They Need the Doctor?

From the Desk of David Boyd, National BGMC Director

Door to door we went, around twelve of us—three adults and nine teenagers—up and down the streets putting flyers on doors and talking to people. If the people were elderly, we asked they had grandkids in the city. If so, they were invited to our children’s crusade.

We put out about 25,000 flyers that week, going door to door. It was hot, sweaty, foot-pounding hard work. But it was worth it. Around 400 children came to the crusade. Well, over 250 accepted Christ. Around eight entire families were saved and added to the church in the months ahead—families that first visited our church at that crusade. Only heaven will record the spiritual value of those hot days going door to door.

Sometimes we don’t spend nearly enough time going out after the children in our cities. It’s easy to be fooled into believing that God will send children to our church if we simply make our facility look great. Don’t get me wrong—a great facility and a great program are needed for a great and growing children’s ministry. However, facilities and programs will snatch mainly the Christian family moving to your town—people who are church shopping. It’s wonderful to add those children to your ministry and those families to your church, but those are the healthy ones. Jesus wants us to also go after the sick.

Matthew chapter 9 records the Pharisees questioning Jesus on why He spent so much time out among the lost. Jesus stated that it was not the healthy who needed Him the most; it was the spiritually sick. He then goes on in verse 13 to state: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus referred to what great lengths the Pharisees went to in their religious endeavors, but they were lacking in mercy and compassion for those who needed them most.

Children’s ministries is hard work—especially if you allow God to give you compassion for areas of town where many lost children live. It’s more than putting an ad in the newspaper inviting people to come. In doing so, those who single moms who don’t have time to read the newspaper or the finances to purchase it never hear about your event. Have compassion on the lost children and families in your community. Go out after them. God will bless your efforts.

Remember those teenagers who helped pass out those flyers? Many of them are pastors today. The spiritual seeds bore fruit in their lives as well.