a place for us to share ideas, talk about life, and learn together.
Click here to see the Miracle League of Valdosta Facebook page. You can sign your child up today for the fall season by clicking here. You can volunteer for the Miracle League of Valdosta by clicking here. For pictures from this past season, click here. To see pictures from the fall season click here.
In the summer of 2000 my wife and I graduated from seminary and went to work for a church plant in Maryland. She was over the children’s department and I served as the associate pastor (which is basically over everything else). Because of several circumstances and other’s personality idiosyncrasies I found myself leading the children’s ministry with my wife’s help.
But let me backup. Before my wife and I moved to MD, we lived in Raleigh, North Carolina. We loved our home church and served as volunteers in the children’s department. This willingness to serve was rooted in both of our desire to have children. After two miscarriages and much heartache we found ourselves in a new place of ministry. This place of ministry dealt mainly with children. We could fool those around us (especially on Sunday mornings), but our hearts desire was to have children of our own.
Four long years went by[1] and many doctor’s visits. Kimberly ended up have many painful procedures, tests, and eventual surgery that corrected our problem. Soon we found ourselves expecting twins. It is hard to express in writing, or even spoken word, how we felt when we saw the two boys, and heard their heartbeats on the sonogram. We both held our emotions because there was no promise that the pregnancy would make it all the way to delivery. As the months went by there was a baby shower, I assembled cribs, and we found ourselves driving around in a minivan.
Two years passed and a little girl came along, and then a couple of years later another boy. Fourteen years later we are still driving around in that same minivan, but praise the Lord the van is full. There are many times when I smile when I see that van. In our church in Maryland, I moved from serving as the associate pastor to the senior pastor. The church was small enough that I could preach, and still have a strong say in the direction of the children’s ministry. I continued my education and found that my doctorate focused heavily on children and how the church and family needed to work together. In 2010, the church where we had served for over a decade went through a major change, and I knew it was time for my family to move on to another place of ministry.
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I had some time to do some soul searching and began to wrestle with some big questions:
During the process of searching for the Lord’s will three separate churches approached me. One was about the same size as the one I was serving in, and I knew right away that I could not help them. Believe it or not pastoring in a smaller church is ten times harder than serving in a larger church. You wear multiple hats, work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and stay tired all the time. At this point in the journey I was burned out, exhausted, and needing a change. So a parallel move in ministry wasn’t going to work.
The second and third were very similar, they were larger churches, who had been through tough times and were ready to follow a leader. Both brought me in, gave me the tour, fed me steak, and both offered me the senior pastorate. I declined. Both would require me to pour out my heart in the pulpit, but would take me away from my kids. I would not even see them on Sunday mornings. One of these churches was by the beach (I love the beach), and I took an afternoon to sit on the sand, and do some soul searching.
I have always been the front person of most of what my kid’s do. Serving in a smaller church allowed me significant freedom to be involved in my children’s lives. I led their Cub Scout dens (every year), led the children’s ministry in their church, I was the entertainer at their birthday parties, and if there was a field trip I was there (if I could be, or made the costumes for the plays). So as a I sat on the beach I knew I would not be happy serving as senior pastor right then. But it wasn’t until I read a facebook post by a friend (Brandy Moates) some time ago that helped me to formulate into clear wording why I am Children’s Pastor.
“Being a parent and “mommy” is a tremendous blessing, a huge responsibility and without a doubt the hardest and most demanding, yet rewarding job ever. Blessed beyond measure and filled with intense feelings of thankfulness and disbelief that these most precious and beautiful gifts are our daughters. Yes…I am that mom…there have been times when I find myself explaining why I don’t leave my children overnight for a break, get away for a weekend or even an extended vacation. You see, to ME being a mom means putting my needs aside even when I feel like putting myself first or even when I feel like I need “me” time. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of days when I want to lock myself in a quiet room and just read or sleep or go shopping without a tag along, or even be able to eat an entire meal without being interrupted. In those moments of frustration, I try to remember that this is a season. A season that will pass all too quickly, a season that for the most part, will be longed for when it is gone.
When I read her post, I was suddenly reminded of those months way back in seminary when I would hold my wife as she wept, or hear her crying into her pillow. I remembered how the Lord has been faithful to give us four wonderful children and how immense this responsibility and privilege remains to be. My love for them is unspeakable, indescribable, and touches me deeper than any thing else has in my life.
My heart ached when Joshua and Caleb stepped onto the school bus for pre-K (even though it was across the neighborhood, and it was only half-a-day). Every year of growth and change is bitter sweat. The twins have just transitioned into youth ministry, my daughter is going into fifth grade, and my youngest son is going into second grade this year. I still have them for a season.
There may be days ahead when I can fill the pulpit again, but for now I am a Children’s Pastor because I can lead my children toward the Lord, and I recognize that it is only for a short season. The church we ended up accepting the call to ministry was in Valdosta, Georgia. God has blessed me with a church that values ministry to children enough that they provide a staff position to lead that area. We are seeing significant growth, changed lives, and changed families. At the root of it all is the love of a father for his children.
I am thankful for a Father who loves His children.
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[1] I know that there are many couples who have gone much longer than four years, many their entire marriage, so please know that I recognize their pain and that four years may not sound very long. For us, it was a monthly roller coaster of emotion. Expectation was followed by hope, then joy, then doubt, and then the pain of knowing that you are not pregnant this month. Up and down, up and down, month after month.
Last week was CentriKid Camp at Norman Park Baptist Conference Center in Norman Park Georgia. Every year I go, it just seems to get better and better. This year was awesome. We had an great staff, wonderful kids, and the spirit of the week was uplifting and happy. I am so thankful to our great and giving parents who gave of their time and talents to make this week possible. With two salvations, several decisions, and fun had by all — God showed up and moved greatly.
For pictures from camp click here.
Click here to check out Valdosta Kids Facebook page.
Mark your calendar for next year’s camp July 20th-24th 2015.
This past week I had the pleasure of serving on the staff at Camp Rock of Georgia summer camp. We had around 150 kids; we could have had many more but were limited by the number of beds at the 4-H camp where we held the camp. Activities included Bible story, crafts, recreation, swimming, raft building competition, etc. The Wilderness Camp will be open this fall to children and it was also announced that there will be two camps next summer; one for younger children and another for older children. For pictures of camp week click here. To “follow” Camp Rock of Georgia on Facebook click here.
Camp Rock 2014 from Drew Boswell on Vimeo.
If you have ever seen the PBS television show Antique Roadshow then you may have seen people bringing in various items they have inherited, purchased at a yard sale, or just had in their family for generations, to be evaluated and appraised. The hope of many is that the rusty fork, Snow Baby figurine, or oil painting that hung in Uncle Joe’s bedroom for eighty years is of some value (perhaps great value). In most cases they have no idea the value of what they carry, but they will stand in a line for hours to find out (and to perhaps be on television). They are suspicious that the item has some value, but no idea of how much, and there is lingering hope that their toy, glass vase, or ring will make them rich.
In Matthew 13 Jesus has been presenting a series of parables (ex. “a sower went out into a field,†the mustard seed and leaven) in which he is teaching on the kingdom of heaven. For our purpose, I would like to focus on Matthew 13:44, and how it relates to the discovery of a great treasure and what we should do with it.
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.â€
What is the “kingdom of heaven?†We see this phrase repeated several times in the surrounding text. Jesus is using this phrase in the place of salvation, relationship with God, the gospel, etc. Specifically, it is how Jesus had come to be the way of salvation for mankind. This gospel (good news) that he offers is the only means of salvation and means to restore our broken relationship with God (John 14:6).
The man in the parable is doing something in a field that does not belong to him, and he finds/discovers a treasure. It seems to imply that he is digging, finds the treasure, and then covers it back up. But what is the treasure that he finds? It is something that brings joy because of what it provides, or how it changes one’s life. Whatever was lacking now has been fulfilled. The salvation that Jesus provides gives joy to those that receive it because of it’s great worth.
I. There is recognition of the value of the treasure.
How valuable is the “kingdom of God?†We see that the man sells all that he had in order to obtain the field (where the treasure was re-buried). We can not purchase our own salvation, but we must give up everything in order to be a follower of Jesus (Luke 9:23). It is not an exchange for what we give up has no eternal value. But what we obtain is of eternal value and is priceless. This is faith — giving up of what we hold in our hand to posses something promised in the future (Hebrews 11:1).
II. The treasure is discovered and a decision has to be made.
When the man discovers the treasure he instantly recognizes it value. There is no promise that the treasure will be there tomorrow. What if someone saw him discover it, or hide it? From the text we get a sense of urgency. When we encounter Jesus and His offer of salvation, do we go on with our lives as though it is not there or do we stop and do whatever it takes to obtain this great treasure? It has everything to do with how valuable you determine the treasure to be.
In the Antiques Roadshow program when a woman is told that her great aunt’s desk is worth $200,000 she will jump for joy in excitement. Just yesterday her kid’s were putting stickers on it, and jumping off of it onto the couch. Now all that changes – the desk is worth a lot of money (now). How she treats it changes drastically.  The truth is that it has always been very valuable – it’s just that now the woman understands its’ value. In the parable, the treasure was always in the field, the must just had to discover it.
In Matthew, the man in the field understands the treasure’s value, and acts accordingly. Do you know how precious the gospel is to mankind? Whether we understand its’ value does not change it’s true value. The value only changes in our own minds. Isn’t it amazing that for many Christians we see the initial value of the gospel and cry our for salvation, only to become so familiar with grace that its’ value diminishes over time.
So once we discover it, and we understand it’s value, then what?
III. There are steps to take in order to obtain the treasure.
The man in the parable “goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.†One must give up all that he has. There is a purchase of the field but we see from other Scripture that we cannot purchase our salvation. Christ died on the cross in order to pay the sin debt that was owed. We must be willing to walk away from everything to follow Christ (Luke 9:23).
One is not “just saved†as the early Roman Church believed simply because you lived in a particular area, or their family went to a specific church. It is an individual decision everyone must make on their own. Salvation is offered as a gift that one receives or rejects (Romans 9:23). Like the treasure in the field, you have to do something with this treasure.
It is my prayer for you that if you are already a believer that you will ask the Lord to help you have an ever increasing view of salvation. And if you are standing their with the treasure in your hand, that you will do whatever it takes to make sure that it becomes your own (today).
Click here for further information on “what is the gospel?â€