to be a picture of the compassion and gentleness that Christ had for children, sinners, and saints!  As your calendar begins to fill with the return of clubs, sports and vacations, we want to not only be flexible in how we can meet with you but also push you into the body of Christ that sacrifices for one another and can be a source of relief and pause in the busyness of all that is around us.  I truly believe that in the next few weeks we will get such a profound and beautiful picture of how God loves in how the church comes together in person.  After all, the church was never disconnected because our ability to be gathered and united is not dependent on our ability, our proximity, or our comfort; it is through nothing less than the Spirit of God.  We are united in a way that the world cannot comprehend and when we are blessed to be in the same space again, what a truly incredible celebration that will be!
 
So, church family, if there is anything we can do or any prayers we can offer please don’t hesitate to let us know!  I am so eager to see you all again but also praying for patience and wisdom in how best to pursue this regathering process.  We hope to see you as a part of that whenever y’all are ready!
 
-Pastor Luke

​Hey Church Family!
 
It is so good to be writing you approximately one year past when life took such an unexpected turn!  It was in March that we first had to look at how our church could safely respond and adapt to this virus.  Unfortunately, this time last year that meant suspending a lot of gatherings and pausing a lot of our in person events.  We’ve been creative, moved somethings outdoors, used technology and social media to move more virtual, all so that we could faithfully say the church never stopped.  In fact, the church adapted, worshipped, and moved beyond its walls!  While we certainly don’t want to be limited by our walls or neglect going beyond them, we are so excited to announce some plans to begin our in person gathering and fellowshipping!
 
SONquest children’s ministries are returning in person on first and third Sundays starting March 21.  We are so glad to have the opportunity to gather again and in an effort to steward these gatherings we will still ask our volunteers and children to wear masks, take temperatures, and have precautions in place to have not only a safe and secure environment for our kids but one that is full of fun and worship.  We are planning our Easter Egg Hunt to take place Sunday, March 28, at 3:00PM!  This event will be weather dependent so that we can have it outdoors and socially distant!  We would love to see our families come out on Palm Sunday and join us in what we so missed having last year!  On the horizon is VBS planning, and I would love to hear how our volunteers and families feel!  While it may be too soon to plan a traditional VBS, we are working on creative alternatives, compromises, and solutions to do as much as we can!
 
Our IMPACT student ministry has been meeting every other week in our Fellowship Hall and is moving to meet in person every Wednesday.  This way, as other clubs and organizations begin to resume and calendars fill up and schedules change, our students have more opportunities to gather, learn, and grow together!  We are also planning a Ski Trip on March 14!  This is a Sunday evening skit trip!  Our goal is to leave at 2:00PM and return by 11:00PM!  We will drive up to WinterPlace and cost should be about $50 per student.  If you’d like more info, please let me know; we would love for your student to join us!
 
As excited as we are to begin to see some gradual returns to normal, we know it is vital to balance all of this with caution and safety.  We want to see a return to normal, but don’t want to rush the process of regathering at all!  We are hopeful about what is on the horizon, and as always, want to hear how comfortable our families are.  If there is anything we can do to help, I want to know!  Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns!  I am praying for y’all, church family, and am excited to see what God has in store!
 
-Pastor Luke

​Hello Church Family! 
 
We have made it to 2021 and now are a month in!  I pray your 2021 has been blessed so far and full of worship!  At F.B.C., we have had a few months of our IMPACT student ministry and our SONquest ministry back to meeting in person!  Unfortunately, as we’ve seen our community continue to battle this virus and deal with the rising rates, we’ve had to adjust our ministries, what it looks like to gather, and how to safely steward the opportunities God has given us!  Most noticeably and unfortunately we have had to suspend our SONquest gatherings on Sunday mornings.  As we evaluate what the return of SONquest will look like and what measure we can put in place, we want to make our families aware of the SONquest children’s sermon we are incorporating in our livestream on Sunday mornings!  I’m excited to have some space in our corporate worship specifically and intentionally designed to help our kids engage in worship and learn!
 
Our IMPACT student ministry is still able to meet and gather, albeit with some tightening of rules and requirements.  We are still gathering in the Fellowship Hall where socially distancing is much more easily attained and there is more space to spread out.  We are wearing masks and doing temperature checks, all in an effort to safely gather and not neglect the spiritual needs or community, investment, and God’s Word or the need for physical safety measures!  We are evaluating our long term calendar and seeking some creative solutions to find ways to have some of our usual events and gatherings but safely and COVID friendly!
 
At the heart of all this, though, is the deep understanding that, while the way the church gathers, ministers, and meets may change, the fundamental mission of the church remains the same.  We are still called to love one another, be the Body of the Church, and make disciples.  No matter how much that methodology might change the mission will always remain the same.  In fact, that is our glorious hope as the church; no matter how much the world around us changes God remains the same.  His Word is good and sufficient.  Our call to repent and follow Him is ultimate.  Our SONquest and IMPACT ministries are founded upon nothing less than these truths!  That God loves us so much with an unchanging and resolute love that we can be examples of that in a world marked by turmoil and change.  Our children and students are seeing their worlds changed and challenged and we as the church have the opportunity to come around them and hold forth God’s Word as a constant source of truth, hope, and joy.  Those methods may look different and it may require some creativity and sacrifices to make the opportunities happen, but let us never lose sight of that that mission!
 
-Pastor Luke

​Hello F.B.C. Family!
 
2020 is coming to an end, and when we look back on what it has held, I think many would echo the sentiment that we are not sad to see it go.  There were plenty of challenges, disruptions, profound losses, and even great difficulties that we had to navigate and overcome.  It tested our patience, produced endurance, and my prayer is that as we look back with 2020 hindsight (see what I did there?) we can also look and see how God was and indeed is faithful!  I’d like to spend some time sharing a bit about how we saw God’s faithfulness throughout this year, specifically in our Student and Children’s Ministries!
 
In the midst of cancelled/postponed events, one of the greatest opportunities was creatively holding new activities!  We certainly missed our Easter Egg Hunt, but we had fun on social media having a “Digital Easter Egg Hunt” and on Mother’s Day, we got to drop off crafts and plants for kids to do together! We were able to bring back SONquest in the fall to meet the needs of families who wanted to attend, but needed that childcare.  This allowed us to continue to provide more ministry and growth opportunities for our families!  We have seen some new faces and familiar ones and been able to have moments of fun, study, and worship! An especially great highlight was our Birthday Party for Jesus!
 
Our IMPACT students were able to use Zoom so well to continue to gather, pray for each other, make some cookies, and even creatively play some games! We of course had our fair share of cancellations, from the Ski Trip to Summer Camp, but we are able to find some unique alternatives like our camp of evening activities and having our Wednesday nights out in the field! Through all this we have even seen some growth of our group as some new friends have joined and gotten plugged in! We even got to have our Christmas party, even though it looked a bit different, but still was such a special evening of fun, some silly games, and most importantly, looking at the Christmas story and what it means for us!
 
I want to take a moment and offer some vulnerable encouragement to any families reading this.  This year has had so many moments that were discouraging.  Cancelled events, disrupted traditions, and changing conditions seem to make this pandemic even worse as the very things which usually are so comforting seemed like they could not happen.  Ashley and I certainly battled fatigue, wrestled with patience, and often have some very passionate, if sometimes frustrated, moments of prayer in our own personal lives! Yet through it all, I truly believe we can look back, and see how good God is in the most true sense of the word “good.”  Maybe this sounds similar to your life, or maybe your family has had to deal with even more loss or pain this year.  Maybe this season in particular we look at the stories in the Bible of how faithful people cry out to God asking “Where are you?” or “Why me?” and it resonates with us a little more.  But as we approach a new year, let me end on the most eternal encouragement we have: God is still King. No earthly chaos, no matter how devastating, can challenge God’s goodness or His sovereignty.  This was so often the life raft we clung to, both in our personal studies, ministry in general, and prayers for the nation! It is a truth that we can hold fast to, and while it may not end suffering or change the problems at hands, casts them all in the light of our Hope that we are promised riches far beyond any difficulty this world has to offer.  So as we go into the New Year, it is with the same hope that brothers and sisters in faith have clung to for thousands of years: that God truly loves us, so much, that He sent His son Jesus to live the perfect life we could never live, so that when He died on the cross for our Sins, He could take our place and bear the cost of Sin while purchasing eternal life for us, and giving us access to God through relationship, so that we could partner with God in the kingdom work of discipleship! Let us truly celebrate this New Year with that same truth and go bold in 2021 excited about all that God has in store for us!
 
-Pastor Luke

Hello F.B.C. Family!

The year is winding down, and while many of us may be disappointed at current rates, numbers, orders, and mandates, I hope we all found a few things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season! Truthfully, in these more stressful times, I think we have ample more opportunity to be thankful as we see how at work God is!  I truly believe that the more out of control life gets, the more overwhelmed we may  be, these moments are the chances to see how when our strength fails, God will always prevail.  I want to share a quick story of how this lesson powerfully convicted me!

You may be familiar with a preacher named, David Platt.  He’s written some really powerful books, preached incredible sermons, and a lot of his work revolves around his burden for evangelizing the lost.  He has a stark critique of American culture that, if we are honest, is not all that inaccurate or overly harsh.  The lesson in particular that made such an impact on me was David Platt talking about something we all should be familiar with: praying a blessing over our food! Now don’t worry, he wasn’t saying we shouldn’t pray a blessing before we eat.  On the contrary, he was trying to emphasis the significance of what is so easy to take for granted! That is, a prayer of blessing over food begins with profound thanksgiving for God’s providence.  David Platt drove this point home by saying that the people who are best at praying blessings over food are folks who have wondered where their next meal would come from. God provides for many of us, a job, income, and opportunities that give us resources to provide food, and so it seems to diminish how much God has done. But as David Platt traveled across the world, on mission to share the Gospel and minister to others, he saw the profound thanks that people would give to God when they recognized that by no other hand than His, are they fed.  Platt was convicted and came back to tell his church of this, and I share it with you all as we have just passed this season of Thanksgiving, so that we might examine our hearts and understand more fully how truly dependent we are on God! 

While Platt’s comments were more specific to food, meals, and blessings, I think the principle can be applied to so much of our life.  When we diminish the role God plays, then the thanks we give Him is undermined.  My prayer, as we approach the last month of 2020, is to examine my heart and my life, and ask God to give me clarity to see how I missed opportunities to rely on Him and give Him His full credit.  I want to be more thankful for the moments God has blessed me with in SONquest and IMPACT, that came less because of our “preparedness” and more because of His blessing and protection.  I want to be more thankful for our ability to worship together, that is less dependent on technology and more dependent on His Spirit. I want to be more thankful for the disruptions to routine and habits that leave me taking so much for granted and be thankful for all that God is doing to challenge us to grow and extend beyond our comfort zone!

So church, join me in looking back on 2020 to see all that God did for us, and is still doing for us, and giving Him thanks!  Then we can share what we have seen with others, and build community that is blessed by hearing how God is at work in our community and how we can push others to grow with God as well!

-Pastor Luke

Hello F.B.C. Family!
 
I am so glad to be writing this article to you as it means we have made it to the fall, my favorite season! It is so great to see the beautiful colors of the trees, breakout our favorite sweaters, and finally stops sweating whenever we go outside.  In terms of ministry, the fall also is typically such a great time of relationship building, unique programs, and truly some of the most fun times! We ride the momentum of summer and get to be on mission as our lives return to routine, schedules, and normalcy.  It may seem as though this fall, a lot of what was just mentioned may be unattainable.  Extra-curriculars are returning although it is irregular and many of our seasonal traditions are happening in unique and creative ways. Schools are developing plans and right now so much of our life seems to occur online and over the internet.  As life seems increasingly difficult, draining, and insurmountable, what I want to focus on this month is that in light of all these things, our God is so much stronger, able to empower, and at work for us.  I want to share a small story of how, when our focus is primarily on the difficulties, often we miss the miracles God is doing right in front of our eyes.
 
Churches in this season had to be creative as they tried to balance the earnest desire to gather with the Christian command to love our neighbor and care for others and pursue safe measures.  What many churches wisely pursued was drive-in churches, outdoor gatherings, and anything that allowed them to spread out and socially distance.  As many events started to take place out side where the breeze and space allowed for much lower risks and to be more accessible to others! Much of this was necessitate simply because gathering indoors was no longer safe or possible.  Focusing on the negative or what we were missing certainly is understandable.  While we know the church is more than a building, we miss being able to gather and hold our usual events.  As we long for those things and desire to return to normalcy, we run the danger of missing the miracle that God was doing for the church right in front of our eyes.  Did you know that October 11th was the first Sunday of poor weather in our area and even into other states where churches were unable to gather outdoors? Since the beginning of this COVID-19 crisis, churches have gathered and met outside completely dependent on weather, and what an incredible miracle it is that for months there was no poor weather when they needed to meet.  God is still at work among His people!  God is still giving us the opportunity to gather, worship, and read His Word!  On Sunday mornings we are now reading about the church in the book of Acts and the same power that is at work forming, protecting, and guiding the church is still present today!  Church family we must be careful that in our desperate attempt to follow and pursue God that we remain aware of how God is at work. 
 
Families, below I want to give you some discussion questions to ask to help create a culture of awareness so as to not to miss those miracles God is doing in our life, the lives of our students, or the lives of our families! These questions are aimed at generating some self awareness so we can identify where our own desires meet God’s will so as to better follow and learn from Him!
 
1. How has this season (Coronavirus, fall, online school, etc.) been different than what you thought it would be?
 
2. Is there anything you miss that you didn’t think you would miss? (Homework, church, eating out, etc.)
 
3. Do you think God knows how we are disappointed or sad during all this?
 
4. Do you think God can make good stuff out of all the bad we see around us? What do you think some of those things are?
 
5. What should we pray for if we want God’s help noticing all the stuff that He is doing for us?
 
These are just a few questions meant for you all to talk about together in the car, at dinner, during times of family conversation, rest, or worship!  This is all aimed at beiginning conversations that help us grow in our self-awareness so that we can be more aware of what God is doing in our own lives! I am praying for you all families because truly I want us to see all the miracles God is still doing! From holding off the weather, to cultivating conversations, to bring families together, God has all powerful and does indeed work through all things for the good of those who love Him!
 
-Pastor Luke

Hello Church Family!
            I am actually writing this newsletter article from vacation!  I took a week towards the end of September for a wedding in Virginia of some of my closest friends from college! I lived in a house with eight other guys and they are some of the greatest influences and encouragements in my life.  As I got to spend a week with them, hearing how God was growing them and at work in their life, it burden my heart to write this month’s article on relationships!  For many of us, this time of social distancing and stay-at-home has been particularly stressful, crazy, or frustrating because of how disrupting it was for our relationships.  The close friends we see regularly likely was interrupted; casual friendships that were growing possibly may have fallen by the wayside.  Maybe we used phones and technology to stay in touch but it cannot replace the impact of being able to spend time in the presence of friends and loved ones! To whatever degree this change has been felt in your life, I wanted to pause for a moment and address how fundamentally difficult this can be! As humans, created in the image of God, we were made for community and relationship! The chief relationship we were made for of course is our relationship with God, but when God made Adam He said “It is not good for man to be alone!” and certainly that truth holds still unto today! That is why so many of us are hungry to return to gathering together physically, not just across screens. That’s also why so many of us are hesitant because certainly that gathering poses risks to those who we deeply care about! So as deeply relational beings, how do we navigate a culture that is actively discouraging and limiting moments and opportunities for relationships?
            As Christians I think we have the most fundamental hope: our relationships are united in nothing less than the Spirit and Glory of God.  In fact, people should be able to tell the uniqueness of Christian bonds by the profound love we have for one another that could only come from God Himself! But what does that mean for us? That doesn’t eliminate the reality that we are gathering in limited capacities, wearing masks, and maybe even abstaining for social events all together! The journey to take the knowledge in our head of how Christians have relationships to our heart and why that is significant rests on how we pursue relationships. I’ll end this article with some insight into how we could incorporate this into different developmental stages but for that to be effective for our children this must be something we have internalized ourselves. The way we invest in our relationships is going to communicate the condition of our heart and what we actually believe about how we relate to other people. For example, I am constantly convicted and humbled about how easily I can find a connection with someone over superficial interests: tv shows, books, hobbies, etc., but it can take so much time for me to find a spiritual connection or investment with them!  Of course we would all say, our relationship with God is more important than football and movies but living this out requires discipline and practice. It means forgoing the easy superficial “hey how are you?” and asking questions of more substance: “what has God been doing in your life?” or “what are you currently reading about in the Bible?” These are must weightier questions indeed, but these are simply one example of how, the more we internalize what it means to be united in Spirit with one another, the more we seek to invest spiritually!
            So what can this look like with our children?  For starters, it is us modeling this in our own lives and investing in theirs! Its seeking, as parents/primary influencers, to clearly communicate to our students that the most important facet of our relationship with them is the spiritual one! This means asking them spiritual questions, having times of study and worship together, and seeking to be active in discipling them!  Next, its helping them find a balance in their own relationships between people who are investing in them/building up and people that they can pour into and invest in! This is a difficult balance and as parents our goal should be helping our students into self-awareness to see how they need to be engaging with those around them.  Lastly, this means finding community as a family.  Whether it is the church, family friends, or our neighborhood, finding spaces where the family unit is active and on a mission of discipleship is so incredibly powerful at communicating to our students the value of relationships that are based in nothing less than the power of God uniting His people!
 
-Pastor Luke