I slept like a baby last night! The reason? We hired our new Pastor of Next Generations - John Lehmberg. As i have written before - I thought we would never find what we were looking for - a man of God who was devoted to student ministry, had experiennce, was older and even a father! God lead (and I am not using this lightly) us to find John and for John to find us. He is 41 yrs old (even though he could pass for a mid-20 someting) - he is married and his wife is a gem (I stated that she was not a kook!) and his kids are normal, respectful and personable children! He has been in youth ministry for 20 years - four different ministries - all different sizes and denominations. His last church had 300+ kids BUT he was fed up with the mega church's pursuit of numbers and managing ministry from an executive suite! He wants to "smell like sheep" -- our kinda guy! All in all we are thrilled and he will arrive in mid August - just in time for the new school year!
One of the things I am very excited about is that NOW we can offer an alternative to families in Lancaster county. I can not tell you how many times I have heard parents testify that they are sacrificig their spiritual growth and their preference of a church so that there kids could be in good youth groups. One parent told me, "The church in general is nothing but fluff and as soon as my kid graduate high school we will start looking for a church for us!" How sad? Hos stupid?
PARENTS REMEMBER -- when you are on the airplane and they go over the safety instructions they tell you "in case of cabin decompressure; a mask will drop from the ceiling; PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MASK IS SECURELY FASTENED BEFORE CARING FOR YOUR KIDS!!" Why? Because if the adult, the parent, the leader of the home loses conscientiousness - the child will perish! Any parent who falls for the evil ones lie that a child's programming needs out weigh the spiritual feeding and nurturing of the parents is putting their entire family in peril. But i also recognize that this is a real concern for parents.
With John coming on board, i believe that we will have one of the most effective and impacting student ministries in the county within a short time. The foundation has been laid these past few years -- he will be able to lead us to a place where students are reaching and discipling their peers and many will cultivate a life long love for Christ and his church!! But at the same time -- PARENTS will be able to get fed and nurtured through the rest of NewSong's disciplemaking model.
In addition, PARENTS you will be attending a church that you will be glad to see your ADULT children attending and grow up your grandchildren at -- we will be a genetional church! As you can see I am excited of the potential that this new addition will bring to our church! Welcome John, Glenda and kiddos -- and if you are a parent who wants a church that will minister to your life AND your young person....come to NewSong!