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Family Ministries Blog

Brandon Nolan

Have you ever been on a mission trip? It’s exciting, encouraging, and exhausting all in one and it’s one of the best experiences you’ll ever have! There is something so special about serving people for the Lord that revives that passion for Jesus within you. Recently our elementary and high school students had the opportunity to serve others for Jesus through Cornerstone Cares and IMPACT. (Learn more about these programs at the close of the blog.) These ministry opportunities have made quite a difference in many students' lives. So how do you nourish that revival in your kids faith?

Service Ignites Revival

For many of our students, these spring service opportunities have led to a revival of their faith. Something happened as they became the hands and feet of Jesus, serving instead of receiving. The passion of God’s calling to serve the least of these was ignited and began to bloom in the hearts of those who were willing and obedient. Serving now had a face. The face of a hungry child, a widowed mother, a hungry family, or a person lost without hope who needed Jesus. Service switched from task to gift; work to blessing.

Nourishing Revival

One particular student, senior Reese Galat, felt this revival of service and shared some words of wisdom during a recent Heartbeat Worship Night. She posed the question many students had on their minds after serving during IMPACT, and some, like Reese, on a church sponsored mission trip during Spring Break. “How do you go from a week of spiritual high and service back to normal life?” she asked. Her advice was three-fold.

  1. Have Grace for Your Space - God has you where you are right now for a reason…Live on Mission.
  2. Take Time to Grieve but Move Forward - Mission work can leave you feeling sad when it’s over, but remember there is still work to be done…Focus on the Present!
  3. Don’t Lose the Intimacy with God - The spiritual high will fade when life gets back to normal, but continue to prioritize the Lord…Change your Mindset!

As parents, who desire to nourish our children's growing faith, these same principles can be applied. First, we must help them understand that the Lord has them right where He wants them. Many times they are unhappy in their situation, so it’s our responsibility to help them see the Lord’s hand in every detail of life.
 
Second, we must guide them to learn from their experiences and use them as fuel for future adventures and not rely on past memories.
 
And third, we must encourage them to keep Christ first in their lives. We are all busy, but all of us must have a mindset that Jesus is priority!
 
I encourage you to find ways to serve the Lord together as a family. Find a homeless shelter to serve food in, or a pregnancy center to volunteer at, or children’s home to invest in. Afterwards, talk about the Lord’s goodness and make a plan for your next family service project. Your kids will love it and you’ll see how the Lord will use it to grow each of you and revive your faith through your calling to serve!


More About Cornerstone Cares and IMPACT


Cornerstone Cares

The elementary Cornerstone Cares day is one of the biggest highlights for our K-6 students. For months, students unite with one big goal to raise enough money to feed as many hungry people as possible. And this year, they met that goal! Students sold toys in yard sales, mowed lawns, set up lemonade stands, did extra chores, and used birthday money to raise the necessary funds. And not only did they raise the money needed, but they also packaged the food bags….almost 16,000 meals!

IMPACT

High school’s IMPACT week is one of the biggest highlights for our high school students. During this week students are serving on various student leadership trips. Ranging from local community outreach to full blown mission work in other countries. Students have the opportunity to serve others in different ways. They had the opportunity to care for others, clean, pull weeds, build things, interact with children, and a variety of other service projects. They all went to impact the world for Jesus but came home changed and inspired more than what they had ever imagined.