Christian Ministry ~ Wise Companion Opportunities

Having home educated our children since 1986, I can tell you four things that are true about most home educated children: they are smart (see Dr. Brian Ray’s website (www.nheri.org) for the latest academic stats on homeschoolers), they are talented (check out recitals, concerts, or awards programs in almost any city in America, and you’ll find homeschoolers shining brightly – and often intimidating us adults!), they are socially mature (see Dr. Ray’s website for those national stats, too), and they are blessed (how many other kids in the world still have two parents in the home – with one of them usually at home full time, giving them a faith-based education, driving them back-and-forth to whatever interest they show a bent for until the wheels fall off the car, and sacrificing financially to make sure they receive whatever tools they need to succeed? There are always exceptions, but homeschooled kids largely fit this description.

Everyone knows what can happen to people (or nations) that are smart, talented, and socially and spiritually blessed. They can get proud and self-sufficient and develop tiny little attitudes that maybe it isn’t their God who has blessed them so, but something inherently good in them that has brought them all their attention and favor, and perhaps they should expect this favorable treatment from the rest of the world for the rest of their lives (check out Biblical and secular history for the stats on that).

So, how do we keep these smart, blessed and talented kids from becoming proud? One very important way (though it is only one way) is to teach our children the true meaning of greatness by being a servant. We want them to build life-long habits of serving others in Jesus’ name. By going "two-families-by-two" or “three-families-by-three” with families who are also focusing on godly character, we build Scriptural, ministry-focused relationships for our children. To that end, I created the following Family-Friendly Ministry List of local places where we can train our children to serve others in Jesus’ name.

Our family has been involved in numerous extra-curricular activities in the past, and our children have benefited academically or musically through them. There is nothing wrong with them. However, those activities need to be secondary to serving in Jesus’ name. In any area where our children succeed there are certain potential “snares,” one of the hardest to detect being that of pride, either in our children or in us (or both!). Pride is only one trap; a self-focused viewpoint and lax attitudes about spiritual things are also common snares for our children. We can help to protect them from those natural bents by making genuine Christian ministry (doing for others with no hope of return or reward from man) a priority in their lives. See the chapter entitled Teaching Children to Live for a Higher Purpose than Themselves in my book, Children of Character, for more encouragement in this area.

Below are some service opportunities our family would like to invite you to join us in this year. If you know of a Ministry Opportunity you’d like to see added to the list, let me know. If you’d like the Moms’ group to sponsor a ministry in which you’re already involved, let me know.

He that walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Pr 13:20

Bread of the Mighty Food Bank

Ann Voyles, (352) 336-0839 or foodbank@birchmore.net

A number of families in our group deliver food to the needy. Some of us visit the seniors in the downtown apartment buildings. Some deliver Thanksgiving or Christmas food boxes, or deliver food boxes to widows or needy families on a regular basis. One year, we asked our children to write their own testimonies out on home-made tracts to put in each box we gave out. Call Ann Voyles or Tom Orndorf to learn more about ministering to widows with food boxes, or passing out pastries to the elderly (at no cost) in a downtown apartment complex one day each month. The Food Bank is also in great need of teen teams or family teams of 3 to 6 to help sort food in 1 to 4 hour shifts. Christian witnessing is allowed (and encouraged) with this ministry. You can also join volunteers packing food boxes (bring your own tracts or anything with a Christian message) to add to Thanksgiving boxes in November or at Christmas.

Bush Work Day

(352) 372-7687 or Mamabear727@cs.com

This work day is for guys and gals, families and teens, and will be a sort of “open house” yard work day at Lena’s on any day of the month your family can make it. Come for 30 minutes and help weed a garden with your elementary-age children. Or stop by and plant a flower with a pre-schooler. Or drop off a (self-governing) teen from 9:00 to 12:00 to do some of the bigger jobs. Or stay the whole time and help, or offer to pick up and drop off one of your teen’s (self-governing) friends with them. (Do you like how I keep adding that phrase, self-governing??) Or schedule a field trip with another family one day each month for right after you meet at Lena’s for a little bit of family ministry.

Lena is a widow indeed, giving continuously to the needs of the saints each week as she tirelessly visits the elderly and the ill in nursing homes, as well as ministering generously to all of us through the Media Library. If you can’t make it on the first Thursdays, call Lena – she’ll be very grateful for you to stop by and lend a hand when you can!

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. Matthew 5:16

Child Evangelism Fellowship

Call Maxine (352) 378-0949 for more information, and to sign up.

Needs host homes for Good News Clubs after school hours during the school year. This may be done once or twice each year, or for 6 or 12 week intervals at a time. CEF staff provides materials and teachers for neighborhood children invited by your family (or you or your teens may teach).

Needs prayer support for the children in Good News Clubs while they are being conducted.

Would greatly welcome families to cook for their state CEF Staff Retreat of about 35 adults every March. (If any families have a ministry in singing or music, there might also be a need for that retreat).

Needs families (particularly with older children who can be positive role models) to help minister to children (be with on playground, talk to them, interact with them, share the Gospel and God's love with them) during the day-camps that are offered when school is out during the year.

Needs volunteer families to help paint buildings, do yard work, etc. throughout the year.

As we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, but especially to those of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

Christians Concerned for the Community

Join this ministry of meeting the practical needs of the poor in our area. This is a perfect ministry for teens 14+ who are willing to do yard work, clean, paint, collect items for needy, or sort in office. Those old enough can help deliver furniture or transport elderly to medical appointments. (352) 371-1768 for more information.

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:10

Foreign Missions Support/Pen Pal Ministry

For $50 per month (tax-deductible), your family can send an extremely poor child from Kikamega, Kenya to a nearby Catholic Boarding School, where he will receive food, clothing and a decent education. This ministry is the creation of Mrs. Hal Ernest, (formerly from Gainesville) and personal friend of the Freemans. Reenie spends about 6 months of the year at her job in Knoxville, and the rest of the year serving in Kikamega. She personally visits each of these children, and 100% of the money goes to the child's needs. Your children can pen-pal with "your" child. Contact the Freemans to learn about their child, or write to Reenie Gieselmann, c/o Rachel’s Lament, PO Box 10792, Knoxville, TN 37939-0792, and ask to support one of "Reenie's children." For more information, e-mail Reenie.

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?"...And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, My brethren, you did it to Me." Matthew 25:37, 42

Habitat for Humanity

Accepts volunteers age 14+ (or younger with a parent). Help with mail outs, at thrift store, or on construction sites, from clearing lots or painting to actual construction. Call 352-378-4663 for more information.

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 11-12

Hospital Volunteer

North Florida Regional Summer Teen Volunteer Program age 16+. (352) 333-4067 Min 6 hrs per wk.

Shands Hospital Summer Teen Volunteer Program age 14+. Volunteer Services (352) 265-0111

Veterans Hospital Summer Youth Volunteer Program age 13+ with an August Recognition Ceremony. (352) 374-6068

"...or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, `Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matthew 25:39-41

Library Volunteer

Lena Bush, (352) 372-7687 or Mamabear727@cs.com

Pine Grove Baptist Church Media Library (NW 39th Ave & NW 43 St) allows moms’ group members full access to their library. Students (and parents) who volunteer can learn the Dewey-Decimal system, and high school students can earn necessary hours for the Bright Futures Scholarship. They appreciate homeschool volunteers!

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25

Nursing Home Ministry

Lena Bush, (352) 372-7687 or Mamabear727@cs.com or (352) 376-4052 during library hours

Join Lena Bush (and many other families from our Moms’ Group) for one of Lena's birthday parties or popcorn parties which she hosts five different times each month. Your children don't have to do anything at all except show up, but children (and parents) can serve cake or popcorn to residents (Lena provides the refreshments), or they can sing a song, recite Scripture or a poem, play an instrument, or do anything that they enjoy. Seniors LOVE children, and just having them around is a ministry to them.

Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27

Political Volunteer Work

Elected officials take volunteers all year long. Office work such as stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, making signs or distributing flyers. Call any elected official to find ways your family can volunteer, or contact Barbara Fuller for more ideas.

Barbara Fuller (bfuller@ltenews.com) or (352) 373-7089 is a member of our Moms’ Group and also a member of the Alachua County Republican Executive Committee, as well as Chairman of the Letters to the Editor/Issues/Education Committee. Barbara has created a website for conservative families in the North Central Florida area (www.ltenews.com) which she invites our Moms’ Group members to use.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. ..1 Tim 2:1-3

Right to Life

Accepts teen volunteers age 14+ to work in main office answering phones, doing clerical work, showing videos and in the thrift store. Call 352-378-7824 for more information.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Ronald McDonald House

1600 SW 14 St, behind Steak and Shake

Provides temporary housing for out-of-area families whose children are hospitalized. Volunteer families can cook dinner in their staff kitchen for residents any evening, as well as dine, fellowship or offer to pray with residents. Students can stop by and bake cookies or brownies, and mingle with residents any afternoon. Contact the Day Manager (352) 374-4404 to sign up.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35

Salvation Army

Accepts volunteers 16+ to work in thrift store sorting clothes & donated items. (352) 376-1743

Is this not the fast that I have chosen...is it not to share your bread with the hungry…? Is 58:6,7

Women's Resource Center formerly Crisis Pregnancy Center

912 NW 13th St.

Accepts teen volunteers under age 18 for limited office work. Call WRC at 352-377-4947 for more information.

So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." Luke 10:36-37

"At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by, 'I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread, but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing, but naked of human dignity and respect...This is Christ in distressing disguise." Mother Teresa

A truly nurturing home is a place that provides training in how to succeed in a world that does not revolve around any one person. The true purpose of doing good works is not to wipe out poverty or hunger or to win that campaign (whatever leader is in office we are instructed to honor and pray for), but to let our good works (for Jesus) so shine before men that we glorify our Father who is in Heaven. Our true purpose is to serve Him in all we do. But we have to teach our children how to go lower to find the higher. We begin by asking the Lord for His leading. And service projects such as charitable deeds and Scriptural good works are the very best ways to develop and nurture wise friendships for our children. If the thought of serving the poor or the hungry or the lonely or the handicapped or the mentally-ill seems intimidating, or even frightening, then it is in allowing the Lord to reveal the causes for those fears, one at a time and fear by fear, that He is able to deliver us from them. This is another powerful way that we are changed as we give of ourselves.

Raising great kids takes a lot of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. However, if we use our energy pouring out too many good works on our children, the result will usually be a child-centered home. This is the type of environment that produces self-centered children who experience conflicts when they try to function outside the home when life no longer revolves around them or their desires. The energy that it takes for parents to dig their children out from under the weight of self-indulgence can be daunting. Children whose moms are in the Moms’ Group are incredibly active in worthwhile Christian service. Bill and I encourage families to help their children develop wise friendships two-by-two (not in groups), and to build those friendships around Scriptural good works and charitable deeds. We encourage you to prayerfully consider asking other families, whose children have the same type of character you are seeking to build in your children, to serve with your family in an area of Christian ministry throughout the year. “Ministry” means any time our children must think of giving to others instead of simply receiving something more for themselves, even if the something more is something good like more knowledge or experience, etc. From Children of Character

How right it was for us to pull our children away from activities in which they excelled when their character was not yet strong. And how little we knew then about God’s ways. We began to replace our old activities with ministry opportunities, such as taking food to the needy and visiting nursing homes. What a difference we began to sense in our children (and in us). Our focus, and later, our children’s focus, began to shift from “What will we get/learn/earn from this activity?” to “What can we give to this person?” or “How can we be a part of the solution?” From Children of Character 1.

A Note to Moms with Young Children These ministry opportunities are primarily for families with older children and teens. When I was a younger mom with only babies, toddlers and young children at home, it was a season of training and nurturing within the home. Many times Bill and I had to say “No” to good activities because they put too much strain on us with so many little ones. We even stopped teaching Sunday School, and stopped going to church on Sunday nights because it took so much physical energy to get that many little ones out the door again. For us, this was the right thing to do, and the Lord blessed us in those years, and helped me to work out many character and parenting issues with which I was grappling at the time. Then, over the years as our children grew in age and maturity, we slowly began to expand their opportunities to serve outside the home.