Independent Assemblies Connection Magazine

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the Through Kids

Sept/Oct 2012 | Volume 4 Issue 3

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calendar September

Interstate Fellowship Meeting September 10, 2012 Capitol Hill Full Gospel Moore, OK Rev. Jim Robertson (405) 793-7727 Back to Church Sunday September 16, 2012

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World Harvest Sunday September 23, 2012

October

World Missions Conference October 8-10, 2012 Tabernacle Church Blackwell, OK

November

Interstate Fellowship Meeting November 12, 2012 Cyril Full Gospel Church Cyril, OK Rev. Donnie Miller (580) 464-2224

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PO Box 1546 • Ada, OK 74821 • (580) 310-0222 2 • connection

connection Sept/Oct 2012

let’s connect.

Contents

8 2 Calendar 4 Routines: Find Your Rhythm 5 Win the War on Kids 8 Change the Culture Through Kids

10 New Assignment 11 Board Members

Independent Assemblies PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 www.independentassemblies.org

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connection • 3

routines

find your rhythm

by: Jerry Edmon

We all have routines. Actually we are creatures of habit and routine. We find security in routines because it is predictable. We drive to work the same way, men start shaving at the same spot and in the same way, and usually at the same time. You have a routine where and how you brush your teeth. It is amazing how many things in our lives are already entrenched routines. But that’s alright. It keeps us productive and helps us stay organized.

There is a rhythm to your life that enables you to operate at your fullest potential. You know it when you hit your groove. Everything starts coming together. I recently got off track in my exercise routine and have not been able to find my way back. When I stopped my routine I lost my rhythm. It throws everything off. It is like I fall into neutral and cease to be productive. I function to my highest ability when I have routines because they help me find my rhythm.

This is especially important when you hit a low or non-productive season in your life. Like the surfer who is sitting on his board waiting for the right wave to come.

He may appear to be uninvolved but in reality, he is positioned to catch the next opportunity. He can’t create the next wave, he just anticipates and prepared for it.

Life happens whether you are ready for it or not. Routines keep you in line and provide an attitude that is positive and disciplined.

In other words, routines keep you positioned for what is in front of you. There are times in your life when you hit an idle spot in your journey, a time of waiting, a time of resting or pruning. Too often we don’t understand the seasons of our life and during those times, we become distracted, discouraged or confused. These times hold the greatest dangers for us because during those times we can get off track or take a wrong direction.

I have seen people get discouraged because it

seemed that nothing was moving forward in their life.

I have been guilty of that. I start thinking things like, “Maybe I am finished with my job here and I need to start looking for new opportunity elsewhere”. “It seems like nothing is happening in my life”. In the natural we have seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter. Your life is the same way. Routine keeps you in the game even when you feel like the game is not going on. It insulates you against discouragement and uncertainty.

• Routines keep you in a productive mode.

• It keeps you engaged.

• It keeps you at a moment’s notice ready to take advantage of the next opportunity.

• It settles you when you don’t see much progress because it gives you a sense of productivity and accomplishment.

• It keeps a watermark in front of you as you go through your day.

• It fights off discouragement. It gives you a track record so that you can see that you are doing something even when it feels like nothing is going on.

When a golfer’s swing gets out of whack, and sooner or later it will, he always goes back to his routine. That helps him see if he has picked up a bad habit. He has checkpoints in his swing that he can measure his results against. A person with no routines in his life will soon get off-track and not know it. He can’t see what he is doing wrong; he just knows that he can’t stay out of the woods.

I encourage you to develop a routine for your life.

Set a routine in what time you get up in the morning, and what time you go to bed at night. Set a routine in your prayer and meditation time, or making your bed or jogging in the morning. Set routines for how you keep your possessions; how you keep your desk or sock drawer; how you keep your house clean or what do you do with your day of rest? Create routines when you celebrate holidays or have special events. It isn’t a rut; it is doing things on purpose and with intention. These things keep disarray from spreading into the opportunities that come your way.

Most people miss opportunities because their life is too cluttered and they can’t see them.

We all have dreams and goals for our lives. But I promise you that those things don’t just happen. You need to ask yourself this question. “When it comes to my dreams and plans, what kind of structure do I need to help me get there? What kind of routines do I need to move me forward to my future?

win

the war on kids

It’s no secret that pastors who work with kids have their work cut out for them. Bombarded with sophisticated media messages and an ever increasing suppression of the Christian faith in the culture parents, pastors and faith based professionals need an affective arsenal. We’ve put together a list of great resources for churches who want to win “the war on kids.”

For tight budgets, there’s ministry-tochildren.com where all materials and ideas are 100% free for use in church, home and Christian schools. Bible lessons, coloring pages, craft ideas, games, nursery and VBS resources, and even training are all found here. As a plus, you’ll also find plenty of helpful articles for everything from boosting attendance to how to do kid-led prayer meetings.

Kidology.org offers free and discounted materials online when you sign up for a free membership. They use “zones” where object lessons, games, puppet scripts, articles and reviews are available. The free membership only gets you limited access to zones, their resource directory listing, and discussion forums. At $60 a year, paid members get full access to forums, zones, store and garage sale discounts, and even post or review resumes for job openings in children’s ministry.

Don’t have time or money to go to every kids ministry seminar? Check out Group Publishing (group.com) where you can sign up for webinars! For $12 a month they also offer customizable curriculum or you can try it free for a 90 day trial. They’re most noted for their “Faith Weaver” program that helps parents and teachers work together, amidst busy lives, to take kids from scripture memorization to life application. Members get free shipping and a subscription to their

by: Mindy Wood

Children’s Ministry Magazine. Group Publishing also has ministry offers sections just for youth and adults as well.

If you feel like you’ve lost your TWEENager to the Disney channel, there’s an alternative called “iShine Live,” a ministry and media company. Preteens enjoy music, music videos, and there are preteen ministry resources. This month they will release the iShine Smart Phone Interactive Bible.

Parents and pastors can learn more about the unique challenges this demographic faces today on their website, ishinelive.com.

The founder of Upward Bound Ministries, Charles Bancroft started “Uncle Charlie’s Music,” a children’s worship music company. The music is “message” music with easy to memorize lyrics, ranging from high energy fun to the softer sounds of worship. He uses a touring concert platform to share his own testimony and the Gospel, as well as the importance of being missional minded. Uncle Charlie also conducts seminars on how to lead kids in worship. See unclecharlie.com Teachers can benefit from the social media platform at ChildrensMinistry.org, a hub for resource websites. Their listing includes a resource directory, an online store, an information sharing site, a puppet resource page, Gospel magic tricks, and leadership training.

According to George Barna, famous for his research regarding American faith, ministry to children is one of the most important outreaches that churches can engage. “By the age of nine, most of the moral and spiritual foundations of a child are in place. Nearly half of all Americans who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, do so before reaching age 13,” said Barna Research.

Never underestimate the power of a teacher or parent with a Bible lesson! connection • 5

conference

Missions

October 8-10 • Blackwell, OK 6 • connection

Dr. Terry Law

Guest Speaker

Terry Law was born and raised on the Canadian prairies. As founder and president of World Compassion Terry Law Ministries, he is known internationally for his anointed evangelistic and teaching ministry. He has known God’s call on his life from the age of fourteen. In 1971, as Terry was praying before a service, God spoke to him and said, “I am going to send you to minister among the closed countries of the world. You will do things there that most men will believe impossible. If you trust Me and are obedient, I will protect you.”

From KGB interrogations and the tragic death of his wife, to the war-torn countries of Afghanistan and Iraq, God has been faithful to His promise. For the past 40 years, World Compassion Terry Law Ministries has worked specifically in nations that are hostile toward the Gospel. Most recently he has focused his ministry on Muslim nations, including Afghanistan and Iraq. World Compassion has delivered medicine, food, blankets and shoes to hospitals and families in Iraq since 2003. In June 2004, Dr. Law had the privilege of meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to discuss religious freedom in Iraq. In August 2005, Dr. Law met with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to urge him to include religious freedom in the then being written new Iraqi constitution.

Terry law has authored a number of insightful books and his booklet, The Story of Jesus has been translated into more than 70 languages. www.worldcompassion.tv

Register online at www.independentassemblies.org or call (580) 310-0222 for more information.

The Tabernacle • Blackwell, OK • Rev. Robert Johnson, HOST connection • 7

change the culture through kids by: Mindy Wood

by: Mindy Wood

“Children deserve the best.

Let’s raise up senior leaders who work with kids.”

Phil Calvert knows kids. He can see

what they need, what excites them, and can hold their attention long enough to teach them God’s truths.

Director of Children’s Ministry for Church of the Harvest’s multiple campuses in central Oklahoma, he has more than thirty years experience. “I started out like most people do, out of necessity. No one was doing it, so I stepped in to fill the gap.”

That one decision defined Calvert’s ministry. He started doing children’s crusades as a teenager and decided that it fit him like a glove.

“I have ADD, a disorder that I call

8 • connection

an order because God orders everything, and with that I realized I had a natural way of understanding what a kid needs.”

After a season as an associate pastor, he couldn’t wait to get back to kids. “To me it’s more satisfying. By the end of the 90’s my Bible studying and and research convinced me that the greatest place you can sow your gift is children. If you study modern psychology you hear statements like, ‘80% of who you are as an adult is because of something you experienced before age four.’ So if I really want to affect someone’s life, I’ve got to touch them before then or I’m fighting against 80% of the stuff they’ve been through. If I want to change a generation, the culture, then I have to work in the preschool and nursery.”

Calvert and his team use hands on instruction with a lot of flexibility to accommodate a wide spectrum of learning styles. Regardless of a child’s academic, social, and behavioral status, they work hard to reach every child. “The most affective theory that we have used, which is constantly evaluated and refined, is ‘don’t control the kids, control the room.’ I do that by preparing for the lesson, whether that’s creating the appropriate music, volume or props. When I control the room, the kids will follow it. Children want to be led, they don’t want to be driven. They want to learn, that’s why they ask so many questions.”

They also let kids move, especially those who can’t seem to sit still. “As long as a child isn’t interfering with another child receiving, we let them do whatever they want. We don’t stop the whole show because one or two kids needs to bounce around at the back of the room. What you find out is those kids are actually learning more than the quiet child seated on the front row who isn’t really listening. I don’t let them disrupt the whole order but there’s no reason I can’t create a broader order to things without chaos. Kids in the classroom live with children like that in classrooms, day care centers, and at home.

Really, it just bothers the teacher because they feel like they have to have control.”

Among a dozen misconceptions about children’s ministry, Calvert insists that

churches and parents stop “dumbing down” Biblical principles. “You keep ‘em on milk, they’ll stay babies. Babies start on solid foods but we keep our kids on milk until their eighteen? There is no single truth from Genesis to Revelation that should not be taught to a child before they’re six years old.

That’s the age of accountability. Bible stories are good, absolutely, but some teachers are afraid to get deep with the kids and it’s why elementary and high schoolers are running from the church. They’ve been doing it for years because they’re not being challenged and they want to be challenged.”

Calvert is also concerned that kids are not held accountable to their fullest intellectual potential. “We disrespect our children by talking down to them. Proverbs says that the greatest gift you can give is a rebuke, which means ‘intellectually convince.’

Spankings have their place, but you have to explain why and intellectually convince them of God’s truths.”

He also said churches should send their strongest teachers and deepest thinkers before the church’s most impressionable audience. “Children deserve the best. Let’s raise up senior leaders who work with kids.”

Studying Scripture regarding children for the last thirty years, Calvert hopes the church will realize that this ministry is anything but minor. “Joseph knew he had to change the culture of his people. It says in the last chapter of Genesis that he put 5 generations of children on his knees and told them ‘don’t leave my bones in Egypt.’ He didn’t tell the adults, his brothers, the high schoolers. He told the toddlers. No one else’s bones got carried out but Joseph’s because he worked the nursery.”

For more info., visit harvestokc.com connection • 9

New Assignment by: Mindy Wood

Jim and Kay Baker

The Bakers, thirty six year missionaries to Mexico, Guatemala and around the world, aren’t finished yet. In the midst of widespread violence that erupted between the drug cartels and the Zetas, the Bakers had to flee their home and beloved mission field a year and a half ago for another frontier. They now are living in Mission, Texas and are ministering in the “Rio Grande Valley” to the Spanish speaking, Latino community, as well as ministering into Mexico as the Lord leads.

Having joined the two Hispanic ministerial alliances, they’ve been getting to know the pastors in the area and ministering in their churches and it’s clear to everyone their presence is part of a greater plan than an escape from certain death. “Pastors have told us we’re here ‘because God has a purpose for you in the valley, He’s going to bring a revival to this whole Rio Grande Valley.’ It’s exciting to see what God’s doing,” said Kay. The Bakers began as missionaries to Mexico in the late seventies. “To God be the glory! We started in Mexico teaching at a Bible school for eleven years. Then we lived and ministered in Guatemala half the time and traveled and ministering around the world to Ecuador, Honduras, Cuba, El Salvador, The Republic of the Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Spain, France, England, Wales, Romania and India,” said Kay. Recently, Jim and Kay were in charge 10 • connection

of the deliverance and salvation room in a conference of over 1,700 Latino young people that was held in the McAllen convention center.

The glory fell and many of the teens were set on fire for the Lord. They led 50 teens to the Lord and ministered deliverance to many.

While managing the ministry in Mexico from a distance, they continue to work with those they’ve trained and partnered with over the years, in the areas of women’s ministry, Rafa Counseling Center and the children’s ministry.

When they first went to Mexico, they started training teachers. “Most churches had no vision or classes for the children. We estimate that 10 million children have been won to the Lord by the 26,000 teachers we have trained” Said Jim. In Guatemala, Kay started POEMA, for pastor’s wives who were many times mistreated in the Guatemalan and Mexican congregations and a second women’s conference ministry called Vessels of Glory. These conferences and meetings were later held in many countries. In Guatemala, their national director continues these ministries.

Six years ago in Monterrey, God birthed a healing and deliverance ministry called, The Rafa Center. “People came from all different churches for counseling and deliverance.

They get healed and revived through personal ministry, the courses and special meetings, and then they take that back to their churches,” said Kay. They have preached in outdoor crusades, held seminars for pastors, teachers, marriage and family seminars, women’s conferences, pastor’s wives meetings, and deliverance and emotional healing seminars. The Bakers have taught thousands of children and produced innumerable materials for children and adults.

The Bakers are available to teach the deliverance and emotional healing seminar in churches.

For more information contact them at 965451-5827 or email jimandkay563@ gmail.com

Executive Board Mickey Keith

President PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 mickey.keith@gmail.com www.life623.com

Dr. Ted Estes

Vice President PO Box 2248 Claremore, OK 74018 (918) 341-8344 pastorted@lifechangerchurch.com www.lifechangerchurch.com

Ken Anderson

Secretary/Treasurer PO Box 1120 Lexington, OK 73051 (405) 527-6030 kda@valornet.com www.libertygospelok.org

Robert Johnson

Director of World Missions PO Box 978 Blackwell, OK 74631 (580) 363-2734 roj@clarionmissions.org www.clarionmissions.org

Jerry Edmon

Board Member PO Box 862 Elgin, TX 78621 (512) 281-5316 Jedmon1234@aol.com www.fwcelgin.com

Regional Representatives Southeast Oklahoma District Rev. Billy Hunter Antlers, OK (580) 298-2740 Southwest Oklahoma District Rev. Donnie Miller Cyril, OK (580) 464-2224 (580) 512-3657 Northeast Oklahoma District Rev. Mac Blackwell Locust Grove, OK (918) 479-6057 North Texas District Rev. Marc Jones Denton, TX 75751 (903) 675-6011 Southeast Texas District Rev. Herb Hawthorne Baytown, TX (281) 723-2278 South Central Texas District Rev. Jerry Edmon Elgin, TX (512) 281-5316 Midwest Regional District Rev. Mark Maynard Granite City, IL (618) 931-4106 Arkansas District Rev. Charles Kendrick Alexander, AR (501) 303-0831

connection • 11

World Harvest Sunday september23rd

Independent Assemblies P.O. Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821