Cradle to the Grave Vision

This week, I got one of those rare opportunities to see the wide sweep of God's moving in and through our church. Thursday, I led funeral services for Mrs. Allyne Bunnell who gracefully passed away at the age of 88 years old. And, this morning in our church services, we are celebrating a Parent-Child-Church Dedication in which parents commit to rear their children in God-honoring homes, and the church commits to be a community and resource that supports the parents' ministry to their kids.

Mrs. Bunnell--or, Mimi as she was known--is one of the great blessings in my life. Having grown up in the Southern Baptist tradition, I feel confident that she never imagined to worship in her final years in a church like ours with our band, lights, and video and a pastor who would only wear a suit to her funeral. And, yet, every single time she walked into and out of our doors, she was absolutely beaming and encouraging to me personally. For her, worship wasn't about her. It was about her Lord, and if her great-grandchildren and their parents and grandparents were there worshiping, she would be too. She embodies the radiant beauty of 1 Peter 3.

The Parent-Child-Church Dedication is always an incredible encouragement and stout reminder of the responsibility we have to be a church that kids drag their parents to rather than vice versa. As you look at each life on the stage with their parents, I remember why we do what we do...why we make hard leadership decisions that consider where we need to go rather than where we want to go...how much of God's money to allocate to children's ministries when the whole world seems to be screaming for missions (isn't the whole church a mission?)...what caliber of staff to ensure leads and serves this mission-critical ministry...

I love that in the church we have the opportunity to learn from, to be blessed by, and to work for families from babies to great-grandparents and all points in between. This has to be the greatest job in the world.