Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin—Zechariah 4:10

This verse comes to mind quite frequently, but more so even today as I spent the morning with a group of our youth out bowling and enjoying lunch together!  It’s a well known fact that we, at HBIC, do not have many teenagers.  Between the lower numbers of this demographic and the busy schedules our teens keep, it is next to impossible to get them together in any kind of fashion.  And yet today started our third summer of once a month youth events.  The first year I did this, only one of the three events actually happened and only two kids came.  And yet, even today, that particular gathering was talked about as a fond memory!

It is so easy to focus on the low attendance numbers  that we can forget the true impact being made even on one or two students!  We can be so quick to “despise these small beginnings” that we forget every project, goal, or objective usually begins small and grows larger as the Lord blesses it.

Today, I and another leader headed out with a group of five youth.  We had a great time, I was decimated in bowling by our kids, and then we celebrated my loss over lunch and ice cream.  These moments matter!  They teach even our youngest HBIC family members that they matter to us!

This is one of the reasons I am so excited to be talking with the Leadership Team about the possibility of hiring a Family Ministry Director next year.  We want to invest in our kids of all ages to make sure they know they matter to us and they matter to God.  Some may ask why we would consider hiring a person to oversee our youth ministry when we have so little youth.  And the answer is “we’re not!”  We are not looking to hire a youth pastor to work with 2 or 3 teens.  We hope to bring on a leader to help minister with our amazing volunteers to ALL of our kids…from birth all the way up!  We have a LOT of kids here at HBIC.  If you don’t believe me, watch almost a 5th of our congregation get up and leave before I start preaching each Sunday.  They may be small in height but they are mighty in numbers!  We hope to invest in the lives of these young members and see what God has in store for them and us as a whole church body.

The greatest things usually start small.  I was reminded of that again today as I hung out with some amazing youth.  I hope you will be praying for whatever direction God calls us to go as we look to the future for all those who call HBIC home and those we hope to meet along the way!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan