Rejoice with 6th Avenue

6th Avenue ChoG--long ago, before the steeple!

We were blessed to serve the 6th Avenue Church of God for over 8 years in Decatur, Alabama -- our previous ministry role to being assigned to serve the Church of God in Europe and the Middle East.  We watched and partnered with great people who had to wrestle with difficult decisions about who they were and how they were going to minister to the community and world around them.  From each difficult decision, there were even more difficult choices and some times difficult consequences.

Over the past several years, they've been able to see some of the eternal "fruit" from those choices.

Last night, unbeknownst to them, one of their "sons" was sharing with a church in Casper, Wyoming about the impact the church had on his life--not just as a student, but as a young leader as he partnered with the church in what was called the Hope House.  Zach Langford, participating in a weekend full of missions emphasis, shared with the congregation's large Celebrate Recovery gathering because the pastors were so encouraged and inspired by his testimony.

And tomorrow, Sunday, February 10, 6th Avenue will baptize three young men who represent a group and community for whom the congregation has been sacrificing for years.  6th Avenue is not a large church, and though struggling to meet what most would consider normal expenditures, they chose to sacrificially invest in ministry to the next generation.  Among the related choices was to hire a youth pastor couple, James and Mary Alexander for one year--because they couldn't guarantee more than a year at a time.  This move not only allowed James to work with the youth, but Mary worked with us in the children's ministry on which we were also attempting to focus.

The children's ministry began reaching a group of boys that were Trouble (note the capital "T")--unruly, obnoxious, angry, belligerent, disrespectful, and not like any of the adults who were attempting to eat with them, pray with them, teach them, encourage them, love them--and, at times, just praying they themselves wouldn't throw the boys through a wall ;)  There were fights, there were timeouts, there were calls to parents, there were suspensions, trips home before the program was over, destruction of property, physical injury, and Lord knows how many more offenses.  Pleading for them to keep coming back was as much work as keeping the volunteers motivated to return themselves.

Before we left, we graduated several of those boys from the children's ministry to the youth group.  Even before we left for Egypt, Keli could note the changes in the boys during the annual Christmas dinner as one boy was offended that some kids were being "disrespectful" in an area of the room reserved for prayer.

And tomorrow, "C", "D", and "T" will all be baptized (I don't have their permission to share their names here, and so I won't).  This is not only a wonderful day for each of them, but also for 6th Avenue as whole.

Yes, a lot of work and A LOT of prayers, fasting, and more work was offered by James and Mary for each of these and so many more in the group.  They are tremendous Kingdom workers and we are so honored to have worked with them for so many years.

But while the Angels are Rejoicing in Heaven tomorrow, the good people of 6th Avenue ought to be rejoicing too.  Moments like these are "ROI Sundays" -- Return On Investment -- all the prayers, hard work, gray hairs, bruised sides, tears, headaches, fund-raisers, and unanswered "Why's" are being answered in those few moments that each rises out of the water testifying to new life in Jesus Christ.  Eternities have been altered because 6th Avenue adults gave and sacrificed, lost and forgave, prayed and waited -- and who knows how many eternities will be changed as a result in the years to come through these young men!

Years and years ago, my grandfather ministered in a rapidly changing Houston community.  He foresaw the need to reach out to and include some Hispanic young men into the church and even into leadership.  He invited one 16 year old boy to be a part of the Board of Trustees, knowing that he needed some of young Hispanic men to care for and invest in the property.  That 16 year old boy then couldn't believe it at the time--years later, I heard Rev. Gilbert Davila confess to my dad, "Your dad was the first one to see leadership potential in me."  In addition to decades of pastoral ministry, Rev. Davila is the voice of the CBH: Spanish program that reaches thousands internationally each week.

Who knows what the Lord has in store for each of these, or the others whose lives have been positively impacted by the efforts of 6th Avenue.

So, 6th Avenue, "well done, good and faithful servants, well done!"

But, don't relax those efforts; consider, who are the ones causing you to pull your hair out this week?  Who are the ones that make you think about resigning from the Children's or youth ministry?  Which are the ones that annoy you and interrupt your Sunday worship?

They may be the baptisms you celebrate and weep at in a few more years of sacrifice, prayers, tears, and perseverance.

"For our light and momentary troubles 

are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  

For what is seen is temporary, 

but what is unseen is eternal."

~ 2 Corinthians 4:17-18