Drew Boswell

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Our Life’s Journey With Our Children

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Joshua playing a game with the girls.

“I didn’t even want to come to Venezuela,” was how my six-year-old started a conversation after breakfast.  It was the third day of our mission trip to serve in a girl’s orphanage. His mother and I had already established a “no electronics” day, and were encouraging him to make friends with the girls in the home. After a stern conversation with him and his deteriorating attitude, he went on the say, “I want my red Angry Bird!” plush toy that he had left at home.  He was tired from an exhausting travel schedule, and was hungry from not eating the native Venezuela cuisine. He was experiencing some serious culture shock on his first missions trip.

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Before we left for the trip, Joshua and Caleb, our sons who were about to turn eleven, were complaining because they would not be able to have a traditional birthday party with cake, their friends, and especially presents. The birthday would fall on the second day of our arrival, and there was no real way to have a party before or after we returned. It seemed (to them) that they would not be having a party this year. Because of this assumption, the boy’s attitude was bad.

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On top of the financial concern of how the Boswell family would be able to afford to send our entire family to Venezuela, was the potential dangerous political climate. The previous year’s family trip was cancelled because it was simply too dangerous. This year’s trip was in great jeopardy because of the death of the president and an election that displeased many.

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So why would parents desire to potentially financially sacrifice, put themselves in a potential dangerous situation, potentially not have a birthday party for their children, and submerge them in a foreign culture? To say, “because we felt led by the Lord to do so,” seems contrite but when several people stated, “Why are you doing this? Are you crazy?” I really needed to know from the Lord that for me to take my family really was directed from the Lord. If something were to happen, then I would have to know that the Lord was directing us to do this. After a year delay because of the political condition of the country, I had over a year to pray and know for sure that He was directing us to take our family on a mission trip.

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Why Send Children On A Mission Trip? 

1)   To expose them to a completely different culture.

2)   To expose them to missions with the prayer that they may love missions and desire to serve the Lord at an earlier age.

3)   So they see a world without Christ – there is an entire lost world beyond their own county seat.

4)   To see how Christians worship and serve the Lord in other parts of the world – how “we” worship, minister, etc. is not the only way to do it in a way that pleases the world. For example, did you know that you don’t need a hymnal to sing praises to the Lord?

5)   So children (actually) see their parents submerged in a different cultural environment where they struggle with language, directions, and seeking to minister where they are stretched.

6)   To see how foreign people feel when they come to the United Stated. They can feel empathy toward those that may not speak the language, know their way around, be aware of cultural nuance, etc.

7) Children make friendship much easier than adults, and their hearts will be broken for these new friends. The night we were packing to head back to the USA Hannah-Grace cried for hours, even cried herself to sleep because we had to leave her new friends behind. She would have never had these emotions for other children around the world if she had not spent a week with them playing and having fun together.

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Caleb, Patricia, and Joshua celebrating their 11th birthday

I used the word “potentially” a lot above because the political climate calmed down, and now as I sit in our host’s home, there is nothing going on that has caused me to feel uncomfortable in any way. The Lord has worked out through fund raising and other means that we were not financially hindered as a family. Patricia, our host, threw a party for Joshua and Caleb were they both said, “this is the best birthday ever!” complete with cake and ice cream. Today we hiked to a waterfall where we swam and had a wonderful time. All of my children are making friends with the girls in the home, and with the other family that we are traveling with.

Sometimes, as parents, we make our children go down a life path because we feel it is best for them. We pushed our children into this experience and as the week is drawing to a close I can see already many positive changes in my children. To God be the glory.

Here is Kimberly’s Facebook entry when we got back,”Almost exactly 1 week later, our family has returned home from our mission trip to Venezuela. As she climbed into her bed Hannah-Grace said, ‘Mom, I feel different.’ I said, ‘you are, YOU were a missionary this week to the girls at the home.’ She said, ‘I was? Cool.’. Mission accomplished”

For pictures of our adventure in Venezuela click here.

Why Are You a Leader?

First Baptist Church Valdosta recently held a deacon ordination service for a new deacon and held it during their 11:00am service. It involved a challenge to the congregation, a challenge to the candidate, special music, various sprayers, a report by the deacon council regarding “the testing” process, and the laying on of hands at its’ closing. I was reminded of my own ordination into ministry and what it meant to me at the time, and what it means to me now. The candidate is now a deacon at the church, so now what?

In 1 Timothy 3:8-13, Paul gives a list of various qualifications for a deacon and their wife, and then ends the discussion with “For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” If they pass the testing process, and then carry out their assignments well, they will gain “good standing” and “great confidence in the faith. . .”

These men will begin to hold powerful positions and have a huge impact over people coming to know Christ. The qualifications must be met, because of the influence these men will have in the church and in the community.

How Do You Use Your Position?

For some, simply having the position is enough. They are happy to have people shake their hand, pat them on the back, give them a big smile, and recognize them as “leader.” These men do little but show up, check the box, and demand that people look at them, or recognize them. After all, they do hold the position of honor. But the reason leaders have qualifications that they must reach (or hold to), is because of the influence they have over other people. This influence assumes that they are actually doing something, specifically in how they are seeking to make Christ known in the world.

Spiritual leaders live with a double-edged sword strapped on their hip at all times. This sword must constantly be sharpened and maintained. On one side of the sword is their qualifications and “testimony.” They must constantly work to guard their hearts, make sure they keep a good reputation in the community, and always try to do the right thing, according to their conscience and the Scriptures.

On the other side of the sword is their work they do for the Lord. They are to serve and oversee certain areas of ministry. How are they engaging the world for Christ? They must continue to pierce further and further into the darkness. They must use their influence to encourage, lead, and pull others to follow them to reach their communities for Christ.

If either side of the sword becomes dull, the sword becomes worthless. If you fail morally (slander, greed, addiction to wine, not dignified, not faithful), then you lose trust, and your influence over people is lost. Any organization without leadership slides into decline. If you hold to great morality, but do not engage the world with the gospel, then what’s the point of you holding a position? The reason you have a position is to do something for the Lord with it.

Genesis 12:1-2 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Abraham would be blessed and made into a great nation, not so that Abraham’s name would be lifted up, but so that the world may lift up the name of Jesus Christ. We are to be a blessing to others as a leader; we do not hold a position of leadership to be blessed. You are a leader, “so that you will be a blessing.”

How will you use your position for Christ today?

Big A Club 2012

Marolyn Bearden and a child at Big A Club

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you volunteers and LODAC administrators that made this opportunity possible.

Twenty-Two Years of Steadfast Service to the Lord

Terri Warren and granddaughter Colbie

After looking at other churches Terri Warren and her husband Mike decided to become members of First Baptist Church of Valdosta Georgia in 1979. At the time she was a stay at home mom and the Director of the preschool had stepped down. She approached Mac Weaver about filling in the interim and twenty-two years later she has become a beloved member and essential part of the children’s ministry at FBCV.

When she began she was looking for something that “she could do with the girls” and now she is able to not only have her children go through the FBCV children’s ministry, but also her grandchildren are benefitting from her love and leadership.

When asked “What is it about children’s ministry that you enjoy?” a smile came to her face and she responded, “I enjoy seeing families and parents being content with what is happening at church. I remember being a mom with little ones and how stressful it is.”  Terri has a heart for children and their families. She understands the importance of creating a welcoming, safe, and loving environment so that children feel loved and parents feel at ease.

I asked her, “What is one big life lesson that you would pass on to today’s parents?” and she said, “It is very important to be in church and for children to know that there are people who love them and that Jesus loves them.”

What more could you want from a Preschool Director? Terri is a tireless servant for the Lord, and she can be found at all hours, all days of the week in the Children’s Building serving children and their families. Most of the time she will be comforting a screaming baby, breaking up a toddler tussle, or counseling a group of mom’s through her loving disposition and style.  As with all great leaders, she has a set of responsibilities that she manages, but there are also countless other details that she does outside of those responsibilities that no ever knows about that add special touches to the children’s ministry.

As a new staff person, I look to her experience, leadership, and the many relationships that she has formed with FBCV families, and she has helped me tremendously. She is greatly loved and the church’s ministry is great because of her many years of steadfast devotion.

Terri, on behalf of the parents, grandparents, and the children of today and of many years past, we thank you for your service to the Lord and to His church. I feel so blessed that my children are able to know you and to learn from you, and you have been such a blessing to our family.

The Baptist Hymnal

Joshua and Caleb sang two songs at the World Missions Conference at First Baptist Church Valdosta GA last night. They did a great job, and the theme for the evening seemed to be, “to make Him known, and to make Him famous.” Once they had finished their songs they sat down with me and right about the time they reached my pew the director of worship was directing the congregation to turn to a certain page in the hymnals. I reached for the hymnal and began looking for the page when Caleb looks up at me and asks, “dad, what is this?”

I explained that it was a hymnal, a book with songs written in it. It is a way for everyone to know the music and the words for particular songs. By this time we had begun to sing, and I showed him how to follow along by sliding my finger over the words and lines. Caleb caught on quickly, and it was at this point that I laughed to myself. I realized that even though my children have been in church their whole lives, that the boys at the age of nine, had never used a hymnal.

There are churches all over the nation that have been planted and use projectors and media instead of a hymnal, and because of this there will be a generation that will never know what a hymnal is nor how it was used. I am not commentating on the value of one over the other, but I am glad that my children will be able to experience both. There should however be some way of showing children how church has “been done” over the centuries so that a respect for history can be appreciated. My generation seems to disdain things like organs, hymnals, “dressing up”, but what they put in it’s place is not necessarily new, only new adaptions of older ways of doing things.[1] It is amazing to me how the church goes from one way of doing things to another, thinking they are “cutting edge.” Let me give you an example.

The churches in Europe hundreds of years ago desired to teach the Scriptures to the masses of people who would come to their services. The problem was that most people were unable to read. So in order to teach them the stories of the Bible they had glass cut depicting images of the gospel, or they had statues placed throughout the worship area depicting various personalities of the Bible. The pinnacle of these depictions was Jesus on the cross. The problem was that eventually these statues became idols where people would pray to specific “saints,” and the method of teaching became corrupted. So protestants correctly did away with the statues, and Jesus on the cross in its houses of worship. The hymnal is a very useful tool for a congregation to follow a specific song, and still be “on the same page.”

But there are many (of my generation) who feel that it had become limited in the repertoire of songs and to sing songs outside of the hymnal were discouraged. So they got rid of it all together. But to not appreciate the songs that are in it, is just as foolish as discouraging the new doctrinally sound songs that have been written by artists today. We must be careful to not corrupt a method of teaching (or worship) nor to do a way with it if it is accomplishing its intended purpose. We must also, at the same time allow new ways of teaching and worship into our services. The universal church is generally slow to change. This is good in that most fads come and go without affecting the church with heresy. But at the same time good methods of worship and teaching are ignored (or even falsely discredited simply because it is new). The church as a whole, as it abides in Christ [2] and seeks to be obedient and faithful to Him will be able to accurately negotiate these treacherous waters.

So perhaps I will add write church history appreciation for kids to my “to do” list.

Dr. Edward Buchanan has written a series of books on sharing church history, the arts, and other church related items with children. Click here to find out more.

[1] Ecclesiastes 1:10-11

[2] John 15:1-11

 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

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