Both our boys have gotten to be a part of the Preacher Boys program at church. Jamie started it with older boys and this past year opened it up to younger ones as well. Last night 8 young men from our congregation each gave a 10 minute sermon. It was the first time for five of them, one of those being Harrison. Phillip preached his first sermon at 14, so Harrison has him beat by a few months.
I just want to say that all of these boys made my heart melt last night. I was so proud of them! The 'veterans' of the group were so much more comfortable on stage. The younger ones had thoughtful sermons that were well put together. Their forthrightness was precious. They were not afraid to name sins, talk about hell, and call all of us to repentance and salvation. Harrison chose his own topic which was David and Bathsheba and the consequences of sin. He did a great job having a cohesive sermon around this one topic.
I've heard stories from Harrison about the boys helping each other with their sermons, giving encouragement and examples and points when someone can't think of what to say. I love that camaraderie. One of the older boys was encouraging the youngest one (9 years old) before it began last night: "Don't be nervous. I've done this before. You just get up there and do it and you'll be fine."
Harrison's first sermon.
Jamie and Marshall, our preacher and youth minister, are both involved with the preacher boys. They meet together for about an hour before youth group on Wednesday nights. Harrison told me they read a chapter from the Bible (right now they are reading through Timothy), pray, and then work on or practice their sermons or communion meditations. They close again with prayer. His favorite part is that he's working on this with guidance (he's a perfectionist, so this makes total sense). He likes that he's getting speaking practice and learning how to properly teach the Bible. His advice to young preachers is "Project your voice!"
An evangelist (Tom Weaver with The RSM Podcast) interviewed the preacher at Callao Christian Church who has been doing these Preacher Boy meetings for a while now. You might be interested in listening to it to find out how he operates his and see the amazing fruit they've had from it so far: March 6th podcast with Josh Stucki.
We need preachers. Boys will consider ministry if you talk to them about it and offer them the chance to consider it and if you offer some guidance. Even if all these boys don't become preachers, some of them will. And the others will be ready to lead and teach in their church one day.
Which reminds me that I might as well bring up Midwest Ministry Training right here as well. It's a college alternative to ministry training that our church is starting (planning to start this August 2024!). You take online classes while apprenticing at a church for longer term than the usual internship. It's very affordable and there are three training churches on board as of right now. We need students, more training churches, and any support churches can give (prayer, financial, spread the word). You can find them on Facebook and also at midwestministrytraining.com.
Harrison and Silas are way too big to fit on this little electric car ~ they were like clowns trying to hang on. 😆
