Several weeks ago, Nancy approached a young lady in our church about participating in the Dynamic Christian Ministries broadcast. The young lady’s name is Jennifer Killingley. I have known Jennifer’s parents for years. We went to college together in the 70s in California.
Nancy and I wanted Jennifer to be on our broadcast because she is intelligent and witty. She attends college on several academic scholarships. She is sweet-natured.
Before Nancy approached Jennifer about being on the broadcasts with us, we tried to come up with persuasive arguments as to why she should do this. We thought we came up with some good ones.
So now Nancy was ready to call her on the phone and ask if they could chat face-to-face. Armed with her arsenal of reasons as to why Jennifer should say “yes,” Nancy went into the meeting and began her discussion with Jennifer. Nancy was astonished that, before she could get all her reasons out, Jennifer quickly said she liked the idea. Nancy was taken aback. She felt that perhaps Jennifer was accepting only because she was afraid to say “no” to an older person in the Church. So Nancy suggested, “Why don’t you think about it for a few days? I’ll call you and ask for your answer.” Jennifer agreed.
Nancy figured she’d call Jennifer in about three or four days, but Jennifer beat her to the punch. Two days later, Jennifer called Nancy and said, “I want to do this!” Needless to say, we were thrilled to add Jennifer to our cast. So far, we have recorded three broadcasts with her and we are totally pleased with her contribution to the program.
[BTW, we just posted on the DCM website our two most recent programs which we recorded last Labor Day. These broadcasts deal with our on-going study of the book of Genesis. I hope you check them out. They are entitled: “Giants, Fallen Angels, and God’s Law—Parts 1 and 2.”]
Here is the important part of this whole thing. Jennifer is only 17 years old and she is being used as an instrument to preach the truth of God’s Word! She does this with poise. She is articulate. She projects her message clearly.
There is no doubt in my mind that some will be offended by this and say, “Preaching the Gospel is not a job for cute little girls. This job should only be done by old men. This is our church tradition.”
I have stated from the beginning that for the DCM broadcast we were NOT going to put an old man in front of a bookcase filled with books he has never read and have him preach. This is what so many of the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God are already doing. And it is their business how they do their outreach. They need to do what they are comfortable with. Our feeling is that this “old-man-in-front-of-a-bookcase” method worked in the 50s and 60s, but we feel the need to preach Jesus in a more contemporary fashion in the 21st century. We feel that Jared and Jennifer will do much to help us reach younger viewers and listeners. Jared and Jennifer can appeal to younger audiences better than Nancy and I can.
We know that young people cannot do everything that the more mature and older folks in God’s Church should do. But I do know from experience that young people can do a lot more than they do now.
I have found that it’s usually not their unwillingness to help that keeps young people from serving. More often than not, young people do not help because the older adults don’t have the foresight to ask them! Most of the time when I ask young persons to help out with things, they willingly agree. They may be shy about it at first. They may initially feel a little insecure about having the ability to do the job. But with guidance and reassurance, they inevitably perform the task that ultimately benefits the body of Christ.
We need to involve our young people more in feeding the flock and preaching the Gospel. And we want this not so we older people can sit back and take it easy. No. This is not the age in man’s history when any of us can go on vacation. Everyone of all ages must work hard to teach and do God’s will.
Back to these two young people that I am so proud of…
I don’t know how long Jared and Jennifer will be willing or able to be part of our broadcast team. Nancy and I realize that, as young people, they have a lot of interests. They certainly need to be mindful of their educations and their careers. So the day may come when they will need to move on from the program.
In the meantime, Nancy and I feel that God has blessed our broadcasts with these two wonderful young people. At this time, I am asking that you take time to regularly pray for Jared and Jennifer--that God will guide and direct their lives not only as they continue to be obedient to God and His Word, but also as they enthusiastically do their part to preach the Gospel of the true Jesus of the Bible.
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