Become A Hero

Object Lesson – Candy Bar

Anthony — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:20:48 +0000

Object Lesson I came up with on Sunday about surrendering things in our life to God.

How I used it:

Point: We need to remove things from our lives in order to get to God’s plan
Illustration: Have a candy bar that a child wants in your hands. Ask the kids if they like it and who wants it. Really push it to get the kids on the verge of crazy. Talk about how awesome the candy bar is. Then place the candy bar on a table behind you and pick one student (one that you can stop) to try and get by you and grab the candy bar. Don’t let the student by you at first and explain that you are between the child and the prize. Obviously, be gentle. Don’t let it get out of hand. This object lesson can get out of hand if you pick wrong student. There are things in our lives that stop us from hearing God and worshiping God. Eventually let the child get around you and grab the candy bar. The child’s goal was to get that candy. In our lives the goal is to worship God, and find out His plan for our lives. In order to achieve that we need to give some things up. Examples: tv, anger, friends, video games, hobbies, what ever is blocking us! Sometimes it isn’t bad things we need to surrender, just things that are stopping us from being with God!

Hero

Anthony — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:56:28 +0000

Whether or not we want to admit it, we all wanted to be some form of a hero growing up. Who was that hero for you? Maybe Superman, Batman, one of the X-men. Maybe you got those cool Power Ranger transformers from Burger King that one time and you were the Red Ranger. Maybe at times you were a bit more serious, and wanted to grow up to be a doctor, a fireman, or police officer. Who knows, maybe you grew up and became those things. My question is this, how is it that so many of us have dreams of becoming a hero, and yet as we get older we give that innocent part of us up? We put “childish” things behind us, and we “grow” up. What changes in our psyche that makes us think being a hero is something we grow out of? It is obvious that the desire to do heroic things still lies dormant in our souls. Look at some of the hit shows of today… Heroes, 24, Mentalist, Chuck, Psych, etc, etc. What do these shows all have in common? A hero. People who give their lives for some reason or another to help those in need. The thing is, the real world is in desperate need of some real heroes.

All around us is a world that is hurting. There are so many people that need saving. The problem is that so many of us see ourselves as just another person. How can I save someone? How can I, one person, make a difference? That’s where our child like longings kick in, and we think of what a hero is to us – super strong, flying, super powers – Captain America, Mr. Perfect. This is where our inner child is wrong. A hero doesn’t need to have any kind of super powers. A hero is simple one thing – sacrificial.

When we give up our time to help someone, when we give up that coffee to buy someone lunch, when we are there for those in need – these are all heroic acts. Sacrifice is the one key component to every hero. It’s one of the reasons one of my favorite shows right now is NBC’s Chuck. Chuck is just a normal guy, with a normal job, thrown into extraordinary circumstances. He sacrifices relationships, time, and much more just to help those in need. It is a character that makes you think you could very easily be put in the same place. In fact, we are everyday. If we can just open our eyes, and see those around us that need help, and be willing to make a sacrifice of our time, money, and give of ourselves, each and every one of us can be a hero to some extent. Let your inner child unleash the hero in you!

The greatest hero of all time isn’t Superman, or the Flash, but Jesus, God’s son. He loved us so much that he gave his very life – the ultimate sacrifice. He gave his life to redeem a lost world. To become a hero we need to be willing to give something up in order to help those in need. The greatest heroes are willing to dedicate and sometimes even give their lives for others.

When kickball is more than kickball…

Anthony — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:59:22 +0000

This past summer we held a day camp at our church. I had many volunteers helping out during this camp, Captain 1Up’s Hero camp. Of course for any event to be successful one needs many great volunteers. My wife and I love having teenagers be a part of our children’s team. In fact, I would say about 80% of our team is of that age. The kids look up to them, easily connect with them, and just plain listen to them. This makes it very important that these leaders know how important they are in the development of the children in our care. At one point during the camp a great teaching opportunity exposed itself.

Summers in Florida are hot… very hot… very very hot. Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase so hot you can cook an egg on the sidewalk? Well that was almost one of the activities we offered for the kids during this camp. But this is a summer day camp! How can we not go out and enjoy the wonderful South Florida weather? During this day camp we divided up the kids into different teams so they could compete throughout the week and the winning team at the end would receive a prize. This is a great way to make sure everyone is following the rules, so they can earn points. On one of these very hot days, on the schedule was a team competition – kickball. Now Kickball is usually played outside. In fact, I have only been a part of one kickball game indoors, and that resulted in broken glass. So off we went outside to start the game, and see which team would earn points for that competition. Everything started ok, until I started to notice a lot of my leaders sitting off to the side hiding from the blazing sun under a great big shady tree. Not only had I noticed, but so did many of the kids. A chain reaction then occurred. Just as with any game, there were a few kids that wanted nothing to do with the game. In fact, these are the same kids who all week constantly went off by themselves and had little interaction with the rest of the group. They were content with being on the sidelines and missing out on some great life experiences. Sadly, some of my leaders that were intent on hiding beneath the shade of the tree encouraged these children who used the heat as an excuse to get out of yet another game.

The game finally ended and 90% of the kids had a great time. They could tell stories of when they hit Pastor Anthony in the head with a kickball at day camp or the one time they got a home run. The kids that participated had added stories to their life because they got into the game. While many of the children were celebrating their win, and others were waiting for the next game to redeem their team, I had a quick “leadership” meeting in the kitchen of the church. I explained to my leaders that when they made it ok to sit out of the game because of the heat they were giving those few kids the go ahead to use excuses. I explained that this kickball game is more than just a kickball game. This kids are at a formative time in their lives. If they make excuses now to get out of life events that may carry over into adulthood. I told them do not set the example of sitting out of the game of life. You should have been out there and encouraging each child to get involved.

In today’s society we have so many people who refuse to “get in the game.” They are so content on just getting by they miss out on all the joys life has to offer. When we follow the plan that God has for us and get involved, we can truly start to see what life is really all about. So many people sit on the bench and watch others play the game of life. They imagine what it would be like to be one of the players. I challenge you to stop being a spectator! Stop the excuses of why you can’t play, why you can’t get that job, why you can’t be happy, why did this happen to you, and just trust God and jump into the game!

If you really want to be a hero and make a mark on history, then you have to be a player of life and not just sit in the stands!

Reopening

Anthony — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:56:22 +0000

Here it is! The first official post of the new blog. I have brought over all my previous posts from blogger, so feel free to take a look back. All of those posts were done while my wife and I were the youth pastors here at Bethel A/G in Lake Worth, FL. We are now the children’s pastors, putting us back into the ministry we have been doing for a while now, and we love it! We previously were the children’s pastors at Lakeside – Victory A/G satellite church in Lakeland, FL. Hopefully you will follow along and check out all there is on the site. I will be adding videos that we have done as well as blog about things that come up in the world and ministry. I look forward to your comments and interaction!

-until next time…

-Anthony

Grow!

Anthony — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:37:00 +0000

Have you ever had someone ask you what they are supposed to do after they have accepted Christ? Or maybe you yourself has asked that very question. Well that’s what we will be talking about tonight @ Identity!

Be sure to be there!

-until next time…

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Anthony — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:27:00 +0000

No idea what the title of this blog means. Just wanted to give a quick thought in order to try and have a post up everyday!

Anyone ever notice how hard it is to live in the moment!?

I started reading “Every Day Deserves a Chance” by Max Lucado. It is pretty good so far. He puts forth some great ideas about how we pretty much destroy today by looking at yesterday and worrying about tomorrow.

So forget about yesterday, don’t think about tomorrow, and try to just enjoy today!

-until next time…

Exciting Things

Anthony — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:39:00 +0000

There are a lot of exciting things going on right now. This whole month, the church is having its emphasis on prayer. The challange is out there for everyone to pray as much as they can! Now along with those prayers we need to expect God to do things. So often people read the Bible and wonder why some of those amazing things the early church did doesn’t happen in their church. I think part of it is becuase we don’t expect it too. In fact, we are totally surprised when God does something great. So lets stop being surprised and start expecting God to move!

-until next time…

Things I See – Mic Cord

Anthony — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:30:00 +0000

So as I sit here at my desk on Monday morning I look to my left and see some new mic cords. They will replace some of the mic cords that have gone bad in the youth room. With the whole emphasis on prayer this month a mic cord is the perfect thing to see. Mic cords allow us to communicate. When there is a break in the cord either there is no communication or there is a lot of static and possible feedback. In our lives sometimes we allow busyness and forgetfulness cause breaks and shorts in our communication with God.

Check your mic cord with God today, and see if it needs some repairs!

-until next time…

New Year!

Anthony — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Well it is a new year… 2009. 2008 is gone forever. Its hard to imagine that we are already 9 years away from the year 2000. In 1999 people were freaking out about Y2K and all that meant. It just goes to show you that there really isn’t too many things in life worth getting worried about. Especially things beyond our control. We just need to leave it up to God and work on the things we can control.

With the New Year rolling in and people making all sorts of resolutions, I am going to try and get back to blogging on a consistent basis. All the Christmas parties really took up my time!

So for now, good luck on those resolutions!

-until next time…

It has been awhile…

Anthony — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:59:00 +0000

It has been awhile since my last post… busyness has gotten the best of me. Isn’t it crazy that the part of the year with the most socializing, fun, and excitement is also the most busy, stressful, crazy time of year? So hear is a little poll to take some stress off and have some fun… What is your favorite animal? Now, don’t vote too quickly and make a mistake!

-until next time…